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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."
You already know the answer to "can you hear me now?!"
I was told that I could listen to the radio at a reasonable volume from nine to eleven...
can it be because of the fact that domestic customer support just doesn't exist anymore? Nahhh. couldn't possibly be a reason.
After you sign that contract, you become their bitch. I learned the hard way with Verizon. I only found out that they had stopped me from writing programs for my phone despite that the salesman told me I could, and they wouldn't fix my broken phone that was under warranty because they thought it was because of physical abuse.
After you sign that contract, they get your money no matter what, so there is very little incentive for them to improve customer service(also note how customer service is never touted in television commercials for various carriers). But damn do they make those phones tempting. I wish that the manufacturers didn't charge you out the arse for them if you buy them directly...
I remember reading a true story in a book. It was about a man who was having problems with his cellphone [it had been disconnected]. When talking with the lady working tech support, the lady worked up the idea he was an 'arrogant bastard'. The call ended by normally but the next month the client recieved a bill with a $148 charge. The charge was for 'penalty for being an arrogant bastard.'
Shows how good cell phone customer service is.
Here's the deal. The BBB only thinks that they have a bunch of cell phone complaints. Most of the time they only can make out something like "fucking cell pho..." before the call is dropped, so they mark it as a complaint about the service.
Until Slashdot fixes the funny modifier, use insightful or interesting. The poster knows your intentions.
Top US wireless companies by customer:
- Verizon
- Singular
- AT&T
- Sprint
The most hated cell phone companies (their customer service has something to do with it, I think):
- T-Mobile
- Sprint
- AT&T Wireless
- Cingular
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
"Mine has got Dance Dance Revolution on it."
--Chag
Commenting upon their second place finish, Verizon and Cingular Wireless both vowed to try harder next year.
Unknown host pong.
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
I love the pictures in the article. They just show people merrily using their cellphones. It would make more sense if they showed the angry users, you know, the ones who smash their phones to teeny tiny bits, feed the bits to a squirrel, and then smash the squirrel into teeny tiny bits.
I also reply below your current threshold.
I once had to make a long distance call to a company to order a development board, and being a bit paranoid at the time I wanted to ask my provider (T-Mobile) about cell phone security. (I don't have long distance service on my landline) Here's how it went down from what I remembered:
Me: Yes, I'd like to know if your cell phone service is secure for making an order over the phone?
Support: Ah, you want to buy a new phone?
Me: (?!!) No. I'm asking about the security of cell phone usage. See, I'm planning on placing an order over the phone from a company.
Support: You have a phone from another company?
Me: No. I want to know if someone can intercept my cell phone call.
Support: T-Mobile does not record and monitor your calls.
Me: Thanks.....have a nice day.
I was hoping for a "Yes, the service is encrypted" or something. Guess that's what I get for being lazy to research myself.
$cat
"Sweet. Contracts are up by %15, we cut half our customer service department, and this new report shows that people don't like it. But they keep buying it, so we'll keep shovelling it!"
"Life is good."
-Adam
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."
It's funny. The customer service reps can be rude, disrespectful, and have unacceptable wait times.
But then try calling a payment hotline, I've never talked to such a group of prompt, cheerful jerks in my life!
Always happy to take your money (obviously).
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)
They charge for roaming at random. They add fees that were never discussed. They sign you into a 2-year contract and charge you $200 to get out of it when your service wasn't ever reliable.
Tmobile has screwed me over so many times it isn't funny. I have had 3 different days where I could place or receive no calls. All three days happened to be times where I was trying to coordinate events that involved people travelling. Needless to say, I had a lot of people pissed at me. During the blackout in New York, my brother's and my Tmobile phones would not work while everyone around us were talking on their cell phones. When we tried to access the other networks and force our phones to roam, they would allow emergency calls only.
For about a month of my contract, only half the calls could be completed. Oh ya, Tmobile also guarantees nothing about calls being made inside. So, I can't use my cell phone in my own home.
This isn't just Tmobile, though. I had a contract with Sprint. During the first week of the contract, I had trouble getting good service and my calls were getting dropped. They assured me I had 14 days without fee. Then, they sent me a bill for $235. Then, I called them and had $200 removed. They sent me another bill for $35. I also called and had that removed. Then, they sent me to collections for $235. I was able to settle for $0. I wonder how many people ended up paying that $235 or even the $35.
They have confusing minute plans. Tmobile assured my brother that he had free nights and weekends with his $35/month plan. Then, after recklessly using his phone as a camp counselor after 9pm on weekdays, he got a bill for $450. It turns out that he needed a $39/month plan to get the free nights part of the free nights and weekends. Tmobile also kindly let him know that nothing they ever say is contractual - only what is in fine print.
I could seriously bitch about cell phone companies all day. I heard Sprint is making something like $230million this year in fees for saving peoples' old cell phone numbers. That is bullshit. The entire goddamn industry has put fees for every damn thing.
At least when you buy a car, it generally works. There is no cell phone service that works everywhere - and there is no such thing as a cell phone customer who never gets dropped calls (unless they never really use their phones.)
--- We need more Ron Paul!
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
When the nifty new features that modivated you to purchase the phone in the first place don't work, or when "customer support" uses paying customers to beta test nifty new features, THATs MLIFE.
When you have to hold for AT&T's billing department FOR OVER AN HOUR to explain to them that you canceled their so called service a month ago, and that you just ain't gonna pay 'em any more, THAT'S MLIFE.
When AT&T bills you after you've canceled the contract because AT&T didn't deliver the promised service, THATS MLIFE.
When AT&T sends you to collections because you are so f$cking fed up with AT&T's complete and utter lack of service that you just can't stand another Minute on hold, THAT'S MLIFE.
When you carefully read the terms of service and contract before you sign up, then try to cancel the contract within 30 days without penelty as specified in the contract, you your life goes to hell, THATS MLIFE.
When you've been on hold for so long that you start writing sarcastic replacements for AT&T's marketing, THATS MLIFE.
When you start looking at cell phone sales droids as generally having less integrety than your typical car salesman, THAT'S MLIFE.
When you've had such a searingly horrible experience with a big nasty f'ed up corperation such as AT&T that you VOW that you will never use ANY service from them EVER EVER AGAIN, THATS MLIFE.
Who cares if it's encrypted?
Do you think someone is sitting around listenting to people's cell conversations until they hit on one where someone is placing an order, and then write down your information?
If that actually worries you, do you ever actually use your credit card?
Credit cards are not secure. Any clerk at pretty much any place you use it has access to your number, as does any IS employee at any internet company you've ever placed an order with.
The time and money you spent calling T-Mobile to ask about their network was greater than the time/money lost if your call had been intercepted times the chance your call was intercepted. Now, stop driving up my cell phone bill by making T-Mobile pay people to field your stupid questions.
paintball
"Can you hear me now?"
[silence]
It's official. Someone finally found the Verizon guy and shoved his fucking cell phone back up where it belonged.
Most problems appear to be people with unreasonable ideas of what coverage is "OMG I"M STUCK ON THIS MOUNTAIN AND MY CELL PHONE DOESN'T WORK". The U.S.A. is a HUGE place with extremely varying geographical coverage. It's just not possible to be perfect here. Japan doesn't have this problem, most countries don't. I live in the middle of the desert and all I hear from some people here is that their cell coverage sucks. Well duh, when the company has 10 customers it just doesn't pay to fully cover the area.
On the other hand, the contracts are bullshit. I will never EVER sign a contract. If 10 years from now all there is for phone service is cell and it's done by 3 companies and you're forced to sign a contract then I'm sorry, I won't own or use a phone ever again. Contracts are for buying houses, renting cars, financial agreements etc etc. Not for phone service. It makes as much sense to me as signing a contract at a restaurant to return 4 times a week when all you want is the ocassional hamburger. I had a cell as part of my job a few years ago and I used it at most, twice a day and that was just a quick 1 minute convo with the boss. Yet he was paying upwards of 160$ a month for that phone (top of the line service contract). It just doesn't make sense to me. A girl I work with has a cell and pays 50$ a month for it, not counting the over charges (she showed me an $800 bill once). That's just nuts to me. Maybe I'm cheap but I just don't have unlimited funds, nor do I feel secure enough under the current economic climate to contract out a 50$ payment each month for 2 years with no recourse should I need to cancel. Hell my bank gives me ways out of my loans if I need it, even refinancing should times get real hard. I can also negotiate settlements with them if I need to file bankruptcy. None of that is possible with the cell phone gustapos "FUCK YOU PAY ME" attitude. All in all, why sign up? Other than to fit in with the cool crowd and have equally obnoxious cell phone jangles. I don't see the value and "cool gadget, must have" feelings aside, I just can't make myself buy one again.
If this sort of thing ever happened to me I would fight them with the business world's equivalent of nuclear weapons. I would go straight to the media. There's bound to be a few media organisations looking for just such a story.
People with poor service fear media exposure. It's like a bright light shining into a cockroach-infested hovel - watch the creeps run for cover. And watch as your previously intractible problem is suddenly solved.
The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing. - Edmund Burke
I worked for Cingular Customer Service for a year or so and I can safely say at least 75% of the employees in the call center with me were underqualified, undereducated, partially-trained (and rushed thru that), and had bad attitudes towards their work and their customers. These reps were notorious for giving inaccurate imformation. If you called 3 difference reps with the same question, you were going to get at least 2 different answers (the joke was "This is Cingular. We have no consistency here.")
They were mostly unfamiliar with Cingular service/plans/phones/etc because Cingular's training system is basically a webpage called 'The Learning Edge' that reps could just click thru without reading (the test at the end even gave you the answers if you knew how to cheat it.) The main tool for communicating was email which few reps read. There was also a problem with getting user accounts set up so a lot of reps didn't have access to all the tools and information they needed to do the job. And God help you if you needed a password reset.
Twice a month, a Quality Assurance rep will monitor a rep's call to make sure the rep says the right verbage ("Thank you for calling Cingular Wireless where our goal is blah blah blah...") and handles the call correctly. However, on every call, reps are scored by call stats which basically tell how quickly the rep gets the customer off the phone and moves on to the next caller. Giving accurate information and being courtesy to the customer seemed to take second priority to call handle time.
Managers weren't much better. Most of them don't want to be bothered with customer's calls and will keep sending the rep back to the customer until they hang up. Some managers were just lazy and rather than take the call, they would just tell the rep to give the customer want they wanted. Of course, this was fine for most customers, but after millions of dollars in unjustified credits were given, Cingular decided to implement 'protocol training' which basically says no more credits on customer's bills unless there's an unquestionable mistake on Cingular's part. Actually, this seemed somewhat fair because there are a lot of customers who call in and make up some bullshit story to get a late fee or some roaming charge taken off (one lazy guy I spoke with didn't even bother to make up a story. he just called and politely asked "I need a courtesy credit on my bill.")
I finally got fed up with being one of the few reps who actually cared about the job and made a decent effort towards correcting customer's issues. I quit and moved on. I still use Cingular service because it's the best in my area, but I only call customer service when there's no other way around it. If I can, I go into company-owned store to make changes and such (though there are some things that stores don't have access to.) Here's some advice on calling in if you have to.
1. Always get the name, CUID (cingular user id), and call center location of the person you are speaking with. They are required to give this to you. Document this with the date and time and reason you are calling. Keep this information for the next two billing cycles (or whatever length of time applies to your situation.)
2. If you make any changes to your account, find out when the changes will go into effect and if any charges or service will be prorated.
3. Even if the call goes perfectly well, call back and verify everything the previous rep told you and make sure any requested changes have been done. This may sound unecessary, but I once changed a rate plan with a feature addition that took 3 calls to get it right. Yes, THREE calls!
4. Be polite to the rep. Attitude begats attitude. If you're nice, most of the reps will be nice to you. If you're an asshole, the rep will do nothing for you (and probably note your account so no one else will either.)
Hope this helps.
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.
I work* for a cellular phone company, and I can tell you that we get very few** complaints*** despite what this survey says. One thing we care very much for is that customers know what they're going to be charged****. So naturally I'm very disappointed***** to hear this kind of thing.
* Does not include actual employment, work implies any form of work including having to try and figure out what AT&T intends to charge me this month.
** The word "few" should not be implied to have any specific, non-subjective, definition.
*** Excludes concerns about service quality or hidden charges
**** Does not include monetary amounts
***** Disappointment should not be read to imply any desire to make anything better.
OTHER TERMS AND CONDITIONS
While completely free, this message may be subject to an additional $1.75 fee payable per reader to cover the costs of making this message conform to government regulations. This is not a tax, it is simply a fee squiggleslash levies to cover mandated improvements in honesty.
There are no lies in this message, because you can make any claim you like as long as you say it's completely false in the small-print.
You are not alone. This is not normal. None of this is normal.
That 2 year contract they want you to sign in the reason why their customer service sucks. You're locked in for 2 years or you have to pay a huge cancellation fee. If you don't have a choice to leave, they don't have to provide you with good service.
This one is a no-brainer.
LK
"Hi. This is my friend, Jack Shit, and you don't know him." - Lord Kano