#1

Before, it was like so

I worked for Telus in Client Care (call centre rep) for many years, and recently parted ways. I'd like to share just a bit of information that I feel is relevant. I'm sorry if this seems long. lol.I remember being in a meeting early in 2011 where Telus stated how hard they were working to acquire (re: steal away) high revenue clients from Bell and Rogers, both in terms of big consumer accounts, and of course SMB (small medium business) accounts. They literally stated in the meeting that those who contribute less than $100 per phone line per month are so "low revenue" in their eyes that they do not matter, and would rather see them go in favour of gaining those larger accounts. The point of telling us that was so that we avoid offering people lucrative renewal deals unless they werebig spenders. So if you contribute $85 of your hard earned dollars for a cellphone plan each month, you're barely on their radar. Pathetic, I know.On a related note, many of you may know that Telus changed their hardware upgrade timeline earlier this year. I posted about this very thing back then.(assuming a 3 year term):Platinum Perks clients ($200+ in monthly revenue)

Eligible for full renewal discount anytime during final 24 months

High Value clients ($90 to $199 in revenue)

Eligible for full renewal discount anytime during final 12 months

Regular clients (below $90 in revenue)

Eligible for full renewal discount anytime during final 6 months

Now, it is like so:

#2

the customer

#3

Those who contribute below $200 have to wait until there are 3 months left on their contract to get a full renewal discount.Those who contribute above $200 get a full discount every 12 months.(A full discount means not having to pay any mid-contract "upgrade fees")So basically, the point made in that meeting was translated to this change: unless you contribute a ridiculousper year to your cell bill (per line! not per family!) then you're not giving them enough to get a decent offer.When I started working there, Telus had a program called "Telus to Win". In short: a job requirement was to bring up the most recent bill when a client called in. If you noticed something they were over-paying on, you had to mention a way to help.Example:It was a no obligation suggestion (you wouldn't be fired if people said no), but at least 30% of the time, it saved people a ton -- especially those who do a ton of pay-per-use texting. At 15 cents a text (per direction), it really ads up.Starting sometime in 2010, not just did Telus get rid of that concept, but they imposed a ridiculous new system:1) You cannot offer someone anything that would reduce Telus' income. So if they had Caller ID for $8 and Unlimited Text for $15, you could not offer them Package 15, which would provide both of those services for $15 total.2) You could only proactively offer to "right-size" someone's overages if they exceeded $200 in any one area. Meaning $92 in minute overages and $130 in data overages? Nope! Not allowed to help them, because it's not $200 in one single area.3) You could only offer to "right-size" them in smaller circumstances if the customer brought it up themselves. Despite having access to their file and seeing a way to save them like $40/month without them losing a damn thing, you couldn't help unlesssaid something, like "are there ways I can reduce my bill?"I honestly found that abhorrent. Their answer: "You only feel that way because you started working here back when we helped save people money. If you had started after, you would think its a GOOD thing for us to maximize profits regardless of the situation."**In most cases, it is not that the person you are speaking to isn't willing to help -- it's that the company they work for isn't allowing them to do any better. It sucks. For example, they originally allowed my department (regular customer service reps) to provide free perks as incentive (50% off your bill for a month, Caller ID free for 3 months), like if you had a poor store experience or were given wrong info, but then in 2011, they made it so only the Loyalty and Retention department could do so, and even then, must be very conservative with freebies or discounts. They made a rule that if you're on one of those promotional plans (like the student plans), you're not allowed any freebies -- and they ran audits on that stuff. Any L&R reps found doing that would be reprimanded, and I knew at least 2 co-workers that were asked to return to the Client Care department because they were being too liberal with freebies.**Also make note that this isn't aimed totally at Telus. It's also a bash of the cellular industry as a whole. Canada's telecommunications industry is a joke, and the CRTC is powerless to help. They've abolished 3 year contracts pretty much everywhere else, but in Canada? Here Rogers can create a Government Regulatory Recovery Fee, and then clearly state it is not collected by or affiliated with the government in any way, and the CRTC just lets that go.Hope that was useful. Any questions, just reply and I'll try to help.