Highlights of my recent chat with a representative of Sprint's Online Customer Service:
6:11:00 PM : [SPRINT] Connected to sprint.ehosts.net
6:11:00 PM : [SPRINT] Session ID: 582726
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6:12:26 PM : [SPRINT] Thank you for contacting Sprint. My name is ********.
6:12:57 PM : [ME]: Hi ********. I need to cancel service on two of my lines.
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6:16:42 PM : [SPRINT]: May I know which lines to be canceled?
6:17:10 PM : [ME]: XXX-XXXX and XXX-XXXX.
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6:29:25 PM : [SPRINT]: You can easily cancel the lines/account by calling Account Service Department at -(888) 211-4727
6:29:56 PM : [ME]: Okay - so I still have to call the account service dept?
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6:30:08 PM : [SPRINT]: Yes.
6:30:45 PM : [SPRINT]: The services are canceled by the account service department.
I thought places like this paid bonuses on how quickly they got people off the line?
Showing posts with label the service economy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label the service economy. Show all posts
March 25, 2010
The Art Of The Deal.
One in a series of essays about how to successfully negotiate anything. Or not.
I walked into the only pawn shop in my town and went to the back where they have their musical instruments (four no-name brand Strat copies, a violin, two basses and a 40-watt guitar amplifier).
"Can you do anything about the price of this bass?" I asked one of the staff, opening the door to negotiation.
But she had been raised in a house where her dad yelled at her to shut the door.
"No, the owner isn't here and we can't change prices," she said, unapologetically. "You could ask him" - she pointed to someone behind the counter - "but he'll probably tell you the same thing."
I did, and he did.
"This has been here quite a while," I observed. The little yellow sticker on it showed that it arrived eight months earlier. "And it's kind of beat up," I said. A previous owner had plastered stickers all over it, there were a couple of dings in the paint and it was missing a control knob.
"Yeah," said the man behind the counter. "But it's an Ibanez."
I put the bass back on its stand. I'd have felt guilty paying the price they wanted and depriving the pawn shop of the cachet of having an Ibanez in stock.
I walked into the only pawn shop in my town and went to the back where they have their musical instruments (four no-name brand Strat copies, a violin, two basses and a 40-watt guitar amplifier).
"Can you do anything about the price of this bass?" I asked one of the staff, opening the door to negotiation.
But she had been raised in a house where her dad yelled at her to shut the door.
"No, the owner isn't here and we can't change prices," she said, unapologetically. "You could ask him" - she pointed to someone behind the counter - "but he'll probably tell you the same thing."
I did, and he did.
"This has been here quite a while," I observed. The little yellow sticker on it showed that it arrived eight months earlier. "And it's kind of beat up," I said. A previous owner had plastered stickers all over it, there were a couple of dings in the paint and it was missing a control knob.
"Yeah," said the man behind the counter. "But it's an Ibanez."
I put the bass back on its stand. I'd have felt guilty paying the price they wanted and depriving the pawn shop of the cachet of having an Ibanez in stock.
November 2, 2009
The fine art of the sales pitch.
In today's mail, a come-on from Vonage: "As a valued former Vonage customer, we have a special limited-time offer just for you: Come Back to Vonage and get" - and then, in big orange letters that got even bigger and oranger as the sentence concluded - offered me exactly the same price as I had been paying before I cancelled the service. Or, to put it another way, twice as much as the rate they offered me two months ago when I called them to cancel.
It's a bold strategy - if at first the customer doesn't go for the lower price, try raising it back to the original price - convince them that not only were they wrong to stop buying it then, their refusal was an insult. An insult! Hell, why not double the price and teach those impertinent peons a lesson?
I'm holding out until Vonage asks for $200 a month, a kidney and the right to crush my testicles on demand. You know, just like my cell phone company.
It's a bold strategy - if at first the customer doesn't go for the lower price, try raising it back to the original price - convince them that not only were they wrong to stop buying it then, their refusal was an insult. An insult! Hell, why not double the price and teach those impertinent peons a lesson?
I'm holding out until Vonage asks for $200 a month, a kidney and the right to crush my testicles on demand. You know, just like my cell phone company.
September 10, 2009
If, Then, Else. Or not.
For a couple of weeks now, The Kid She Who Will Put Us In A Home has been crossing her fingers every time she tried to use her cell phone. The phone's been on its last legs for a while, a victim of its own success. She Who Will Put Us In A Home uses it like FOX 'News' uses the phrase "Death Panels." The paint is gone from half a dozen letters on QWERTY keypad and from two or three buttons on the phone's face, the slider is showing signs of metal fatigue like you'd see on the wings of a 747 after a barrel roll and its battery holds a charge about as well as a very large man with very buttery fingers holds a very tiny screw.
The phone finally died yesterday evening.
Anticipating this, I'd sent She Who Will Put Us In A Home an email the other day listing a few of the better-rated phones available under our carrier's (Rhymes With Bint) plan and told her she could pick one and I'd order it.
I logged on to my carrier's website to place the order. When I got to the checkout page, there wasn't an option to change the shipping address. She Who Will Put Us In A Home is in college now (he said, beaming with pride) and it only makes perfect sense to ship it to where she is, rather than have Rhymes With Bint ship it here and have me ship it there. (Have I mentioned that her phone no longer works?)
I clicked on the button to talk to a live customer service person. Jessica immediately sprang to life in a pop-up window. The pertinent portions of our conversation are transcribed below (Rhymes With Bint helpfully includes an "email a transcript" button with its live chats).
"Anything else"?
In retrospect, I think I may have missed an opportunity to ask them if they could also not do some other thing they already don't do, if only to have them tell me again about something I already know.
The phone finally died yesterday evening.
Anticipating this, I'd sent She Who Will Put Us In A Home an email the other day listing a few of the better-rated phones available under our carrier's (Rhymes With Bint) plan and told her she could pick one and I'd order it.
I logged on to my carrier's website to place the order. When I got to the checkout page, there wasn't an option to change the shipping address. She Who Will Put Us In A Home is in college now (he said, beaming with pride) and it only makes perfect sense to ship it to where she is, rather than have Rhymes With Bint ship it here and have me ship it there. (Have I mentioned that her phone no longer works?)
I clicked on the button to talk to a live customer service person. Jessica immediately sprang to life in a pop-up window. The pertinent portions of our conversation are transcribed below (Rhymes With Bint helpfully includes an "email a transcript" button with its live chats).
JESSICA: Thank you for visiting Rhymes With Bint. What questions can I answer for you today?
ME: I am ordering a phone to replace the one my daughter is using. I would like to have it shipped directly to her at college but I do not seem to have that option. Am I able to ship to an address other than my home?
JESSICA: You will have the option 'shipping at different address' on the Final Checkout page. Do you see 'Shipping at different address' option on your current page?
ME: No, that's not an option.
[JESSICA asks me whether or not I can see a number of other things on the page, all of which I can. Then she asks me what the 'total charges' are and which phone I ordered.]
JESSICA: To confirm your eligibility for an upgrade, may I please have your billing ZIP code and the telephone number of the device you would like to upgrade? If you would like to check your upgrade eligibility status in the future, you can visit www.Rhymes With Bint.com/upgrades.
ME: I already know I'm eligible... zip is XXXXX. Number being upgraded is xxx-xxx-xxxx. My login page tells me that that number is eligible for upgrade.
JESSICA: You are eligible to receive a $25 instant rebate with a one-year contract extension and a $75 instant rebate with a two-year contract extension. When you upgrade your device online today, we will waive the $18 upgrade fee as well as the shipping and handling charges.
ME: Yes, I know that. And that's all in the billing details. But my problem is that I want to ship the phone to my daughter at college. How do I change the shipping address? *That* is the question.
JESSICA: As you don't find the option 'shipping at different address' on your Final checkout page, you cannot get it shipped at your desired address.
JESSICA: Is there anything else I can help you with today?
"Anything else"?
In retrospect, I think I may have missed an opportunity to ask them if they could also not do some other thing they already don't do, if only to have them tell me again about something I already know.
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