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Cell Phone Customer Service Ranked Next to Last
Paulrothrock writes "A recent report shows that cell phone companies are the second lowest ranked industry in terms of customer service, just above cable companies. Also, they are second only to car dealers in number complaints to Better Business Bureaus. Complaints include being charged a fee to cancel a cell phone contract for a deceased husband and being double-billed for using an online bill-pay system. I guess I've been lucky, the only problem I've had is getting reception."
can it be because of the fact that domestic customer support just doesn't exist anymore? Nahhh. couldn't possibly be a reason.
I work at a call center here in my hometown ( I'm in college, it's not my fault ) and we have a line group dedicated to things like AT&T ( now.. Cingular I believe ) customer support and the like.
The biggest problem with the line group is that ANYONE can be on it. If you can read at a 5th grade level, type at 10 wpm, and spell decently, you're on. I've heard all sorts of horror stories from the team leaders of people sitting there for 10 minutes going "umm... umm.. I don't really know.. let me give you a different number, maybe they will know.."
If call centers like ours would raise the bar on entry requirements and actually train the agents better, I'm sure we'd see less complaints.
Slashdot sucks
I've sold Sprint, Verizon, and Cingular at various jobs and its rare that anyone is ever coming in to the store satisfied with the service and looking to continue their contract or upgrade. WLNP should be putting the spurs to the wireless companies by now, but I haven't seen any evidence of any company stepping anythig up. I'm currently a Sprint customer and don't have anything bad to say about them right now, but I know damn well that if I did I might be on hold for 10 minutes before talking to an unreceptive operator.
But have you ever had a billing error in YOUR favor?
LS
There is a fine line between being a cultivated citizen and being someone else's crop. - A. J. Patrick Liszkie
Disclaimer: Didn't RTFA
This seems to be a very common complaint about wireless phone, and one of the main reasons I haven't migrated to it. Seems like every person I ask says their plans' customer service stinks, but they've heard such-and-such has a good system. I'll then find someone who is on said system, and they'll tell me that theirs stinks, but they've heard another system is good. Repeat the process ad nauseum.
What I'm wondering is, is the service in the industry really this awful, or is it a "grass is greener" syndrome? Seems to me that it's the perfect opportunity for a smaller wireless company to *gasp* invest in non-outsourced, quality customer care representatives. Word of mouth will spread, and theoretically, people will say "Yes, I like the customer service on this plan" instead of referring you to another company. This will in turn lead to increased customer base, increased satisfaction, and most importantly increased profits.
Of course, then there's still that pesky reception issue to deal with...
Back in Nov, when portability just started i was switching my prepaid US Cellular number to a contract with Cingular. Not only did it take 2 weeks, and Cingular blamed US Cell, and for some reason US Cell blamed AT&T... But one of the numerous times i spent hours on hold with US Cellular i was transfered to some fruit market. A FRUIT MARKET!!?! Thats when i knew they were just fucking with me for the hell of it and i went and lodged various complaints with the US Cellular customer "service" persons supervisor, the BBB and the FCC. Also prior to all this, one of the times i was getting more minutes (you had to do that in-store for whatever reason) i had to wait in the store for 45 before they got to my name on the sign in list, this was after being skipped over several times (to my vocal objections) by people "just paying their bills", as i was about to walk out the door i loudly proclaimed that they'd just wasted half an hour of my life when all i wanted to do was give them my money, and that was why i was switching to cingular next month.
"Sic Semper Tyrannosaurus Rex."
I made the mistake of buying a 2 year GSM subscription with AT&T and a Motorola T720 telephone. I did this in response to having major issues with my previous non-GSM phone getting reception. This turned out to be a remarkably poor decision, as AT&T's GSM service was inferior even to their older-technology service, and this particular Motorola phone wasn't even "Alpha" quality (it effectively powered down without notice if it couldn't find service for more than a few minutes, which happened CONSTANTLY).
Anyway, they sold me this stuff, it didn't work, and I was on a 2 year contract. In going back and forth with them for a while, they explained to me that this was an 'unusual' problem, that their GSM service was good, and that the telephone was not buggy (and perhaps I should warranty mine). This greatly conflicted with reports from fellow users of their GSM service and this Motorola telephone that I'd been reading on the Internet....as it turned out there seemed to be a great number of people in my situation.
So I called AT&T and told them our contract was at an end, and to cancel the service immediately. They of course demanded a $175 cancellation fee. I informed that they would not need this fee, as the reason for the cancellation was their failure to provide the services which were set forth in the contract, i.e. cellular telephone service. It takes a LONG TIME to explain how this works to any customer service rep. Eventually, they actually figured it out and agreed to part ways without additional costs. I consider myself lucky for not having to take them to small claims over the $175.
What has *science* done?!? -- Dr. Weird (ATHF)
I work for AT&T Wireless as a customer care rep (indirectly, through a contractor)... it doesn't surprise me that we're the #2 most hated cellphone company. I would say that 90% of the calls I get are because somebody, somewhere (usually another rep, but often it's dealers too) did something really stupid.
Being an English (only) speaker living in Japan, I have had no problems with contacting my cell provider (NTT DoCoMo) and getting the answers I need.
I won't go into all the bells and whistles of how great the phones are &c. save to say the only limiting factor I could find was that I had to get a certain brand of phone that had dual language capabilities. Once I chose my phone, everything I got with it was in English, and not the broken English manuals and instructions I expected.
Any time I have had to talk with an operator or contact NTT directly, all I have to do is say Eigo and the person immediately switches to English.
Apparently NTT won't even hire you for customer service unless you speak English as well as Japanese.
I had a setup problem with my e-mail service on my phone, I was getting spam and wanted to know waht to do about it. I called them expecting to be shuffled around or misunderstood, but instead, the woman helping me gave me the answers I needed right off the top of her head without a stutter even though I was not doing the best job of explaining what I was trying to accomplish. In the end, she sat with me on the line and helped me to create an accept list for e-mail messages. Anything not coming from the 20 odd addresses I punched in would not be accepted by my phone. I think this is much better than any block list you can hand me, and much easier on the system side of things too. At the same time I had a question about my home internet connection, also with NTT, and instead of transfering me to another division, she again answered my questions as if she had them written on the back of her hand.
After having had to deal with Rogers and Bell in Canada , and having a nightmare of a time even getting someone who spoke English, dealing with my issues become secondary to being able to communicate, I have found the service and quality of personel here amazing.
As to TV operators, we here have to pay a tax even if we don't have a television or cable, somthing along the lines of the U.K. the only experience I have with the TV guy is when someone comes to the door looking to sign me up so they can collect the monthly tax automatically. Here, not speaking Japanese pays off. I feign ignorance and confusion repeating over and over again TV nai and they go away for a year. So far this has been my only contact with them. Now whether they have tried to contact me by phone or not, I will never know because as soon as some one on the line realises I don't speak Japanese, they usually give up, and so far no one has contacted me in English about the TV tax. I can't wait till they do, in English, so I can practice my French...
flinging poop since 1969
Personally I found AT&T Wireless Customer Service to suck. Hard.
I had a phone that died. It just stopped working one day. I didn't drop it, flush it, stick it up my ass, or do any of the other things they asked when I claimed it didn't work... They told me I would have to send it in and pay a $35 fee. I could get a new damn phone w/a different providor for that.
After 4 hours on the phone, 6 different CSRs, and 2 different supervisors I got what I wanted. The cheapass phone replaced for free. I still was stuck w/the original battery that gets 3 hours to a charge.
So I drive around in the Minneapolis metro and have frequent call and service drops. I have to redial numbers 10+ times after 9pm because I just can't get through. Sometimes a call will go through and will drop after a minute forcing me into an AOL-like re-dial session from 1997.
I got a T-mobile Sidekick. I have had to call them twice. Once for money back and once for changing my plan (upgrade).
No sweat, no complaints, no bitchiness, no nothing. My calls don't drop, I can get a call through on the first try, and my roaming is free.
Sorry but T-mobile doesn't suck as bad as AT&T for me.
Today I got my phone bill and it said:
"10 Dollar Credit: -$7.24"
I have not gone over my minutes since I got the phones, my bill is [drum roll].... $78 per month after hidden charges.
It would cost about $3 more to have the phones on 2 separate plans and they wouldn't have to share the same bucket of minutes.
I once had a phone with the same provider a few years ago and they has my SSN wrong, it took my nearly 4 months to get them to let me discontinue the service because my SSN was not the one on the account.
I was like "look, either admit it is my phone and let me discontinue service or admit it is not my phone and quit sending me the bill, but you can't have it both ways!"
I spent 6 hours on the phone the day I finally got rid of the service. One rep left me on hold for nearly 3 hours before I hung up when I asked to be xfered to someone that could credit my account, she wrote in my account that I hung up on her. I spent the 3 hours she had me on hold writing a letter to the BBB.
I recently had to upgrade my service with the company to GSM to add a second phone, I had to buy 2 phones for $300 and give them my old phone that I paid for. None of their towers have been upgraded to GSM so I paid $300 + $78/month for 2 phones that can rarely ever complete a phone call.
If people want to call me they can leave a message on my Vonage phone and I can still check my voicemail away from home. That is one phone company I don't hate.
Saying Java is nice because it works on all OS's is like saying that anal sex is nice because it works on all genders.
That's right in line with my own personal experiences. I've had a TON of problems with Verizon lately. Those people are horrible to deal with.
We were on a family plan with Verizon. After a while we realized that we were always going over out alloted minutes each month, so we decided it was time to switch to another plan. The friendly associate who sold us our phones informed us that we were allowed to switch plans any time we want. Seems fair enough right?
Wrong.
The catch is that they won't let you switch plans unless you sign another two-year contract. Unfortunately this would lock us into using our already ancient Motorola-Startacs for another two years too. We were not pleased. I almost canceled right then and there, but I discovered that the cancellation fee would be greater than just paying the bill until the contract ran out. Consequently we threw our Verizon phones in the drawer, signed on with Alltel, and canceled our Verizon plan the day the contract ran out. End of story right?
Wrong
They sent me a bill for a $400 cancellation fee even though I canceled at the right time and the customer service rep said nothing more was to be paid. I called back and they said they would take care of the problem. Unfortunately they did it for only one of the phones as they sent me another bill two weeks later for $200. This time when I called them back they started making references to "turning the bill over to outside agencies". Trust me, I was freaking angry. Eventually I got to another "nice" customer service rep that said it would be taken care of.
We'll see...
I bet that most people pay the $400 just to quit being harassed. These people a freaking crooks! It's unreal! They're threatening to ruin MY credit even though I followed the rules, had perfect pay, and did NOTHING to violate the contract!
No wonder they've got one of the worst customer satisfaction records in the business.
After seeing what many of my friends have gone through with other carriers (including corporate accounts with a couple of them), and considering a few hassles I had with Verizon - I can still say that I see why Verizon is usually on top for customer service.
For starters, the majority of people don't really consider their phone a seperate issue from the service provided by a given carrier. EG. If you use a cheezy phone with relatively poor reception and/or battery life, you're likely to blame the resulting dropped call issues on your carrier. While this isn't really fair, I think Verizon does an "above average" job of only offering people phones that work pretty well at these basics. Therefore, they manage to keep these complaints down a little bit.
Also though, Verizon seems to have a pretty good customer satisfaction policy. Despite them screwing up my billing at least 2 different times, and giving me hassles about a new phone I purchased that starting acting up while still under their warranty, they always have resolved the issues in the end. Basically, with Verizon, you'll get to talk with your share of clueless cust. service associates, just like with the other carriers, *but* unlike some of them, Verizon mandates that if you complain enough, you will eventually have your issue resolved.
The biggest thing I think any of the carriers could do to please customers would be easing up on the contracts. That's likely the LAST thing they'll ever do, though, because it's too much of a cash cow for them.
A SprintPCS store in cincinnati once, the man was picketing back and forth every day taht week with a giant sign that i can't remember exactly what it read but it was something about his bill and the message was clear. He was pissed enough to sit outside all day in the summer sun wiht a sign and his kids and yell about how shitty sprint was
that was enough to keep me away from them forever
If they were not such assholes, they would not have to worry.
Fight Spammers!
I frankly find this puzzling. T-Mobile has simply provided the best customer service I have *ever* experienced with a service provider.
Hold times are short (under 5 minutes), the CSRs are pretty competent (and they transfer you to level 2 when they know they are out of their league), and the staff is always polite.
Frankly, Comcast isn't bad either. Neither is DirecTV. I don't see what everyone is complaining about (except with Qwest - they put you on hold for an hour and then explain that their DSL network is down and will be down for the next two days).
The problem is that people expect too much. You can't expect level 1 CSRs to be able to fix every problem.
Here are my "rules":
- Act dumb, but not too dumb. If your GPRS WAP service is out, say that you can't connect to [[branded GPRS service name]] and read off the error messege. Let them run through their script and transfer you to someone who can help.
- Be polite. You get excellent results if you say "Thank You" and use a polite tone of voice. Remember, it's not the CSRs fault that your service sucks.
- Don't expect too much. You shouldn't expect a CSR to give you six months of free service because your coverage sucks. Nor should you expect to have your contract revoked.
- Play CSR Russian Roulette. If you don't get what you want, call back. You'll get a new CSR and can try your routine again. This works particularly well for scoring discounted (or free) service when you have network outage issues.
And finally, some tips about wireless:
- Don't expect too much. Your phone, particularly if it's in the PCS spectrum (most GSM, Sprint) will have trouble inside buildings, paritcularly if they are metal. Your best bets for coverage inside are Verizon or Nextel (800mhz, penetrates walls better).
- Don't buy GSM (in the US) unless you know what you are doing. I love my T-Mobile service, but it is not something that I would rely on. GSM networks in the US simply do not provide the quality of service and coverage of CDMA-based networks. You can get good deals with GSM (particularly with T-Mobile - $20 unlimited GPRS; $50 2-phone plan with plenty of minutes), but you must understand that you will not always have service, particularly indoors or in rural areas.
- Stay away from AT&T. Their GSM network is, quite frankly, crap. Not that T-Mobile's is much better, but at least T-Mobile has cheap data. AT&T's customer service is also awful.
- Stay away from Sprint. Verizon CDMA isn't any more expensive and it is far more reliable and comprehensive.
- Go Verizon if you need dependable service. Verizon's CDMA is simply unmatched in terms of reliability and coverage. I had Verizon (CDMA2000, not AMPS) service in Yellowstone National Park.
- Get a good phone. Do research. A good phone makes all the difference. T-Mobile is actually pretty decent with a 1.2W Nokia phone (Nokia 3590). With the 600mW T300 (or the Sidekick with the crappy radio chipset) it is practically useless.
- Test out your service during the free trial. T-Mobile, for example, gives you 14 days to opt-out of the contract. They are throwing you a bone here - you have the perfect chance to see whether their service is acceptable. Go to the tough locations; everywhere you would use your phone on a regular basis, call 611, and keep going through the phone tree (for T-Mobile, you can hit # every 30 or so seconds and it will read you your minute usage indefinately). Listen, walk around, and check to see if the audio quality is acceptable (or if the call drops). You don't have to pay for the minutes.