Foxtel has no customer service. They don’t want customers to contact them. Once they have you signed up, they make it almost impossible for you to speak to a service representative about a technical problem.
I have a Foxtel iQ and a Foxtel regular set top box at home. The service on both has been out since Monday. Each time I call the company it automatically resets the boxes and says if the problem continues I should call back. I call back and they reset the boxes again. The only way to get a human to answer is to pose as a sales prospect, they answer the call quickly. Thankfully, one of their human sales people walked the office and found a technical person. This was unsatisfying because all he could do was book inan appointment for a visit.
If Foxtel cared about customer service they would provide a help desk I could call where I could talk to a human. They would make it easier for me to get satisfaction instead of having to wait what will be five days before even having the problem diagnosed.
When speaking to the human yesterday I asked for a service manager to call me. He refused to arrange this. When I complained about lack of service, he said I am on the phone now. he cared less that the service had been out for three days.
Sorry for this off topic post. My hope is that it will attract the attention of Foxtel management or, better still, give a potential Foxtel customer reason to pause and investigate Foxtel service before signing up.
Newsagencies are customer service businesses. We have to be with everything we sell being available elsewhere. This is what competition is about. Foxtel has no competition yet. The next few years will change that as the computer takes over from the TV as the delivery channel for content.
12 responses so far ↓
1 Stephen // Jul 24, 2008 at 8:00 AM
Sorry Mark can’t say I had the same problem. My iq failed one night i was on with a tech within 10 minutes who went through 3 various solutions. Once they didn’t work she arranged for a technician to come around and in 2 days I had a new iq box installed and all was well.
2 mark // Jul 24, 2008 at 8:06 AM
Stephen, In my case both boxes went at exactly the same time. This suggests the problem is not the box. If only I could talk to someone who can help me better diagnose. mark
3 Bill Bennett // Jul 24, 2008 at 8:16 AM
Mark
I reckon this post could have been bang on target if your introduction read something like:
“Imagine how long your newsagency would stay in business if its customer service was like Foxtel’s”….
4 mark // Jul 24, 2008 at 8:23 AM
Great point Bill. I kept the opening par about Foxtel because of how posts are indexed by Google and others. I did add a small par to the end though.
5 Jill // Jul 24, 2008 at 10:44 AM
I hate Foxtel. They have no customer service at all.
6 Gray // Jul 24, 2008 at 2:03 PM
I couldn’t agree with Mark more. I have been a subscriber for 10 years but that doesn’t count for much! A few weeks ago our cable and IQ service was down (and stayed down for over 12 hours) and getting in touch with a human was impossible. The thing I loved (loathed) the most was that my calls went through to an automated response service that suggested I call back later when they weren’t so congested and then hing up on me. I am sure that if my bill was not paid so promptly each month they’d have someone calling me ASAP.
7 HG // Jul 24, 2008 at 2:43 PM
Well, big business. What can I say? When contacting them, during the options try to compare between the questions “r u existing customer” AND “r u new customer”. Compare how different the respond would be.
8 NN // Jul 24, 2008 at 3:27 PM
Like Gray, I enjoy the automated response hanging up on me when it decides its too busy to put me through to a human. Apart from one time, when I have got through to a human being, they have been very polite and helpful. However when I lost all my movies and programs from my planner, they did not think it reasonable to refund me, or offer any kind of discount or anything similar to make it up to me.
9 Michael // Jul 31, 2008 at 11:12 AM
Due to a house move were told to switch to Austar. We were told the contract wasn’t a problem seeing due to geography we couldn’t use Foxtel (Sound familiar? Contract with no service!)
Anyways we were charged $300 for the change in contract. We’re chasing it up now.
When will newsagents ever get a break? I’m in Queensland and are having enough of a hard time with BE, phonecards etc, still very grateful I’m not in Victoria with all of the tatts/intralot bizz going on. You guys are doing a good job keeping your heads above water.
10 Dodgy! // Aug 21, 2008 at 1:02 PM
I am an ‘almost new’ foxtel customer and I already have complaints! Its not a god sign is it… I have just relocated back to Australia fror the UK, where they have whats called ‘competition’ in the cable/satellite TV world. All be it 2 main rival companies (Sky & Virgin) but all the same its competition and the fight is all taking place in service.
I called Foxtel to complain that the ‘technicican’ had not turned up to connect my service as was described in the fodder they mailed to me, all be it on a completely different day than they had originally stated during my phone call when they were falling over themselves to sign me up with what seemed to be ‘the greatest of ease’.
Come the day of connection, no phone call in advance to tell me the technician was coming, no call when he apparrantly arrived and got no answer (??)… The first chap I spoke to was a young upstart that just wanted to put me through to cancel my account (service??) after telling me the ‘technisican’ had placed a calling card under the main glass door… of my apartment building with over 40 apartments in (???) and then hung up on me when I asked for a manager. The second was a genuinely helpful person who also hung up on me when putting me on hold, the third was the most genuine who agreed in my statement, and that of those comments above, that the service was APPALLING… she referred me to an account complaints division to speed up my connection… thank god I dont have a technical fault, as the previous comments have outlined…YET!
Ive now decided not to bother at all. As dismall as it is Im staying with the basics. I envisage future issues and frustrations which I am NOT willing to spend my money causing myself so much grief over.
One day…. we might have a better choice!
11 bs // Sep 25, 2008 at 10:09 AM
hate them too with a passion, i made many calls complaining and nothing was resolved and i sent few emails and nobody even called back , last week series link was down , this week something else is down, i cant wait till my subscription is up in january and i am going to cancel everything i mean how much money can you pay for repeats and more repeats and again more repeats, they make lots of money for not really providing new programs to view just repeats and more repeats and i am sick of paying over $100 for that, and as everyone says no customer service, i had problems with iq as well, i would record movies that i paid for and iq would delete itself and i would call foxtel and if i was lucky enough to speak to someone they wouldnt do a thing, and i expected to get credited but no chance
i am sick of foxtel they need to look into american or european market and see how they operate and what they offer, here they offer nothing and it cost much more then it costs over there
they billing stinks too, i have 2 free movies in my package but guess what i get charged every month for it and every month i ring etc etc,
i think the only way they will learn is for everyone to walk away and that will be a great lesson on how to treat customers and how to offer decent service
anyway good luck to new customers, if i was you i would connect to foxtel, and if you do remember you have been warned
12 bs // Sep 25, 2008 at 10:11 AM
i meant i wouldnt get connected to foxtel and if u do u have been warned
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