And we really like their CSRs, too

We spend a fair amount of time on the phone with customer service lines. Those reviews don’t update themselves, and sometimes the company’s website just doesn’t have the information we’re seeking. It’s very normal for us to spend 30 or 40 minutes on hold waiting for someone to finally take our call, and it’s also very normal for the CSR to be unknowledgeable, rude, or both. This has rarely, if ever, been the case with T-Mobile. We’re usually greeted by a friendly person a few minutes after we call, and our questions are usually answered within a couple of minutes. However, not everyone has the same experience. If you’re placing an order, for instance, you might run into some issues, even with T-Mobile. This story is about a reader of Consumerist and his girlfriend, who recently placed an order for a prepaid phone through the T-Mobile website. After completing the process, T-Mobile e-mailed the woman, explaining that there was an issue with her credit card and that she must call to verify her identity. That’s a good thing; we appreciate that the company is taking preventative measures to deter fraud. However, verifying the credit card wasn’t a snap-snap process. Being in college, the woman had moved a few times over the past year, so her current address was not her billing address. She could not verify the billing address, since she couldn’t remember the number or street name of her last dorm. We empathize; we never knew the address of our dorm, just our school mailbox number. So the CSR informed the woman that they could not process the order. Fine. Good, even. It shows that they do have strict policies in place, and that you can’t just slip by them by smooth talking. The woman and her boyfriend did the logical thing, which was to find a different prepaid provider and order a phone through them. Once they did that, though, they received an e-mail from T-Mobile saying the order had been processed. Uh…not cool? The boyfriend then called T-Mobile seeking an explanation. Problem is, the CSR and supervisors couldn’t really help them. They said they’d try to cancel the order, but could guarantee nothing. The couple was also told to return the package if it is delivered. Okay. That sounds like a decent directive, but why can’t they just cancel the order they just mistakenly processed? Worse yet, they couldn’t take the charge off the credit card — the supervisor deemed it “impossible.” First off, the word “impossible” should not be in any CSR or supervisor’s vocabulary. They are there to serve customers, and unless there is an unreasonable request, they should do everything they can to accommodate the customers. If they don’t, then there’s no sense in having a customer service center. Second, and most importantly, this makes us uneasy about doing business with T-Mobile. They said that since they could not verify the card, they could not process the order. That is the correct answer. But then processing it anyway? How can you trust a company that does something like that? Every time we’re about to praise T-Mobile customer service from now on, we’ll have to think back on this story. It’s becoming a grim reality that wireless companies simply do not value their customers. [Consumerist]]]>