Unable to more quickly and effectively solve the problems of its FiOS customers through its recently announced Personal Account Manager (PAM) program, Verizon Communications Inc. (VZ) has elected to change what was PAM into a call center effort comprising multiple types of support staffers.
Quietly launched in January, the PAM program was designed to provide FiOS customers a higher level of service and support by assigning up to a 300-person field staff to specific accounts throughout a region in Florida. That’s as opposed to relying solely on call centers and traditional customer service reps.
Verizon had hoped to put a name and a face on customer service when it began the PAM program, reasoning that the effort would offload call centers handling an increasing list of services, bundles and promotions, and provide better customer support for FiOS residential services. The company started with its largest exchange in the state, the Brandon facility, and planned to have all PAMs out and assigned for the six counties, representing a 5,800 square-mile service area, by June 1.
The initial design of the PAM program limited its effectiveness, however. PAMs, which were contractors brought on by Verizon, were not equipped to access the customer systems found in call centers and thus had to work with staff in these sites to solve issues and add services.
“They became a surrogate for the customer, which is fine. But they didn’t exactly solve problems quicker,” than Verizon’s previous approach, said Verizon spokesman Bob Elek.
“It sounded real good on paper, but they lacked the ability and the tools to solve problems at the time they were encountered,” he added. “They didn’t resolve problems quicker and became middlemen.”
The PAM effort grabbed the attention of customers who hoped it would improve customer service. But xchange received numerous e-mails after covering the undertaking from senders claiming they were having problems reaching PAMs to get bothersome issues resolved.
As a result of such complaints, Verizon is going from PAM to PAMT. The Priority Account Management Team is a center combining multiple types of staff to better address the needs of the same FiOS customers.
“We’re taking the best of the field group and combining them with service reps in a separate center to deal with the embedded FiOS base,” said Elek of the transition from the PAM field pilot to the newer effort.
It’s not that the original PAM team lacked skills or willingness to address customer issues with FiOS, but rather that the biggest type of problem could be better handled inside a call center, he said. “Billing issues were causing most of the problems encountered,” explained Elek, adding that Verizon is in the process “of revamping its billing format,” an effort expected to produce deliverables later this fall.
Elek believes the transition to the Priority Account Management Team effort will better serve the needs of FiOS customers. He did not say when the transition would be completed or provide a timeline for the change.
