Owning up to really bad decisions
As company reps, we are required to answer for the decisions the company makes. I for one am not given the slightest bit of information on any corporate decision (the at&t buyout, internet pricing vs cor pricing etc..) as to what I should say to my customer when they ask, so I usually have to make something up.
So everyone be honest and list the decisions that cingular made that you felt were just plain pad and that you really had no answer for when a customer got upset.
Heres one:
Just recently Cingular took insurance off of the accounts of people who were still using Gait and Tdma handsets. Mostly without the knowledge of the customer. Honestly, If a cust has been paying for insurance for 2 years on a gait phone and never use...
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So everyone be honest and list the decisions that cingular made that you felt were just plain pad and that you really had no answer for when a customer got upset.
Heres one:
Just recently Cingular took insurance off of the accounts of people who were still using Gait and Tdma handsets. Mostly without the knowledge of the customer. Honestly, If a cust has been paying for insurance for 2 years on a gait phone and never use...
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Being relatively new to selling Cingular I cannot see bad decisions. The insurance question is a common occurance. The insurance companies usually do not insure a phone after 36 or 48 months. So a customer with an old tried and true Nokia 5165 have an uninsurable phone. It probably makes no sense, but insurance is heavily regulated by the states and there is a solid reason. Cingular cannot arbitrarily just quit collecting insurance premiums and quit covering the phones. There is way more behind this than a backhanded way to get customers off of TDMA/GAIT.
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There are no new gait phones, the insurance would have to send a referb. to replace one more than likely, but at this point want to get them an upgrade to a GSM model and with that up to date on the network.
This is a good decision because in this case they would not pay the $3.99/m and the $50 deductible; but only the $18 fee assuming a basic model -free w/2yr.
This is a good decision because in this case they would not pay the $3.99/m and the $50 deductible; but only the $18 fee assuming a basic model -free w/2yr.
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Answering the question about equipment upgrades was always easy:
"phones are less online because Cingular is not paying a representative to babysit you through your purchase"
"your buddy got his phone for half what you did with only a one year contract because he is employed by a company who has committed to spend millions of dollars per year with Cingular in exchange for deeper discounts, while you call in every month to complain of your bill going up $2.37 when your 17 year old daughter discovered MEdia Net."
"why, in your mind of minds, would you assume that 'eligible for upgrade' equates to 'I get any phone I want for free'? What it means is that you will get a phone at a price less than full retail non-commitment price."
The o...
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"phones are less online because Cingular is not paying a representative to babysit you through your purchase"
"your buddy got his phone for half what you did with only a one year contract because he is employed by a company who has committed to spend millions of dollars per year with Cingular in exchange for deeper discounts, while you call in every month to complain of your bill going up $2.37 when your 17 year old daughter discovered MEdia Net."
"why, in your mind of minds, would you assume that 'eligible for upgrade' equates to 'I get any phone I want for free'? What it means is that you will get a phone at a price less than full retail non-commitment price."
The o...
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i know i got sick of this to. I work for a great company now Cox Communications. soon we will be in the wireless world by sellig sprint. Death to Cingular
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Sprint is terrible. When I used to sell Sprint phones, there would be a 45 minute wait on the dealer lines. FAST is one of the worst programs I have ever used. It doesn't include everything that Sprint offers so sometimes you have to have someone else process the transaction and you lose the commission.
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VIP upgrades letters is the worst decision in my opinion. As an agent, in many cases we have to send customers away because we cannot honer a $79.99 razor on an added line upgrade for $9.99 a month. We lose about $40 every time we honor this. As a commission based employee, just wondering how Cingular can offer this? Everytime I send the customer away, I know that they will never come back to this store ☹️ or possibly never back to Cingular!
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We had to make them sign up for a $19.99 data feature to honor the $129.99 before rebate (mother's day special). That was the only way we stayed out of the hole other than talking them out of it. For the VIP mailers that offer it at $149.99 before a $100 MIR, we make about $15 off the sale. We make crap off a crap phone, so I guess it makes sense.
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As an agent I agree to!! Also it is sometimes hard to explain the upgrade fee to a customer that has been with cingular for 10+ years
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I'll agree with that one.
The upgrade fee is a hard one to explain. I wish they'd just genuinely, just once, issue a statement on what that's actually for.
Course it's been my experience that CC will often waive an upgrade fee for someone who's been around since before Cingy was Cingy.
The upgrade fee is a hard one to explain. I wish they'd just genuinely, just once, issue a statement on what that's actually for.
Course it's been my experience that CC will often waive an upgrade fee for someone who's been around since before Cingy was Cingy.
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I've noticed that also with the upgrade fees. Or even something as simple as READING THE PHONE PRICE TAGS. It just has to be understood that the public in general as a whole, is very stupid. There are lots of bright people out there, and they are usually the customers that understand things the first time you explain them (assuming you do it right).
But at this point in the cell phone game... I shouldn't have to explain to people that have had cell phones for YEARS and YEARS what contracts are and how they work.
Also, has anyone else noticed that customers seem to think that if they get a $200 phone over a free one (not talking about a data device) they will act like its a more important sale and as such deserves much more of your...
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But at this point in the cell phone game... I shouldn't have to explain to people that have had cell phones for YEARS and YEARS what contracts are and how they work.
Also, has anyone else noticed that customers seem to think that if they get a $200 phone over a free one (not talking about a data device) they will act like its a more important sale and as such deserves much more of your...
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why'd they dropp the 4.99 insurance. that addition 1.99 was valuable atleast to me.
now in a year (less now) my w600i's screen will white out and i will be forced to pay a $50.00 deductable.
i've never had to deal with xbm just lockline but some say they send refurbs that have even been reconditioned. have scratches and dents or whatever else. lockline has never done this i'm pissed.
now in a year (less now) my w600i's screen will white out and i will be forced to pay a $50.00 deductable.
i've never had to deal with xbm just lockline but some say they send refurbs that have even been reconditioned. have scratches and dents or whatever else. lockline has never done this i'm pissed.
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Too many people were getting just the $1.99 just to have some coverage, and thinking it would cover much more than it did. This by my experience here.
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thats no excuse to drop it. thats the sales person who attached it not explaining it in full detail.
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As someone who's dealt with primarily AT&T Wireless customers transitioning to Cingular, I've heard a lot of crap. This company does lots of lame stuff to customers, but it's par for the course when it comes to telecoms. AT&T Wireless was significantly different in it's policies toward customers, but the end result was a lot of happy customers who paid less than they would have paid with the other carriers, and AT&T Wireless is dead & buried.
It's been a while since I've dealt with customers directly, but I always had a policy of siding with the customer whenever there was a grey area of policy. That was even more the case when Cingular took over. Yeah, there's been lots of bad decisions made, and it sucks that it falls on the frontli...
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It's been a while since I've dealt with customers directly, but I always had a policy of siding with the customer whenever there was a grey area of policy. That was even more the case when Cingular took over. Yeah, there's been lots of bad decisions made, and it sucks that it falls on the frontli...
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Cingular now has the "fewest dropped calls" according to an independent company called Telephia. Two things bother me about this...
1) Telephia is a company that drives around with specialized equipment that basically makes hundreds of calls and evaluates the strenghts and weakness of wireless networkss throughout the main metro areas. This is then sold back to the carriers where they can say "ok we're having some troubled spots here...and here", then they fix them. I guess some suit saw this and made it a huge multi-billion dollar marketing campaign.
This sets the expectations into the minds of the consumers that have maybe 1 or 2 dropped calls (that they didnt even realize before) that they should not have ANY problems EVER. ...
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1) Telephia is a company that drives around with specialized equipment that basically makes hundreds of calls and evaluates the strenghts and weakness of wireless networkss throughout the main metro areas. This is then sold back to the carriers where they can say "ok we're having some troubled spots here...and here", then they fix them. I guess some suit saw this and made it a huge multi-billion dollar marketing campaign.
This sets the expectations into the minds of the consumers that have maybe 1 or 2 dropped calls (that they didnt even realize before) that they should not have ANY problems EVER. ...
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🤨 It sucks that Cingular has policies that kinda make you feel trapped when it comes to explaining the dropped calls when Cingular advertises fewer dropped calls. My issue is that I feel like I'm competing against Cingular's website working for a agent because I get at least 2 questions a day asking why is the price cheaper on-line and why can't you match it and so on.
Its even harder for indirect agents to get info about name changes or policy changes because we usually are the last to know. I alot of times it feels like Cingular as a company leaves their employees and agents out in cold to fend for themselves esp. when it comes to customer service.
Its even harder for indirect agents to get info about name changes or policy changes because we usually are the last to know. I alot of times it feels like Cingular as a company leaves their employees and agents out in cold to fend for themselves esp. when it comes to customer service.
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Exchange/Insurance by Mail. Removing technicians from the retail stores was a HUGE mistake. Most customers prefer face to face interaction, and having someone who can diagnose and repair on the spot is a big plus for the customer. Removing the ability to do an insurance claim in a retail store also was a big mistake, for example: if a customer files an insurance claim on Fri - they may be without a phone for the entire weekend - not fun for a customer facing employee to explain.
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AMEN! To both of those points. Since there's not a single tech available ANYWHERE, I get to be tech support for my store because I've been here so long that I generally know at least where the problem is. But, I ask, what good does it do to know what the problem is if I don't have the tools to fix it? I swear I'd rather be a tech than a sales person, but Cingular doesn't have 'em.
As for insurance....don't even get me started on how bad it is to have to answer:
"So what am I gonna do until my replacement gets here?"
or
"Is Cingular gonna reimburse me for all the money I loose while I don't have a phone?"
(Alright seriously, anyone who runs a business strictly from a cell is insane, but there are people who effectively have to...
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As for insurance....don't even get me started on how bad it is to have to answer:
"So what am I gonna do until my replacement gets here?"
or
"Is Cingular gonna reimburse me for all the money I loose while I don't have a phone?"
(Alright seriously, anyone who runs a business strictly from a cell is insane, but there are people who effectively have to...
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