It's been a bit touch and go at the Ferguson house this week. As you may remember, I received an iPhone for Father's Day, however, there were some kinks to work out. Mainly that since Karen was not listed on our account she had to open a new one and also received new pricing on the iPhone. So now we were stuck with 3 lines, and 2 different plans. Last Monday (6/22) I thought we had everything worked out, and we had been told by AT&T that all we had to do was: 1) I needed to order an iPhone under my name, pay full price, and then they would credit me the difference, 2) Karen had to return the one she bought (which still has come in btw), and then finally we both had to go into the store and we could get Karen on the account and receive the discount that she receives through work. Sounds simple enough, right? Well since I'm blogging about this, I think you know I ran into some hiccups along the way...
I called Monday to see if the credit had been posted since I picked up my phone last Friday. The first representative I spoke to informed me that there were no notes on the account, and there were no early upgrades or rebates for iPhones. I asked for a supervisor. Same thing. I asked for another one. Same thing. We went back and forth, and I was floored at their treatment of me. No one would bother to pull the call and listen to the fact that I did exactly what their person told me to do, and why should I be penalized? Now I had to go return the phone, and be without one, or go through that hassle? I don't think so. So I asked to speak to the next supervisor, who was the "Office Manager" but doesn't take inbound calls. Someone will call me back within 24-72 hrs. Wow, what great service. So for the past few days I've been readying my case, waiting for this person to call me. My main points are as follows:
1) I did what I was told, and it's the company's responsibility to make sure its employees know their policies and make up for their mistakes, etc.
2) I would need a new phone, so they offered to give me a discount - why since they wouldn't give me the credit on the iPhone? And why not just give me the credit so I can keep the iPhone.
3) If I returned the iPhone, they could no longer sell it as new and would take a loss on the resale, so again, why not just let me keep it.
4) What about the accessories I've purchased, opened, and used, why should I be out that money as well?
I have a whole sheet full of talking points for this person, and today I learned I won!!! How did I learn that, not because someone called. I happened to log into my account thinking I should probably make sure our bill is paid so they don't try and use that against me when imagine my surprise when June was paid for and there was a remaining credit, that equaled the price difference I had been looking for.
The main point of this post is that there is always a way to get what you deserve, and when you are dealing with someone in a call center, you have to know how to work the system. Here are some tips:
1) There's always something that can be done -- Never accept the first answer from the first person.
2) Be polite, but firm. Always write down the name, and time you spoke to someone, and make sure they know you are writing that information down. That alone will improve your chances of getting better service by at least 40%.
3) Keep going up the chain until you get the answer you want. Two reasons, the first, because you never accept the first answer, and secondly, because the more people you speak with, the higher the chance one of them is either going to make a mistake you can use to your advantage, or give you what you want.
4) You know you've gone high enough up the chain when the employee starts getting cagey about tranferring you to the next person or giving you their name. This is paydirt, make sure you follow through.
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