Xavier Niel recognizes this in the press release sent by Free: “Dealing with customer service, in general, is heavy”. However, the mobile operator and ISP has been working since 2019 on the renovation of customer service, now focusing on proximity. This is how Free Proxi was born, a new kind of customer service that aims to put you in touch with troubleshooting teams geographically close to you rather than with advisers located at the other end of France, even the world.
What is FreeProxi?
Free Proxi is the new local assistance service created by Free for its fixed and mobile subscribers. The service is made up of small local teams of 8 to 10 Free advisers, available to subscribers in their sector to “respond to all their requests“, whether on Freebox or mobile offers.
Launched at the end of 2019, Free Proxi already has 67 local teams located throughout France, which currently cover 25% of its base of 21 million Fixed and Mobile subscribers. “Thanks to this local presence, the Free Proxi teams know in detail the Fixed and Mobile network infrastructures of the region.explains the operator. They can thus easily diagnose any incidents, and even go directly to subscribers’ homes to restore service or exchange equipment. Any request from a subscriber can thus be handled from A to Z by the same team, or even the same adviser..
In short: if you call customer service again, the same team will be in charge of your file and you will avoid having to explain the problem to a different person.
Who can benefit ?
Free indicates that Proxi is included in all Free offers. As soon as they are eligible, Free subscribers are put in touch directly with their Free Proxi team when they contact support. They have direct access to their advisers via their Subscriber Area on mobile and on the Web or by telephone on 3244. The Free Proxi teams are available 7 days a week from 8 am to 9 pm. They undertake to find a solution for the subscriber within 15 minutes. There is no specific action to perform and no option to subscribe.
For the moment, the big cities seem to be privileged since there are eight teams in Paris, around twenty in Île-de-France, five in Marseilles and four in Bordeaux. But the service is established in less dense areas, such as Périgueux, Nevers or Brive.
Ultimately, Free’s objective is to reach 150 local teams by the end of 2023, with coverage of 50% of its customer base. The operator also indicates that Free Proxi has enabled the creation of 700 permanent contracts, and that the customer satisfaction rate is estimated at 90%.