I've got no problem with RSR's from direct locations. My only bone to pick is with radio shack....bastards....

The problem is lack of training on both sides. Understanding the policies of both companies can be very difficult. I also know that direct agents have access to computer programs that indirect agents don't have. Remember, indirect agents only have access to E-ROES, we can't see or touch many things. Most of the CSR's are wonderful. Bellvue, WA, you are the best!

For my guys, the call to VZW can be very difficult. The frustration of transaction failures in E-ROES coupled with the growing displeasure of the wireless customer, the poor old lady waiting to pay for a battery, and the crying babies, all while working alone adds up quickly.

Remember, the goal is to help the customer.

Dude, E*ROES is like ACSS on easy mode. So many things are 10X simpler.

You're right though, there are MANY things you just don't have access to with it.

I work in Bellevue so I must say thank you, and you're right, we are the best. Make sure you call the indirect line though. That's the only thing that bugs me is when an indirect calls and I don't get the "Indirect" whisper tone. I don't know why, it just does.

vzw_achiever said:
What region are you in? My only beef with RSR's is that they don't tell customers any bad news (like how much to expect their first bill will be) when they sell phones. I understand a lot of times the cust has no interest in listening to the whole spiel you're taught to put them through, but I also strongly doubt you guys make much of an effort to do so. I think as a whole, though, that VZW's SR's intereact well. I've certainly seen worse.

im in the southern cali region. every meeting we've had with CSR's, its been one huge argument. its like nobody is on the same page. but yea i've personally always been pretty good with explaining pro-ration, but now they're pressuring us more to ...
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I just talked to someone today who was told "the first bill will be a little more." Try $255 instead of the normal $79. They were also not informed of how many minutes they had for the prorated month or when their bill cycle was. What a sweet hole to dig myself out of. It worked out, she was nice and didn't demand anything.

I've never heard of or seen a rework form in my life. If it wasn't for this site, I'd have no idea that they even exist! And keep in mind that I'm a customer service rep. My job is to analyze price plans and offer options. Sometimes you can spend a good chunk of time on the phone giving these options, and customers are more than willing to agree to or sign a new contract. When it comes to the phones, who doesn't want to actually see the phone before they buy it? And who wants to wait 2-3 days for the shipping of the phone? That's what the stores are for.

what's a rework form?

this is the point... and i've commended customer service reps that i've seen do this before, because they now how we get paid...

so you go over the plans on the phone.. the customer is interested in changing the plan, renewing the contract and getting a new phone.. its bullsh*t if YOU take credit for the contract renewal, and then we end up having the sell them the phone.. instead, say "hey look mr. smith, if you want to take a look at the phones, i'd reccomend going to the store so you can see the phones you like. the reps there can also take care of that plan change for you all at the same time"

is that hard to do? if it is, then trust me, you'll be seeing your supervisor get a re-work form about you. whats a re-work form you ask? it...
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85percent said:
this is the point... and i've commended customer service reps that i've seen do this before, because they now how we get paid...

so you go over the plans on the phone.. the customer is interested in changing the plan, renewing the contract and getting a new phone.. its bullsh*t if YOU take credit for the contract renewal, and then we end up having the sell them the phone.. instead, say "hey look mr. smith, if you want to take a look at the phones, i'd reccomend going to the store so you can see the phones you like. the reps there can also take care of that plan change for you all at the same time"

is that hard to do? if it is, then trust me, you'll be seeing your supervisor get a re-work form about y

...
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If you upgrade them within the same month your id will override the renewal and you'll get paid on it, it's when they got renewed in a prior month that hurts.

Well just so you know i am a CSR and if a customer is eligible to upgrade and wants to change their plan i will always let them know they can do both at a store, but 90% of them never want to change their plan at the store cause they say everytime they have done that the reps at the store screw it up somehow and never tell them their pro-rations or puts the wrong # as the primary line and almost every customer says they will never change their price plans at the store again, that is not our problem i change the plan for the customer cause its their choice, not mine to get the renewal.

What are you talking about? Not every one wants a new phone. I've talked to MANY customers that still have StarTac phones and I've offered half our phones for free, but nope, they just want that new plan with more minutes. I'd like to see the justification on a rework form for me not forcing someone to upgrade their phone.

Just because it gets filed, doesn't mean my supervisor won't throw it away and laugh at you.

Vatothe0 said:
What are you talking about? Not every one wants a new phone. I've talked to MANY customers that still have StarTac phones and I've offered half our phones for free, but nope, they just want that new plan with more minutes. I'd like to see the justification on a rework form for me not forcing someone to upgrade their phone.

Just because it gets filed, doesn't mean my supervisor won't throw it away and laugh at you.

you dont get it. dont FORCE someone to buy a new phone, if you renew their plan, fine renew it. if they dont want a new phone, sounds good to me- then they wont come to the store at all, and everyone is happy..

BUT.. if a customer wants to renew AND get a new phone, you'd be...
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Riiiight. I should get in trouble because they want to see the phone before they buy it. If they want to renew the contract with me and then go to a store for the phone, that's their choice.

Sorry the customer's choice interferes with your commission plan.

Amen.

This isn't all about commission. How about this for a scenario. A customer goes into the store. Doesn't want to buy a new phone or renew a contract. Just wants to go over their price plan details. Now for the most part, those are the calls that I receive from the customer calling from the store phone. I don't get commission for that, so why is it sent to me? Don't complain that you lose out on a commission once in awhile, but then dump every non-commission situation on me.

And my supervisor would laugh at a rework form. As would I.

ok so keep being lazy and not offering to send customers phones, i will just keep forwarding simple non commissionable plan changes to u guys. no problem.

Vatothe0 said:
Riiiight. I should get in trouble because they want to see the phone before they buy it. If they want to renew the contract with me and then go to a store for the phone, that's their choice.

Sorry the customer's choice interferes with your commission plan.

the two should be done at once. contract renewal + upgrading phone. when you split them just because you're a lazy @ss and can't offer to ship them a phone, or send them to the store to do both plan change and upgrade, that's when us RSR's have a big problem with CSR's.. or how bout when you offer a four month early upgrade just because the daughter on the account wants a cool new neato phone so that it matches her purse. it sho...
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Maybe you should go work for Cingular or something with that attitude. It's not needed at Verizon

Vatothe0 said:
Maybe you should go work for Cingular or something with that attitude. It's not needed at Verizon

My attitude is fine thanks. My main beef is when you guys offer early upgrades like they're going out of style.

but like i said before, i admire how relentless you guys are with taking calls all day long from angry customers.. agreed, sometimes you need to make long-time customers happy by offering these early upgrades.. but it seems like 100% of the customers coming into the store nowadays have magically been approved for early upgrades. it causes more store traffic, longer lines, and less time to handle NEW activations or people that ARE actually eligable for upgrades.

sorry you don't get a contract for that, but the rep didn't do anything wrong. you're filing a re-work that will never get to the rep because the rework team will filter that one as a bitter salesman.

Plus as i have said earlier most customers dont trust RSRs when changing price plans cause 90% of our customers say the RSRs either A)never told them a thing about pro-rations or B)assigned the wrong MTN the primary line so their minutes got screwed up. So almost every customer i talk to says they will only change their price plans with us and they will only buy a phone in the store cause they want to see it first, im sure some customers buy the phone from you first and then change the plan with us afterwards which is good for you and then im sure some of them change their plan first and then buy their phone which isn't good for you but either way the customer is the one that gets to make the choice, not us.

The "Background Check" for international dialing is

1. Have they had the account for 90 days?
2. Do they keep it current?
3. Why aren't you adding the SFO right now?

That's all there is to it. You can't see if they pay their bill on-time in a store?

I take at least 3 calls a day with a new customer that was never explained what their first bill will be. They never know their bill cycle date or why the first bill is so much. At least the PRP2, some of that will go away as far as partial month minutes go.

Let me just say that a lot of customers do not listen to the portion of the sales process when we, RSR, are explaining the prorates and the activiation fee on the first bill. There is a print out that we get with activation that breaks down all the info for the customer. I for one and everyone in my store always go over that print out with the customer, but unfortunately many customers are just wanting to get there new phone in there hands at that point. The reason I know people are not listening is because about once a week one of my customer comes in with there first bill masking why it is so high, I know that covered that with the cust at POS, but they were not listening so I explain it all again.

Now I am sure that there are a l...
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Isn't there a print out that can be given to a customer that will give an estimate? It just seems like we just throw the information out and hope they hear it.

Try keeping their new phone under the counter until they agree to the new cust checklist. That may fix it

Yes there is a print out, I said that. One thing I find is that since prints on receipt paper customer assume it is a receipt of some sort. I always place the paper in the persons hands and explain the prorate, activation and taxes/surcharges. But again many customers are just drooling to get there hands on the new phone and are not really listening to me. We do our best in our store to limit the numbers of calls to cust service and also back to our own store. I do realize that a call to customer service is very costly to the company. Beleive me we are on the same team here. You also have to realize that many customers will tell you anything if they think it may get them some sort of credit on their bill so of course when they call in...
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Well now with PRP2, the "I didn't know I only 300 minutes. I signed up for 900!" will be gone at least. Sure people are getting minutes for free, but it's once, they're a new customer, and it'll save us TONS of money on calls. We often end up crediting them as if they had all the minutes anyway.