CustomerComplaints
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Ofcom tells mobile networks to sort out their customer service
Mobile networks have a lousy reputation when it comes to customer service. The moment you walk into a store it's all smiles and pleasantries, but once you're an established subscriber the experience can quickly sour. If anything goes wrong with your account or network access, or you want to switch provider, calling a company representative can be a gruelling, stressful experience. Ofcom, the UK's communications regulator, experienced an uptick in customer complaints between May and July this year. The numbers aren't unprecedented, but clearly Ofcom wants the situation to improve, not deteriorate. To that end, it's been meeting with carriers to "discuss their customer services practices and to drive improvements in behaviour." That's not an entirely new step for the regulator -- it's held similar talks in the past -- but the timing here could be particularly important.
AT&T announces expensive rebranding (sigh)
Stung by Verizon ads, and a slew of unhappy customers, AT&T is doing what most companies with image problems do: Fix their problems. Get a new logo. A new color scheme. New ads. "All of our communications across all of these channels is 'Rethink Possible' and this integration of design," Esther Lee, AT&T's senior vice president for brand marketing and advertising, said in an interview with Advertising Age magazine. It's reported that AT&T, which is one of the country's five biggest advertisers, spent $1.87 billion on marketing and advertising last year. The new company slogan, "Rethink Possible" is supposed to alert us that nothing is impossible if you are an AT&T customer. Right. I'm really enjoying that tethering. I guess "expanding the boundaries of 'can'" actually adds in a few values of "cannot." One good outcome of all of this is that the Luke Wilson ads will be going away. AT&T still seems tight with Apple, but if the iPhone does wind up going to Verizon then things might rapidly change. I've really never understood these re-branding exercises. Me: "Hey Mary, I know you hate AT&T but they have a new logo now." Mary: "Great, I'm going to drop my Verizon plan today and hook up with AT&T. And the color changes? Breathtaking!" You can get some samples of the new campaign at the AT&T website. I'm glad to hear how much AT&T is spending to upgrade its network. It still doesn't work in my house, but of course AT&T is quite happy to sell me a hardware doo-dad so that I can use my own internet bandwidth to get access to the AT&T network. Thanks for that one.
