Free Proxi is a project that Xavier Niel (boss of Iliad and Free) has been pushing since 2019 and which wants to revolutionize customer support by offering a service very focused on geographic proximity and responsiveness. Here is all you need to know.
Article updated January 30, 2024 :
During the presentation of the Freebox Ultra, Xavier Niel and his teams took the time to present the Free Proxi service in detail. The opportunity for us to put forward this file that we have dedicated to this platform which wants to shake up customer support.
Original article published on November 22, 2022 (with some data updated in 2024):
“ There is something that we have never rethought, that has never changed over the last 30 or 40 years, and that is customer service. “. It is approximately in these terms that Xavier Niel began his presentation of Free Proxi. The name is not very original, but it transcribes well the ambitious project of the founding president of the Iliad group, the parent company of Free.
In fact, Free Proxi has existed since 2019, but this is the first time that Free – mobile operator and ISP – has devoted a formal presentation to this project. Here is everything you need to know about this “ subscriber service revolution“. An initiative which does not hide its experimental status, but which already prides itself on having obtained positive results.
What is Free Proxi?
Free Proxi therefore provides optimized customer service. How ? “By changing a parameter: proximity», explains Xavier Niel. Concretely, with Free Proxi, the promise is quite simple: you explain your problem to a person by telephone or messages and it is this same person who can quickly intervene at your home.
Free Proxi teams are trained to be versatile in order to be able to repair technical problems, provide equipment, provide commercial support or manage subscriber accounts. And this applies to both mobile and fixed Internet.
No need to call customer service five times until you get someone. No need to re-explain your problem to several different people. No need to wait several days to get a solution. This is, in short, the ideal world promised by Free Proxi. But by what means?
How does Free Proxi work?
Free Proxi relies on several small teams — never more than ten people per cell. Each team manages a specific geographical area in which it is able to intervene very quickly in the event of a problem. Saoussen Jelliti, coordinator of the team managing the 9th and 10th arrondissements of Paris(Editor’s note: she has since been promoted to a more senior position)explains that for her or her colleagues, in this well-served sector, the journey time by metro or electric bike never exceeds 30 minutes.
No Parisianism
But Free Proxi is not intended to be a privilege of big cities. Xavier Niel indicates, for example, that a team is now based in Nièvre, a large department that is less densely populated and where travel issues are very different from the capital. Conversely, not all the districts of Paris are yet covered. So, “we don’t do Parisianism», Confides the boss of Iliad with a smile.
Thus, at the start of 2024, in France, Free Proxi has 130 local teams in mainland France. A third of Free subscribers are eligible. Here, Free is slightly behind on its objectives since the group was targeting a total of 150 teams at the end of 2023 to cover 50% of customers. In 2024, the service is available in 12 out of 13 regions, but the company promises that Corsica will soon be affected in turn.
According to satisfaction surveys carried out with 18,223 customers between March and April 2022, Free Proxi prides itself on having “almost 90% of satisfied subscribers“. Finally, Xavier Niel puts forward some promises of responsiveness:
- Free Proxi teams are available 7 days a week from 8 a.m. to 9 p.m.;
- the objective is to be able to respond remotely within 15 minutes;
- and to intervene within 2 hours if a trip is necessary (within 24 hours if the request is made late in the day).
How to take advantage of Free Proxi?
To benefit from Free Proxi’s contributions, there are two criteria to meet: be a Free customer (mobile or landline) and live in an area covered by a local team. The subscribers concerned are thus “automatically directed to their local team when they contact support. There is no specific action to take and no option to subscribe“.
There are therefore three ways to contact Free Proxi.
By telephone
The number to contact remains the same: 3244. If you live in a geographical area covered by Free Proxi, your call will be automatically redirected and you will be notified of your contact with the team near you. However, no one will pick up at this time, you will be asked to leave a voice message to explain your problem or request. An advisor is supposed to call you back quickly.
However, you can specify orally, if you wish, that you must call back one hour later or contact you only by message. Local teams must take this type of request into account.
The Freebox application – Subscriber Area
You can also benefit from Free Proxi via the Freebox mobile application – Subscriber Area.
Simply go to the Support section of the application to find the “Contact an advisor” button. The app also displays the response time in real time.
On the website
As with the application, a visit to your subscriber area from a web browser on a computer also allows you to contact Free Proxi. The method does not differ, you must go to the Assistance section.
“The future of subscriber service”
The firm’s spokespersons assure that this initiative is not intended to replace traditional call centers which remain essential in the customer service offered and for field teams.
The emphasis, however, is placed on the more optimized assistance adapted to each need that Free Proxi allows. Members of local teams do not specialize in a single area. Xavier Niel explains that he wants to avoid the redundant side of this type of job. This makes it possible to better satisfy the customer by reducing the number of contacts. But the businessman also welcomes a reduction in “turnover» (job rotation). It ensures that employees stay longer and that teams are stable.
In the press release, Xavier Niel also allows himself a word about the other French operators. “I have no doubt that our competitors will face the facts: the future of subscriber service is Free Proxi. If they are inspired by it, we won’t hold it against them.“.