Running a small business means juggling endless tasks. Then suddenly – bam – the internet crashes, phones die, and everything grinds to a halt. You turn to your telecom provider, only to be met with silence or, worse, the dreaded call centre.
Welcome to the nightmare of small business outages. Ever been stuck on hold with a customer service rep who seems less interested in solving your problem than a cat is in taking a bath? This is for you.
You notice your email’s slow. The phone line is dead. Panic ensues. How long has this been down? Am I losing customers right now?
For small business owners, an internet or phone outage isn’t just annoying – it’s a crisis. Orders freeze, your team refreshes screens, and you’re desperately seeking a cell signal. Oh wait, the phones aren’t working either.
You call your carrier, hoping for quick support, but instead, you hear the dreaded hold message: “We’re experiencing higher-than-usual call volumes. Estimated wait time: 47 minutes.” It’s never 47 minutes.
After an eternity of hold music, you finally reach Frank from customer service. Frank doesn’t really care. His solution? “Have you tried turning it off and on again?” Thanks, Frank.
While on hold, customers think you’re ignoring them. Missed calls and unanswered emails mean lost revenue. Your competitors with functional internet are probably picking up the slack.
Internet and phone issues never occur during downtime. They hit during peak hours, when deadlines loom, and customers need you most. The truth is these services are critical to your business, it is always going to be damaging to your business when they aren’t working.
After what feels like forever, the phones are working again. You’d celebrate, but you know it’ll likely happen again tomorrow. And the bill? It’s as high as ever – outage or not.
You’ve got an IT guy, and since he fixes computers, he must know phones and internet too, right? Wrong. Your IT guy, Dave, is great with computers, but telecom is a whole different world. Expecting Dave to troubleshoot phones and internet is like asking your dentist to fix your car.
Let Dave stick to what he’s good at – call the telecom experts for the rest. Dave – and your business – will thank you.
Small business owners need reliability. You need a provider that understands how outages affect your business. Look for solid support – real people who care about your problems (not Frank). Consider switching to a provider that specialises in small businesses.
BTS has the South West covered. With 20 years of telecommunications expertise, our local team offers real support. When things go wrong, we’re there, with on-site technicians ready to help quickly. Join over 130 South West businesses that entrust BTS with their communication requirements.
Running a small business is tough enough without bad customer service adding to the stress. You deserve more than Frank’s half-hearted troubleshooting.
