Virgin Media

Virgin Media texts customers two days before any arranged installation date to remind them of their appointment. This two-way service allows customers to respond and approximately 6% do so. A Project Manager at Virgin Media says:

"We did have quite a large number of people who just weren't in - they'd forgotten we were coming. By messaging them we've been able to jog their memories - fewer customers forget, many come back and tell us in advance the appointment is no longer convenient and ask to re-arrange. We've been surprised to find that quite a few have also thanked us for the reminder. So we've had a very positive response from them. We're delighted with the service. It's good for customers, it's good for us."

It's also good for Virgin Media engineers. The company prides itself on installing systems quickly and efficiently first time without any problems, so the number of completed installations is an important measure of how well the engineers are doing. Virgin Media estimate they have avoided 45,000 wasted callouts per annum, improving their performance figures markedly.

When you see the scale of the Virgin Media operation you can see what a saving this is – Virgin Media has fitted broadband internet connections to a million homes. Nearly 2.5 million people use Virgin Media as their phone provider. And then there’s maintenance. A spokesman says:

"A lot of people can call our engineers out when the problem is with their TV set or other equipment and not with the cable service. They clear up the problem but forget to cancel the Virgin Media engineer who turns up to find he wasn't needed, or there is no-one in. We found 16% of customers who arranged for a visit weren't in; now we text them a couple of days before. As a result that number has gone down by 6% which makes a big difference. It means we can do legitimate repairs more efficiently and quickly, which obviously goes down well with customers."

Finally Virgin Media managers are finding Esendex’s Web SMS a valuable management tool. Call centre managers, who are often away from their desks, are sent an SMS every hour and a half telling them how many calls are being handled in an hour, and the average time spent dealing with those calls. If problems are developing they can deal with them immediately rather than wait till they are back at their desks having to wade through hundreds of emails.

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