People power Embarq calls

Receptionists return to help customers

Reviving a long-abandoned tradition, North Carolina's second-largest phone company has reinstated switchboard operators to answer customer calls.

The 15 receptionists are based at Embarq's customer service facility in Rocky Mount. In a three-month test, they have replaced the automated recording that had greeted customers who dialed 800-EMBARQ2, the customer service number in all 18 states where Embarq operates.

The test started this month and is a response to complaints from customers agitated by navigating a maze of automated prompts and voice recordings. Customers call with questions about bills, activating new service, scheduling repairs and using high-speed Internet.

Some customers are so accustomed to hearing a recording, they hang up thinking they reached the wrong number.

"One lady was even crying because she reached a live voice. She was so thrilled and happy," said Sara Brazelton, who supervises the receptionists.

At a time when phone customers are fleeing to cable-TV companies and other competitors, offering live customer help is a low-tech way to keep customers.

AT&T this year opened a customer service call center in Goldsboro for customers who need live help using their high-speed Internet accounts.

If its change proves successful with customers, Embarq would likely continue using people to answer customer calls, said Bob Crawford, Kansas-based Embarq's director of customer satisfaction.

"We've been looking at lots of research and listening to what customers are telling us," Crawford said. "We really need to make it easier for customers to work with us."

But Embarq is not eliminating automated customer service entirely. The company is keeping three numbers that prompt callers though an automated menu of options. One of those phone numbers is the main customer service number that appears on bills.

The 800 number that appears on company vehicles receives about 12,000 customer calls a day, Brazelton said. Glenda Pulley, one of the receptionists, handles about 850 calls a day.

Embarq, with 1.2 million land-line accounts in North Carolina, serves Clayton, Fuquay-Varina, Wake Forest, Hillsborough, Pittsboro and Rocky Mount, among other communities.

Embarq is being bought by CenturyTel of Louisiana, in a deal expected to close next year.