I’m in India as I write this - ironically working for a Telco client - but thought I would share the trials and tribulations I underwent to achieve data roaming on my smartphone and tablet via their respective network providers - a sure-fire route to high blood pressure if ever I've known one!

Highlights included:

The pop-up message that proposed I buy a roaming package via a URL - mildly irritating, given that I had no WiFi access and needed roaming to access a URL in the first place.
The inability to add my bundle from someone else’s internet device - yet for just a short while I'd sensed victory.
Multiple automated answering services – frustratingly, I didn’t fit in to any of their menu options, and there was no choice to ‘please press 1 if it’s all gone horribly wrong’.

It actually took 10 hours of between-meeting attempts to make human contact with people that could help: a lovely lady in South Africa and a nice man sitting 3kms away from me in Kharadi - they solved my roaming problems for me.

And the moral of my tale...?

When automating your customer service processes, don’t forget to think about the ‘what ifs’ at every stage, because customers won’t always fit neatly in to the workflow you create and in some scenarios - particularly when abroad, on a different time zone and/or subject to telephony challenges - a fast track mechanism to a sentient being is a must to retaining a satisfied customer.