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Foxtel apologises for call centre delays

"I’m sorry and we are working hard to fix it for you," says CEO Patrick Delany.

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Foxtel CEO Patrick Delany has written to subscribers to apologise for long waits at call centres.

Here is his letter:

I want to apologise if you have been trying to call us but have been unable to get through.

Our call centres are very short staffed as a result of restrictions put in place to slow the spread of COVID-19.

For many of you that have tried to call, we simply haven’t been able to answer your calls or made you wait a very long time.

I’m sorry and we are working hard to fix it for you.

1. We are giving priority to customers with service faults. For many Australians we are an essential service – keeping them informed through Sky News Australia, our international news channels or the ABC’s news service.

2. We are prioritising customers facing genuine hardship through our website. We will do all we can to support the many Australians who are facing financial distress.

3. We are asking all other customers not to call at present and allow those in the greatest need to access the limited call centre capacity we have.

4. We are working hard to get our call centres back to capacity by working with other call centre providers and by hiring more call centre staff in Victoria and Queensland.

Fixing this situation is our number one priority and we are working around the clock to get our call centres back up to full strength.

While we do, we would appreciate you delaying your call for the next week to enable us to focus on faults or hardship.

Thank you for your patience, support and loyalty.

Please stay safe, stay positive, and look after one another.

Regards

Patrick Delany
Chief Executive Officer
Foxtel Group

PS: Please visit the updated support pages on our website for any non-critical enquiries. Online services are available at foxtel.com.au/update.

4 Responses

  1. The Foxtel customer service model would not be so dependant on phone-based assistance if a greater range of self-service options were readily available on their website. For instance you can add a channel package, but not downgrade one to a leser value – unlike Netflix, Stan etc… This is symptomatic of how Foxtel continues to work to an outdated business model and does nothing to foster goodwill amongst subscribers.

  2. This message is also pretty much the same for most telcos and superannuation companies at the moment, service users may be able to tolerate it up to a point but non of these major companies should use COVID-19 as an excuse for inefficiency and cutting costs.

    1. Plenty of companies will use learnings from this to reduce costs in future:
      – More people working from home in future resulting in less office space to be leased
      – More customers dealing with companies digitally and not requiring face to face resulting in less front line staff

      Foxtel’s inability for customers to downgrade or cancel online and reliance on contact centre retention staff to try and keep customers instead says so much about Foxtel’s belief in their services.

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