It’s difficult to say when it happened, exactly. Maybe it was an effect of the consumerization of IT. As employees gained increasingly more control over how, where, and on what platforms they worked, their expectations began to shift. They began to demand something better.
Maybe it was the shift to distributed work that happened over the past several years. We all got a taste of true freedom, of what it felt like to work in our own space and on our own terms. Inevitably, we started to question our existing services and solutions.
Maybe the pandemic itself shifted our priorities. In the wake of such stress and unrest, we collectively decided that enough was enough. That we will no longer accept anything less than pure excellence.
Or perhaps our expectations haven’t changed at all. Perhaps B2B users have always wanted better service and support, but for years have simply settled for “good enough.” They’ve simply started making their expectations known.
Whatever the case, vendors like Mitel increasingly feel like they’re a relic of the times before. These service providers are still operating on the idea that “good enough” represents anything beyond mediocrity. We’ve already talked a bit about the problems with Mitel’s products — but the real issues run far deeper than a bad software stack or kludgy interface.
The fact is that as vendors go, Mitel simply…isn’t very good.
“Give Us Your Money and Go Away”
Even a cursory glance at recent reviews of the company paints a very clear picture. For Mitel clients, customer support is simply nonexistent. Even on a slow day, it’s not uncommon to have to wait an hour or more before one can even speak to a representative.
Then at that point, it’s a toss-up as to whether they’ll actually work with you to troubleshoot the problem. It’s just as likely that they’ll shrug and tell you they have no idea what the issue is — that everything appears to be working as intended. And that’s assuming they don’t just blame you and try to say the problem is exclusively on your end.
Support cases, meanwhile, can go a month or more without anything resembling a resolution.
Of course, you wouldn’t know any of this at first. During initial sales and onboarding, Mitel is all about your needs. They even assign you an account manager you can reach out to at any point with questions, comments or concerns.
It’s only once they’ve locked you into a contract that you start to see their true colors.
Your account manager vanishes into the wind. Reaching a single agent, be it through phone or live chat, becomes an exercise in futility. If you’re particularly unlucky, you might even find yourself foisted onto support before you even have any of the products or services you purchased in the first place.
Oh, and in case you’re wondering if Mitel’s vendor support is any better? It’s not. The company treats its channel partners and resellers just as bad as its customers.
You (Don’t) Get What You Pay For
Let’s take a moment to talk about Mitel’s contracts. To say that they’re shadier than an unlit inner city alleyway would be putting it lightly. Once they’ve gotten you onboarded and shipped all the necessary hardware, they seemingly couldn’t care less if those products and services actually function.
Nor does it especially matter to them that you get what you pay for. More than one irate client tells of how they were sold on Mitel through half-truths and lies. More than one client speaks of how they ended up being nickel-and-dimed for basic functionality that they were informed would be available out of the box, like custom branding, 911 location services, or paging.
And more than one client talks about how, even as Mitel claims to offer 99.95% uptime, its service status page posts a new issue or disruption almost every day of the week. Of course, Mitel doesn’t let something as silly as contractual obligations stop it from slamming customers with hidden fees. Nor does it feel particularly concerned about charging people for a service that struggles to function even on a good day, and even spiking prices by tens or even hundreds of dollars.
Don’t expect the company to honor its service-level agreement, either — its customer service representatives will fight you tooth and nail on that front.
And if, after dealing with all of this, you want to cancel your contract? Good luck. You’re going to need it.
Doing Business in Bad Faith
You probably aren’t surprised to hear that a company willing to bog a contract down with hidden fees and withhold basic functionality is something of a bad actor when it comes to handling cancellations. Many reviewers talk about how much of a nightmare the admin portal happens to be, essentially requiring on plans an expedition to make even basic changes to one’s account.
To make matters worse, Mitel’s contracts are laden with so much fine print you might as well use a magnifying glass to examine them. And many of those secret clauses and hidden terms are focused solely on cancellation. On making it as difficult as possible to break free from Mitel’s clutches and ensuring that, even on the off chance that you do, you’ll have to trudge through fire to get anything resembling a refund.
You tell me — does this really sound like the kind of company you want to do business with?
Choose a Better Service Provider With G12 Communications
Even the best solution in the world can be brought low by poor customer service. And Mitel’s products aren’t even the best. At most, they’re passable — certainly not of a high enough quality for them to get away with treating their customers so poorly.
Don’t let them. Instead, choose a provider that’s interested in helping your business thrive rather than cleaning out your budget. A company with decades of experience, reliable infrastructure, and a custom-tailored platform designed to meet your every UCaaS need.
A company like G12 Communications. Book a meeting with us today to learn more about what we can do for you.
