Does Vodacom respect us as customers - part 1

My business partner in Nurture Your Future, arrived for a meeting rather distracted. She had just received notification that her 3G data card useage was up to R4800 for the current month. This on a contract of R649 per month.

A couple of weeks later she is still struggling to get Vodacom to look into how the usage shot up in less than a week.

Wishing to learn from her bad experience I called 111 to see if I had a setting on my 3G card to warn me when I exceed my contract limit. I was informed that everyone receives an SMS to let them know when they are going to be billed for bandwidth useage outside of the contract.

My first gripe is that, that SMS is sent to the data card number. I don't use my 3G card for SMS's. I use my cellphone. In fact I don't use my card much at all as I have ADSL at my office. If something goes wrong and my data allowance is being chewed up I am not going to know anything about it. There seems to be no option to have the notification sent to another cellular number. Does Vodacom actually want me to see the message? Or do they just want to be able to say they sent it?

The call centre agent helpfully suggested that I could put a call limit lock on the card's number as well. I thought this was the perfect solution. The minimum limit allowed is R50 over contract excl VAT. So I agreed on this limit thinking "50 bucks plus VAT, that's an acceptable risk".

Then came the catch. Before they implement the limit you have to receive a request form, and return to them the reference number on that form, in acknowledgement that you have received it.

When the form arrived I found it contains a waiver. The clause reads "If for any reason whatsoever your limit is not enforced you will remain liable to pay all the charges in excess of the limit set or not."

Now I ask, why should the technology not enforce the limit? And why should it be my fault if it doesn't?

Have I not done my part in asking for it to be placed there?

To my mind this is not customer service. This is PR. The company can say it sends warning messages when certain levels of use are exceeded. It can say it has systems in place for customers to limit over use. But in reality the messages are quietly placed where they may well not be seen and they take no responsibility for enforcing the safe guards.

Does this sound like the behaviour of a company that values and respects its clients?

Experiencing the universe in action

This week I had the amazing opportunity to be connected with someone, and to see why, within hours.

It started with me receiving an e-mail advertising a charitable function. I had received this before and knew I was already committed for that evening.

This time my attention was drawn to the name of the founder of the NGO. Lets call her Sarah. There was familiarity in the name and I felt drawn to check if I had met her. She wasn't in my contact database so I googled (how else does one find people these days :-)).

I found her LinkedIn profile. My eye was drawn to the education block. Over ten years ago she had been at the same school as my daughter now attends. I am on the parent committee of that school and had been at the AGM just the night before.

This was too many coincidences. I had to make some sort of contact. So I sent an SMS to the number on the invite explaining the link and asking to connect on LinkedIn.
She replied immediately and I sent the invite.

About an hour later my cell phone rang. It was Sarah. She was having trouble replying to my LinkedIn invite. Shortly thereafter she was pouring out her frustrations and concerns about making the fundraiser a success - sharing how she had been in tears the night before. We chatted for awhile about things she could do. Nearly half an hour later we rang off with her sounding calmer and refocussed.

So often we meet people in unusual ways and in some cases years later I haven't come across the reason why that connection occured. This time I had the answer so quickly. It was awesome to be able to play a roll in the universe's fulfillment of a need.

Overcoming - Setbacks Turned into Opportunities

We all experience setbacks. That is part of life. Whether it is as simple as phoning to invite a friend and finding they aren't available or as serious as losing a limb. It is what we do with these situations that determines our lives.

Today I stumbled across this article on Natalie du Toit, South Africa's multi award winning swimmer, who overcame the loss of her leg.

Our results come from our actions, which in turn are influenced by our emotions and thoughts. To get the best results we need to ensure that what we see, hear and think is supportive of our vision. Here is a short version of Natalie's story to give you some fresh inspiration. http://www.leader.co.za/article.aspx?s=23&f=1&a=1519

What services will you pay for?

I have a friend who is the “Admin Handyman”. He recently sent me a solution to something a little out of the ordinary that I was trying to do in MS Outlook. I was over the moon and replied with thanks, asking how he found it when I had spent ages searching for the solution.

His reply was - One of the services I offer is Internet Research. More often than not I do this for nothing, as in your case, when I hear something at a meeting or in a conversation. I should, of course, charge. If I had said I will research the answer for you at a cost per hour would you have paid me, irrespective of the result, i.e. for the time I have taken to do the research?

I thought his question was an interesting one and one which may be of interest to many of the readers. People make choices based on perceived value for money and fulfilment of a need.

I sent Peter the following answer - I suppose it’s back to the balance between time and finances – does one have the time to do the research without intruding on one’s core business and family time or does one have the money to pay someone else to do it? In most cases the cost of getting someone else to do the work will probably work out a lot cheaper than doing it oneself.

You raised some interesting questions around the issue of value associated with internet research.

I think it is a balance between cost and need.

In general I am very wary of giving a go ahead for IT problem solving work that is based on a cost per hour basis. This is because I know how time consuming it can be – whether we are solving it on the machine or researching a solution – and how virtually impossible it is to estimate up front how long it will take.

If something will not work at all and it is imperative that I get it sorted out, then I would generally have to pay whatever it takes.

However most of the time resolving a problem is only worthwhile within a certain cost. Let’s say the limit is R500. Then so long as I can get a solution for R500, I want it. If it will either cost more than this or I risk paying the money and not getting a solution for it, then I will either do without or try it myself.

The reason trying it myself is still worthwhile is that

• I am in a position to say when it is no longer worth trying
• I may well learn something useful along the way
• I can choose to see it as “recreational” and do it instead of watching TV etc.

I think having internet research as a paying service for clients who are cost sensitive may require the following:

• Define clearly what the required outcome is
• Estimate how long that will take you
• Give a fixed quote ie a quote for the job regardless of how much or little time it takes you. The client will then accept or reject that based on the perceived value to themselves of having the task accomplished

If one is doing a fair bit of this there will be some jobs you gain on and some you lose on, so it will work out fairly in the end. The more you do it, the more accurate the quoting will become.

The logic in this answer can be applied to many services. Is it relevant to your business? Do you “buy” in this way yourself?

If you need to contact Peter for virtual or onsite admin services or internet research drop him a mail at peter@adminhandyman.co.za and tell him Alison gave you the recommendation.

Do you have an empty swimming pool?

I recently shared a great story on this blog that I had received from Adele Howell-Pryce, and I gave her credit for it. I have since been contacted by Bernadette Doyle, apparently the original author, as per the comment below.

I apologise for unintentionally using Bernadette's work without credit.

It is a great story with a message for all of us. My copy and paste function does not want to work, so unfortunately I cannot replace the article, therefore I am removing it. The link to Bernadette's original is given in her comment below. Enjoy!