Dubai: etisalat has said that the average customer support waiting time for the company's internet users is two to three minutes, despite numerous complaints by subscribers of having to wait up to half an hour before the phone is answered.
Syrian banker May, told Gulf News she was recently kept on hold 20 minutes before the customer support representative picked up her call, not knowing that the number she had called was not a toll-free one.
Upon discovering how much she was charged for the call, she called etisalat back and demanded to be compensated for the lost credit.
"Why should I be paying to wait for them?" She was told that the matter would be looked into but said she never received a response.
Gulf News has received a number of similar complaints from etisalat subscribers. A subscriber of the company's Al Shamil DSL service said he once called technical support at 4am and was told after a half-an-hour wait that the person responsible had left the office for the night.
"I was furious," he said.
Hesham Ahmad, an Emirati subscriber of Al Shamil, said he had an intermittent connection for five days, and had lodged a complaint "many times" but received no response.
"I called them with a complaint and was given a reference number and told that a technician would call me. I never received the call so I called etisalat back and was told that my complaint had never been registered," he said, adding that he waited for two more days but no technician called.
Ali Mahmoud, an etisalat subscriber, said he had been having internet difficulties with his Al Shamil service for over a year before he received a response.
"For a whole year, I had an intermittent DSL connection. Every time I called etisalat I was told that my complaint has been filed and I should expect a call and a visit from a technician soon. The technician came a year later after a number of calls and a demand for compensation," he said.
etisalat has defended its customer service record, saying representatives are "thoroughly trained and are highly professional and skilled, capable of understanding the customer problem clearly and helping them resolve the issues".
Khalifa Al Shamsi, Vice-President Marketing, told Gulf News that recent improvements in customer support levels have been acknowledged by customers "in writing".
In order to further improve customer support, said Al Shamsi, the telecom company is in the process of introducing an automated service that would allow subscribers to resolve problems by themselves instead of speaking to a representative.
Customer support staff often go out of their way to help subscribers resolve their problems by helping with software and hardware issues that are not under the company's control, he added.
"This demonstrates our philosophy of going out of our way to help our customers," said Al Shamsi.
Internet: no outage in connection
There are no general outage in internet connections in any part of the UAE, said a spokesperson from etisalat.
Despite complaints of slowness in internet connections or intermittent DSL connections in some areas, an etisalat official said there have been no "major issues apart from individual cases".
Khalifa Al Shamsi, Vice-President Marketing, said that the network had been performing very well.
Have your say
How long do you have to wait for a customer service representative to answer your call on average? Has your complaint ever been 'lost'? Are you having difficulties accessing the internet? Tell us at letter2editor@gulfnews.com
Your comments
As long as there is no true competition, poor service will always be the norm. They don't care because they don't have to. You don't have a choice and they know it. It was the same problem in my home country until competition was introduced in the 80's, now they bend over backwards to keep your business because they know you can switch to another phone company with one phone call.
Joey
Dubai,UAE
Posted: May 06, 2008, 14:12
I think these complaints are irrelevant. etisalat has the reputation of being among the best worldwide telecom providers. They are also the most profitable, making billions of dirham every year, only because their service is great.
David
Dubai,UAE
Posted: May 06, 2008, 14:11
I had a new Al Shamil line fixed around 10 days back. It worked fine for one day. I registered a complaint on March 26. First of all, I am kept on hold for 20 minutes before someone picks up the call. When the call is transferred to the follow-up department, it takes another 20-30 minutes. Also the person at the call centre told me that these calls were TOLL FREE when I asked him about the time I was kept on hold, so I didn't mind. Finally, after calling the call centre around six times and one visit to the contact centre, they brought my Al Shamil line back after a seven day ordeal. I faced similar problems when I had applied for my phone line also. These people don't know what customer service is, nor are they equipped with the proper manpower and knowledge of a professional organisation. Next time, if I have another option of who provides these services, I will switch.
John
Sharjah,UAE
Posted: May 06, 2008, 12:29
I believe there is a major issue with etisalat's customer care. I applied for Al Shamil DSL in March and two months later, I still didn't get contacted on installation, or even if it can't be installed for some reason. I called customer services several times but would lose hope after 15 minutes on hold.
Ayman
Sharjah,UAE
Posted: May 06, 2008, 12:24
The standard of service provided by etisalat now has deteriorated heavily, compared to the service I used to get 10 years back. etisalat took more than one month to shift my telephone within Abu Dhabi city, and I must say that there is no standard for etisalat service now. Come on etislat, please provide services like other reputed telecom organisations of the world. etisalat technicians are making missed calls and asking the subscribers to call back using our credit. What is the answer of etislat for this?
Nasirudeen
Abu Dhabi,UAE
Posted: May 06, 2008, 12:18
I have had experiences, but not as bad as described. The maximum time I was put on hold never exceeded five minutes and the technician's delay was never more than two days.
Sonia
Abu Dhabi,UAE
Posted: May 06, 2008, 12:06
This is daylight robbery! And to think that every year they publish their net profit in millions. Getting rich by robbing in the name of public service! What a shame!
James
Ras Al Khaimah,UAE
Posted: May 06, 2008, 11:56
The shortest time I ever had to wait was six minutes, normally it takes between 20 and 50 minutes before someone answers the phone. There has been at lot of disruption of the internet connection in 2008. It normally takes 2-3 days to get the connection back. I feel that etisalat does not care about us, they only want to make money.
Maryam
Sharjah,UAE
Posted: May 06, 2008, 10:50
The customer service recording says representatives are "thoroughly trained and are highly professional and skilled, capable of understanding the customer problem clearly and helping them resolve the issues". Well I don't agree with it, as the last time I called the customer service five times (it took me more than 30 minutes of waiting for each call to be answered). It didn't resolve the problem and their answers are all different.
LJ
Dubai,UAE
Posted: May 06, 2008, 10:50
