HumaneIA

Insanity took me a couple of months ago and I’ve been a Dodo customer (of sorts) ever since. I say “of sorts” because they haven’t provided me with much of any kind of service yet, and they haven’t billed me so I haven’t paid them. It’s a funny relationship.

Dodo has issues. Here is a rough timeline:

• A couple of months ago I filled out a Dodo website form, seeking further information on their broadband/landline plans.
• A few days later a salesrep called, and I confirmed the broadband/landline deal with him.
• The following week, a technical salesrep called, and said that I would have to pay an extra $300 or so for my landline as I wasn’t getting broadband at the same time. This is where things went seriously wrong - I spent an hour and a half on the phone to them, talking to representatives of five different departments. Five. The first couple of people I spoke to couldn’t be convinced that I had originally ordered the broadband and landline together, and the next three departments were concerned with cancelling the original order. I repeatedly sought assurance that they were going to be sending me a broadband router.
• The landline was connected a couple of weeks back. Surprise surprise, they sent the technicians to the wrong address, so these guys were wandering up and down my street calling me on their mobiles as they couldn’t believe that they had been sent to the wrong place. I know Dodo have my right address, as they have sent me mail here.

I do have the landline - it does work, woohoo, but still no broadband, and no router.

If this was an isolated incident then I would be feeling a bit paranoid - but Dodo is infamous for the highest number of complaints of any Australian ISP,  twice that of runner-up Bigpond.

Where do they go so wrong? My guess, based on receiving-end experience, is that they have an information silo issue. Judging by the accents they have three different sets of call centres - one or more in Australia, one in India, and one in the Phillipines. There is nothing wrong with overseas call centres - they make good business sense when they are set up correctly - but when a routine foulup requires action by five different departments that don’t seem to talk to one another (and there is no effective resolution of the issue) then I have to guess that the information just isn’t being passed from one department to the next.

I’ve seen this happen on client site as well, and it always strikes me as an opportunity to change for the better. If consulting opportunity is the intersection of chaos and money, then all Dodo needs is the money. Chaos they have in abundance.