Jump Support – Digital Inclusion Alliance Aotearoa

Skinny Care Team impacted by massive typhoon that swept through the Philippines

What’s happening

Due to bad weather in and around the Philippines, the Skinny Care Team unfortunately have limited agents available to support the Skinny and Jump queues. As a result, the voice queues have been restricted and will only be open between 10am – 2pm today.

Alternative support channels

Messaging channels (Facebook Messenger and WhatsApp) are still open as usual: 8:00am to 07:00pm – please see our Skinny Help page for further info, here.

The Jump IVR (Dial 0800 4 SKINNY > Press ‘3’ > Enter BB Number and Modem Verification code) is also still available to use for balance checks, top-up and Jump plan purchases.

Modem Troubleshooting/Replacement Modem Support

Dial 0800 4 Skinny > Press ‘4’ for ‘Issues with your modem’ to speak to an agent.

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If the terrible weather persists, the above changes to Call Centre channel availability and hours may be extended through to the end of the week.

Hey, I’m new to Jump – Introducing the 6 Jump Essentials

Every few days we get a call from someone who works for one of our Jump Partners with the comment “Hey, I’m new to Jump, can you help me?”

Our response of course is “YES!”

With a partner network of 278 Jump partner organisations, it is pretty inevitable that people came and go or change their roles. So I asked our team – what are the 6 essentials that someone new to Jump needs to know and hey-presto, with a little bit of Kini magic, out pops a new poster.

We actually tried this out on a someone who was new to Jump and within the hour she had signed up to my blog! Of course I was most impressed.

The challenge we know for partners is how do you find this when you need it? My immediate response is to laminate it and stick it to the staff noticeboard, but maybe that doesn’t work for you.

If you do have an empty spot somewhere near where your Jump team gathers, you can download a copy from the ‘Skinny Jump Support Documents’ section of the Jump Partner Resources page on the Stepping UP website.

Send us a photo of your ‘6 Jump Essentials’ poster on display and you are in the draw. The draw for what you might ask. Well the new world of Lububu dolls suggests you don’t get to ask – it’s all about the surprise of blind boxes.

Customers needing replacement modems – it’s your call

Clarifying the Process for Replacement Jump Modems

We regularly receive reports from partners about Jump customers requesting replacement modems — often because their modem has been lost or stolen, or because they’ve been referred by the Skinny Care Team. These situations can put pressure on your staff, especially when customers arrive unannounced and expect an immediate replacement. In some cases, they may become quite insistent or even stroppy.

However, Jump partners do not have the tools or access needed to issue replacement modems on the spot. That’s why our recommended process is for all replacement modem requests to be directed to the Skinny Care Team (0800 475 4669).

The Skinny Care Team has the systems in place to:

Check whether a modem is genuinely faulty.
Verify the customer’s identity and Jump status.
Complete the required Modem Returns form, which triggers the modem de-linking process and a request for DIAA to courier a replacement.

Once the form is submitted:

We (DIAA) arrange for a replacement modem to be sent directly to the customer.
We also include a prepaid courier bag for returning the faulty modem.
The de-linking process takes a few days, ensuring that by the time the new modem arrives, the customer’s account is ready to be activated.

Lost or Stolen Modems

If a modem has been lost or stolen, partners must not issue a replacement under any circumstance. The customer must contact the Skinny Care Team directly to report the issue and begin the verification process.

Incorrect Information from Skinny Care

It seems that part of the confusion arises when Skinny Care agents mistakenly direct customers to Jump partners for replacements. Please note: Skinny agents should never refer customers to partners for replacement modems. If they confirm the modem is faulty, they should complete the Modem Returns form instead.

Managing Customer Expectations

We know it’s not always easy to turn customers away — especially when they show up unannounced. That’s why we strongly encourage all partners to:

Clearly communicate to your community the type of support you offer.
Decide whether Jump support is provided via:
- Drop-in sessions,
- Set times during the day/week,
- Appointment only.
Avoid providing support during staff lunch breaks (12–2pm) or during busy periods such as school holidays, when other programmes may take priority.

Optional Modem Replacement by Partners

If you do choose to issue a replacement modem (e.g., if you have one available and have time to assist), that’s entirely up to you. While this is outside our standard process, we’re happy to support you if you have the capacity.

Just ensure that customers understand:

This is a back-end procedure that cannot be fast-tracked — not by delivery partners, the Skinny Care Team, or DIAA.

The de-linking process cannot happen instantly.

Skinny Jump Care Team tackling customer waiting times

If your customers have tried contacting the Skinny Care team on 0800 4754669 they would have noticed two recent changes – one is a voice response that estimates the time customers are likely to have to wait to talk to a Care Agent. Unfortunately this is often becoming a rather long wait, like 30 minutes or more.

The good news is that a call-back option was introduced about a week ago. Callers now have the choice of requesting a call-back from a Skinny agent, rather than having to hold on to the call for a long time.

This appears to have been well received, with most callers selecting this option. Please share any feedback from your customers about how this new option is working for them.

Jump training for new staff

I had a call this week from a staff member in one of our Jump partners who had been asked to take over managing the Jump programme because the person who had been managing this had left. Not surprisingly, she had a number of questions about our processes.

Staff changes in our Jump delivery partner network are not unusual. We met with the Skinny Jump team this week and spent some time discussing the on-boarding process for new Jump partners. But what we quickly realised that everything we were discussing applied equally to new people joining the Jump delivery network.

We have some excellent resources for supporting new Jump delivery staff, but the challenge is to work out how to engage with them and let them know what is available. So here are a few questions for you – if you are reading this, then you are probably an experienced Jump delivery partner and can help connect us with Jump newbies.

Do you know that there are three types of Jump delivery partner?
- Jump referral partner, knows about Jump but is not involved in the issuing of modems;
- Jump connector, issues modems and helps customers set up their Skinny Jump accounts and understand the top-up process;
- Jump specialist, understands all the Jump processes, including modem supply and recovery of returned modems.
Have you completed a Jump Partner Pathway online course?
- Course 1 is for everyone involved in the Jump delivery process (referral, connector and specialist);
- Course 2 is for everyone involved with the issue of modems (connectors and specialists);
- Course 3 is for at least one person in each delivery partner organisation (specialists)
Do you know who to contact for support with Jump processes?
- Sue for training and promotion,
- Shelley for day-to-day operations, and
- Laurence for modem supply and recovery
How should you contact the Skinny Jump team?
- As a delivery partner, you shouldn’t contact the Skinny team directly
- Partners should contact the DIAA team for any support required (jump@diaa.nz for modem supply issues; 0800 463 422 for other day-to-day operational issues; sue@diaa.nz for training and promotional resources)
- Customers should be encouraged to contact Skinny directly if they have a problem using their modem, topping up their accounts and for reporting faults
What are the most important tools for Jump partners?
- Jump Partner how-to guide and FAQ, February 2023 edition
- Skinny Jump Partner Resources, incl Partner Pathway training modules
  - Jump Profile Form, to be completed for every modem issued (except replacements for faulty modems)
  - Modem Returns Form, to be completed for every returned modem or when partners encounter a problem during the modem setup process
  - Partner Google Sheets, activity record for each partner (key document for managing supply of modems); contact Laurence or Shelley if you can’t access your GSheet.

And a final word – if you are planning to move to a new role, please let the team at DIAA know (contact Laurence, Shelley or Sue) so that we can update our records and help the team member replacing you get up to speed with Jump.

Contacting the Skinny Care Team

We love the new tools that the Skinny team has put in place for getting Jump help – interactive voice response (IVR), online chats, email, facebook messaging, – and during March 2024, 60% of all the Care Team contacts by Jump customers used these tools.

But there are times when you really really need to talk to a human. And this is proving challenging for some Jump users. One elderly customer recently gave up trying to navigate the IVR when they were asked to enter their broadband number and verification code, so they called in to see their local Jump partner.

The partner tried to navigate the Jump IVR for this customer to find a way to get around the looped response if you don’t know these details – and failed! Unless a broadband number and verification code is entered, callers are returned to the IVR menu.

I did discover that if you don’t press ‘3’ for Jump, then you do get a press ‘9’ option to talk to a Care Agent, but what this means is that you then join the regular Skinny broadband queue. This is also so counter-intuitive that it would be impossible to explain to customers.

So the advice from the Jump Squad is to explain to customers that even if they don’t know their broadband number and verification code, they must attempt to enter some numbers. When these are entered, the system will detect them as invalid numbers and present the customer with a press ‘9’ option to talk to an agent.

I am aware that some IVR systems default to a live operator if customers reach a dead end and simply wait for 10 seconds. At this stage, the Jump IVR has not been set up this way, but changes could be made in the future.

Stolen Modems – unknown broadband number?

We get regular reports about Jump modems being lost or stolen. This presents a slight dilemma for customers when calling the Skinny Care Team to request a replacement. The IVR for Jump (press ‘3’ when calling 0800 475 4669) asks callers to enter their broadband number and verification code. But this is pretty difficult to do if the modem has been lost or stolen, or in some cases the transparent sticker with these details has been removed.

The good news is that Skinny Jump Care Agents can retrieve these details if they are sure the person calling is who they say they are. Normally, they would request the broadband number and verification code, printed on sticker on the side of the modem. Or they may ask the customer to retrieve these details from their Jump app.

In the absence of these details, the Skinny Jump agents may request the following details to verify the caller:

(1) registered email address;

(2) service address; or

(3) last top-up.

Once the Care Agent is satisfied they are talking to the right person, they will retrieve the modem details and complete a Modem Returns form, including a request for a replacement modem to be sent if this is what the customer wants.

Of course, all this assumes that the customer has been able to reach a Skinny Care agent. If they choose the IVR path (press ‘3’), they will get caught in a never-ending loop, unless they attempt to enter a broadband number and verification code; if these numbers are invalid they will then be given the option to press ‘9’ to talk to a Care Agent. More on this in my next post.

Jump customers being referred by Skinny Care Team to Partners for replacement modems

This shouldn’t be happening, but I get regular regular reports from partners that it is. Our agreed procedures for handing faulty and returned modems are clearly set out on our website.

The Skinny Care agents rely on a knowledge base to provide advice to customers when they call, so the Jump team went on an exploratory mission to find out where the agents were getting this wrong information.

And success! They discovered a rogue flowchart that was directing Skinny Care agents to some obsolete information that instructed them to advise customers with faulty modems to return them to a nearby Jump partner. Needless to say, this has been corrected. Thanks, River.

Thank you also to the partners who alerted us to this issue. We always welcome feedback on processes that are not working as they should. We can then try and fix them.

Accolades for Skinny

Skinny has been proclaimed number one amongst the major telcos when it comes to customer service. The results of a independent survey of telcos’ service performance was released this morning by the Commerce Commission.

This is doubly good news for Skinny Jump customers – not only are they getting the most affordable internet service in New Zealand, they are now also getting the best internet service.

The Residential Broadband Rankings for the period from January to June 2023 put Skinny ahead of all other major internet providers when it comes to how likely customers are to recommend their provider to friends and family. Skinny also topped the tables in customer satisfaction with how quickly providers resolve customer service issues.

So well done to the Skinny team; we are fortunate to have you as the Jump internet provider.

New Jump IVR a hit!

At 8.30am on Wednesday 17 May, the Skinny Jump IVR (Interactive Voice Response) went live. What this means is that Jump customers can now interact with a computer-operated phone system through voice or keypad input to get the help they need rather than going into a wait queue to speak to a Skinny Care agent.

Within an hour of the launch, Jump callers were quickly finding the IVR was solving their problems, allowing them to:

(a) hear the dollar balance on their Jump account

(b) hear their data balance (number of Megabytes)

(d) renew their Skinny Jump plan

(e) hear how many plan renewals they have remaining for the month

(f) cancel a plan renewal

In the first week, the number of calls to live agents dropped by 40% and we are sure this also resulted in much happier customers, being able to avoid the wait queues. Furthermore the IVR never sleeps – awake 24/7.

To use the Jump IVR process, customers have to:

call 0800 4SKINNY (0800 475 4669)
select Option 3 for Jump
enter their broadband number (0204….)
enter their verification code

Step 4 is something new. Until now, this has only been required when setting up a new modem, so customers will need to have both the broadband number and the verification number ready to use the IVR.

Customers will still have the option to “press 9 to speak to a Care agent”. We encourage all partners to explain (or even demonstrate) the IVR option during the initial set-up process.