- Virgin Media O2 has created a new dedicated team of 150 agents in Newcastle responsible for handling repeat customer contacts.
- Agents in the new hub will be responsible for the end-to-end resolution of extended, complex customer issues and providing additional, tailored support for vulnerable customers.
- Nuisance spam calls will also be routed through to this team, freeing up the wider workforce to respond to actual customer issues more quickly and efficiently.
- The launch follows an internal review by the company which found that approximately 50% of repeat contacts were generated by a disproportionately small group of callers.
Virgin Media O2 has launched a new customer hub in its Newcastle office comprising 150 agents dedicated to handling and resolving queries from repeat callers, driving further improvements in first-time resolution across the entire customer base.
The launch of this new team follows an internal review designed to better understand the reasons behind repeat customer contacts. That research found that around half of repeat calls originated from a small cohort of groups – customers with extended complex issues, vulnerable customers or those with specific needs, and nuisance or spam calls.
This new dedicated customer hub will better enable agents to provide tailored support for these repeat callers. For example, customers with extended complex issues will benefit from greater continuity of ownership and proactive case management, avoiding the frustration that can be caused by repeated explanations of their query to different agents at different times. Vulnerable customers often require additional support and will benefit from speaking to a familiar advisor who is empowered to spend more time ensuring that support is provided and fully understood.
Nuisance calls, which are generated in the same way as those received on people’s mobile phones, will also be routed through to this team, preventing them from consuming agent resources and helping to reduce waiting times for genuine customer calls.
The 150 agents involved in the new hub will receive enhanced training on supporting vulnerable customers. Demonstrating the company’s commitment to investing in both its people and its customers, this upskilling will enable agents to adapt their communication style and provide a more personalised experience.
Alan Stott, Virgin Media O2’s Chief Operating Officer, said: “We’ve made huge strides in our customer service over the last two years, with complaints significantly reduced and first-time resolution – the gold-standard of customer service – on the rise. But we know there’s even more we can do to deliver for our customers.
“That’s why we started a deep-dive to understand why, in some cases, first-time resolution wasn’t being achieved, and we found that almost half of repeat calls were being driven by a small subset of customers.
“Through launching this new team of agents in Newcastle, we’ll be able to ringfence these calls so that those repeat callers benefit from a dedicated advisor better equipped to help them, while also freeing up our wider team of agents to respond to other customers more quickly and efficiently.”
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