The Wireless Report

1. They need to ask people, what they really want. Only after that service can go up

Posted at 6:12PM on Aug 8th 2006 by Glu

2. I'm really happy with Verizon. Last month when we were close to using all of our minutes a rep called me and asked if I wanted to bump that month up to the next higher plan then change back to my current plan at the end of the month. That was awesome. Compare that to my friend who got majorly screwed from Sprint something like a unexpected $1200 phone bill and 20+ hours on the phone trying to get it all sorted out resulting in him signing another 2 year contract before they would do anything about it.

Posted at 11:38AM on Aug 9th 2006 by Phatman

3. I have dealt with cingular, verizon, nextel, and t-mobile customer service. The impression I have is that the single most important factor for customer service is to get as much money from the subscriber as they possibly can.

From their viewpoint, they never make mistakes, and if they do, they are absolved from responsibility because of the terms and conditions of the contract.

I know that the managers of these companies would love to have quality customer service but they cannot pull it off. They are hampered by the inflexibility of their systems, the salary rate they are willing to pay their agents (that cost benefit ratio), and the gap between what the company is willing to do and customer expectations.

I called t-mobile to close my account, as I was a month-to-month subscriber w/o a contract. I specifically requested the full amount, and paid for it on the spot. Next month I got a bill for less than three dollars. Knowing their cost structure, one would assume that it would be cheaper for t-mobile to eat the bill as uncollectible. Evidently not. Paper, printing, postage, computer time, pre-sort services -- they spent more to send the bill than the bill was worth. I called, they answered the phone. They are now three times the bill value into the hole, but still they argued that I owed the money. Two hours and three customer service reps later, they are now dozens of times the bill-value in the hole and still they argued. If the customer service agent hadn't resorted to profanity, I probably would have ended up paying it.

The billing systems these companies use are built by companies like Accenture and JG Edwards, who gig them for millions each year. Any change takes months to implement and gazillions of dollars. The agents on the phone would like to credit your account, but physically, they can't. Either the system doesn't allow them to do it, (as in topping up pre-paid with a credit card) or they are not empowered (debt forgiveness).

And the carriers do not enable the agents to do debt forgiveness because they open themselves to massive fraud. It would be so much better for the agents to cut side deals with customers to forgive these overages. The agents would be open to this because it’s a crap job with crap pay. And one of the things that makes it a crap job, is that it’s a wireless network.

Your wired phone is a very reliable service. It may be expensive, but it is usually there. Plain old telephone service just plain works. I'm sorry to say that a wireless network will never be as reliable. There are just too many ways for the network to fail and drop your call. Surprisingly, one of the key factors is how many people are actually on the network.

I never received a call on my nextel phone during the day, only at night when the network usage was low. Every call went to voicemail, as the network was full. Did nextel fulfill their contractual obligations? Yes. Did they meet MY expectations? No. Am I their customer? Not any more.

So, what would make for good customer service:

1. I want to talk to a single person who is knowledgeable and empowered to assist me with my issue. Questions about how to use services or why something did what it did are suitable for on-line chat, but NOT monetary questions.

2. Answer the phone promptly, and know who I am, and respect me as the person who is paying your salary. My favourite pizza joint uses callerID tied to the order system -- they know what I ordered last time, where I live, and probably how much I tip. When I call American Airlines, I give my frequent flyer ID to the IVR system and get an agent in two rings or less, and my next flight is up on their screen. If they can do it why not the carriers?

3. When I tell you who I am, remember it if you need to transfer the call. I HATE repeating myself.

4. Respect that my time is valuable. Do not put me on hold. Do not pay your people based on how fast they get me off the phone, pay them based on solving my problem to MY satisfaction.

5. Notice when my calling pattern changes and alert me to a bill or activity that will be out of bounds -- If I suddenly start calling Tajikistan when I have never done so before one might assume theft or fraud is taking place.

6. Don’t sell me stuff before you fix my problem. Sell me stuff IF only if it helps my issues.

7. Give me a way to easily see what my bill is without the hassle of an IVR system. If I send a text message to 611, reply with an SMS or better yet, an MMS that shows my statistics.

In my opinion, Comcast (notorious for many evil things) has better customer service than any carrier. It needn't be this way.

I call up Comcast and say, hey, your network was out for two hours, and I couldn't get my work done. Bam, I get a day's credit. It’s not much, but hey, I'm happy. Isn't that what it’s all about? For all the other crap, I'm still a customer. If any one carrier wakes up and realizes that they can differentiate with customer service -- they will win BIG.

Posted at 12:59PM on Aug 24th 2006 by BigUncleJohn