Re: DISATISFIED WEB TV CONSUMER PETITION

An official response from WebTV to the "DISATISFIED WEB TV CONSUMER PETITION" :

To our valued WebTV Subscribers,

I was recently contacted by many of our WebTV subscribers, who brought the on-line petition to my attention. The petition outlines a number of areas in which WebTV has provided less than stellar service, and insists that this matter be addressed. Having read the petition, I must offer my support and agreement. I would like to respond to this matter, and offer my sincere assurances that we are heading in the right direction.

Please read on, as I'd like to provide you with detailed information regarding how and why we are able to implement such changes, dramatically improving our customer service.

First, let me introduce myself. My name is Dennis Reno, and I was recently brought on-board specifically to address this type of matter. You see, with over twenty-five years of experience, I have a track record of doing this at a number of different companies and organizations, including Silicon Valley start-ups, Major Airlines, Regional Bell Operating Companies and others. In short, I was recruited in order to implement positive change within the context of customer services.

Now, at the risk of being too comprehensive, I'd like to provide you with the specifics regarding the details of this effort. It's important to note that I have the full support of my colleagues on the Executive Team, here at WebTV.

First, we'd like to address the matter of the Summer Upgrade. Some subscribers have experienced problems as a result of accepting the upgrade. We've put a special SWAT team in place. The members of the team are specially trained to resolve problems related to the upgrade. In fact, they are able to either fix the unit (over the telephone), or simply replace it, should they be unable to get the box working. We encourage anyone still experiencing problems related to the summer upgrade to call the toll free number of the support group: 866-207-7312.

Our next step is in the creation of a Resolution & Recovery Team. This group exists in order to address matters that were not resolved to the satisfaction of our customers. The members of this team will be empowered and well-educated, ensuring that they have the capability to act as the best ambassadors of WebTV - both in a technical and billing capacity.

Further, we are about to deploy a special e-mail address as an "ombudsman" for WebTV subscribers who wish to escalate customer service related issues to us directly. A delegate within my direct staff will monitor this e-email address. We will use all of the data that is available in tracking and reporting on trends and issues that have been escalated to the Resolution & Recovery Team. This data will help us improve the quality of our customer service in a number of ways.

We've also begun working on a new call routing model, in which callers are given faster, more streamlined access to support representatives when calling our toll-free number for telephone support. I believe very strongly that providing fast and accurate support should be among our highest priorities.

On a larger scale, we've created and launched an internal task force in order to address the matter of sporadic network down time. One of the key goals with this task force is in providing more reliable information more quickly to our customers during network outages, or during any occasion in which the performance of the WebTV service is affected. Additionally, our telephone-based support agents will be given regular and informative updates regarding existing problems, schedules, solutions, etc. We want our subscribers to be able to obtain accurate and reliable information - it's that simple.

There are other areas in which we could improve our service, as well; that's something that we'll be looking at very closely in the coming weeks and months. But the bottom line is that we are committed to exceptional customer service. From our experience, customers measure companies not on what they do well, but rather how well they handle the exceptions and the things that can go wrong. We want WebTV to be easy to do business with, and we believe that we have a product that provides significant value to our customers. We are working very hard to enhance that value, and offer a level of service that will "wow" our subscribers.

Please accept our apologies for any trouble that you've encountered, and for any inconvenience that you've experienced. We remain dedicated to restoring your faith in WebTV, and hope that you'll work with us in keeping WebTV on track. Finally, we do value your input. I'm especially interested in getting your feedback with regard to our improving our customer support. If you have ideas or concerns, please feel free to contact me via email.

Best Regards,

Dennis Reno
Sr. Director, Customer Service
WebTV
dreno@microsoft.com

The DISATISFIED WEB TV CONSUMER PETITION Petition to WEB TV was created by the WEB TV COMMUNITY and written by Thomas J. McCarthy.  This petition is hosted here at www.PetitionOnline.com as a public service. There is no express or implied endorsement of this petition by Artifice, Inc. or our sponsors. The petition scripts are created by Mike Wheeler at Artifice, Inc.  For Technical Support please use our simple Petition Help form.

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