CINGULAR BILLING SECRETS!!!! (A must-read for customers)
As a Customer Care Rep, I know firsthand that hundreds of customers a day have issues with their bills. I personally get call after call after call about why a customer's balance is so high. Though these calls usually end peacefully, they may actually be preventable, leading to a much more enjoyable experience for the customer. After a long and thorough investigation, i've found the secrets of the Cingular Wireless billing system. I could get myself fired for divulging this hidden treasure, but its well worth the risk. This is top-secret, high-level proprietary information, so only read the next line if you really want to know the key to understanding your Cingular bill...
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READ YOUR DAMN BILL ...
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READ YOUR DAMN BILL ...
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Would i get walked out the door if i actually told a customer that? đ đ đ
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yeah, usually i just end up banging my head on my computer "mam, you (WHACK) went over your minutes (WHACK) no i cannot credit you (WHACK) i understand your upset (WHACK) đ
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hehehehehe that sounds like the guy i just had in here with his 500 bill...he said i was told i had 600 minutes for each line on a ft600 minute plan....hehehehehe....no sir u share the 600 minutes...then he says thats why i got this plan for the extra minutes...hmmmmmmmm.....not too mention u both have media basics package and still went over the text messages allowed as well as the minutes....between the 2 lines they went over almost 600 minutes.
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lol, heres one , i've gotten this same guy three different times today, he migrated over, and claims he was offered a 1000 min nation plan w/ m2m and ulimited night/wknd, the first time i told him, we dont have a 1000 min plan, we have 900 and 1100, i apologized, but explained i couldnt put him on plan that we dont have, he hung up and has been calling back all day trying to get someone to activate him w/that plan, i've gotten him two other times besides the first call đ
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I had a guy calling back claiming that he was supposed to get a free American Idol DVD...he must have wanted it real bad...he kept changing his story...
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drumminf00l said:
yeah, usually i just end up banging my head on my computer "mam, you (WHACK) went over your minutes (WHACK) no i cannot credit you (WHACK) i understand your upset (WHACK) đ
Wouldn't that be inappropriate call management? Unless you mute it when you hit your head... đ đ
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but then its a repeat call, b/c they call back claiming they need a new phone b/c the phone they have is making a banging sound during calls, woops đ¤
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Yeah that can definately be bad on the stats, but then you should tell them your phone has been acting up and then they dont think its thier own phone.
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yeah, i hate it, couple days ago i got dinged for not talking long enough, all my other stats were perfect, how dumb is that? đĄ
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Yup! Or short calls..wtf?!? Isnt it better if my calls are short and I can help the customer quicker?
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Short calls are calls under 20 secs.
If you have to many short calls they figure your call avoiding đ
If you have to many short calls they figure your call avoiding đ
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yeah, that one sucks too, the automatically assume you're avoiding calls, couldnt be people hanging up or the system dropping calls....lol, madness! đ
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Ya I agree. But I understand the companies reasons. And they do give some leeway.
After all... Cingular doesn't practice Catch and Release đ
After all... Cingular doesn't practice Catch and Release đ
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Our call center is always on our tails to keep our call handle time down....
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We have to keep ours between 3-5 minutes. đ
I hate that especially on sundays when usually the fix is..can you please pow your phone off/on and make a call?
I hate that especially on sundays when usually the fix is..can you please pow your phone off/on and make a call?
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The almighty power cycle, lol, fixes everything, they ought to put that in the IVR, "if you are calling about a tech issue, please hang up, turn off your cell phone, turn it back on and it will be working for you," đ
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drumminf00l said:
The almighty power cycle, lol, fixes everything, they ought to put that in the IVR, "if you are calling about a tech issue, please hang up, turn off your cell phone, turn it back on and it will be working for you," đ
You think customers listen to the IVR? Heh if they did that they wouldn't call while driving down the road from thier cell phone and tell me to fix thier internet.
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đ¤Ŗ There's the rub. CSI wouldn't tolerate that kind of honesty. Tell the customer to read their bills are you nuts?!
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repCB said:...
As a Customer Care Rep, I know firsthand that hundreds of customers a day have issues with their bills. I personally get call after call after call about why a customer's balance is so high. Though these calls usually end peacefully, they may actually be preventable, leading to a much more enjoyable experience for the customer. After a long and thorough investigation, i've found the secrets of the Cingular Wireless billing system. I could get myself fired for divulging this hidden treasure, but its well worth the risk. This is top-secret, high-level proprietary information, so only read the next line if you really want to know the key to understanding your Cingular bill...
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omg you are not even going there, it is not that we are trying to be ugly, but what about the fact that we all have brains and need to use them, they get a high bill and never even look at thier details they just pick up the phone and call us saying " MY BILL IS WRONG FIX IT" where is the responsiblity to own there account, and watch how they use there phone, You are being an extremist ..... đ
đ đĄ đ¤Ŗ đ đ đŗ
đ đĄ đ¤Ŗ đ đ đŗ
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not all customers are stupid like you guys claim. and im sure most of the time its the elderly people have issues with their bills. im sure of this. im tired of customer bashing on here...
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You MUST not work in a call center, I absolutely love my job and I never said they were ALL stupid once again you are going to the extreme.....take a breath and let the guys vent, it isn't a bad thing.....but Yes most of our calls are billing related and yes most of the time, they say " OH I guess that makes sense" and yes most of the time, the billing is correct and the cust just used more then alotted for whatever feature they are being billed for.
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I just want to say its not mostly elderly people calling in. I love talking to them and explaining the bill its a refresher from some of the other calls. Often its kids that are trying to tell their parents they didnt do it or parents saying "my kid told me they didnt so they didnt"
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CelluNerd said:
not all customers are stupid like you guys claim. and im sure most of the time its the elderly people have issues with their bills. im sure of this. im tired of customer bashing on here...
actually, elderly people seem to have a better grasp on their bills than most of the younger crowds because they took the time to read through their contracts, brochures and bills before agreeing to pay for the service. most elderly people I encounter want to cover the bases before getting any service or being locked into a contract. Its the young kids old enough to vote and have cell fones that cant understand how to read the bill and see that they need to up their minutes by at least 2000 dt so they can...
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You're supposed to read contracts before you sign them? đŗ When did this happen, why was i not informed?
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I don't know... I normally just tell them they can leave and I will sign it for them đ (just playing for those of you who think I am serious)
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đ˛ Wrong buddy most of the time it's customers that talk up a storm go wayyyy over their minutes and then want a credit because they lack self control.
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CelluNerd, if you are blind, then a thousand apologies to you. This post most certainly does not apply to blind or vision-impaired customers. It does not apply to customers who call Customer Care to inquire about a specific charge. This does apply to customers who see the balance and get overexcited without reading on to see why it is what it is. Those customers who ask, "why is my bill so high," and when you point out the activation fee and overage charges, they reply, "oh, ok, guess I should've read my bill."
If neither of these apply to you, then please do not feel offended. If you are one of those "prematurely excited" customers who have to call in to be calmed down, then yes, by all means be offended. It was meant to offend a...
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If neither of these apply to you, then please do not feel offended. If you are one of those "prematurely excited" customers who have to call in to be calmed down, then yes, by all means be offended. It was meant to offend a...
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CelluNerd said:
live with it. just like us customers are living with pain in the ass reps like you
No, you do not live with us reps. You have the option to not call Customer Care, or leave Cingular. Reps, however, live the ongoing nightmare, the migraines, the headaches, the reality that we willingly come to work and log in everyday and take the abuse, just to keep gas in our cars and food on our tables. If I could, i'd jump ship faster than a stowaway on the Titanic, but my family needs the insurance.
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for our politically correct customer who is fed up with customer bashing ... we have large print and braille bills for visually impaired customers. You raised a total red herring there. Out of our entire customer base of 50 million, I've been told that 25-30% of that base makes up about 80% of our call volume. Most customers actually take the time to read their bills, understand their contract, and have few, if any problems with their service. However, for those customers who can't be bothered to look at their bill, whose only answer is "But there's no way I talked that much", who get this big fancy welcome kit with coverage maps and terms and conditions and user manuals and who refuse to spend a few hours to get acquainted with their invest...
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I agree, I feel that customers should be responsibile for their minutes usage. Its not our responsibility to watch their minute usage. I love it when they call in and state that there is no way they used all those minutes. Then they try to say that someone else must have tapped into there phone and used the additonal minutes. Or else they try to tell us that they should have more mins.
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