The game has changed
the program is called the Customer Rules and is a simple set of guild lines designed to take care of the customer with a regard to operations. Store Managers also can make decisions based on the individual situation. In a nut shell if it makes sense for the customer then get it done.
It has nothing to do with your credit limit or Telegence/CARE/POS II/OPUS or any other system access. If you cant do it, your manager will, if they cant their manager will. However, you own that customer and you will make it happen, regardless of what needs to be done behind the scenes. If it makes sense. Take care of the customer.
This has nothing to do with AT&T brass as someone pointed out. This is issued directly from Stan Sigman and is being done to...
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It has nothing to do with your credit limit or Telegence/CARE/POS II/OPUS or any other system access. If you cant do it, your manager will, if they cant their manager will. However, you own that customer and you will make it happen, regardless of what needs to be done behind the scenes. If it makes sense. Take care of the customer.
This has nothing to do with AT&T brass as someone pointed out. This is issued directly from Stan Sigman and is being done to...
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So basically this is what Cingular should have been doing all along? It took Stan Stigman this long to figure it out? Taking care of a customer is a simple concept.
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Yes, of course, it is a simple concept. I don't think anyone would deny that. Let's be honest with ourselves. The main reason anyone is in business, unless you're a non-profit or just really like helping people, is to make money.
SBC, or now att&t, (not old AWE) is traditionally a numbers company. It is all about adding shareholder value and padding the bottom line. Sometimes at the expense of the customer. (Thats a double edged sword and whole nother story). Anyway, that culture transposed to SBC Wireless and then to Cingular. With the many companies that make up Cingular, their was really never a real culture or passion. That is whats being addressed. Yes, it did take awhile. yes, they needed to make sure there is profitability. Let...
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SBC, or now att&t, (not old AWE) is traditionally a numbers company. It is all about adding shareholder value and padding the bottom line. Sometimes at the expense of the customer. (Thats a double edged sword and whole nother story). Anyway, that culture transposed to SBC Wireless and then to Cingular. With the many companies that make up Cingular, their was really never a real culture or passion. That is whats being addressed. Yes, it did take awhile. yes, they needed to make sure there is profitability. Let...
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SBC, or now att&t, (not old AWE) is traditionally a numbers company. It is all about adding shareholder value and padding the bottom line. Sometimes at the expense of the customer.... ...Anyway, that culture transposed to SBC Wireless and then to Cingular.
SBC not only treats customers as expendable, but they also impede the development of technologies and treat all consumers as expendable.
It is not at all surprising Cingular has the reputation it does for poor customer service and inability to respond to change quickly when they are owned by SBC.
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captainplooky said:
SBC, or now att&t, (not old AWE) is traditionally a numbers company. It is all about adding shareholder value and padding the bottom line. Sometimes at the expense of the customer.... ...Anyway, that culture transposed to SBC Wireless and then to Cingular.
SBC not only treats customers as expendable, but they also impede the development of technologies and treat all consumers as expendable.
It is not at all surprising Cingular has the reputation it does for poor customer service and inability to respond to change quickly when they are owned by SBC.
You and TenMidgits should get a room. You and him can share a romantic night together spewing tales of h...
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BDGP said:
So basically this is what Cingular should have been doing all along? It took Stan Stigman this long to figure it out? Taking care of a customer is a simple concept.
No, it's just that customers want everything on a silver platter handed to them. If you have overage, you should pay it. If your phone breaks and you have no insurance you shouldn't demand a free phone or you're leaving. If your kid downloads $100.00 worth of ringtones, it should be your responsibility to pay and not complain about it. If you have had 5 disconnections for not paying your bill on time and then complain when you want to add another line and Cingular requires a deposit, you shouldn't argue with them about how good of c...
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No, Cingular is doing this because they HAVE to. How will they stay number one (they won't, but they will try) if they don't differentiate themselves? They have a whole lot of PR ground to make up, and "Customer Rules" is just one part of the path to the top.
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Someone might wanna inform the poor people of Cingular that differentiating themselves by providing bottom of the barrel service is not the way to the top.
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Cingular is hardly bottom-of-the-barrel. They aren't world-class yet, but they are improving, and that Customer Rules thing of theirs is a sign that they intend to continue.
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As a cingular employee (former) & customer (current) that is what I want from Cingular & all wireless carriers. Especially as an employee. When we hold the line on unrealistic customer expectations, don't come in behind us & shaft us. Support us. If we don't give a customer a credit for the sun not shining, don't give in 'cause the cutomer escalates. Someone needs to be able to tell the person who's expecting a credit or something totally outlandish to "bugger off," albeit in a more professional way. Training customers to escalate for what they want has taken time become the rot it is; turning this around will take time, effort, guts & consistency!
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Actulally the problem with protocol. Cingular spend more money trying to not give credits. Customer's are aninmals sometimes some are evil they will call fox news and lie. Some of the customers love calling the FCC and writing complaint letters to the FCC. That small group of customers caused policy to shift. A lot of the cingular complaints to the FCC are lies and they will always side with the customer.
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A lot of the cingular complaints to the FCC are lies and they will always side with the customer.
Keep telling yourself that if it makes you feel better.
Denial is a powerful tool for both individuals and businesses.
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Cingular is a great company but not all FCC complaints are lies. Cingy has the highest rate of compaints be it to the FCC or to customer service reps. It is a positive thing that they are changing their customer sevice policies. When I first signed up with them their cs reps would give responses that were rude & very unprofessional. example: my test messaging time & date is always wrong. Their response was - we are aware of it and don't know if it will ever be fixed!! No wonder why churn is so high.
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celnut said:
Cingular is a great company but not all FCC complaints are lies. Cingy has the highest rate of compaints be it to the FCC or to customer service reps. It is a positive thing that they are changing their customer sevice policies. When I first signed up with them their cs reps would give responses that were rude & very unprofessional. example: my test messaging time & date is always wrong. Their response was - we are aware of it and don't know if it will ever be fixed!! No wonder why churn is so high.
which state do you live in? and i'm with marcus... i was personally mentioned in an fcc complaint that had to do with our insurance company, not Cingular... but working with fcc complaints i know...
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I take escalations for premerger customer care, I only ever talk to a customer when they are dissatisfied with the service they have received so far. Right now, premerger customers are probably the least satisfied group of Cingular's entire customer base. If the customer really does rule, I have a few suggestions for Stan and the gang to make all of our lives easier:
Offer the same handset pricing regardless of which channel the customer buys the phone - retail, customer care, online. Consistency in pricing allows the customer to chose which avenue of purchase is most convenient for them, and avoids situations where store reps lose commission b/c a customer window shops at the store only to buy it online and save $30 or more. More fair fo...
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Offer the same handset pricing regardless of which channel the customer buys the phone - retail, customer care, online. Consistency in pricing allows the customer to chose which avenue of purchase is most convenient for them, and avoids situations where store reps lose commission b/c a customer window shops at the store only to buy it online and save $30 or more. More fair fo...
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wolfspider73 said:...
All of our plans are now national, but our call centers and sim cards are region specific, which adds unnecessary complexity to customer interactions. We encourage customers to travel and promote the mobility of these devices, but if a Florida customer is in Texas and needs a new sim card, they need to either ship it out or wait til they're back in their home market. That's not right. Plus, all this regionalization means more speed dials, more chances of a rep transferring someone to the wrong department, longer hold times, more confusion. Simplify.
Get rid of the migration tool altogether and let us use telepos. The error rate is so high for this tool it again creates multiple transfers, customer di
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in my area (ny) the sims have not been market specific in at least a year the biggest problem we have with that is if someone from say Florida (we get alot of that here on the east end of long island) we cant get into the account so we have to call in and have the sim swapped)
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can you sell someone the SIM and just have the customer call the care group for their home region to have it updated?
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If the store has a SIM reader - which every corporate store should - they can activate and update without calling CS.
I'm not sure why they'd need to get the customer a new SIM, unless the SIM itself was actually bad...
I'm not sure why they'd need to get the customer a new SIM, unless the SIM itself was actually bad...
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wolfspider73 said:...
I take escalations for premerger customer care, I only ever talk to a customer when they are dissatisfied with the service they have received so far. Right now, premerger customers are probably the least satisfied group of Cingular's entire customer base. If the customer really does rule, I have a few suggestions for Stan and the gang to make all of our lives easier:
Offer the same handset pricing regardless of which channel the customer buys the phone - retail, customer care, online. Consistency in pricing allows the customer to chose which avenue of purchase is most convenient for them, and avoids situations where store reps lose commission b/c a customer window shops at the store only to buy it on
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That's all well and good moto, we understand the benefits of the new phones, and the new network, but look at this from the premerger customer's perspective ...all they know is that since the merger, they perceive a decline in coverage as their phones age and the enhancements target "other" people. They have plans they are satisfied with that they have to give up for the sake of "progress", which means paying more for less in many cases. Many are not willing to suck it up, many are not willing to take that leap, because when they call in to care or go to a store, they are being told to give up what they're happy with for something they never wanted.
Coverage and awesome phones are great, but calling plans are a huge part of the equation....
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Coverage and awesome phones are great, but calling plans are a huge part of the equation....
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And if it causes churn, that means they are going to another company that can't beat the prices they are paying now. All contracts state that plans can change and that customers may need to choose a new calling plan.
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You're missing the point Moto. Taking 10-15 escalations a night, I can tell you without fail the vast majority of customers do not read their terms and conditions, do not care about what the t&c's actually state, they know what they want and what they think is fair. If the customer feels they are being forced to get a new plan and new phone, and it winds up costing more and with less return, when for years they could just upgrade their phone, we are creating churn unnecessarily. The idea is to reduce churn, not create it. And telling a customer "well, it says in your contract ..." is a cop out. We need to look at this from customer level, not from an insider's view point. I can sell the value of our new offerings as well as anyone, but why c...
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and before i went to sales i worked help desk/escalations for two years... i know where you are coming from... but the bottom line is business... certain things are necessary for business to make profit and succeed. I am all for the customer, but just like before I came to work for wireless company other companies did similar things to me and i had to follow the rules... the grass is not greener on the other side. rents may increase, gas increases, electric, cable, satellite all these things increase and sometimes customers need to understand that. and referring to the t&c of a contract is not a cop out, it's in black and white what the customer agreed to, they signed a legally binding contract and try and forfeit and say we are in breach of...
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unfortunately both of your arguements are completely valid. what i think both of you are missing is that for any business to stay succcessful you need to find a common ground that both the company and the consumer can find stable footing. you can't expect a company to bend over backwards for every customer who has a complaint, or the company will go out of business, or in the case of AT&T Wireless, you get bought out by another company. by the same token, you can't expect every customer to bend over backwards for a provider without voicing their opinions. it's the theory that the squeeky wheel gets the grease. a company cannot survive without their customers. it's common sense.
in my time of working for cingular wireless telesales i can t...
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in my time of working for cingular wireless telesales i can t...
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wolfspider73 said:
Corporate communications are still extremely disjointed, unclear and in some cases, lack specificity. I have long railed against Cingular's ability to issue clear, concise and complete directives as it relates to new initiatives, the recent VIP enhancements being a perfect example. Ambiguous propaganda will not help confused care reps provide stellar customer service.
This is the best part, I think. I've been saying this stuff since I first laid eyes on CIQ/CSP. Not all carriers have such a crappy information portal, and I really believe that with something much better, Cingular's satisfaction numbers would improve dramatically.
Note to the Cingular suits (Sigman, et al): spend a...
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ACtully Cingular used to ahve a better information portal. but it was discontinued becuase Cingualr did not own it. It was called Askjack it was the best.
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