Foxtel call centre problems drag on
Foxtel’s call centre continues to be plagued by difficulties in handling calls as it endeavours to resolve “teething issues” with its new software.
The Pay TV giant said it had boosted staff in its call centre by 150 to deal with a backlog of calls, which left an estimated 1200 new subscribers without service.
The problem came to light last month, with the loss of subscriber account information.
“The Foxtel call centre continues to deal with a backlog of calls and, regrettably, this is resulting in difficulty for some subscribers in making contact,” a spokeswoman told The Australian.
The call centre had tried to contact subscribers left without service over the weekend, she said.
The interactive voice recognition system, known as ViVA, replaces paper and SMS-based subscriber systems previously used by technicians to connect Foxtel set-top units to the service.
The new system allows technicians to connect to an automated interactive voice recognition system to authorise set-top units to transmit the pay-TV service.
Foxtel said installation volumes were intentionally cut to ease in the new system.
However, it is understood that, three weeks on, ViVA is still struggling and is unable to keep up with new subscription volumes, leaving contractors struggling to connect new customers.
Foxtel’s field service operation said the system was successfully connecting customers in 60 per cent of cases by Saturday.
“This completion rate will continue to improve as system tuning continues,” Foxtel’s spokeswoman said.
However, sources close to Foxtel said some technicians were only successfully connecting customers to the service in about one in 10 attempts.
One technician estimated that his average weekly gross income had fallen by $1000 a week, from about $2500, since the new system was introduced.
The system glitches come at a difficult time for Foxtel, which has just launched a promotion designed to lure new customers with free installation and half-price service for three months.
“This has been going on for nearly three weeks now. If they don’t sort this out in the next couple of days people won’t be able to respond to that offer,” the technician said.
Foxtel did not respond to questions on whether the promotion would be able to continue.
“Foxtel contractors continue to manage the volume of installation and service activity associated with Foxtel’s growing business,” the company said.
Source: The Australian
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