A better subscription that would have good coverage during the work commute to Copenhagen. So a telephone salesman sold a subscription from Telenor to Zara Polner. But after trying the new subscription, she was not satisfied and wanted to cancel her purchase. She then called Telenor’s customer service.
– They sent me around to different people and departments. No one could help me, I could not get in touch with the seller, they could not open a case or give me a confirmation email that I had been in contact with them. After having contact with four people, I felt quite dejected. The only offer I got was extra surfing and that was not what I wanted, says Zara Polner.
Not alone in the customer service experience
Zara Polner is far from alone in having had a tough experience with telecom companies’ customer services. In a survey conducted by the Swedish Consumer Agency over two years, harsh criticism is directed at the companies. The customers do not get help, the companies lack contact details and there are no opportunities to save evidence of the communication you had with customer service.
The fact that some companies require the customer to verbally cancel the subscription is also criticized.
In the Swedish Consumer Agency’s survey, it appears that the telecoms industry accounts for almost half, 48 percent, of notifications about a lack of customer service.
Anna Sjöblom is a consumer adviser at Malmö city, she wants to see that companies take customer service seriously.
– Companies need to invest more in customer service, perhaps less on sales and more on customer care. The company needs to provide information about address, phone and email and how to advertise as a consumer, says Anna Sjöblom.
Telenor promises improvement
Telenor, which is one of the largest telecommunications companies in the Nordics, believes that it has improved its customer service in recent years. And the image that the focus is on selling subscriptions is not shared.
– First of all, we are busy helping the customer when they call customer service, that is our main focus. At the same time, when we have the customer on the phone, we usually use the opportunity to ask if there is anything else they need help with, says June Solbekk, marketing manager at Telenor Sweden Ab.
Zara Polner has now gone to the General Complaints Board, ARN, with her case and hopes that they will be able to help her break the binding period she still has left with Telenor.
– When I was in contact with the old telecom company that I was a customer of before, the person there said that I was not the first and it was actually the person who recommended me to report via ARN because it was the only way for me to get through my right.