What is an error?

As readers of this blog and our website are well aware, Tele-Tech is very public about our level of accuracy and our quality statistics. While we usually consider accuracy to be black and white, a recent customer challenge to one of our local calling areas left us in a somewhat gray area.

When we checked the local calling area data questioned by the customer against the incumbent local exchange carrier tariff that defines the local calling areas, our data was correct. However, we reached out to our contact at the ILEC and found that the customer was right! A mistake had been made in the tariff.

Here's the gray area. We commit to being accurate per the source tariff material. Many of our customer agreements guarantee that our data be consistent with the tariff. So...

Should this "error" count against us in our quality stat?...OR...Should this "error" not count against us because we matched the tariff?

We debated these questions internally and considered our options carefully. We concluded that tariff errors are extremely rare, and therefore it is not practical or necessary for us to check the accuracy of each tariff with its carrier. Since we measure ourselves and our accuracy against the source tariff material, and that material is reliable except in extremely rare circumstances, we did not count this error in our accuracy stats.

Tell us what you think. Was this an error or not? Add an entry to this blog.