Repair frustrations update!

Robert M. wrote:

> I rest my case. So we are not far afield.

We???? That gerble in your pocket (or whereever you stick it)
and you alone??

> We're spot on.

Troll-Be-Gone to removes those pesky spots.

---

› See More: Repair frustrations update!

[email protected] (Mike) wrote:
<<A lot of companies like to pride themselves on world-class customer
service. While it's hard to take points off for this sort of issue, I
still want to say that this was a missed opportunity to flex their
customer service muscle and possibly convert that customer for life. >>

Excellent post. Even though some other posters say that you are the one
who should have asked about the phonebook transfer, if it is possible,
the rep at the store (or on the phone for customers who do this process
through *2) should let you know that this is available to you. "Oh,
sir, we can take your old phone and upload your contacts into our
systems, and then download them into your replacement phone if you would
like" would be going the extra mile for the customer.

I can't comment on the appointments and downloads as I never had
personal experience with that stuff, but I *do* know they can do the
swap with the phone book entries, and they should have offered it to
you. It is not your fault because you didn't "ask" for it.

Eric

Alex Song wrote:
> Sprint manages to screw me again.

You may have been screwed, but it certainly was not Sprint’s
intention or outright negligence; and no Phillipe, don't start
in on your unsubstantiated rants about Sprint intentionally
doing anything like this.

The consumer, regardless of the product - new car, cellphone,
electric utilities, etc. - should have reasonable expectations,
not "I demand 10000% satisfaction". The adage, "The customer
is always right" is only a myth! If any supplier of a product
acquiesced to this myth, they would be deluged by vexatious
assholes, i.e. Robert M, Phillipe, et all.

-You buy a new car – it YOUR responsibility to change the oil.
-You have a cellphone –it’s a radio and there will be some dead
spots; regardless of the maps, the carrier, the phone, etc.
-You have electric power – it may go out in a storm or a drunk
driver may hit a power pole. If you computer usage is that
critical, its YOUR responsibility to provide YOUR back power.

The consumer should never set his expectations that provider
will or even can restore everything the consumer himself supported
exclusively.

-Obviously some things that are unique to your original phone
cannot be transferred, i.e. recorded voice commands and memos.
-Some things can be restored from YOUR backed up copy by YOURSELF.
You did back everything up, didn't you?

[email protected] (Jim=A0Catero) wrote:
<<NO one I know of as far as carriers go, has anyway of automatically
swapping these things over without your asking first. Sounds like you
didn't ask the right questions or try to ensure these things were
covered before you swapped. They are not paid to manage your life,
people need to get back to taking responsibility for their own stuff and
stop expecting companies or the Government to handle it all for them.>>

I think that is a little harsh. How was the poster supposed to know
that the feature (of swapping phone books from old phone to replacement
phone) was available to him beforehand? Why should the customer have to
ask first? There is a thing called "going the extra mile" and saying
something like "Sir, to save you some time in the future, we have a
feature where we can upload your contacts into our system and then
download them into your new phone" would have made all the difference.
If he got the replacement phone by mail, it would have been nice if he
was informed of this swapping feature by *2 when he called to activate
the new phone (a rep telling him he can save time of entering possibly
hundreds of contacts by taking it to a Sprint store if he is near one).

I agree that much of society are crybabies and try to pass the buck onto
other people/corps, but when one is not even notified (or even told
incorrectly by a tech) that a feature or service is available to them
and they find out about it later, I don't think it is the customer's
fault and he/she has a right to be peeved.

Eric

"Eric" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
[email protected] (Jim Catero) wrote:

>I think that is a little harsh. How was the poster supposed to know
>that the feature (of swapping phone books from old phone to replacement
>phone) was available to him beforehand? Why should the customer have to
>ask first? There is a thing called "going the extra mile" and saying
>something like "Sir, to save you some time in the future, we have a
>feature where we can upload your contacts into our system and then
>download them into your new phone" would have made all the difference.
>If he got the replacement phone by mail, it would have been nice if he
>was informed of this swapping feature by *2 when he called to activate
>the new phone (a rep telling him he can save time of entering possibly
>hundreds of contacts by taking it to a Sprint store if he is near one).

I agree with some of what you say, but try to keep a few things in mind
about Customer Service and the Cellular industry. No carrier has the level
of excellent customer service we would all like to see. Even the best have
Customer Satisfaction scores that don't reach 80%. They could referred to
as the tallest of the pygmies- best, but not good.

With that said, my take on what Jim said was that as consumers, we should be
educated enough with the products and services we use to understand the
limitations that a particular product or service may, or may not, have. As
consumers, we have gotten entirely too lazy, and then complain because we
didn't practice due diligence, and understand the things we use every day.
And anytime a company tells us something we don't want to hear, because we
were not informed enough, cries of 'foul' are heard, even though the
customer had ample opportunity to research on their own. In fact, being
well informed is much easier than it was just twenty years ago- it is our
fault as consumers if we don't understand the things we use.

Scott Stephenson wrote:


> I agree with some of what you say, but try to keep a few things in mind
> about Customer Service and the Cellular industry. No carrier has the level
> of excellent customer service we would all like to see. Even the best have
> Customer Satisfaction scores that don't reach 80%. They could referred to
> as the tallest of the pygmies- best, but not good.
>
> With that said, my take on what Jim said was that as consumers, we should be
> educated enough with the products and services we use to understand the
> limitations that a particular product or service may, or may not, have. As
> consumers, we have gotten entirely too lazy, and then complain because we
> didn't practice due diligence, and understand the things we use every day.
> And anytime a company tells us something we don't want to hear, because we
> were not informed enough, cries of 'foul' are heard, even though the
> customer had ample opportunity to research on their own. In fact, being
> well informed is much easier than it was just twenty years ago- it is our
> fault as consumers if we don't understand the things we use.


Killer post, and I agree. The only problem is that there sometimes isn't
enough time in the day to really know all of it.

Sometimes it works against me. Last week I went into a Sprint store to
have my phone checked out. My mother, who has a 3588i on my account told
me her battery was a little off, so I brought that with me. When I asked
the girl behind the counter to have the phone checked, she took the
phone, hit some buttons, said "oh!" and handed it back to me.
Here's the rest of the exchange.

Me: Oh what?
Her: It's going to be better now.
Me: What did you do?
Her: Your phone was set for *automatic battery drain mode.*
Me: You're kidding, right? (I thought I'd missed a battery conditioning
option, like some Siemens phones have.)
Her: No, it was set to automatic battery drain, I've switched it to
Sprint PCS only.
Me: You're kidding, right? (Now I know what she did!)
Her: No, I always check that first when someone tells me that their
phone isn't having a good battery life. It's usually on Automatic
Battery Drain mode. Besides, you can have all kinds of charges because
your phone might pick a different tower. This tells it that it should
use a Sprint tower if it sees both.
Me: That isn't what that setting does!
Her: Yes it does... I've been doing this for a long time.
Me: I don't have time... please just have the tech check out the phone.
Her: Okay, if you really want.

When I got my phones back, the roaming option on both phones was set to
Sprint PCS. A little silly, considering that I have Free & Clear America.

Thank goodness they saved me from "Automatic Battery Drain Mode."

Here's how it works against me: I'm going to have a heart attack one of
these days.

Back on topic, yes, great post. Imagine if every customer exchange in
the store went something like:
Cust: I have an A620 with some minor software issues. I hear there's an
update.
Rep: Yes, WL15, and there's a new PRL too.
Cust: Later than 10023?
Rep: No, that's it. We'll have your phone in a few minutes.
Cust: That'll be fine.

Or:

Cust: I need to pay about $20 to keep my account below the spending limit.
Rep: Yes, I can see that your minute overages will put you over the
limit. Want me to review your credit?
Cust: Sure, but I'll go to the payment machine while you're doing that -
it could take 12 hours to post, you know.
Rep: Sure, come back and see me when you're done. We might even be able
to find a better plan for you.

Wow, that does sound nice, yes?
-mike

"Mike" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...

>
>
> Killer post, and I agree. The only problem is that there sometimes isn't
> enough time in the day to really know all of it.

Agreed- not enough time to kow all of it, but certainly enough time to
understand how the product works.

>
> Sometimes it works against me. Last week I went into a Sprint store to
> have my phone checked out. My mother, who has a 3588i on my account told
> me her battery was a little off, so I brought that with me. When I asked
> the girl behind the counter to have the phone checked, she took the
> phone, hit some buttons, said "oh!" and handed it back to me.
> Here's the rest of the exchange.
> <snip>

Oh yeah- another one of my favorite topics (you guys are making this too
easy). The 2004 newcomers to the work force. Am I the only person to think
that today's high school graduates are just a step or two behind those of us
who entered the work force more than 15 years ago? I'm amazed at the lack
of social and life skills MOST of these kids have, and the interaction you
described in your post is a classic example of it. I can remember my second
job as a teenager- working in the Plumbing and Electrical section of the
local hardware store. Even at 17 years of age, I was required to know the
product well enough to explain it to everyone from a Master Electrician to a
housewife, and explain it in terms they could both understand. When we did
something, we could tell the customer what we had done and why. This seems
to be in great lack with today's newcomers- they can do the job, as long as
they don't have to explain the product or their actions.

Now, in defense of these kids, I firmly believe that they are being thrust
into the workplace with as little training as a company can get away with.
They are shown the steps needed to handle their everyday tasks, with no
explanation of why it is done that way, and then given a 'book' to help them
with the things that don't come up every day. It happens across all sectors
of business, and is directly responsible for the interaction you encountered
with your phone. With a little more training, all of these kids could
become valuable, long term assets to these companies, instead of being
'employment nomads'- going from one job to another.

(Scott=A0Stephenson) wrote:
<<As consumers, we have gotten entirely too lazy, and then complain
because we didn't practice due diligence, and understand the things we
use every day. And anytime a company tells us something we don't want to
hear, because we were not informed enough, cries of 'foul' are heard,
even though the customer had ample opportunity to research on their
own.>>

Hi Scott,

Yes, I do think that there are distinct benefits of being a
well-informed customer. I work in retail sales and I know all about
people who come in and complain because of idiot things they should know
better about -- like why there are black bars when watching a widescreen
dvd and why those bars "cut off the picture". grrrr

But there is a difference in not being informed and being misinformed...
or being informed after the fact. And there is a point of informing
the customer just out of courtesy... I always tell people when they
purchase a dvd that they are getting a widescreen or fullscreen version
because I know some people don't notice which version they grab when
they rush to the shelves. Or if a cd is edited or unedited. Stuff that
is clearly marked on the package, but I do it just out of common
courtesy because I know things can get overlooked by the customer and I
want to make sure they go home with what they actually want. I think it
is getting to a point where neither side (company nor consumer) wants to
take the blame for anything negative and always blames one another when
we should be working together.

Eric

Eric wrote:

> But there is a difference in not being informed and being misinformed...
> or being informed after the fact. \
\
> Eric
>

Eric,
I agree to a point, but if this guy has been a customer of sprint
for anytime , and has called into CS he was I'm willing to bet told
about voice command and the fact that it would save his phone book, he
probably shined it off and forgot.
But still, you have to take ownership of your stuff.
Maybe he didn't think about the phone book till after the fact, common
thing I think, but to blame Sprint for that and claim they screwed him
is a bit harsh don't you think ?
in another post he says he's going with another carrier, well I wish him
luck, I don't think the results would be any different anywhere else if
the exact scenario occurs, but it's his right to change.
My point was that our country has gotten WAYYY too soft on taking
personal responsibility for their life.
I work CS for a company and am constantly hearing , " But you guys
usually cut off my service at a certain point , why didn't you do it
this time ? ' when the bill is too high, or " Why can't you tell me if a
new store is opening in my area in the next year " when all they have to
do is pay attention to what is happening around them.
I think companies should make customers take an I.Q. test , if your not
smart enough to work the technology you don't get it ( this is a joke by
the way ).
And I do agree that the store rep should have been more customer service
oriented, they deal with people all the time as I do, I try to ask
questions and cut off trouble like this before it happens, but don't
always get it done to my satisfaction, sometimes due to time or the
customers temperament.
In short, responsibility rests on both sides, but, since the customer is
only dealing with his single issue as opposed to the rep dealing with
multi customer issues a day I think a majority of the load should be the
customers.

Jim

Bob Smith wrote:

> Great post Jim ... and right on as well.
>
> Bob

Thanks.

Scott Stephenson wrote:

> Great post, Jim.
>
>

Thank you.

(Jim=A0Catero) wrote:
=A0<<I agree to a point, but if this guy has been a customer of sprint
for anytime , and has called into CS he was I'm willing to bet told
about voice command and the fact that it would save his phone book, he
probably shined it off and forgot.>>

That is highly possible. But during my 2+ years of being a Sprint PCS
customer, I didn't know that voice command could save my phone book
until about the last two or three months I had the service. Since voice
command was something I didn't want (since it is adverised as a voice
activated dialing program), I didn't look into *all* of its features
until late.

<<Maybe he didn't think about the phone book till after the fact, common
thing I think, but to blame Sprint for that and claim they screwed him
is a bit harsh don't you think ? >>

I am with you where I don't like people whining and blaming companies
and corporations when it is their own fault -- i.e. for not reading the
fine print, etc. But there are some cases when company fails to notify
a customer of a prouct or service until after the fact. If he was
offered voice command, there is a chance that he was not informed that
it would save your phone book online or where ever it saves it for
download later. Being an Average Joe customer going into it, I would
not suspect that a voice activated dialing feature would save your
phonebook... I would just assume it allowed for voice activated dialing.


<<And I do agree that the store rep should have been more customer
service oriented, they deal with people all the time as I do, I try to
ask questions and cut off trouble like this before it happens, but don't
always get it done to my satisfaction, sometimes due to time or the
customers temperament. >>

Oh, is that ever correct. Working in retail is the worst... "Why won't
my Xbox/PS2 play DVDs when it is hooked up through my VCR?" "Why do I
have to get an additional hookup (coax cable receiver) to get my DVD
player to work with my 1985 television?" A lot of people don't even
know our store hours, despite the fact that it is posted on the door as
you come in. And yet, sometimes in a business like this, we take things
that people should know for granted. Not everyone is browsing these
cellular newsgroups or up-to-date on the latest dvd/tv/hidef technology
(like in my example)... and its easy when you live that lifestyle to
forget that others are not as informed as you are.

I appreciate this conversation, Jim.

Eric