When looking for a good internet service, most people tend to look out for things like internet speed, promotional pricing, prices, packages, etc. However, they always skip out on customer service ratings or don’t look into it too much. We absolutely do not recommend that.
While it may not seem like a big issue at the time, it can be a major problem for you later on. In case of any technical issues, you will obviously need to turn to the ISP for help, and if their customer service rating is below average, you can expect a terrible service.
The higher the price, the lesser the issues; this is probably what most people think and this logic is very flawed. Sure, you will be paying a high price and getting great and very speedy service, however, you could run into any connection, technical, or any other issue, and ultimately, you will need to contact customer support. Thus, you need to be attentive to customer service and the ratings that an ISP has for it.
What Can a Good Customer Service of an ISP do for You?
How can you benefit from good customer service as a customer? No matter the ISP or the industry the business falls under, if they are attentive to the customer’s complaints, issues, reviews, and more, you will notice how they are trying to make improvement according to those complaints. If they do that, it is obviously going to be an advantage for you as you are buying their services.
Other than this advantage, anything you buy from them, like internet, TV, or even phone services, you will not feel that it is too expensive, as you will be getting your money’s worth. You feel special as a customer since you are being listened to and your “customer service feedback” is being appreciated. Being informed about the latest offers and promotions via call, messaging, and emails, since you are their loyal customer also makes for an advantage for you.
What Does a Good Customer Service Look Like?
Now, that you’ve realized why customer service is important, let’s take a look at what a good customer service looks like, so you know what to look for.
- Active phones
The first thing to check by asking around or reading reviews, is if the customer support team is active in answering the phones. As ISPs serve a large number of people, it means that their phones will be ringing off the hook, and to answer every phone and deal with every issue or complaint, you need a large team.
Moreover, this team needs to be quick and precise in dealing with customer’s complaints or anything else so they can move on to the next customer. Another thing that is considered a good practice, is to add an automated answering service in case of rush hour or anything of the sort, which gives customers a sense of ease in case there’s a delay in answering the phone.
- Little to no empty promises
“Don’t make promises unless you can keep them.” This might sound like something you hear from your mother or teacher as a child, however, this works in this scenario as well. For example, if you tell your customer that someone will come to resolve his/her technical or installation issue within the day, and the technician fails to show up as they have a lot of work on their hands, this will irritate your customer even more than before.
It would be better to give them an extended deadline, to begin with, so that they wouldn’t be further irritated once you call them and give it to them later on.
- Listening to customers
Listening to customers to genuinely help them is different from listening just to give them an answer they want to hear. While it may seem easier to just give a customer the answer they want to hear, good customer service means listening to your customer’s problems and giving them an honest answer in a way that is genuinely helping them and makes them realize that as well.
- Dealing with complaints
While nobody likes to sit at a desk and listen to complaints all day, sometimes, you need to swallow this bitter pill. The same goes with the customer support team for all ISPs and even other businesses who have to do this on a daily basis. Just because they do it every day, it does not mean that they are not affected by it. Rather, they have to be good enough to absorb all of that and still provide the best service and deal with complaints in the best possible way.
Just because someone from the team has had a bad day, it doesn’t mean they can be rude to the customer as well. So, make sure to read up on whether the ISP has a professional customer support team or not in the reviews.
- Genuinely helpful or profit-focused
While money is the main thing that drives people, a good employee shouldn’t let that show. He/she must make the customer feel important and that their happiness and comfort are the reason for their hard work. This way the customer feels at ease and not that you are just after their money. A simple act of goodness is enough to convince your customer of this fact and completely change their opinion of you.
- Trained staff
This goes without saying. The staff must be highly trained in what they have to do at their jobs. All of the points listed above can be accomplished if the staff is trained appropriately. Without proper training, the staff will not be able to do anything right. After all, you don’t just have to be nice, but you have to know what to say at the right time to the customer to calm them down and assure them the solution to their problem is underway.
Additionally, there is a hierarchy implemented in every workplace, which means that there is some information that you might not know, depending on your job position. This might affect your job performance in some cases. Like, for example, if the customer support agent is not aware of some information regarding the status of maintenance activities, they cannot inform the customer how long it’ll take and what the issue is. If they lie, then that’ll be another problem.
While there is a way to counter this by ensuring that the manager is available at all times, it can still be unavoidable in case the manager is gone in a state of emergency. So, to completely avoid this situation from happening, relevant information should be provided to your employees, especially if it is related to their jobs.
An example of a top-level ISP that has good customer service is Spectrum. Spectrum has been known to offer services to over 30 million people in more than 40 states! Despite its massive customer base, Spectrum has managed to maintain its customer service rating and while it is not perfect, it is 3.8/5, which is great compared to many other ISPs. Spectrum even provides Spanish internet, TV, and phone services, and so, they have a separate contact number and everything for that.
In case you are interested in this, you can contact them on Spectrum telefono and find out more details about it.
Conclusion
That brings the list to an end, and we hope you have realized how important it is to check up on customer service ratings before signing up for any service with an ISP. Of course, if you go up to them and ask them directly, there is a high chance they might not be telling the truth, so instead, you should look for reviews, ask around, and check out how big their customer base is.
The more the people they serve, the more their services must be reliable!
