Communicating with your customers and providing a great customer experience is more important today more than ever. Unfortunately, many telcos would rather make a dishonest dollar than provide an honest service.
At Enfonica, we believe in the value and necessity of transparency and fairness. So here’s four ways your current telco may be getting one over on you, based on our experience and observations of the industry.
1. Locking you in without you knowing it
Many telcos employ automatic renewal clauses hidden in the fine print of their contracts. To cancel or port your services, you may be required to provide written notice up to 90 days before the end of the contract, otherwise you are automatically locked in for another term. If you try to break the contract, expect them to try to charge you for the payout of the contract. If you miss the date by even one day, expect to be locked in by another 12 or 24 months.
2. Charging you more than you use
Many telcos bill in whole minute increments. That 10 second call could cost you the same as a 60 second call. On average, whole minute billing increases your effective call rate by 10%.
Auditing your usage can be next to impossible. Many telcos don’t give an itemised breakdown of call activity, or if they do, it is overwhelming, in paper format and hard to analyse. You have to take your bill on faith, trusting that you’ve been charged the right amount without any real method of oversight or recourse.
3. A “great” deal
Telcos construct their plans in a way that looks good, but actually locks customers in for services they may not need. For example, your business might purchase an enterprise plan for $8,000 a month which allows for 100,000 inbound minutes. It might sound like a good deal versus their smaller plan, but what if you only use half of that? You’re left paying for a service you don’t use, while the salesperson who sold you the service is cashing their commission cheque.
4. Do you even own your phone numbers?
Does a telco own a phone number you really want? They can lease it to you, they say.
Leasing numbers is dangerous territory. You do not own the number. You will be locked in to leasing the phone number, and if you become dependent on it, expect your monthly payments to increase when your contract renews. They might offer to sell you the number, but when you see the price, you will feel like you’re paying a ransom.
How to get a better deal
Take these steps to get a better deal:
- Make sure you understand how renewal works.
- Insist on per second billing.
- Don’t commit to more than you use.
- Carefully consider the implications of leasing phone numbers before becoming dependent on those numbers.
Knowledge is power. Telcos have a number of sneaky tactics at their disposal designed to increase their profits at your expense. Being aware of these tactics is the first step toward liberating your telecommunications.
It’s time you found a trustworthy telco.
