Mystery Caller has scored big. His birthday landed him a bit of loot and he is off to the operators to see what handset he can buy outright. With up to 250 to burn, he expects big things from the CSAs this week
6: Virgin Mobile
He rattled off the contact number, website address and who knows what else, in a matter of seconds, sounding more like the Eurostar than a CSA
Manner – 1/5
Understanding – 1/5
Knowledge – 1/5
Helpfulness – 1/5
Clarity – 0/5
Overall – 1/5
Total – 5/30
5: Three
“I’m afraid we don’t deal with handsets that cost 150 or more over the phone”
Manner – 2/5
Understanding – 2/5
Knowledge – 1/5
Helpfulness – 2/5
Clarity – 2/5
Overall – 2/5
Total – 11/30
4: Vodafone
What was stopping him pulling up information on the phones? He had, after all, said he would be able to do this
Manner – 4/5
Understanding – 2/5
Knowledge – 1/5
Helpfulness – 1/5
Clarity – 2/5
Overall – 2/5
Total – 12/30
3: Orange
The noise got worse as the call went on, and to me it didn’t sound like CSAs taking calls, but a lot of people having a social chat
Manner –2/5
Understanding – 3/5
Knowledge – 3/5
Helpfulness – 2/5
Clarity – 2/5
Overall – 2/5
Total – 14/30
2: O2
Strangely, she told me – without me asking – that although it only had a two-megapixel camera it did take “good photos”
Manner – 4/5
Understanding –2/5
Knowledge – 2/5
Helpfulness – 4/5
Clarity – 2/5
Overall – 3/5
Total – 17/30
1: T-Mobile
Although I did have to wait a while for all the information to come through, it was definitely worth it at the end
Manner – 4/5
Understanding – 4/5
Knowledge – 4/5
Helpfulness – 4/5
Clarity – 4/5
Overall – 4/5
Total – 24/30
Summary
Having someone on the end of line with up to 250 to spend, I thought would spur the CSAs into life. But not all of them took the opportunity, with more than a few coming across as pretty tired.
Christian from Virgin was strange, to say the least. Heather from Three, while polite, just didn’t seem to want to help. Vodafone’s Cam was at first promising but burned out quickly, while Pat from Orange, although polite at times, could have moved a bit faster and avoided a 20-minute phone call.
The lady at O2 was pleasant, but could have worked harder on getting her facts right, so it was Keith at T-Mobile who bought home the prize, with a truly professional display.
Full review in Mobile News issue 483 (March 14, 2011).
