When Customer Service Becomes Synonymous to Customer Satisfaction

Just imagine you got home knackered, wished you could hit the sack but have to cook and clean while thinking of that presentation you must complete before you hit the bed. To ease the burden on you, you delegated to your sister the simple task: buy a recharge card, top-up then buy my bundle data. That was all she was supposed to do.

Certain that she has done the right thing, after you'd showered, you decided to check how much data you now have only to discover she paid for and activated a different bundle altogether! If you were in my shoes, what will you do?

In my case I was in for a rude shock when I realized she had gone ahead to activate a BetterMe Bundle and not My Data Bundle! Hm.

If you like self-service, you will do what I did. But if you prefer being pampered you will call 180. And if you’re lucky, you’ll be forwarded to an agent immediately, if not, you can be sure you'll wait a long time listening to avert promotions blaring into your ears.

Quickly I scrolled through the self-help options to see if I can stop the action. I thought I was in luck when I clicked on ‘Cancel Active Subscription' on the data bundle options. At first I felt relieved that I had ‘saved’ the two thousand and fifteen naira top-up for the data bundle. But to my consternation, after repeated ‘check balance’ attempt, I kept getting ‘sorry you do not have enough credit for this transaction’! 

By now I was fidgeting very seriously, querying my sister why she didn’t pay for my usual bundle. All she kept saying was, "I’m sorry. It was a request error. I thought they meant one and same thing...” on and on she went but I was seething. I had assumed that 'Cancel Active Subscription' was the better way to avoid the data from being used up! 

Now, what would be the next thing to do? Call 180, right? Well, that is where the story for the gods took a surprising twist. The thought of knowing that my hard earned two thousand naira was going to go down the drain just like that freaked me out.

Quickly I dialed 180 and was immediately directed to an online customer. For security reasons, I will keep the real name of the agents I spoke to in trying to resolve this wahala. 

The first agent I spoke to identified himself as Gilbert, he had a forced Hausa accent as he spoke in English. I explained to him how my sister erroneously made a wrong request and how in trying to forestall any further complications I deactivated the service.

Gilbert explained to me that there’s nothing MTN can do from their end as this was a service command. I tried to explain to him that a request can be activated and deactivated so how are we going to resolve this matter by activating the plan on the same bundle my sister erroneously requested which I had deactivated? We went on like this until he said the matter was beyond his level and would therefore call upon his senior to see how the matter can be resolved. 

Immediately, his senior oga came on board, her name was Adetokunbo. I explained again what happened but the woman kept shutting me down with the same explanations Gilbert had given me! She simply refused to see and to think of the possibility of other options or suggestions. On and on she went. But the moment she opened her mouth again to say, “There’s nothing we can do,” I dropped the call. These agents did not care I paid their office for a service I did not get value for!

Overtime I've learnt that agents come in different shades: those who know how to handle emotional customers -  quarrelsome customers – and those who know how to spot a genuine case and deal with the facts. Then there are agents who are always up-to-date with their companies guidelines and policies and those who have no idea or those who choose to have the “Us against them” attitude when dealing with customers. 

There and then I knew I had to speak to another agent. This was money collected for unused service. I have to get it back. There’s got to be a better way.

Immediately I dialled 180 again. The agent identified herself as Belinda. She too explained to me that there was nothing MTN could do.

“But I already have an unused data with my money stuck. How do we resolve that?”

“Madam there’s nothing we can do.”

“Is my money just going to go like that? I haven’t even used it. This happened within the last twenty minutes. Surely MTN can do something about an error request.” We went on back and forth like this for several minutes until she said, “Please hold on, let me find out if you can roll over your bundle. You many have to reactivate the BetterMe bundle so that the previous bundle can be rolled over. But I’ll have to find out first and see what we can do for you in this regard. Please do not drop you call...” 

I said okay and waited for over ten minutes when she finally got back to me and said, “You can get your data bundle rolled over if you top-up the same amount for the same service.”

“Really? Oh! That’s so great. I wish agents can resolve customers’ issues as easily as you have resolved mine. Thank you so much.”

“You’re welcome Madam.” She effused sweetly. Just to be sure we understood each other, I asked again, “So you mean once I top-up the same amount and activate the same data bundle, my previous bundle will be automatically rolled back?”

“Yes. Once you do that, I will call you back and let you know that it’s been done.”

“So you can determine that right on your system then?”

“Yes.”

“So you’re saying as soon as I activate, I’ll get a total of 4,030MB, right?”

“Yes.”

“Oh, thank you, thank. I know you can be busy, and I would like to call you back as a reminder just in case you forget to do so...I don’t know, can I have your number?”

“Don’t worry Madam, I will call you back.” 

“Please call be back in five minutes, even less. By then I would have reloaded.”

“Don’t worry. I’ll call you.” 

Feeling so excited and reassured my hard earned money won’t go to waste, I hurried out to buy another N2,000 recharge card and topped-up immediately. I checked my balance. It was: 2015MB. How can that be? Something is not right! I repeated checking 'my balance' thrice. Same thing. What to do?

I waited for ten minutes to roll by waiting for Belinda to call me but she didn’t. So I dialled 180 again. This time a strong confident male voice announced himself, “My name is George, how can I help you?”

Quickly i narrated my sister’s erroneous activation, my deactivation and how I have topped-up hoping to get back 4,030MB rather than 2,015MB. 

He wasted no time. He explained that there was nothing MTN could do about that since it was a command request and on and on. I was so furious with him I told him I just spoke to a colleague of his who explained that once I topped up the bundle the previous data will be rolled over. But he was unwilling to yield. So I gave him an illustration of how I went to a shop, bought a dress, took it home only to discover it was torn. And when I returned it, the seller obliged me and gave me another one! Why can’t MTN do that in this case, I asked. 

It was then he paused, and asked thickly, “Who was the agent who told you this?”

“Does it matter as long as I get my unused money back?”

“Madam this will help me in my investigation because I can see that you only have 2015MB on my system.”

“WHAT! But that is not possible. This must be a fraud!”

“Are you saying you’ve requested for this bundle before?”

“Yes. Just barely within minutes apart.”

“Can you tell when you spoke to this agent?”

“Just ten minutes before I called 180 and was directed to you. Her name was Belinda.”

“Madam, I will have to investigate this matter and get back to you on what will be reached. Please I will call you back on 180 to let you know because what you’re asking for is getting the credit you paid for.”

“Yes. Ok. I hope you’ll call back because many times you agents never do.”

“I will call you back...”

And so I waited and waited. Cooking, cleaning, doing sweet nothings.

Finally after a very long wait, I got the call from George.

“Madam, thank you for waiting... Your credit will be refunded to you and you can now use the current bundle you activated. And please expect a call from Belinda to apologise for misinforming you. Part of our job is to make sure customers are fully informed. Please note that once you deactivate a command, you cannot get it back. Your money will be refunded to you. Thank you for using MTN.”

Words failed to describe the relief I felt. Pure satisfied relief. 

Moments later, Belinda called to tell me that she’s refunding the credit for the unused bundle and it will be her responsibility to pay for that since she had misinformed me.

I couldn’t believe she had actually said that!

Still sated form the delightful news, I got another call from 180. The caller was a man. He was very businesslike like a senior executive. He identified himself as Sloan and said, “Madam, my agents have explained the inconveniences caused you and we are sorry about that. But I can assure you that we make sure agents take responsibility for misinformation. And in your case your money will be credited to you and the agent who did that will held responsible.” He kept on about how MTN take their customers’ complains seriously ensuring that they are satisfied with services provided. I thanked him for his unusual prompt response and professional handling of the situation.

I had barely finished with him, when I got another 180 call. It was George calling again. “Madam, I want to believe Belinda has called you and that your money has been credited to your account.”

“Oh, yes. She has called and she said she will credit the account.” 

“Please look at the various bundle options that will be sent you to via sms...Thank you for using MTN.” 

Belinda kept her word. She credited my account through VTU.

Nowhere in Nigeria, have I ever received such exceptional customer-service response responsibility from a network all within the hour! 

Thank You MTN! 

Remember, Service Orientation is a lifestyle choice. Image is about perception.