If something goes wrong, you’re going to want to get hold of your phone company or ISP as quickly as possible, but that can be tricky if the support number is hidden on an obstinate webpage, or you’re not sure what the exact Twitter support account is. Planhacker rounds up what’s on offer for individual customers.
Support picture from Shutterstock
It’s not just a matter these days of calling a support line somewhere offshore and dealing with a single customer support representative. Canny companies are also using social media to attend to customer problems, well aware that online, complaints rise to the top quickly, and it can become not only a single customer problem, but also a black mark for their brand.
Companies that offer many products often have a variety of phone numbers, but these often resolve to the same call centre; if you can’t actually get onto a representative on the official number, it’s often worth trying switching to another. The larger companies offer 24/7 support — although this doesn’t always cover every single issue, or escalated issues — but not every company does. especially if you’re dealing with a smaller ISP. In the list below, we haven’t specified hours where the site doesn’t, and we haven’t listed Twitter or Facebook accounts that don’t handle support issues.
Social media can be a good way to get some issues resolved, but it’s fairly rare to not then wait for a callback or email response as the secondary issue. Times in the list below are Australian Eastern Standard time, because that’s largely how call centres set their time (with obvious apologies to QLD, SA, NT and WA).
Amaysim
Phone: 1300 808 300 or 567 from an Amaysim mobile (Mon-Fri 8am-9pm; Sat-Sun 10am-6pm)
Facebook
Twitter
Email
Boost Mobile
Phone: 02 9299 9655 (Mon-Fri 9am-5pm)
Email
Crazy John’s
Phone: 13 22 99
Twitter (Mon-Fri 9am-5pm)
Facebook
Dodo
Phone: 13 36 36 (24/7)
Email
Twitter (9am-6pm)
Exetel
Phone: 1300 788 141
Email
Whirlpool
Facebook
Internode
Phone: 1300 788 233 (Nodephone 08 8228 2911)
Twitter
Facebook
Email
Whirlpool
iiNet
Phone: 13 22 58 (24/7)
Twitter
Email
Whirlpool
iPrimus
Phone: 1300 85 11 85 (24/7)
Twitter
Email (hours)
Whirlpool
Kogan Mobile
Phone: 1300 056 426 (Mon-Fri 8am-9pm, Sat-Sun 10am-6pm)
Live Connected
Optus
Phone: 131 344 (24/7)
Twitter (Mon-Fri 9am-8pm; Sat 9am-5pm)
Facebook
Email
Whirlpool
Telstra
Phone: Listed here (24/7)
Twitter (24/7)
Facebook (24/7)
Email
Whirlpool
TPG
Phone: 13 14 23 (Mon-Fri 8am-12pm Sat-Sun 9am-9pm)
Email
Whirlpool
Virgin Mobile
Phone: 1300 555 100 (7am-11pm Mon-Sun)
Twitter (no time specified)
Email
Vodafone
Phone: Listed here (24/7)
Twitter (Mon-Fri 8am-12am; Sat-Sun 9am-5.30pm)
Facebook (Mon-Fri 8am-12am; Sat-Sun 9am-5.30pm)
Additions and suggestions for this list? Tell us in the comments.
Lifehacker’s weekly Planhacker column rounds up the best communication deals.
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