Your people are your brand.

Today at 13:26 I received a call from *** that lasted around 17 minutes. It was from a guy called Dean who told me he was calling on behalf of Vodacom's review department. I had never requested anything from them so the call was unwarranted from my side. I had previously written a review complaining about the mobile data network, poor quality of the voice calls and all my messages and e-mails being delayed. The response I received on that complaint was for them to blame a years worth of poor connectivity on my iPhone's APN settings. I was sent new settings and asked to restart my phone which I did. Low and behold, nothing changed. It's what I'm used to by now. Life goes on. Then suddenly, Dean called me today. Apparently because somebody put my account on his desk and asked him to call me out of the blue. He said he wanted to find out if I was happy and had no intention of trying to market to me. But when I tried to talk to him he wouldn't let me finish what I was trying to explain. He again blamed the iPhone and perhaps towers and the same stories that we are all used to. He is rude and not helpful. And he feels like he is forced to do his job. He is clearly unhappy that he is being forced to phone customers. And it comes through in his voice and his telephone manner. Although he stated on several occasions that he was not trying to market to me, it was very clear that he is highly s****ed at fast talking. Much like you would have experienced with many other fast talking, hard selling telemarketers. He kept calling me by my first name as if I was a child that he was shouting at. Like he was my dad, and I was in trouble about something. He sounds quite young by his voice and I almost wanted to ask how old he was because he seems very bullish and immature still. When I asked him very clearly if he thought he was doing me a favour by expecting me to indulge him when he just happened to call me out of the blue and take it upon himself to talk to me all rude like, he plain refused to answer. When I asked him if he was unhappy about doing his job and if he felt like he was doing customers a favour by calling them up out of the blue and offering nothing but grief, he asked me if I was talking to him or asking a question. And I wasn't aware those were mutually exclusive. Vodacom, Dean from reviews is very frustrated and you made him my problem by putting my account on his desk today. Why did you do that? Please go and pull the call now. I'm tired of people phoning me and thinking they can talk to me any which way they like. I pay you for a service that I am not getting. I am giving you the benefit of doubt by listening to you when you give poor excuses for the bad service. And still you think its fine to call me up and shout at me. Dean is a fast talker, but I asked him to send me a reference for the call so that I could quote it in my complaint and it hasn't come through yet. This could either be due to Dean's hands not working as fast as his mouth or the poor connectivity as previously complained about. You need to realise that you should not be talking to women as if they are children to be shouted at. This is the problem with our country and this patriarchal society which filters down into every segment of society and even becomes reinforced into corporate culture because women have become tired of complaining about such. Do me a solid, don't call me again. I will call you if I need anything. It seems that every call is a new opportunity for you to ruin somebody's day in the name of adding value. Like so many other big corporates you get it wrong every time because you have the wrong people representing your brand. Start with the fundamentals. As an ICT service provider, each and every one of your staff should to be aware that communication is a two way process. You chose to call me. I chose to answer. I listened to you. You did not listen to me. Just because you know my first name this does not give you the right to talk to me as if we're besties. Client relations requires that a certain level of decorum be observed. Ponder that. No response required here, but if you care about your brand, perhaps consider listening to the call and have a chat to Dean.