Revenge.
Served hot.
If there’s one thing a blog is good for, it’s venting.
So I called T-Mobile’s customer care to activate the Hotspot add-on. This costs £10/month, and I’m guessing the average punter will stick with them for say 18 months, and it’ll also reduce churn, so the customer lifetime value of this call is probably around £200 to them.
Dive down a few layers of IVR, get into a selection where none of the options really matches. No option to speak to a rep. Don’t press a key, see if I get transferred. Repeats menu options. Leave it again. Repeats options. Select least stupid one (“for a data bundle, press 4”). Due to high call volumes, we have wait times of up to ten minutes. And you can do lots on the Web apparently — unless you’re a new customer who didn’t receive his PIN in the post today, in which case you’re screwed. And oh, we’re going to charge you 50 pence a minute to speak to a customer care rep.
F*ck it. I’ll give my money to someone else and use my phone as a modem & drain my 3Gb data allowance instead.
If anyone at T-Mobile is reading, you know how to find me.
Posted by Martin Geddes at 07:58 PMTrackBack URL for this entry:
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Don't hold your breath. I've requested mine three times now.. nothing turns up!
Posted by: at January 18, 2007 10:42 PMI'm with T-Mobile on a pay-as-you-go basis (I use my mobile as little as humanly possible). To top up automatically usind a debit card, you have to register with them through their automated voice system (um, didn't I register when I signed up in the first place?). Then you have to input your credit card details (um, I paid for the thing with my card in the first place, so don't you already have that info?). Tried to do it half a dozen times before the system finally accepted the information. Great, I thought, now it'll be easy to top up on the move and really be mobile. Call them up, press the right sequence etc, please add £20 and voila, I thought, done... until the little automated voice says 'To top up your account, you must register with T-Mobile's pay as you go service..'
As they say, there's a special circle of hell reserved just for the person who came up with automated customer service systems.
Posted by: at January 19, 2007 10:36 AMWalked into 3 outlet, asked if I could have the X-series tariff as a SIM only deal and use an HTC TyTN I have lying around. Apparently "only our phones can connect to our network". Gaaa! You lie!
Posted by: at January 19, 2007 10:42 AMAlex: Not lying but not explaning the issue, the xseries tariff is not unlimited data, its unlimited througt special apps. Its not free surfing if you use the regular browser on a N73, only if you use their java app.
They can properly compress data in these apps like opera mini and therefore sell it cheaper.
Posted by: at January 19, 2007 12:34 PMOperator customer service now sucks big time. See rants/calls to O2:
http://shitcompanies.blogspot.com/2006/10/o2-call-centre-gimps.html
http://shitcompanies.blogspot.com/2006/10/o2-can-record-you-but-you-cannot.html
http://shitcompanies.blogspot.com/2006/10/o2-number-blocking-part-1.html
http://shitcompanies.blogspot.com/2006/10/o2-number-blocking-part-2.html
And the thing is, this isn't just T-mobile. It's become the accepted norm. It's amazing that we put up with it, but the fact is people do. Why should these companies do bettter when we will happily repeat their tortured use of the word "free" day in and day out, and pay the ludicrous fees they charge barely a whimper. We give them no reason to improve. There are no consquences for their bad behavior, so why should they change.
Posted by: at January 21, 2007 12:18 AMThe companies will not change, because blog entries like this one and 'Verizon does not know math' are not big enough levers. GetHuman was a good step-up, but we need to do more and faster.
I believe there is a business opportunity in fixing that problem. In fact, I have written up my thoughts on how to build a business around it in a blog entry at: http://blog.outerthoughts.com/2007/01/calling-for-support-calling-for-trouble-the-business-idea/.
If anybody is really frustrated and knows how to build VOIP-based businesses, let's talk. :-)
There is also ivrhacks which is a database of US, UK, Australian and Canadian shortcuts to company IVR systems.
Posted by: at February 15, 2007 03:07 PM