Recording Of Tmobile Trying To Prevent Matt Haughey From Cancelling For An iPhone
Listen to the valiant attempt a T-mobile retention rep makes to keep Matt Haughey, Metafilter creator, from canceling and switching to an iPhone.
It's really quite amusing, you can practically hear in the rep's voice the list of objections he's cribbing from...
• long lines
• 3 clicks from the front screen to make a call
• iPhones sold out
...made all the more laughable because Matt already has the phone.
The best part is probably when Vic asks Matt if he still wants to stay with Tmobile and Matt says, "No," and then Vic asks, "Was that a yes?"
They try to sell him to taking to the Tmobile Wing, give him a month of free service, or reduce his service fee to $20 a month and keep his phone "as a backup."
Don't know what "Vic" was expecting... that he could really talk Matt into returning his iPhone and keeping Tmobile service? A for effort, F for reality.
Canceling tmobile [A Whole Lotta Nothing]
(Photo: theerin)
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Comments:
I had a similar conversation. They were clearly prepared. I heard crap varying from "the WSJ says the iPhone has 73 different bugs" to "the T-mobile wing is far more powerful".
I'm sure the iPhone is a major PITA for T-mobile, and suspect they've seen 1000's or people porting away from them.
Any guesses on where the phone drone is from. Phillipines?
I had a Network Solutions one recently that sounded like he was from Jamacia.
Yea, TMobile and them are in for a fight. They are basically fighting a status symbol in many ways. We see the trouble other mp3 manufactuers are having with the iPod, well now cell phone companies get to experience this. It's hard to compete with something that has a following like that. Especially when your competition to the iPhone is a clunky Windows device that just feels cheap in many cases.
Awesome! I just got to hear Brian Posehn's long lost brother cancel his T-Mobile account!
I'm off-contract with T-Mobile - generally I've been fine with them, but I don't like that they and other wireless providers lock down the full functionality of their phones. Maybe with the advent of the iPhone they will be forced to be more competitive with the phones and plans that they provide.
In the meantime I will probably upgrade to an unlocked Treo at some point so I'm not tied to locked phones and another contract.
The best part of the call was the rep continually calling the guy "Mr. Matt". Maybe it's just me, but that sort of thing always drives me crazy. Calling me "Mr. Christopher" is 2nd fastest way to get me to ignore you.
Were they going to give him a T-Mobile Wing for free?
I love my new iPhone, but I gotta say, a free high end HTC phone with WiFi and a month of free service would be pretty tempting to me.
I'd probably stay with T-Mobile for a year, and wait for the next version of the iPhone to come out. The Wing ain't no slouch.
I'm pretty sure the guy's got a Cantonese accent.
Isn't it comfortable up here, laughing and pointing at the poor clueless underpaid customer service representative?
Indian Call Center: "Did you have anything special planned for 4th of July?"
The Guy: "No just gonna relax"
Indian Call Center: "Yea me too, nothing special, not gonna go to fireworks or anything like that"
Awesome. I give him 5 stars for staying in character...
@permissionmag: Agreed. Actually the only reason I'm hyped about the iPhone suceeding is that I expect to see Tmobile and Sprint offer nice incentives. Personally I love T-Mobile (they've always been good to me at least) and have been eying the Wing and a 1 year (max) contract. Just been waiting for the right moment to get to their retention department ;)
when I cancelled t-mo so I could get on Stinkular/American Telephone and Wiretapping (m2m with my partner, him getting a phone, me getting a winmo device when t-mobile had none).. the guy asked what I wanted that they couldn't provide, and said, "well, we can't do that.." and then that was that.
I guess things have changed.
I'd kill if t-mobile offered the wing as a retention offer. I'm out of contract, so I'm wondering if this threat would work. I wanted the dash, but the CSRs refuse to budge on the price.
:(
any suggestions?
Q: T-Mobile US has how many call centers outsourced overseas?
A: Zero
Our guy Vic is most certainly in the good old USA.
Why bother calling to cancel? Isn't it a side-effect of when you port your number away from a carrier, it automatically cancels your service?
@JPropaganda: T-Mobile has no call centers in India. His retention skills need some work. He should have focused on loyalty, and this is exactly why T-Mobile needs more loyal customer incentives. Right now there is nothing. And what plan is $20?
Weave--it does automatically cancel your service. But he says in the comments section of his blog that he got a whole new number rather than port out.
There's nothing odd here. The rep made a few attempts to change the guy's mind then cancelled the service. For all the rep knows, he is just lying about the I-Phone, trying to get a better deal. It is his JOB to offer you alternatives to stay and if he doesn't, he gets penalized and possibly fired. Thats why he announces himself as a specialist.
The CSR deserves a promotion!
Only if he were to keep his current plan and lower the price to $20, then I'd consider staying with them. Too bad the service rep. would never offer that.
@tmobcsr: T-Mobile does have reps in Canada. So, maybe a Canada Day reference would have been appropriate, but other than 72 hours, the holiday and the fireworks are the same.
Seriously, as far as grades go, I'll just give the guy a J for doin his job. Seriously, as much as anyone with a problem loves to kick the ass of any company, T-Mobile's CS has been much much better than the rest for me, and I have 3 accounts.
Also, I really dont buy the argument that TMo has to "worry" because of the iphone, and that you can't fight a "cultish status symbol".
Sure you can. By appealing to rational customers who just want a decent phone and service, not something exorbitant to show off to friends.
I switched carriers for my iPhone and it was not necessary to deal with my ex-carrier; you activate your phone on your computer via iTunes, and it asks if you're keeping your old number and if so it takes care of it automatically. Within 5 minutes of unboxing my phone I had it set up and my number ported. I was actually kind of looking forward to making Sprint beg though.
I keep seeing these anti ATT comments regarding their wiretapping thing. That's half the reason I was willing to pickup a cell contract with the iPhone. I don't have to remember the contents of any of my conversations any more. To make sure they're listening, I start my conversations with "al qaeda bomb plot". If I ever need to, I just call up the CIA and ask them to replay the conversation.
'Mr. Matt'
Classic. Being a 'retention specialist' has to be the 2nd worst thing in the world. The first being having to talk to a 'retention specialist.'
@PROMETHEAN: Thou hast summoned forth a chuckle. Durka durka jihad.
@Mr. Gunn:
I agree that he deserves a promotion. He was incredibly pleasant and didn't argue when the customer said no to his offers. That AOL cancellation call was way better.
"Was that a yes?" Haha, Vic certainly did try. Matt is pretty monotone.