Dump Your Provider By Text

What’s The Problem?

Delivering exceptional customer service is now a key differentiator in business, and companies that don’t go the ‘extra mile’ quickly find they lose customers to those that do.

Ensuring customer satisfaction however, does not seem to be a high priority in every sector of the economy. Utilities and telecommunications are often considered to be behind the game when it comes to adequately servicing their customers.
If you’ve ever tried to move your mobile contract to a new provider will know how difficult this can be. The process often seems overly complex, with numerous contract stipulations that make trying to change a costly and difficult experience.
In fact, around 2.5 million of us who have tried to switch or cancel a contract encountered at least one major difficulty when doing so. As a result, many phone users stay with their current mobile provider, and endure less than ideal service, rather than go through the trauma of moving to another.

Dumped By Text

After putting forward plans earlier this year to automatically compensate customers who experience slow broadband repairs or missed appointments by engineers, phone regulator Ofcom, has now turned its attention to the mobile phone industry.
If Ofcom’s proposals become reality however, then in future mobile phone customers will be able to dump their current provider just by sending them a text. No more tortuous calls to someone who seems intent on doing all they can to make it as difficult as possible for you to leave.

Under Ofcom’s new automated ‘text to switch’ plan once a provider receives your ‘goodbye text’ they must text back information about any termination fees, outstanding handset costs and account balance.

Supply PAC Code In One Working Day

Most importantly, your newly dumped ‘ex’ provider will have to supply the Porting Authorisation Code (PAC), needed by your new provider, who will also be obligated to get you up and running as a customer within just one working day!

No Additional Charges

Under the Ofcom plan, phone providers would also be prevented from making additional charges after your switch date. Collectively, this could save Britain’s mobile users around £10m every year.

What Does This Mean For Your Business?

For the 93% of us who own or use a mobile phone, this can only be good news. Mobile communications are now vital to modern businesses, and the quality, content and pricing of the mobile services offered by providers to businesses can be an important factor in the competitiveness of those businesses.

Business customers being able to switch more quickly and easily should, therefore, motivate mobile phone companies to improve their customer service, and provide services that add more value for lower prices.

For many businesses broadband speed is an important issue, and for example, A 10-week public consultation is to be held by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) and the Committees of Advertising Practice (CAP) about the advertised speeds of competing broadband services and whether they differ from real user experiences.

The recent introduction of ‘Voom Fibre’ from Virgin Business, which offers SMEs the chance to benefit from a broadband speed of 350Mbps, is just the sort of thing that is likely to trigger switching by many businesses.