Four Months & Ready to Churn

My name is Betsy, and I am a churner. Based on data mining, though, you already knew that. I have had service for only four months. I have the least expensive price plan. I hardly use the phone, yet my bills are outrageous. These facts have alerted your churn-analysis products that I am on the verge of leaving. So why haven't you called to check up on me?

The truth is, I have been unhappy since the day I signed up with you. My cumbersome, heavy battery causes my hand to cramp. Voices sound disjointed and robotic, both to me and to the person on the other end. And, like most new digital subscribers, I was shocked when I opened my first bill. Here I was expecting a nice little balance of $25 because I had 50 free minutes a month. It was $111.35, and I had talked for only 43 minutes with no roaming. The next bill was for $42, but I had used the phone only nine minutes that month, basically $4.66 a minute.

If I am so irritated, you ask, why am I still around? Well, what your data mining didn't tell you is that I am loyal. I have had the same long-distance carrier for seven years. I refused to cancel America Online for my Internet service, even when it was having capacity problems and it took an hour to sign on. I have returned to restaurants for terrible food, just because the atmosphere was friendly and the service was consistent. There are a lot of people out there like me who will tolerate mediocre quality if we feel you are doing something to improve because you value our business.

The problem is, you have not done a thing. In fact, three bad customer-service experiences have pushed me too far, and now I am counting the days until I can cancel our contract. Some carriers have customer service representatives (CSRs) who contact customers after the first bill to help them deal with their shock. Not you. After my first bill, I called your CSR. She informed me that there was a $50 activation fee that you should have told me about at the point of sale. You did not. You also did not tell me about the option to either buy a digital phone and not sign a contract, or get the phone for free and sign a 2-year contract. I found that out from a coworker after I bought the phone and signed a 1-year contract. One of your other CSRs told me that I could not switch to a lower rate plan because of my contract. After checking with her supervisor, she changed her story.

Maybe you have not called me because you think of me as a light user, the customer you do not necessarily want, but I would be more apt to use your phone if we had a decent relationship. I can deal with a hand cramp now and then. I know that voice quality will improve as you build out your network, and I could even get used to the bills. There is no excuse for the bad service, however. That is where you lost me.

By now, you have a strategy or gadget to identify customers who are going to churn, but it should not take expensive technology to determine that the ones who will leave are the ones you have upset. All of the data mining in the world will not help you when you ignore the results and your most loyal customers feel like you do not care.