‘This is customer disservice’

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 05/09/2022 (1139 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A pair of Manitoba retirees is fed up with automated customer service after spending hours trying to get through to a Manitoba Hydro employee.

“The phone was answered by a robot who told me my call was valuable to them and that my wait time would be less than two hours and thirty-five minutes,” said Christine Hallick. “It just seemed ridiculous to me. How could they make such a silly statement?”

Hallick and her husband were having difficulty resolving a problem online and thought it might be best to call customer service.

After a 45-minute wait, Hallick gave up, deciding she would try to phone back later. She repeated this process three more times to no avail, she said.

“I thought, ‘They do not want to help me. They want me to hang up and go online,” she said. “They were discouraging me from actually trying to talk to a person.”

Finally, the couple attempted to visit the Hydro centres in-person, but security staff informed them they were not open to the public.

The staff provided Hallick with three direct email addresses where she could direct her concerns, but her messages were met with more automated replies.

She couldn’t help but laugh.

“I sent them (a final) email saying this is customer disservice and could somebody please just talk to me… I just got again the kickback email.”

Hydro formerly operated four offices in the city but closed two prior to the pandemic and shuttered the remaining pair once lockdowns took effect. Those offices have not re-opened.

While Hydro offers in-person service in nearly two-dozen rural and Indigenous communities, the service is unavailable in Winnipeg.

“The decision to keep… offices closed is more due to fewer and fewer customers visiting these offices prior to the pandemic, as we are seeing increasing use by customers of our online services. We expect this trend to continue,” Bruce Owen, a Hydro spokesperson, said in an email statement.

Ultimately, Hallick’s husband was able to connect with a Hydro employee through its toll-free number. The representative resolved the issue in a few minutes, Hallick said.

The experience left her feeling like she was at Hydro’s mercy because there are no competitors in Manitoba’s energy sector.

“We’re over a barrel,” she said. “They have us in a position where really, we have no option but to deal with them… We’re paying their wages. We should be getting something more than a run-around.”

Owen said Hydro is extremely sympathetic to customers’ concerns over long wait times.

He attributed the delays to old call handling technology, which capped incoming calls at 120, meaning Hydro had no idea how many people were phoning them.

They introduced a new system this summer to fix this issue but need to recruit additional staff to match call demands, he said.

Owen did not provide data on how many employees currently work in Hydro’s customer service department but made it clear the company has not laid anybody off.

The company prioritizes online portals because most issues can be resolved through self-service. Redirecting customers has been helping to reduce call wait times, Owen said.

Customers who prefer to speak over the phone can select a call-back option, he added.

“For our customers still experiencing long wait times, we apologize. We know our customers deserve better. We’re working to make sure it is. We are fully committed to improving our service to meet our customers’ needs,” he said.

Hallick has noticed more and more companies automating the bulk of their customer service.

While that system likely saves money, it can be extremely unpleasant for customers, particularly people in older demographics, she said.

“(People are) very easy to appease… if you just listen for a few minutes and reach out to help a little bit,” Hallick said. “But when you can’t even get people to answer you that’s not a robo-call-thing, it’s very hard not to get frustrated.”

tyler.searle@freepress.mb.ca