Comments on: It doesn’t take long to lose a customer

By: Lauren

Lauren — Tue, 01 May 2007 09:46:07 +0000

I’ve had enough with T-Mobile. After not being able to make any calls, receive any calls, send or receive any text messages yesterday – I called up T-Mobile help desk (from my landline as I was getting connection errors on my mobile). They took me through a SIM upgrade and asked me to test the phone for the next 30 minutes, which I did. Nothing – no connection whatsoever.

When they called me back (also on landline), they told me that I had to disable my 3G connection in order for my phone to continue working. Excuse me??? That done, the phone is working again.

I’ll be changing network operators next month…

By: James Whatley

James Whatley — Mon, 30 Apr 2007 09:12:35 +0000

Stories like these make me shake in my head in woe at the state of some of the operator (and non-operator for that matter) high street stores…

I scream at my friends everytime they ring me up to ask:

‘Oi Whatley, you know phones, what handset should I get? I like the look of that ‘insert poorly recommended from P4U handset here’ – what do you think?’

No. Don’t do that. Either do exactly as I say, or call me when you get there OR failing that – just take me with you!

Saying that – in complete contrast to the above: When an aforementioned lady-friend of mine purchased a 6300 from Orange she originally went in after an N73 and the Sales Assistant (and I shiz you not) said to her:

“I’m sorry Madam, can you tell me exactly why you want that handset? I do not actually want to sell it to you as I am certain that you’ll return it within a fortnight…”

THAT is good salesmanship.. ;o)

By: Alex

Alex — Sun, 29 Apr 2007 20:39:33 +0000

I had a similar situation the other week. Wanted an E61 to do Good email on the move, but wanted it on a business account. Walked into my local T-Mobile store at 9am with more paperwork than you could shake a stick at. Bank statement, letterhead, business card, VAT registration certificate, bills in the company name, etc etc. After a little ‘discussion’ that no I wasn’t going to hand over my driving licence and personal credit card, as I didn’t find that necessary for a business account, I gave them the wad of paperwork. A bit of photocopying later, and about 30 minutes of being in the store, the guy appeared from the back of the shop with a worried look on his face.

‘That’ll be Â£100 deposit, as you’re a new customer – but we’ve cleared you for up to three lines, and you’ll get it back after three months’. Fair enough, so I paid it.

Roll forward two weeks. Same T-Mobile store. ‘Can I have an N95 please?’. ‘Certainly Sir, we’ve got two in stock’.. tap tap tap.. ‘Oh. That’ll be Â£100 deposit please’.

‘But I paid Â£100 only two weeks ago, and you said I was cleared for up to three lines’, I protested.

‘Oh no, that’s a contract deposit. Â£100 per contract. That’s the rules.. besides, it’s not very often people come in two weeks after taking out a new contract after another phone’.

‘But it’s for my business, my colleagues need phones too you know!’ I said. Alas, no luck. Even a call to customer services telling them I’d cancel the whole lot didn’t bear fruit.

So I walked out. Quite happy to go onto an 18 month contract, and pay another Â£30-ish a month for another handset. But no, they wanted another Â£100. Sod ‘em. Meanwhile, my three months is up in about a month’s time – and the day the bill arrives I’ll be marching into the store, demanding my Â£100 back in cash, and getting my N95.

Actually, on a slightly related note, I was gonna get one of these USB modems on Web’n'Walk for a few weeks while I migrated my broadband at home. But no, sod it. I’ll stick with my E61 on a USB cable – or at worst, borrow my neighbours wireless (with their permission, of course).