Quality of interaction in the Talk To forums

Red Alert

I'm afraid that this post may turn into a rant, so I will try to avoid this...

As far as the community management are concerned, is there any minimum expectations for reps on Boards.ie's Talk To forums. Specifically I'm referring to Bank of Ireland here, but a number of the other Talk To forums are equally as bad.

Most of BOI's reps say absolutely nothing other than referring people to the website or to contact customer care. This happens repeatedly on non account-specific topics. They do sometimes claim to take up things with internal teams, such as complaints and suggestions regarding 365 and business banking online, but consistently fail to report anything back.

I am not having a go at the reps personally, since they are obviously just replying back with the instructed scripted answers, but it makes the whole Talk To charade less useful than the worst tier-1 support.

The only metric appears to be response time, but BOI do quite well on that seen as most of their replies are the same. Are there any plans to introduce a rating system on the answers?, because this would quantifiably show the frustration that many posters probably feel.

FWIW The only Talk To forum that is a complete opposite and a great example of how it should be done is RicherSounds.ie. I'm sure that it helps there that the guys are real members of staff, rather than a separate department.

Orim

The complaints you have really need to be taken up with the company for the respective service.

Boards provides a platform for their interactions, it doesn't provide them with customer service guidelines. In the same way that Twitter, Facebook and whatever other platforms they choose to use don't.

nesf

A core unavoidable problem is that for many of these companies they cannot help you publicly because of the private information that would need to be exchanged.

Though I'd agree that "PM us your account details" seems to be a default all-purpose response too often.

Boards.ie: Niamh

Dav put it very well in another thread last year which I have quoted below. We provide a platform for companies to use for their customer service, we provide training in how to use Boards and we provide guidance in how best to communicate with users on Boards and the various situations that may arise.

Dav wrote: »

Some important points:

1) Boards.ie doesn't tell any of the businesses who have a Talk To forum how to do their jobs. Obviously enough, we provide training on the platform and guidance on how best to deal with certain sorts of things. If you see a list of unsatisfactory responses or you don't think any particular company isn't doing things right, well then you can factor that into your purchasing decisions. The response time and response rate statistics are there to help you see what any particular company is like to deal with. It's also worth pointing out that all the companies were happy to see these added as it's important for them to show people how they're dealing with the issues that arise on their forum.

2) Personal account business has to be done in private for all sorts of obvious privacy as well as legal reasons. It is still unbelievable how many people post their name, phone number and various other personal details on this site, but the reps have a duty of care not to engage with that person on the thread and merely point out that they should edit the post (they also report these posts to us to snip as quick as we can) and send a PM. Almost all queries beyond a general information question require personal details to determine the exact circumstances of the issue and to get a resolution.

3) Big companies are big! This might seem like a daft statement, but these companies who have Talk To forums are too big to be able to react as quickly as we who are daily internet users who are used to quick turn-arounds would want. You have to appreciate that there are a lot of internal hoops to be jumped through by any front line staff to get results because in many cases you're talking about senior management who simply don't use or understand the internet (despite the fact that in some cases, you're talking about ISPs) and who remain unconvinced that a thread with several thousand views about a given problem is hugely damaging to a company's reputation. A big part of the existence of these forums (as I see it) is to allow a company's social media and/or customer service teams show how they need to be more flexible in dealing with common issues such as incorrect billing and lack of service.

Regarding a ratings system - there is no plan to introduce one at the moment. It is something we have talked about in the past but for now the Response Rates and Response Times plus reading some of the existing threads and responses in the forum are the best indicator of a company's performance.

LuckyLloyd

Red Alert wrote: »

FWIW The only Talk To forum that is a complete opposite and a great example of how it should be done is RicherSounds.ie. I'm sure that it helps there that the guys are real members of staff, rather than a separate department.

Unreal quality of support there it must be said.

Ken.

I miss Declan.

easygoing1982

I agree that its frustrating to post on the BOI forum for example and its that reason I don't wouldn't post on it.

But there is a bit of a difference and unfair comparing the likes of BOI and richersounds.

Richersounds are dealing with enquiries mostly from what I can see about the best sound systems and earphones.

BOI and the like are dealing with peoples bank accounts where their weeks wages are paid in to.

It is a waste of time in my opinion having forums as they rightly so cant deal with 90% of their queries on thread.

Personally I think the Eircom forum needs a bit of a shake up from what I can see most threads are OPs asking reps are there any updates and the reps promising to update OP by end of day with the next reply being from OP 2 days later asking again from update.

I also realise this is not the reps fault as they can only work within their remit but could it not be possible to organise to get someone to ring the OP and give them a sort of personal touch if for example said problem lasts more than 5 working days.

Red Alert

Bank of Ireland's reps fob off general queries as well. I asked about LTV on 1 bedroom apartments in general and was giving what seemed to be a prerecorded spiel to contact my branch.

Niamh: why do you not want a ratings system? I'm sure it's actually because you'll offend your paying customers.

Boards.ie: Niamh

It's not a case of not wanting one. It could potentially be a useful feature but also potentially would be open to misrepresentation of stats depending on who was left to mark things as resolved/unresolved. It's something we might investigate again at a later date when we have more resources and/or developers but it's not in the immediate plans for early 2015.

5starpool

Red Alert wrote: »

Bank of Ireland's reps fob off general queries as well. I asked about LTV on 1 bedroom apartments in general and was giving what seemed to be a prerecorded spiel to contact my branch.

Most of the talk to forums seem to be nearly exactly that. Obviously all detail of help shouldn't and won't be played out in public for all to see, but lots of replies are about as helpful as a hole in the head. replies of 'give our customer service a call to discuss' are rife.

Reading a sample thread in the three forum about 4g coming to Portlaoise sums it up. In Feb the answer was it's coming soon, keep an eye on the site. In June it was 'it's rolling out as we speak'. In August it was 'it's a big roll out, keep an eye on your phone', in November it was 'big rollout, these things take time'.

The honest response in Feb would have been something like "We are upgrading 22 (e.g.) different towns over the next 12 months. I'm not sure when Portlaoise will be happening in that rollout, but it will be within the next 12 months. Sorry I can't be more specific, but keep an eye on our website and your phone to see if it has been enabled." Not very useful, but more honest than the pointless interactions of most of the forums I've checked. People almost always get directed from their to phone someone which is probably the thing they were trying to avoid in the first place by using the talk to forums. I'm assuming there are exceptions as well, such as the Richer sounds one, which seems to be getting good praise, but most of them are no better than contacting them via twitter or similar where you'll only be told to contact a phone number for actual answers rather than be fobbed off.

Pawwed Rig

Boards.ie: Niamh wrote: »

Regarding a ratings system - there is no plan to introduce one at the moment. It is something we have talked about in the past but for now the Response Rates and Response Times plus reading some of the existing threads and responses in the forum are the best indicator of a company's performance.

Response rates and response times are not even always a good indicator. I have noticed some of the Talk to forums are more concerned with 'getting the last word in' regardless of the quality or added value of the post just to keep their response rates high.
Generally a better indication of how good a company is is to read the titles of the threads in the first 3-4 pages. Where there is alot of negativity and anger it will often point to poor customer service.
I find them invaluable and have chosen mobile phone providers and our electricity provider solely on the basis of these fora.

Boards.ie: Niamh

Pawwed Rig wrote: »

Response rates and response times are not even always a good indicator. I have noticed some of the Talk to forums are more concerned with 'getting the last word in' regardless of the quality or added value of the post just to keep their response rates high.
Generally a better indication of how good a company is is to read the titles of the threads in the first 3-4 pages. Where there is alot of negativity and anger it will often point to poor customer service.
I find them invaluable and have chosen mobile phone providers and our electricity provider solely on the basis of these fora.

Thanks for the post Pawwed Rig - just on the highlighted bit above, only the first Rep response in a thread is used in calculating the Response Rate/Time, any responses after that from either party in the same thread have no effect on it.

Venus In Furs

I thought this thread was actually going to be about the way some posters can behave towards the reps.
Nothing short of vile IMO at times. I mean, look at this: http://www.boards.ie/ttfthread/2057343544/3

At least the company are standing up for themselves and at least other posters are defending them, but the sheer nastiness and misrepresentation (on the basis of ONE incident, much of the blame for which lies with the courier company) is a sight to behold.

Red Alert

I notice no update on the link. Do different standards apply on these rather than other forums Niamh because on a few occasions I have seen you close threads when the company were getting serious heat? I'm not trying to have a "go" at you personally, but I feel that these forums are abusing user trust in boards.ie when the companies are allowed to act like they're engaging but in reality they are not.

Venus In Furs

If it's a generic query, it should be responded to publicly. But in the case of an account specific query, saying "Send us a private message with your details" is perfectly reasonable. The account has to be checked before the issue can be commented on, and obviously an account cannot be discussed publicly.

Red Alert

I agree in the main, but what happens a customer specifically wants the discussion to happen in public. Unlikely to be the case in terms of a bank account, but may be much more relevant in the case of broadband for example.

Venus In Furs

Red Alert wrote: »

I agree in the main, but what happens a customer specifically wants the discussion to happen in public. Unlikely to be the case in terms of a bank account, but may be much more relevant in the case of broadband for example.

From what I read of the telecomms forums (where the reps get slaughtered by keyboard warriors knowing the reps can't defend themselves) the reps don't actually know tbh and need to escalate it and this gets delayed.

Also, even if the customer wants the issue to be discussed in public, it may not be possible if it involves divulging account specifics. Data protection is really strict. It's not just stuff as sensitive as bank account details, but even just details on account notes.

Boards.ie: Niamh

Red Alert wrote: »

I notice no update on the link. Do different standards apply on these rather than other forums Niamh because on a few occasions I have seen you close threads when the company were getting serious heat? I'm not trying to have a "go" at you personally, but I feel that these forums are abusing user trust in boards.ie when the companies are allowed to act like they're engaging but in reality they are not.

I closed that thread at a quarter to midnight on New Year's Eve. I was at home sick and to be honest, I forgot to bookmark it to get back to. I will when I can but it won't be today.

Different standards do not apply. Ranting in any kind of aggressive or nasty manner is not allowed. Personal abuse is not allowed. If a thread is brought to our attention and someone is posting in a way that would get them removed from a shop were they to talk to someone behind a counter in the same manner, I take whetever action I think is necessary. These are not faceless rep accounts covered by robots. They are people doing their job and they deserve some respect and to be spoken to in a courteous manner regardless of how angry someone might be about the issue they are experiencing. It is in a similar vein to 'attack the post not the poster'. We expect users to complain about the issue not about the reps replying to the thread.