Transcript of my call with a veteran
I work in prepaid customer support. The other day, I got a call from a man wanting to know why his new phone wasn't working. I am going to give you as accurate an account as I can of the call.
ME: Thank you for calling Cingular Wireless, now the new AT&T. My name is Bob and I will be helping you today. Can I start by getting your cell phone number area code first?
CUST: Yeah, my phone isn't working. I just paid $100 for this phone and I cannot make any calls.
ME: I am sorry to here that, sir, but if I may have your cell phone number area code first, I will be more than happy to find out why it is not working for you.
CUST: Yeah, let me get it. (3 MINUTES OF SILENCE. PER POLICY, I WAS ABOUT TO READ A DEAD AIR SCRIPT WHEN HE CAME ...
(continues)
ME: Thank you for calling Cingular Wireless, now the new AT&T. My name is Bob and I will be helping you today. Can I start by getting your cell phone number area code first?
CUST: Yeah, my phone isn't working. I just paid $100 for this phone and I cannot make any calls.
ME: I am sorry to here that, sir, but if I may have your cell phone number area code first, I will be more than happy to find out why it is not working for you.
CUST: Yeah, let me get it. (3 MINUTES OF SILENCE. PER POLICY, I WAS ABOUT TO READ A DEAD AIR SCRIPT WHEN HE CAME ...
(continues)
...
Couldn't you pull up the account by the name, SS #, or even the Zip code?
...
Not with prepaid. Prepaid accounts do not require a SS# and usually the name is defaulted to Prepaid Customer. And how would I pull it up by the zip code? The only way to pull up a prepaid account is with the accurate mobile number OR the SIM card number. But if you are on the phone and don't have the SIM card number or mobile number, there is NOTHING I can do.
...
Wow just wow. Nothing against you because you are just following policy, But anyone on this site that works for VZW now completely understands why Cingular gets a bad rep for customer service. YOUR POLICIES SUCK!!!
Again nothing against you wwehavok85. I know you cant control the policy.
Someone up top needs to take there head out of their a$$ and learn how to be more customer friendly.
Again nothing against you wwehavok85. I know you cant control the policy.
Someone up top needs to take there head out of their a$$ and learn how to be more customer friendly.
...
I agree that some policies make no sense, but COME ON! How the heck do you not know your AREA CODE?!? We can't use the caller ID because the customer actually has to give us the mobile number and if they are calling from a landline, that number would be the one showing uo, but if the customer was calling from a landline, then this whole post would not be here. God, I love my job.
...
thats a retarded policy. I work for VZW and we dont need the customer to give us the number we just need the customers name and last 4 of social or password after we have pulled up the account.
also at vzw we call the customer on a diff phone when avail we dont ask that they call us back.
you guys should change your policies and maybe you wont have such poor rankings in customer service.
also at vzw we call the customer on a diff phone when avail we dont ask that they call us back.
you guys should change your policies and maybe you wont have such poor rankings in customer service.
...
MidnightDT said:
you guys should change your policies and maybe you wont have such poor rankings in customer service.
Agreed! whatever happened to "the customer rules?"
I think this is one of our major problems with customer service (our damn policies) Reps are just too afraid of bending the rules in favor of the customer. In training reps get scared so much about getting dinged or writen up for doing this or that.... But in reality once you get on the floor you don't. I always bend the rules in order to satisfy my customer, as long as I notate the account explaining why I did it; I'm fine. Haven't gotten in trouble until this day... I know other reps don't for the reasons stated above, or because they de...
(continues)
...
I think you all need to read his post(s). PREPAID can't be looked up by any other means. And the customer didn't have another phone for them to call him back. So give him a break!
...
Maybe you missed the part of the post where he mentioned it was a PRE PAY account.
No SSN
No Account Name
No Account number
No SSN
No Account Name
No Account number
...
WhoDey said:
Maybe you missed the part of the post where he mentioned it was a PRE PAY account.
No SSN
No Account Name
No Account number
Well thank f***ing god. Someone here has some sense. You veezeedub fanboys love to be so quick to pull the trigger and fire up some trolling. PREPAID CUSTOMER CARE. If anything, you need to be extra careful with prepaid (on account of terrorism, drug traficking) because it is so easy to obtain.
Our policies are meant to be fool proof. Being too lax on these policies is poor business sense. You fail.
...
What they were refering to is verifing the customer, VZW prepaid accounts have security codes on them set up when you get the service so in the event of something like this a VZW rep would still be able to help the customer.
They wernt trying to troll, they were trying to point out that it is horrible customer service, which it is. When you have policies that hamper your customer service department from being able to help customers effectivly, it is bad for buisness. Such as not being allowed to call a customer back to help them find the phone number on the phone...
They wernt trying to troll, they were trying to point out that it is horrible customer service, which it is. When you have policies that hamper your customer service department from being able to help customers effectivly, it is bad for buisness. Such as not being allowed to call a customer back to help them find the phone number on the phone...
...
Cingular prepaid accounts have security codes, too. But we cannot pull up the account with it, it is just a way to verify the customer.
The only way to pull up a Cingular prepaid account is with the mobile number or in certain cases, we can use the SIM card #, but if you are on the phone, we can't get either.
The only way to pull up a Cingular prepaid account is with the mobile number or in certain cases, we can use the SIM card #, but if you are on the phone, we can't get either.
...
primus said:
What they were refering to is verifing the customer, VZW prepaid accounts have security codes on them set up when you get the service so in the event of something like this a VZW rep would still be able to help the customer.
They wernt trying to troll, they were trying to point out that it is horrible customer service, which it is. When you have policies that hamper your customer service department from being able to help customers effectivly, it is bad for buisness. Such as not being allowed to call a customer back to help them find the phone number on the phone...
The day you realize that you made fraud possible by being lax on your security will be the day you realize why we do the thi...
(continues)
...
First, he did not have an alternate number. That was the first thing I offered. Second, prepaid accounts do not require SSN so we cannot use it to pull them up.
...
Says the VZW rep thats lost over 10% of it's market share in the Dallas/fortworth area to Cingy and T-Mo because of it's horrible CS....
...
but he's not a troop
he's a former troop
veterans are not treated well in this country contrary to popular belief
he's a former troop
veterans are not treated well in this country contrary to popular belief
...
I agree that veterans do deserve respect and standard military benefits, but being a veteran has NOTHING to do with cell phones or cell phone service. Just because you are a veteran does not mean that I can magically guess your phone number or make your phone able to pull the number up while you are on it if the manufacturer did not make it to do that.
AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!
AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!
...
i work at sprint and i sometimes do things that i supposed not to do to make customer happy, also i often got bad scores at quality for the same , i made customer happy but i i don't make what sprint tell me, and i don't care i continue doing the same
...
i work for the postpaid end of custcare with cingular, and i would just like to say that you did follow policy perfectly and ive been in ur position. except since im in postpaid i ask for the ssn to search by and they go into a rant about not giving their information over the phone and of corse, they never have the account number available when u ask for it. bottom line, ends the same way.
oh, also agreed, how dumb r u to not know ur own area code?!
oh, also agreed, how dumb r u to not know ur own area code?!
...
I have been a Cingular Manager for almost 12 years in various departments including COR/inderict/ and CS.
The initial post was painful to read. I must agree with the Verizon slappys. Regardless of prepaid policies, (which I admit is the one department I haven't worked in), that was a prime example of why customers think we suck. We are to busy trying to pull our arrogant heads out of our as*es.
I mean c'mon, yes, this guy was not the smartest tool in the shed but he IS OUR customer.
I know people are going to talk about policy and blah blah blah but regardless of what your supervisor says and their manager, I know for a fact if your director or regional VP heard this story, it would become a training tape and how to NOT handle a cu...
(continues)
The initial post was painful to read. I must agree with the Verizon slappys. Regardless of prepaid policies, (which I admit is the one department I haven't worked in), that was a prime example of why customers think we suck. We are to busy trying to pull our arrogant heads out of our as*es.
I mean c'mon, yes, this guy was not the smartest tool in the shed but he IS OUR customer.
I know people are going to talk about policy and blah blah blah but regardless of what your supervisor says and their manager, I know for a fact if your director or regional VP heard this story, it would become a training tape and how to NOT handle a cu...
(continues)
...
I am not going to get fired or fail my quality assurance because of a STUPID customer. Policies are in effect for a reason. If we could just pull up accounts by names, anyone could call about any account.
C - Yes, I don't know my cell phone number, but my name is John Smith.
R - John Smith. Right. There are 295,649 John Smiths. In your area, there are 235. Which one are you?
I see your point and I try as hard as I can to assist customers, but KNOW YOUR FREAKIN' PHONE NUMBER!
That is the point of the post. If he had had an alternate phone, I would've called him, but he didn't. END OF STORY!
C - Yes, I don't know my cell phone number, but my name is John Smith.
R - John Smith. Right. There are 295,649 John Smiths. In your area, there are 235. Which one are you?
I see your point and I try as hard as I can to assist customers, but KNOW YOUR FREAKIN' PHONE NUMBER!
That is the point of the post. If he had had an alternate phone, I would've called him, but he didn't. END OF STORY!
...
Yeah it was painful to read and I would have done the same thing. I work for an agent and have never worked in a call center but when policies are in place that any violation would cause you to lose your job, then go ahead and make the training tape and change the policy now that directors and vps see how flawed the system is.
Good job original poster. 🙂
Good job original poster. 🙂
...
I'm kinda guessing that the director and regional VP are well aware of the policy that is followed by reps and enforced by managers and supervisors as it is the directors and regional VPs that actually MAKE the policy. As a "Cingular Manager" for twelve years I suspect that you either already know this or have been sleepwalking for some time.
I've been pulling a paycheck since 1972 and have NEVER worked for a company where a line manager or supervisor made company policy. You might not have noticed this, but the last year or so has seen Cingular on the account access security bandwagon.
That veteran may have been real, or might have been some guy reading a social engineering script. I hope that all of the companies which have informat...
(continues)
I've been pulling a paycheck since 1972 and have NEVER worked for a company where a line manager or supervisor made company policy. You might not have noticed this, but the last year or so has seen Cingular on the account access security bandwagon.
That veteran may have been real, or might have been some guy reading a social engineering script. I hope that all of the companies which have informat...
(continues)
...
The fact that you have 'pulling a paycheck since 1972' tells me you are programmed in old corporate America where policy is policy and people cannot make decisions for themselves.
Despite what you want to believe, Cingular policy is NOT written by VP's or regional directors. Nor is it written by front line managers. It written by mid-level operations, fraud and finance.
The point of the post is that while their are guidelines and policy that are clearly in place to protect the company and customers, it was clear to me (although I did not hear the actual conversation) that this customer was not trying to commit fraud. He was just an idiot. For that he should not have been treaded the way he was.
People blame 'Cingular' for it's crapp...
(continues)
Despite what you want to believe, Cingular policy is NOT written by VP's or regional directors. Nor is it written by front line managers. It written by mid-level operations, fraud and finance.
The point of the post is that while their are guidelines and policy that are clearly in place to protect the company and customers, it was clear to me (although I did not hear the actual conversation) that this customer was not trying to commit fraud. He was just an idiot. For that he should not have been treaded the way he was.
People blame 'Cingular' for it's crapp...
(continues)
...
As stated -
This was a prepaid account .....
It WAS NOT an act of phishing or 'some guy reading a social engineering script' because their is no useful information what so ever to be gained.
He was treated like dirt for no reason.
This was a prepaid account .....
It WAS NOT an act of phishing or 'some guy reading a social engineering script' because their is no useful information what so ever to be gained.
He was treated like dirt for no reason.
...
"The fact that you have 'pulling a paycheck since 1972' tells me you are programmed in old corporate America where policy is policy and people cannot make decisions for themselves."
Actually, that tells you "jack". Over half of the companies I've worked for had less than twenty people. I guess that you've never had to clean up the mess made when someone hijacs a prepaid account. And the truth is, we have no real idea what the "tone" of the conversation really was. Unlike you, I don't have the ability to magically "know" things with such limited information.
"People blame 'Cingular' for it's crappy customer service when in fact a VP or Director would tell you to do whatever it takes to take care of the customer. It's when frontline mana...
(continues)
Actually, that tells you "jack". Over half of the companies I've worked for had less than twenty people. I guess that you've never had to clean up the mess made when someone hijacs a prepaid account. And the truth is, we have no real idea what the "tone" of the conversation really was. Unlike you, I don't have the ability to magically "know" things with such limited information.
"People blame 'Cingular' for it's crappy customer service when in fact a VP or Director would tell you to do whatever it takes to take care of the customer. It's when frontline mana...
(continues)
...
Quick question here.. if someone at the store wrote the phone number down for him, is there a reason they didnt test the phone to make sure it worked before he left the store?
If the phone worked to call customer service I am guessing it wasnt something on the customers end preventing him from using the phone, but something set up wrong.
If the phone worked to call customer service I am guessing it wasnt something on the customers end preventing him from using the phone, but something set up wrong.
...
He could've just needed to add funds. As for the store, I agree. The store should do a test call and show the customer basics about the phone. Walmart reps just suck. Most of the time, the don't even offer to activate, they just sell the kit and walk away. COR reps are normally pretty good, but even they screw up sometimes. Being that I work in customer care, most of my calls are negative. I understand that. My posts are normally about a specific instance or a steriotype (based on experience). Not all customers are stupid or mean or anything like that. I love my job and these forums allow me to get stuff off my chest and actually cheer me up to know that other reps have similar experiences.
...
As far as Radio Shack is concerned, when we activate a phone we must make a test call and load on the first time pin, plus any air time the customer has purchased.
The customer also gets a copy of the POS I, POS II printout that includes their number. This had to be at a Cor store though (based on the model of phone mentioned) but as said in a later post, I am included to believe it was a CS test call.
The customer also gets a copy of the POS I, POS II printout that includes their number. This had to be at a Cor store though (based on the model of phone mentioned) but as said in a later post, I am included to believe it was a CS test call.
...
That "blind veteran" was really an AT&T manager who makes random calls to see if he can catch anyone breaking policy. You passed!! Well done, grasshopper. 😉
...
In regards to customers not knowing their phone numbers, I always get irritated by this.
"Sure thing sir/miss I can look up your account, what is your cellphone number?"
"I don't know it, I never call myself. My name is John Smith though, can you pull it up by name?"
"No sir/miss I would need either your cellphone number or social."
What I really want to reply with is " If you don't know your own phone number how the hell is anybody supposed to call you!?
Yeah from a customer's standpoint that policy sucks but those same customers who are upset about it fail to realize that it's the same policy put into place to prevent fraud.
"Sure thing sir/miss I can look up your account, what is your cellphone number?"
"I don't know it, I never call myself. My name is John Smith though, can you pull it up by name?"
"No sir/miss I would need either your cellphone number or social."
What I really want to reply with is " If you don't know your own phone number how the hell is anybody supposed to call you!?
Yeah from a customer's standpoint that policy sucks but those same customers who are upset about it fail to realize that it's the same policy put into place to prevent fraud.
...
