If I get one more Store Rep Who Adds Roadside Assistance!!!!
If I get one more Store Rep Who Adds Roadside Assistance without the customer knowing or wanting it I'm gonna call the BBB myself and I work for Cingular. I'm so sick of of Customers calling up and saying whats this roadside assitance. 👿
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Yeah it is a pain. But if the customer would listen or read the paperwork they give them, the customer wouldnt be calling in screaming at us.
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Thanks Shayby, that's the truth though... That is why I always read what I sign 😁
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Isn't that what the IVR system was meant to do? even though thats a horrid system in and of itself...
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Actually.. it is highly illegal to ADD anything to a customers contract without their knowledge. How would you feel if your car dealer "added" a paint sealer and charged you but did not tell you. No matter how you cut it... it is legally wrong, not to mention ethically wrong. You do remember ethics, don't you?
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Yeah but if you were going through that contract that you are signing with the dealer, and there was one entire page that was dedicated to saying that they were giving you something and you then fought it later when you read it again, when it was right in front of your face the first time, they did not add it.. That is the thing.
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In the beginning, I told customers to go back to store to deal with it. 👿
I was then introduced to Vendor Feedback forms 😈
I enjoy issuing the credit and removing the feature thus losing the commission to the store rep and getting him into trouble with the feedback. 😈
I was then introduced to Vendor Feedback forms 😈
I enjoy issuing the credit and removing the feature thus losing the commission to the store rep and getting him into trouble with the feedback. 😈
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ITS NOT THE DEALERS FAULT IF CINGULAR HAD ANY COMMEN SENSE THEY WOULDNT AUTOMATICLLY ADD IT ON POS.. WHOEVER U R IF YOU DONT WANT ANY OF THOSE CALLS ANYMORE TELL THEM TO TAKE IT OFF POS MAKE IT A OPTION TO ADD IT JUST DONT RELY ON THE DEALERS TO TAKE IT OFF
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They are taking it off, at point of sale... I believe the anticipated date is 04/01/2005. And yeah, that will make our lives alot easier.
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Ummm. . . excuse me!! It could easily be added after we sign it! 👿 All it is, is a checked boxed. I did catch my rep checking it off in the "feature" box but I refused to sign it until she wrote up a new one. I have On-Star and would not need it. Even though she tried to convince me that it won't show up on my bill, I wasn't convinced. It wil be interesting because she could very easily check it off after I leave the store. What kind of incentive are these agents getting for adding road side assistance anyways. It's not a huge sale.
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How could it be added after the fact... It would need initials, not just a check... Or at least that is the way that it works in my store.
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It's usually either a store manger who pushes these incentives via his manager, via his manager. Most of the time the commission is not that much but what makes it lucrative is that the way it is structured, add x amount of RA's and get $X of additional monies (more than the commission alone) plus the regular commission for the feature. Add it up during the "push period" and it can make a few extra bucks for a low paid sales agent in the store.
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😁 hmmm well most good reps advise the cust they are recieveing a free 60 day trial of roadside I know there may be some bad reps but we are told to sell roadside so we do and most of us including myself do it the right way.
P.S i am sick of most cust service reps being very rude
P.S i am sick of most cust service reps being very rude
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ha 🙂
that remindes me. I called a store in Arkansas today, and NO i'm not sterotyping people from Arkansas 🙂, but they just answered the phone "CINGULAR!" if my manager heard me answer the phone like that, it would be the last.
we don't have a script or anything but come on that was horrible.
that remindes me. I called a store in Arkansas today, and NO i'm not sterotyping people from Arkansas 🙂, but they just answered the phone "CINGULAR!" if my manager heard me answer the phone like that, it would be the last.
we don't have a script or anything but come on that was horrible.
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Yah I'm sorry I had to post that I just needed to vent because It is so frustrating having to deal with that on almost every billing call, and I know most strore reps are very good at there job but then again there are some who are out there just to gewt there commission. I always try to be very nice to the store reps but sometimes there not nice back when they give me BS anwsers about contracts.
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The other thing too... Customers seem to not realize it is there until the third month when they get charged for it? Why don't they call on the first or second bill, when there is no credit to be given? 🙄
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jramossteel said:
The other thing too... Customers seem to not realize it is there until the third month when they get charged for it? Why don't they call on the first or second bill, when there is no credit to be given? 🙄
Who gives credit for it? 😈
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jramossteel said:
I don't know... I was just thinking thats all 😕
No worries! I just dont think it should be credited they have 60 days to look at the bill and look at the contract. 😁
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I don't credit it, just take it off. You know that you agents don't get a commission on it if it's removed before the third full month, right?
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jramossteel said:
The other thing too... Customers seem to not realize it is there until the third month when they get charged for it? Why don't they call on the first or second bill, when there is no credit to be given? 🙄
Because bills are the other thing no customer ever reads or even looks at. They only respond to the goad of "it's costing me money!" and sometimes not even then. If I had a nickel for every joker who wanted credit because they've had an unused feature for six months or more that they never noticed, I'd have a pile of nickels... 🙄
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CingularguyinTN said:
😁 hmmm well most good reps advise the cust they are recieveing a free 60 day trial of roadside I know there may be some bad reps but we are told to sell roadside so we do and most of us including myself do it the right way.
P.S i am sick of most cust service reps being very rude
Yeah... its a two way street... We know that not all of you are bad, but I seem to always get the bad ones on the phone.
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I know what ya mean... There's some really bad reps in the stores sometimes, but there's also very good ones. And, sometimes cust service reps are awesome, then others are like, "ok im here, what do you want...?? bye" Thats gonna be true either way. Some ppl just got the "skills", some ppl just need to get a number crunching job. 😛
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Personally I've made it habit to just decline the offer, but it is being added in POS.com II automatically and the rep has to make a concious effort to click decline the offer in order to unpopulate it. SO I would speculate that a number (if not half) of the se customers have the Roadside assist because the rep didn't remove it (something reps are not used to having to do).
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We don't... Our system automatically auto-populates it and there is screen dedicated to let them know that... And Corporate is actually stopping that after April 1st as far as I know... Also in the retail defense, I know in my store if a customer does not want it we take it off that day so there is no issues for you guys! 🙂
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I see where you store reps are coming from and I understand and I'm sorry for blowing up I didnt mean too... but in Telegence when you activating a line it specifically asks you if you want to offer or decline roadside assistance so I dont see why it would be such a big deal. But seriously I get so many calls everyday about why is there Roadside Assistance on my account. I don't see how this could be a customer mistake most of the time. I mean me Being a CSE rep and only handling new accounts I see accounts that have so many add-ons on them that the customer never even requested, and then when I call the store to look @ the contract I get a rude rep on the phone who says there manger isnt there and I would have to call back later to view co...
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This seems to be a case of the right hand not knowing what the left hand is doing.... 👿
I work for an agent company in NC. Our CINGULAR "Account Executive" holds these conference calls with us & sends out email talking about how there is all kinds of pressure on the account execs to have a minimum average feature attachment rate of 2 features for every new act or upgrade. They HEAVILY push us to add roadside assistance AND voice connect to each and every act/up. If we don't, then our managers reprimand us & embarass us in front of our coworkers. Some have been written up as well for not adding enough features. Within my company, store managers get written up if their store has anything below 2.5 feat. attachment rate.
I K...
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I work for an agent company in NC. Our CINGULAR "Account Executive" holds these conference calls with us & sends out email talking about how there is all kinds of pressure on the account execs to have a minimum average feature attachment rate of 2 features for every new act or upgrade. They HEAVILY push us to add roadside assistance AND voice connect to each and every act/up. If we don't, then our managers reprimand us & embarass us in front of our coworkers. Some have been written up as well for not adding enough features. Within my company, store managers get written up if their store has anything below 2.5 feat. attachment rate.
I K...
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But Jackie, it's not just MY bosses.... My bosses are like this b/c of pressure put on them by CINGULAR.
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Pressure is one thing, your bosses wanting you to lie is another... I have the same ratio to hit, but I do it without "trickery". I have some good flyers that I make that help me too.
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I honestly don't see what is hard to hit about a 2.5 feature attachemnt rate though. I normally average 8:1 per new activation and on a total contact (activation and upgrade) ratio I average 3.5:1 on a regular basis. I don't use trickery either.
Speedywalk
"It ain't broke, it just needs duct tape!"
Speedywalk
"It ain't broke, it just needs duct tape!"
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I do work for the divested market, but yes they are out there. I don't know how the features are tracked for Cingular systems, but ATTWS tracking only counts new adds, not 2G-3G migrations. So here's the breakdown:
Say I get 2 new adds with:
mMode x2
SMS x2
Complete ins: (2 features) x2 = 4
MMS x1
that's 8 features divided by 2 adds: 4 features/add.
BUT also say I get 2 migrations with:
mMode x1
SMS x2
Complete ins x1
MMS x1
that's a total of 5 more features. Add that to the 8 and you have 13 total features. Divedie that by the 2 new adds:
13 ÷ 2 = 6.5
But suppose that I get a Roadside Assist on one of the migrations and on one of the new adds:
15 ÷ 2 = 7.5
Not too shabby.
By the way, my chargeback on fea...
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Say I get 2 new adds with:
mMode x2
SMS x2
Complete ins: (2 features) x2 = 4
MMS x1
that's 8 features divided by 2 adds: 4 features/add.
BUT also say I get 2 migrations with:
mMode x1
SMS x2
Complete ins x1
MMS x1
that's a total of 5 more features. Add that to the 8 and you have 13 total features. Divedie that by the 2 new adds:
13 ÷ 2 = 6.5
But suppose that I get a Roadside Assist on one of the migrations and on one of the new adds:
15 ÷ 2 = 7.5
Not too shabby.
By the way, my chargeback on fea...
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Yeah well most of my chargeback, are people who don't pay their bills... So lets stop assuming my chargebacks are something that I did wrong. And see our goals are different... They don't see it per activation, they see it as a take rate in our market. I am supposed to have 2:1 upgrade or activation... So, I guess we look at things differently.
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Yeah, I could see how that would stink. Like I said though...I manage to average about 3.5:1 ona pure contact ratio, but that does suck.
Speedywalk
"It ain't broke, it just needs duct tape!"
Speedywalk
"It ain't broke, it just needs duct tape!"
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Ahh most customers will keep it(if they dont have AAA) if you explain to them what roadside is and how it works because it really isnt a bad deal. Thats why i always tell thme what they are getting.And cust service res do u guys know everytime u take off a feature and readded to fix somethign and dont use the agents code he or she gets hit with a chargeback which really hurts the wallet or pocketbook.Really we all just need to be on teh same page 🙂
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Oooooh, yes the infamous chargeback... Let me tell you... That is one thing that you guys could all do to help us too... It hurts a lot. I had over $300 in chargebacks this month, between features being taken off and not being added back on with my codes and people not paying their bills... That one I don't understand.
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My store had $384, but I only had $1.50 in chargebacks over the past six months. People love me. 😁
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Its not that people don't love me, people don't love their own credit rating. I just get screwed in the process....
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Never had a chargeback yet 😉
now that i say that though, i see all of my clients returning in a mad frenzy 😳
now that i say that though, i see all of my clients returning in a mad frenzy 😳
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Wait.... So if a feature that you add is removed and the customer again wants to get it added again were supposed to put in you r dealer code so that you can benifit from it right. But if a dealer adds soemthing that the customer didnt want is there any sort of reprocution for incoviencing the customer or the customer care rep. In other words do we get anything out of the deal. Just my 2 cents.
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I understand that way, but if a customer calls in and needs to get their texting de & re'd because it is not working, how is that my fault... Also like most of us have stated, even other customer service reps concurred that the customer has a responsibility to read the agreement as well... I mean there is an entire screen dedicated to it on the signature capture devices... But I hear where you are coming from too. But just remember that our commission is our lively hood... you guys get a higher hourly rate because you don't make commission.
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😳 for instance if i sell a media package and then the cust calls in and says something isn't working and a cust service rep deletes and re-adds without my code i get hit with a $9.99 charge pack due to incompetence.
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That's why we (CSRs) are required to note the agent code first, then re-add it after we're done troubleshooting.
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And besides.. there should be very very few situations where we customer service reps have to readd a feature.. 90% of the time it can be fixed otherwise.
This issue was recently brought up in our team meetings... so i hope everyone here is readded features with agent codes.. i know i do
This issue was recently brought up in our team meetings... so i hope everyone here is readded features with agent codes.. i know i do
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wow, thanks for posting this. I always thought you guys (store reps) were just "MWUHAHAHAHA I can add random features without telling the customer and reap my commission profits for ever more!!!!!" and stuff. It's good to hear your side of it, too.
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inACW said:
wow, thanks for posting this. I always thought you guys (store reps) were just "MWUHAHAHAHA I can add random features without telling the customer and reap my commission profits for ever more!!!!!" and stuff. It's good to hear your side of it, too.
No problem! Glad I could help clarify things 😉
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Wait.... So if a feature that you add is removed and the customer again wants to get it added again were supposed to put in you r dealer code so that you can benifit from it right. But if a dealer adds soemthing that the customer didnt want is there any sort of reprocution for incoviencing the customer or the customer care rep. In other words do we get anything out of the deal. Just my 2 cents.
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My only thing is that for Example if Roadside Assistance is on the contract and there is a whole page explaining it and the representitive goes over the contract at time of activation, then why is there so many customers that call in 3 months later and Say "That wasn't on my contract or, The Rep. didnt tell me about that". I mean come on are all Cingular customers that stupid. I swear I get this all day long at least 20 times a day. It just doesnt make since if it was on the contract and the cust. didnt want it from the get go then why does it happen so often?
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Because they forget to cancel it if they don't want it until they see a fee on their bill... That's the thing.... There are a lot of customers that say to me, I will try and I can cancel it anytime. Now I am a little smarter with covering my own, and anything that will be an extra charge on the bill (surcharges, features, activations, etc) get a circle around it and intials and I keep a copy in a binder at the store, so if they come in claiming that they never signed for it or asked for it I am covered... Now not everyone goes through the troubles that I do, but most people don't remeber they have it until their bill comes on the third month and see the charge. Then they figure that they can say they never asked for it and get a credit bac...
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I work for an agent and our Account Rep trys to get us to do the whole thing where they HAVE to take Roadside. And he says they have people breathing down their neck about feature percentages and blah blah.. they also talk about keeping call queues down and that crap. I think this whole roadside deal is creating a whole new problem with jamming CC with calls about canceling it and creating an "unpleasant customer experience" and you know how cingular wants to make a "pleasant customer experience" seems they need to do alittle more research on this and chill the hell out.
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I say we freeze any store rep who has done that in Carbonite and then find a cure for what they have.
This way we preserve human life, take them out of the gene pool for a few decades and bring a new age of peace a prosperity to one and all.
This way we preserve human life, take them out of the gene pool for a few decades and bring a new age of peace a prosperity to one and all.
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I see that I'm not the only agent who has had to deal with such bs quota demands. I agree w/ you 100%
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Up here in the happy land of the Cincinnati Market, the Premier/Exclusive agent that I work has to have - instead of # amount of features, dollar amounts. The average per line dollar amount for features has to be $14. If you drop below that, we are told that we cannot have as many hours as our counterparts.
Now I have activated several Treo's and BB's and whatnot smart-phones and several times have features on accounts that are well over $20. But the thing that really boils my sauce is that their is a $20 cap on commission for every feature.
Say you wanted to sell the Unlmtd.. WIX - $24.99
you're only getting -paid $20
Unlmtd. Palm Connect - 39.99 - you $20
does anyone see the problem with this??
I hate the fact that we have t...
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Now I have activated several Treo's and BB's and whatnot smart-phones and several times have features on accounts that are well over $20. But the thing that really boils my sauce is that their is a $20 cap on commission for every feature.
Say you wanted to sell the Unlmtd.. WIX - $24.99
you're only getting -paid $20
Unlmtd. Palm Connect - 39.99 - you $20
does anyone see the problem with this??
I hate the fact that we have t...
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Yes... sounds like major-league suckage. Since my store doesn't sell data devices or plans, getting an average of $14 would be murder.
So - what's it like being a rape victim? 🤣
So - what's it like being a rape victim? 🤣
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Being a rape victim from the orange hand of "Jack" ..... kinda weird, especially when all of his comments come from thought bubbles.... lol
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I feel for you on that, as of now anyway. We used to get paid out at 100% of the features sales, and now they are dropping me to 50%... So I sell a $45 Blackberry feature, I only get $22.50, where as before I got $45.
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I wish ours was $14. Up here in Michigan we have a $22 attach rate, how ridiculous is that? If it wasn't so depressing it would be laughable. The customer actually has to buy at least $10 in features in order to get the full discount on the phone. and yes, we do get threatened constantly with being written up if we don't meet our attainment.
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because 90 percent of ppl will LIE to get a discount so you are dumb enougt to believe them lol 🤣
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Hey now... I am not dumb, as most people here will agree... And I can't offer credits, I am a retail rep. So 😛 to you too. 😉
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just one thing to add, i am the most rarest breed of dealers, one that dosent try screwing the cust, i allways tell them what is being added on thier account, ask them what they want on thier account (usually NO extra features are added bc ive worked in care and hated dealers who have done this without telling the customers) i inform the customers of proration on thier invoices, hell i work out the math for them to let them know exactly what to expect on thier invoices, am i being a bad rep? in the eyes of the customer, no, in the eyes of care for when a cust calls, no (i personaly wouldnt be mad at that dealeri would be suprized), in the eyes of my self (209.00 commision for this month, and i missed a week of work due to pnemonia so 209.99 ...
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lol...i typically decline the offer in POS anyway....Don't get me wrong, i ask them what kinda features they need, if they have roadside through AAA or something, and the majority of the customers i have do...so that damned roadside "promotion" can get kind of annoying...and they always say "why is this on the contract" even when you decline it, just because cingular can't get their templates right and make one that is blank there...
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Well I've read this entire thread now... and I have a $1.95 to say.
First off to all the store reps. I understands your frustration with being forced and threatened into selling features cust don't want. I'm 99% sure that all the store reps do things the right way.
Just like I'm sure that when a cust calls in about Feature X that was free for 2 months then on month 3 they call in saying it was added without their knowledge that the cust is more than likely at fault and that the rep did tell them that if they do not want it to call in to have it removed.
😳 Damn thats a run on sentance. Add your own punctuation please 😁
The store reps I hate are the ones who bring up cust accounts for troubleshooting or misc things (Non ...
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First off to all the store reps. I understands your frustration with being forced and threatened into selling features cust don't want. I'm 99% sure that all the store reps do things the right way.
Just like I'm sure that when a cust calls in about Feature X that was free for 2 months then on month 3 they call in saying it was added without their knowledge that the cust is more than likely at fault and that the rep did tell them that if they do not want it to call in to have it removed.
😳 Damn thats a run on sentance. Add your own punctuation please 😁
The store reps I hate are the ones who bring up cust accounts for troubleshooting or misc things (Non ...
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I checked the Service Summary for some of these numbers who call in about the Roadside Assistance, and some of them have it included, so either the rep didnt go over it with them in the store, or they simply need to read what they sign.
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repCB said:
I checked the Service Summary for some of these numbers who call in about the Roadside Assistance, and some of them have it included, so either the rep didnt go over it with them in the store, or they simply need to read what they sign.
i would go with the they dont read part, i mean who reads their wireless contract terms these days? i dont, and i have no complaints ever, i just want to add more things to my account, i am not stupid enough to think that my phone should have full bars everywhere, i know that phones drop calls (well cingular phones do :-P) so i just like adding more things to my acct ahah
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