Well done Paul Reynolds
May 31st, 2010 at 4:41 pm by David FarrarA reader recently emailed Telecom CEO Paul Reynolds saying:
Mr Reynolds
I have just changed my account to the Total Home package.
I live in Pukekohe, Franklin County. In November 2010 we will become part of the Auckland SuperCity.
There appears to be a lot of confusion amongst your staff on how this change applies to my account.
Could you please confirm that in November 2010, the base charge on my Total Home account will change from $109 per month to $99 per month.
Would you please m ake certain that your staff also know this to avoid the frustrating confusion (in one case a “hang up” – since dealt with)
To his great surprise he got a reply from Paul Reynolds himself, saying:
Thanks for your note. I am not personally aware of any Telecom tariff changes consequent upon the change to Auckland Super City. However I have asked CEO Retail, Alan Gourdie, to look into the source of miscommunication and get back to you.
I am very impressed that the CEO of Telecom actually takes the time to reply to an e-mail from a customer, rather than just forward it onto someone else to do.
How many other large companies would have CEOs do the same?
Tags: Paul Reynolds (Telecom), Telecom
May 31st, 2010 at 4:57 pm
sod all is the answer
Vote:May 31st, 2010 at 5:06 pm
Good to see.
We too recently had an experience of Telecom customer service that FAR surpassed what we expected, based on the last dealings wither of us had with Telecom many many moons ago. Maybe they have turned over a new leaf and developed a customer service ethic?
Vote:May 31st, 2010 at 5:18 pm
Unusual. Just because there is a reply with his name on it doesn’t mean he actually replied, but it may. And really, makes no difference to the person who got the response.
But here’s a different question. What sort of nutjob thinks that becoming part of the super city changes how much they pay Telecom?
Vote:May 31st, 2010 at 5:20 pm
I think you really mean, well done to Paul Reynold’s PA.
Vote:May 31st, 2010 at 5:21 pm
Yes, good on him. Well done, even if it is a form reply.
Still doesn’t justify a tax cut of almost $300,000 for him though.
Vote:May 31st, 2010 at 5:26 pm
@PaulL
There are an awful lot of them. Just have to read the comments threads here to realise how ignorant some people are. The AGW deniers, for example, who in the face of overwhelming scientific evidence either argue that it is some vast left wing conspiracy to increase taxes and/or pick up on one or two trivial mistakes in scientific studies and attempt to use that as a basis for arguing the entirety of the science on the subject is flawed.
Vote:May 31st, 2010 at 5:30 pm
PaulL:
The nutjobs like myself that life in Franklin, soon to be part of the super city, yet still pay a toll call to other parts of the ‘city’.
Telecom have a deal, that seems to vary depending on who you get, that allows you to make unlimited calls to Auckland for $10. I am guessing that this is what they hoping will disappear.
Vote:May 31st, 2010 at 5:51 pm
toad: There are an awful lot of them. Just have to read the comments threads here to realise how ignorant some people are
Steady on toad, philu, RRM and LeftRightOut do have feelings you know.
Vote:May 31st, 2010 at 6:01 pm
Ah. That makes sense noj. If you’re paying $10 for toll free calling to Auckland, but you become part of Auckland, then it makes sense that you wouldn’t have to pay that anymore.
Vote:May 31st, 2010 at 6:18 pm
I wish he didn’t reply yet had managed a $594,000,000 investment into NZ a little better…
Vote:May 31st, 2010 at 6:37 pm
Apple Inc comes to mind.
Very true also. I have one email correspondent where 9 times out of 10 I seem to get a response from their PA (yet sent with bigwig’s email account & signature). I can easily tell by the language used – and it pisses me off no end – but that’s another matter.
Reminds me of a news story many years back where an old lady was shocked to receive a huge phone bill. She had been using a cordless phone and made the calls outside her home, near her neighbour’s fence, in the belief that she would somehow avoid billing. Classic.
Vote:May 31st, 2010 at 6:52 pm
Cum on DPF all major CEOs do it… it makes for good PR to at least reply to some… All the US presidents do it for just that reason… no doubt Key’s does it also.
Its about making the commoners think their masters are in touch and down to earth like them.
Vote:May 31st, 2010 at 7:08 pm
Toad>pick up on one or two trivial mistakes in scientific studies
Calling Mann’s hockey stick and the CRU’s attempts to “hide the decline” “trivial mistakes” is a bit like saying that the Catholic Church was correct about the Sun orbiting the Earth, and the whole Galileo thing was just a trivial mistake.
Vote:May 31st, 2010 at 7:12 pm
Steve Jobs at Apple does this sort of thing. Although, were he CEO of Telecom and the recipient of the email above, his reply would have been something like this:
Vote:May 31st, 2010 at 7:17 pm
“What sort of nutjob thinks that becoming part of the super city changes how much they pay Telecom?”
I do for one, Paul. noj makes the point re Franklin residents phoning Auckland. How about the other way round – would a tourist coming to Auckland expect to pay a toll or “long distance” charge to phone parts of Auckland City? Of course not. It would look third world, or worse.
So perhaps Telecom could confirm now that from October all of the new Auckland City will be part of a single Auckland free calling area. If not, the Auckland transition authority should get on to it if it really wants to create a “world class city”.
Vote:May 31st, 2010 at 10:49 pm
“I am very impressed that the CEO of Telecom actually takes the time to reply to an e-mail from a customer”
I’m not. He’s paid far too much to be answering emails. I wouldn’t applaud him for personally climbing a phone pole to fix an outage either. Delegate that sort of thing.
Vote:June 1st, 2010 at 8:09 am
“I am very impressed that the CEO of Telecom actually takes the time to reply to an e-mail from a customer”
That’s only because all the rest of the management team have resigned over the XT debacle isn’t it?
Vote:June 1st, 2010 at 4:30 pm
Someone has mentioned that Steve Jobs’ does reply to emails. Here is one email conversation he had, note the times the emails were sent:
http://gawker.com/5539717/steve-jobs-offers-world-freedom-from-porn?skyline=true&s=i
I have also had correspondence with Wellington Phoenix CEO Tony Pignata who is very approachable, but the Phoenix are not in the same league as Telecom …. yet
Vote:June 2nd, 2010 at 12:19 am
“How many other large companies would have CEOs do the same?”
Actually, TelstraClear, to my everlasting surprise. I had been overbilled $125 or so for several months, and despite having had the problem ‘resolved’ several times through their call centre, I started getting the threatening credit control letters.
Wrote to the CEO, reply and apology, problem fixed, $25 credit.
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