When it comes to excellence in customer service, Australian telcos seem to know how to get it… oh so wrong! I, like many excited Australians upgraded my iPhone to version 3.0 today and with it gained some fantastic new features. Some for fun and some that help make doing business on the run easier and more effective. The iPhone truly is a remarkable device for doing business.
However… my elation soon turned to dissapointment when I discovered that Optus is looking to charge for tethering. Tethering, the ability to connect my iphone to my laptop and use it as a mobile modem, allowing me to effectively access the internet anywhere on the go, no longer restrained to the office, is a very handy feature and one I used often with my previous phone… for free… with Three mobile. Most providers and many phones already provide tethering as a free service.
Why then would Optus charge for such a feature? Seriously. Why?
Already Optus charges exhorbitant amounts of cash if you go over your monthly internet download limit with your Iphone, so surely it is actually in their best interests to actually allow customers free tethering and allow us to use up our internet quota… and pay extra. For some reason this isn’t enough for Optus, they seem to want to double dip, charging $9.99 just for the privilidge. I’ll be interested to see their reasoning behind this move and see if customers talk with their feet as Vodaphone and Three provide free tethering.
Lesson here… When you have customers in the realm of elation, an excited frenzy because of a new product launch, provide them with better value, not worse. Then sit back and watch the groundswell of positive word of mouth bring you more business…