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Ofcom helps protect customers against unexpected roaming charges

Ofcom helps protect customers against unexpected roaming charges

UK service providers must notify customers when they connect to a different network

New rules from UK telecoms regulator Ofcom will protect customers when they use their mobile phone on a foreign network. In addition, customers will be alerted if they are inadvertently roaming, perhaps because they're near an international border.
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Global smartphone market is set for recovery, says new forecast

A new forecast from research specialists Canalys shows the smartphone market is set to recover next year. Worldwide shipments declined by 12% last year but that decline is expected to slow to 5% this year.
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Vodafone and Three plan to merge their UK businesses

Vodafone and Three plan to merge their UK businesses

New Hutchison/Vodafone network would be biggest UK operator

Vodafone Group plc and CK Hutchison Group Telecom Holdings Limited have agreed to combine their UK telecommunication businesses, respectively Vodafone UK and Three UK. The merger will create a large new network operator to compete with Virgin Media O2 and EE.
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UK mobile payment service Paym to close in March 2023

UK mobile payment service Paym will close on 7th March 2023. The service, which allowed users to make and receive payments using their mobile phone numbers, was launched in 2014.
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Qualcomm legal action moves forward in the UK

Qualcomm legal action moves forward in the UK

Which? seeks payout for Samsung and Apple smartphone owners

Consumer protection organisation Which? has been given permission by the UK's Competition Appeal Tribunal to represent Apple and Samsung smartphone buyers in a legal case against chip manufacturer Qualcomm.
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Opinion Articles

Sunday, October 17, 2010

The positive cult of giffgaff

Mark Bridge writes:

Wouldn't it be great if mobile customers loved their networks so much that they'd fight for them?  Ofcom would be inundated with complaints from O2 users about its decision not to allow GSM frequencies to be used for 3G services. Vodafone customers would demand that Nokia pre-loaded the N8 with a Vodafone 360 application. Orange users would be sending petitions to radio stations, asking them to implement HD Voice on phone-ins. And giffgaff users would take to online forums to defend the service they receive.

Oh, hang on. That last one's already happening.

Before I go any further I'll offer a disclaimer. I'm not a giffgaff customer. I've never been a giffgaff customer. And chances are I'll never be a giffgaff customer. Not because I dislike the company – far from it – but because I'm self-employed. Alas, giffgaff's oh-so-appealing unlimited internet bundle excludes "commercial" use, which means much of my web browsing, downloading and email usage wouldn't be eligible. Fair enough. The rules are perfectly clear. Which means I'm not writing this as a current, previous or potential customer.

When giffgaff launched, the community focus was a breath of fresh air. Not only were customer service issues being dealt with by the customers themselves, the company also had a wide-ranging socially-networked presence. Twitter. YouTube. Facebook. All present and correct.

Which means when things went wrong – from teething troubles to O2 data problems and other unwanted parental interference – they weren't hidden. Honesty is, as my mother always told me, the best policy.

The flip side is the oft-quoted statistic that says most unhappy customers tell at least nine other people of their unhappiness, with 13% of them telling more than 20 people. Social networks make that easier than ever. Couple this with a tabloid tendency to look for trouble and you might think those forums, those Twitter updates, those Facebook wall comments, could all knock some of the shine off the network.

But that's not what seems to be happening. To its credit, giffgaff appears to be handling those complaints well (even if community members are occasionally less well-mannered than the 'official voice'). Most recently, giffgaff customers have defended the company at online forum pownum. This is a new site that generates a score out of ten - the pownum rating -  based on the opinions of consumers. It's all about the power of numbers - hence 'pownum'.

When pownum tweeted about giffgaff's score of just 2 out of 10, giffgaff's Social Media & PR Manager took to her company blog. Heather Taylor pointed out that allowing free consumer comments but charging companies for a 'right of reply' seemed unfair. Community members agreed. Not only have their comments now pushed giffgaff's score up to 9.47, they've also pushed pownum's score down to 7.29.

There are many companies that talk about fanatical customer support; Rackspace is one of the best-publicised. But when that customer support is largely provided by your own customers - and those customers have good reasons for being attached to their mobile network - you start to approach the kind of cult-like consumer enthusiasm that's usually only associated with Apple.

Of course, giffgaff is a relatively young company. We've not yet had a year of full-time giffgaffing. Customer numbers and financial results are the kind of empirical data that investors like to see (although backing from O2 means we'll probably only see the results the parent company wants to share). 

However, if the current levels of customer enthusiasm are maintained, giffgaff really could be a game-changing business. And not just for the mobile industry.

 

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Categories: Networks and operators, OpinionNumber of views: 38980

Tags: o2 mvno giffgaff customer service

2 comments on article "The positive cult of giffgaff"

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andy

10/18/2010 10:46 AM

I think you're mistaken about the terms and conditions excluding you, Mark.

When it says commercial use, it means commercial use by other phone companies, not individual users who just happen to be a business.

So you having internet or a bundle of calls for your own use is fine, but not installing a SIM in other devices in order to rent out to other people

The forum has a few cases where such questions were raised, and although one or two forum members initially assume against it being allowed, remarks by staff members make clear that the policy is as above.

You can ask for a VAT invoice if you need it, though not having itemised calls yet might be a drawback to some people who need to charge some calls but not others.

But if you're self-employed, you're in charge of how to arrange that, and could have one SIM for work and one for personal (with free forwarding between them) if you choose.


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The Fonecast

10/18/2010 11:08 AM

Thanks for the comment, Andy. I've searched through the forum and found the debate at community.giffgaff.com/t5/Discuss-giffgaff-Questions-and/Business-Use/m-p/7542/

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