Kapil’s brand new Blackberry arrived with a battery that won’t charge. He wants T-Mobile to exchange it, but he says T-Mobile wants to replace it with a refurbished Blackberry instead of a new model. Kapil is fighting back, but even at the executive support level all he’s found are rude, uncooperative T-Mobile employees who keep saying there’s a process, and that someone will call him back—which never happens. Kapil refused to hang up on the fourth day and demanded to know what happens next after nobody calls back, which seemed to confuse and anger the T-Mobile rep he was speaking with. And for those of you who can’t listen in, we’ve transcribed some of the juiciest parts.
After a few minutes, the rep grows audibly annoyed with Kapil and tries to get him off the phone:
Your other option is to call customer care.
The reason I’m calling your executive office is because customer service has failed me and they are not helping me, and now you’re telling me that my only recourse is to continue leaving messages but no one is calling me back. I have called every day–
[cutting in] Sir, sir, we took a message this morning. He has 24 hours to give you a call back.
I understand there was a message left this morning–
[talking over him] Okay, so– but–
–but there was also a message left on Monday, and Tuesday, and Wednesday of this week and no one has called me back.
Uh, uh, from the notations in the account I don’t–
So you’re telling me the notes are more accurate than me? Because on this conversation there’s only one person that was part of that initial conversation and… it’s not you. I’m telling you that I’ve called all this week–
[cutting in] I’m telling you nobody from my team, nobody from my team, uh, went into your account.
What if they forgot to leave a note to that effect? Is that my problem?
It doesn’t matter, that’s not how our system works sir. Even if they were in the account and, and, and didn’t leave a note, it still shows there in the account.
So what if I–
[cutting in] At, at this point sir, I’m not going to argue with you. I can give you a phone number. If you need immediate assistance you have customer service to call. Okay?
I have tried–
[overlapping] Do you have any other questions or concerns for me?
I have tried customer service and they have refused to help me, so I called your executive office–
[cutting him off] Well sir, this is your option at this point, sir.
May I speak to a supervisor in your department?
No sir, you’re not calling customer service, you’re calling our executive offices.
This goes on and on like a Beckett play for a while. Eventually Kapil tries a different tactic, and discovers that just because he’s been led to believe he’s speaking to executive customer service, he may have actually been rerouted to regular customer service on his previous calls:
You’re evading my question here. I understand your process, that someone will call me back in 24 hours. I’m asking, if that does not happen, what’s happens next?
Somebody will call you back within 24 hours sir.
(Laughing) Are you a South Park fan at all? The TV show? [silence] Ever seen that TV show?
(Pause) …No.
There’s an episode of South Park where… imagine you’re a character called the Underpants Gnome. And these Underpants Gnomes are stealing everyone’s underpants, and when asked why they’re doing that they put up a sign that says Step #1, collect underpants, Step #2, a bunch of question marks, and Step #3, profit. When you ask them what step #2 is, nobody knows. You’re kind of doing that to me, I’m asking you if this doesn’t happen, if your process doesn’t work the way that it’s supposed to, which it hasn’t for me all week, what is the next step in the process. Like, how do I get past this?
Okay, again I’m telling you, you may have called the corporate office, but more than likely, it looks like from what I can see that you may have gotten transferred back to customer service, okay? As far as our team receiving the call, the first call that was received by our team this week was this morning, okay? So, from that point we have 24 hours to call you back.
But I have somebody on the phone. You’re in the same department.
I’m trying to explain our process sir. Do you understand it or do I have to explain it again?
Twelve minutes in, we find out that the mysterious Pancho—he’s the Godot-like character who’s supposed to call Kapil back—isn’t even someone Kapil has spoken to before, although Jason doesn’t seem to understand or believe that. And at about the 13:30 mark, Jason finally gets upset enough that he reveals that he does have a record that Kapil has called several times before—something he has kept denying knowledge of throughout the call.
It’s really a masterclass in how to pretend to offer customer service while stonewalling a customer. We like to imagine there are posters up around the T-Mobile offices that display our favorite line from Jason: “It’s not a refusal, sir, it’s how our process works.”
(Photo: Getty Images)
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Wow… this whole thing is just sad…
I know how he feels, it is like talking to a brick wall reinforced with every metal known to man. You keep asking the same question and they keep evading it with the same response over and over again.
How hard was it really to address someone’s problem? How many of you all actually get a call back when someone says they will do so? For me, very rarely. If so, it generally has nothing to do with customer service.
I’m with T-Mobile. Other than a few hiccups, I’ve had a good experience. But the few complaints I have are really worth jumping ship if there’s something better out there. I’ve heard horror stories about literally every provider.
What do you, the commenters, recommend?
What the hell? I haven’t had any customer service problems with T-mobile. In fact, their customer service is why I like being a T-mobile customer! (Not to mention their el-cheapo data plan of 6/mo.)
Um, maybe you should just try calling T-mobile again, and tell them the phone won’t charge and you would like to return it. If they try to tell you it has to be refurbished, then tell them you want a refund. You deserve a new device.
And why didn’t you ask for a new battery?
As for the South Park reference, as funny as it was, that kind of conversation is not productive.
Oh, and every single time I’ve ever been on the phone w/AT&T Wireless and like the call drops, I get an instant call back from the rep I was speaking with.
These are just general customer care reps too.
There are bound to be a few douchebags that work at AT&T, but I’ve called in to them at least 20 times in the past year and have yet to run into one.
Reading these customer service horror stories regarding Sprint or T-Mobile makes me appreciate AT&T’s reps all the more for never giving me any of this sort of grief.
I just listened to the whole conversation and I use the word conversation loosely here. This guy was talking to a wall! This guy had one very simple question for Jason…”If hour number 25 comes, what is he to do?” Is he supposed to just wait forever because if the “process” doesn’t get followed there is NO moving forward…That’s the impression I got. I look forward to a follow-up on this post.
“It doesn’t matter, that’s not how our system works sir. Even if they were in the account and, and, and didn’t leave a note, it still shows there in the account.”
at least they were honest about that, as soon as you enter a customers account, even if by accident, leaves a footprint memo in their system, shows your name and employee id with nothing else.
Does it seem odd that the call is almost exactly 15 minutes long? Like he was under the gun to be sure the call was finished within a certain time limit?
This is the story of a distressed T-Mobile customer named Kapil, his nemesis Jason Cook (Executive Customer Relations T-Mobile USA), and the mysterious Pancho.
Seriously. Who names their kid Pancho? I feel like Jason’s making up that part just like he is that someone will get back to Kapil. Good luck my friend and a word of advice – there’s no point in remaining a T-Mobile customer anymore since all telcos are now complying with the govt spying program.
I’ll be making the switch over to AT&T sometime this summer. They got cooler phones.
I’ve been a Tmobile customer for the past couple of years now, and have had no issues with their support. Actually had a phone that the internal antena had become loose the day after their 14-day exchange. Which at that point would normally require me to purchase a new phone, or have it sent out for insurance to investigate it.
Tmobile instead replaced the phone (with a new phone), and provided me with a temporary phone. The only “issue” that came up had to deal with them recieving the phone *the got it a week later than what was expected*.
Phone service is great, love my new Sidekick Slide, support has always treated me well.
Previously i’ve been with Sprint and AT&T. Both of which i’ve had horrible experiences with.
In Kapil’s case, I would reconnmend bringing the phone into a Tmobile Store and seeing about exchanging it that way *if it was purchased at a store*.
Waiting for Godot referrence FTW!
Loved the South Park analogy form the caller too.
Good stuff all around this post!
So here’s the secret of T-Mobile
They have two tiers of customer service. Which tier you go into depends entirely on your credit situation when you sign your original contract.
Good credit, good income, welcome to the good rep tier. All your calls are handled by T-Mobile reps who will doa pretty good job for you. I’ve been in this tier forever and I’ve had great service from T-mobile.
Not so good credit? Welcome to the lower tier. Lower tier calls go to outsourced call centers with reps that are trained less, less dedicated to t-mobile, and working under a completely different set of policies and procedures.
If you’ve had crappy service from T-Mobile I guarantee you got stuffed into the lower tier somehow.
This guy just isn’t good at taking owernship, which is a bad trait in an executive call center rep. He should be all over making sure you get a call back. I’m sure if T-Mobile reads this he’ll be getting a good chat.
Wow… Insane
If I knew where that representative lived, I would seriously march down there and punch him in the face.
This phone call infuriated me. Kudos to Kapil for keeping his cool.
Ineptitude of the highest degree! No wonder TMobile ranks so low in the mobile world. The customer service training apparently is run by Attila the Hun.
Redsuze
This is far from unique. I used to be a Verizon rep, and it’s pretty typical. Consumers seem to envision a close-knit group of workers in a “team” type environment which couldn’t be farther from the truth. Call centre workers work 24/7, which means lots of overlapping shifts, they sit in different areas sometimes every day. The rep likely has no idea where these “other departments” even exist, they could literally be in another country. This isn’t an office setup where he can just call “mary” and get some info. As soon as you hang up, his headset goes beep and another call comes in. The rep in this case likely has NO IDEA what the process is and is therefore incapable of satisfactorily answering the customer’s question. Call centre workers rarely even have meetings, and are forced to keep up to speed on everchanging policies via poorly written, often contradictory electronic documentation. Remember, the rep couldn’t care less about your problem, they are severely restricted in their scope of influence, and could lose his job for “going above and beyond” in any way. Ladies and gentlemen, companies like have only to meet basically ONE requirement to keep their license with the FCC…they need to answer X% of your calls within X minutes of you calling. How they handle your calls and how long it takes to resolve your issue is completely irrelevant.
PS: Ownership? No such thing in a call centre. Reps aren’t allowed to “take ownership” in any way. He can’t call other departments, and why would he want to “go the extra mile” anyway? Will you support him when he gets fired for long talk times?
God that conversation went nowhere.
Mr. and Mrs. Villa
If ER’s system works by assigning cases to certain reps, and only that rep can help him with his case, then it seems entirely non-productive for him to keep complaining about it.
Jason can’t help him, which truly sucks, but if he can’t, then there’s little reason for him to keep hammering his head against a wall.
Plus, in certain points, there is evidence that Kapil fails to make the distinction between customer service and executive relations. These are two different branches in a gigantic corporation, and it probably sucks twice as much trying to work with both.
It also sucks that customer service couldn’t resolve his issue, but breaking their normal operating procedures by calling corporate and being forwarded around can be shooting yourself in the foot.
Then, asking for Pancho’s work schedule is a 100% dick move. That sets off alarms in service related jobs. Weird stalker-type behavior is unfortunately common in the customer service industry, and nobody wants to be a part of that.
He could have settled this entire problem by accepting the refurb in the first place. In all likelyhood, it would have functioned identically to a new unit. It’s not like they take an old blackberry and rebox it, they probably send it back to the factory to be reworked, with new casings and buttons.
If it differs in any way, scratched display, mashy buttons, or other symptom of physical wear, get it replaced again. Regular CS can do this for you, without having to hop/skip/jump through executive relations, which is totally underwhelmed by your refusal to accept your warranty replacement, which is probably part of the service agreement anyway.
I used to do warranty service for electronics, where we openly admitted that our replacements were refurbished. I said “If you can tell the difference between this refurb unit and a brand new one, anything at all, bring it back, and I’ll replace it again. If that one also fails, I’ll give you a new one.” Out of hundreds of replacements, neither of those events ever occurred.
has there been research done on the crappiness of customer service in america? is this limited only to america? is customer service at big companies in other countries just as crappy?
if you’ve got a crappy battery that won’t take charge, exchanging a phone will not resolve your problem. the problem will still be there when you get another phone.
also, he has just screwed himself because now that Tmobile knows he records his calls, he will not be helped unless he verifies he is not recording the call.
My T-Mobile story:
Opened an account for my sister 3 years ago when she had no credit and my cell phone was through my husband’s corp. discount (Nextel). Free phone, dual copies of the bill (to her and to me), and she is on autopay. When her stalker ex sent her 1000 text messages in a week, they retroactively gave her the unlimited text package.
I called her after she had been in the hospital to check in. I could not get through or leave a message. I called T-Mobile to see if she changed her number again (stalker ex), and explained how it’s my name, her phone, stitches from her hernia operation opened a year later (TMI, I know). The rep put me on hold to try to call sis, came back and said the call went through then they texted sis to call me ASAP.
I ran screaming from Nextel at first opportunity to TMo. They overnighted a replacement battery when my phone would not turn on after charging battery and trying another battery. I called back later and said the phone was fine, just hitting the off instead of on key (so humiliating!) they said keep the battery (and laughed until they cried, but hung up first).
Called 3 weeks ago wanting the Curve for less than the current customer price. Used all the Consumerist advice and scored a deal (go retentions team). Got the bill for more than I negotiated. Sent e-mail at midnight, got a response by 9 a.m. I got the correct phone price but forgot about tax (and overnight shipping since hubby was jonesing for the Curve)which they told me about before ordering. No upsell on data package, just kept the promo plan I started with.
I have had a few TMo reps that are asshats. I just hang up and try again with another rep (likely somewhere else). I’ve been with Cingular (at the time), Sprint/NextHell, and TMo. Sticking with TMo, even though it doesn’t always work in my 100-year old office building (where I have an office phone, so no biggy).
thats true, they always answer my questions and remove any charges or fix any problems i have. Well good luck with that.@AnonyLawyer:
I am going to cancel my T-Mobile service and advise all my friends to do the same.
As many people have alraedy said. Getting a refurb phoen doesn’t mean it is going be covered in scratches and blemishes. All the refurbs are is other phones people have had problems with and replaced through there warranty. The phones are then just repaired and sent back out as refurbs.
While I admit the CSR wasn’t that great this guy Kapil was being a Dick to begin with trying to fight something that doesn’t need to be fought. But alas, having worked for T-Mobile customer care for almost a year I can say that the majority of customers who call in are Dicks from the start anyways so you get what you give.
“…on this conversation there’s only one person that was part of that initial conversation and… it’s not you.”
OOOO, I wish I had come up with that one. I’ll use it someday, I’m sure.
Why argue?
He should have plainly stated his case in a professional manner and then fired off an EECB if they didn’t respond.
I can’t wait to leave T-mobile when my contract runs out in 2 weeks. I’ve had the same issues as this guy, their customer service is absolutely incompetent.
He could have settled this entire problem by accepting the refurb in the first place.
@ludwigk: Why on earth would someone accept getting a used phone when they paid for a new one? Why can’t they just exchange it for a new one. Besides, why should we think they’d suddenly become helpful in the event the refurb is damaged in some way.
@Sweetleader: He’s a dick for trying to get help? All he wanted to know was what he should do when they don’t call him back.
I didn’t hear Kapil advise he was recording the call, which I believe makes it illegal to do so without advising the party that you’re recording…now that this fact is out, you can rest assured that since he’s recording surreptitiously, getting help in the future is going to be difficult at best now…
a att ceo
Edward E Whitacre Jr
Total Compensation
$19.46 mil (#64)
5-Year Compensation Total
$92.55 mil
Edward E Whitacre Jr has been CEO of AT&T (T) for 16 years. Mr. Whitacre Jr has been with the company for 43 years .The 64 year old executive ranks 1 within Telecommunications services
Hmmm… probably called a guy who actually has no access to his account whatsoever, and after being on the phone for him so long, tried whatever he could, lied even, to end the call. I can think of many times the same thing this has happened to me when talking to acquaintances.
Also, I believe boltuprite is correct. Good luck to Kapil using the recording to prove his point. Now the entire Internetz knows the call was not-so-legally recorded!
@boltuprite:
@macmizzle:
When he called, he probably got an automated message saying “This call may be recorded”. Since Jason didn’t seem horrified at the idea of the call being recorded by Kapil, I assume it’s kosher, or did you both not actually listen to the call before making inflammatory remarks?
Obviously T-Mobile is one of many companies who currently subscribe to the notion that the world will be ending in the next 4 yrs. So to put it in plain English, you just don’t matter.
Duh :p
@boltuprite: If he lives in a “one party” state, he doesn’t have to inform anyone that he’s recording the call. Only he (the one party) has to know about the recording.
“There’s an episode of South Park where… imagine you’re a character called the Underpants Gnome.”
Actually that sounded like, “There’s an episode of South Park where- it’s about an imaginary character called the Underpants Gnome.”
He can’t tell you what the process is because a backup does not exist. I’ve worked at three different over-the-phone customer support companies now, and there is one process and one only. If that fails the customer all you can do is apologize and start over from the beginning.
I can understand the frustration on both fronts, honestly. It’s irritating as an employee to have to explain to people all day that there is nothing you can do for them except to assure them that the system will eventually work. It’s irritating as a customer who knows that the system is not working and that you feel it necessary to seek assistance through other avenues.
However, as the customer says, if he’s already got a guy on the phone, that person should be helping them as best they can, not assuring them they’ll get a phone call in the next 24 hours. The only reason this passing-the-buck would be acceptable is if you’re got a ticket in the system for an at-home service for your internet or something. Obviously we can’t help further until the appointment time has passed.
The line, “Do you have any other questions for me at this point?” is the classic way of getting off the phone if you’ve failed to make the customer so belligerent that you can justify just hanging up on them. It’s also convenient because it’s often required of reps to meet the benchmarks for their evaluations. Since that didn’t work in ending the conversation he’s forced to just hang up and reason with himself that the QA department will understand and adjust his evaluation score appropriately.
This looks like a classic case of a rep who doesn’t know how to problem solve. All he knows is what he’s been trained to do, which really isn’t all that much else besides spewing out scripted apologies and thinly-veiled lies disguised as promises. Unfortunately a lot of guys like this quickly get pushed up the chain to manage other phone goons. They don’t like it when you can problem solve. They like it when you enforce “the system.”
I hope that someone working above him hears this phone call and takes the time to explain to the guy that- while meeting your QA benchmarks is a necessary evil to working in the telephone customer service industry- you ultimately need to solve the customer’s problem.
It’d be easier just to fire him, but good luck with that. Why it didn’t set off alarm bells in this guy’s head when the customer mentioned “if I was recording this call” is beyond me. On the other hand, you’re supposed to operate /assuming/ that you are always being recorded, that EVERY phone call is an evaluation candidate.
hmm and somehow they’re rated as the best customer service providers…i smell a research rat.. i have never had a problem with Sprint CSR’s. they have always been polite, professional, and efficient on my FIRST call…
I have had eerily similiar experiences–the promised callbacks within arbitrary timeframe that never happen–with both Buy.com and TiVo. I feel for this guy and I am amazed at how calm he stays. That rep has some serious “training issues.”
Kapil states he got a new phone that would not charge and was told a refurb phone would be sent to him. The thing is he has at least a 14 days buyers remorse period to return a faulty phone and get a brand new replacement. Did he not notice it not charging for two weeks?
I am just happy someone else calls them more than I do.