It’s strangely refreshing to get a casual and honest CSR on the other end of the phone. Instead of binder-read lip service that always translates to “We appreciate your concerns, so go fuck yourself” the opposite approach is placating. A lot of time, people who call customer service lines just want an admission that there’s a problem, for someone to listen to them: outside of that, they tend to be pretty patient about resolution as long as they don’t feel like they are being given the cold shoulder or patronized.
cingular
The News: Legitimate Businessmen
By 6.5.06
• Need a telco spokesperson to fight net neutrality and give it a happy face? Let’s get that guy who was Bill Clinton’s mouthpiece during the cigar scandal. [LAT]
Mp3 of Cingular’s ‘Racist’ Ringtone
By 5.13.06
According to our tipster, this is the ringtone Cingular was forced to remove due to its racist overtones.
Cingular Removes Racist Ringtone
By 5.11.06
Ring ring! Who’s there? Cultural insensitivity, that’s who.
Cingular: We’re So Union
By 5.9.06
If you’re a union member, you can get 5% off your Cingular cellphone plan. That’s because Cingular is a unionized wireless company, according to this sub-level of their cingularswitch website.
CUB Consumer Clinic Cures Nurse’s Ailing Cellphone Bills
By 4.27.06
- “With her son stationed in Iraq, the last thing Maria Gonzalez needed was a collection agency hounding her about a $1,027 cell phone bill she didn’t deserve.”
Great Customer Service Goes Unrewarded
By 4.12.06
Let’s face it: customer service lines are designed so you give up long before you get an answer. A confusing labyrinth of telephone menus, leading eventually to a computerized voice demanding information that you likely don’t have and they, coincidentally enough, can’t help you without. When you do get someone, they tend to be either incompetent or reading from a three-ring binder. The industry’s secret is they actually can’t handle your issues and complaints: the conspiracy is to make it so frustrating that you won’t even try.
Nextel Wins as Cellphone Company With Fastest Telephone Customer Service
By 4.10.06
Here’s the results of our week-long look into how long it takes humans at various cellphone companies to pick up the phone. Sprint was dead last and an old-school Nextel support line, first. Verizon and T-Mobile trailed not far behind.
Time to Human, Mobiles, Day 5
By 4.7.06
Only two more days to go in this week’s look at how long it takes a human at various mobile phone companies to pick up.
Time to Human, Mobiles, Day 4
By 4.6.06
Today’s results in our week long trial to see how long it takes mobile phone carrier’s humans to pick up on the customer service line.
Time to Human, Cell Phone Companies Day 3
By 4.5.06
All the mobile phone carriers performed very well today.
How Long to Get a Human?
By 4.4.06
Here’s how long it’s taking to reach a human at various mobile phone carrier customer service lines today.
How Long Does it Take to Get a Human?
By 4.3.06
In the wake of purple ribbons, zombies and looking up words in the dictionary, we thought we might want to try something resembling journalism. To that end, we’ve started the Time to Human project.
Cingular Razrs Back on Shelves
By 3.15.06
As you may recall, both T-Mobile and Cingular yanked the Motorola RAZR from the shelves due to a glitch that caused phonecalls to be dropped. Cingular has started selling them again and T-Mobile should start shortly this week.
