How to improve cell phone service
Posted on July 10th, 2007 in Mobile, Thoughts | 1 Comment »
Dealing with cell phone companies has provided some of the best examples of how not to treat customers. I must talk to 20 people that hate their cell phone provider for every person who is satisfied.
Here are a few suggestions for cell phone companies I’m certain they will ignore:
- Don’t lock me into a 2-year contract – I understand this is difficult when people expect a free or very inexpensive subsidized phone, but I’d rather pay more for a phone and not be locked into a contract. Every month I remain an unhappy customer (or pay the $150-$200 early termination fee) is a month I’m building feelings of hatred towards your company. Why not let me go elsewhere rather than ensuring I’ll never try you again?
- Provide a realistic monthly fee estimate - You know that $60/month plan is going to cost $85/month. Why not tell me that right from the start? Surprises suck.
- Make removing features as easy as adding them – If I can add additional features to my service from your website I should be able to remove them there as well. Don’t waste my time by making me call a customer service rep who’s only job is to keep me from canceling the feature or upselling me on “new” feature.
- Allow your CSRs to make reasonable decisions – I’ve called in to make basic changes to my account and been told I’d have to speak with another department, a supervisor or call another number. Stop the run-a-round and help me!
- Notify me of new deals – It really sucks to hear about a new plan with more minutes, more features at a lower price from a new customer when I’ve been a loyal customer for years. If my plan changes, let me know. I shouldn’t have to call in to receive special deals. If you are pro-active, I’ll remember it and become even more loyal.
- Provide easy and fast activation – Verizon does a decent job here. If I want to activate a new phone at 2 am, I should be able to do that instead of calling back during business hours.
- Treat me like you value my business – This is the most important. I’m going to talk and blog about your service. Would you rather I tell potential customers to give your service a try or to avoid it like the plague?
I want to like my cell phone company. I had a horrendous experience with Sprint before I moved to Verizon. Verizon isn’t perfect but they are pretty good and getting better.
One Response
Cell Phone companies should be able to set up a controlling system and either notify you or shut the phone off it unusual calling patterns take place. You could call their customer service with your password in order to continue making calls. Our phone was lost for 1 week before we realized it. When we called to suspend the service the bill was $2800.00. They would not take any of the international calling off (we had never made an international call). When I called to make payment arrangements they wanted 1/3 payment every 14 days.