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Ok this one is gonna need a little bit of a long technical explanation so the average non-cellular employee/person will understand what happened.
In Cellular you have several numbers behind the scenes that make things work. A System Identifier (SID) which acts like a zip code identifying what region of the country you are in. This varries from carrier to carrier, for this story the SID is irrelevant other than to say that its one of several behind the scenes numbers.
You also have ESN, MEID, IMEI etc that identify the phone itself. For those computer techs this is like a mac address. It is a unique identifier for each cellular phone out there.
You also have the Mobile Directory Number (MDN) aka your phone number, and a Mobile Identification Number (MIN). The MIN most customers will remain blissfully unaware of. In reality all of the cellular transmissions are made using the MIN and the ESN. Think of the MDN as the account number for your MIN. Basicly when somone calls your MDN from any phone the system compares it to its database, looks for the MIN and ESN that match it and then route the call.
I could get into a much more technical explanation, but this is enough for the purposes of this call.
Anyway, on most newer phones the MIN works in the background and you will never as a customer know about it unless you go digging around the back end of the software that makes your phone work. Some older phones existed before the thought or need for an MIN came up, so when you get a phone like this you have to program it with the MIN to make it work. (Hence why in the industry many will refer to the MIN as the "programming number") Also the customer sees the MIN instead of the MDN.
This opens up a whole load of extremely difficult and wholly unnecessary calls and mistakes.
This is one such call.
Me: The one and the only....
SC: You know it, she was actually very pleasant just plain bullheaded
Now, its been a long day, its really really windy here in Ohio today and as such our Internet has been yoyoing back and forth all day. So as you can imagine I'm just a little agitated from the system malfunctioning practically every fifteen to twenty minutes or so. I just took this call about 30 minutes prior to writing this post.
Me: Thank you for calling brand cellular, how can I assist you today?
SC: Yeah, I don't know how this is possible but my phone has two phone numbers. (We get this quite often, confusion between MIN and MDN, so right away this is what I'm thinking the issue is)
Me: Well it actually should not be possible for any phone to have two phone numbers. I think i know what is going on, but just to be sure what are both phone numbers you think you have.
SC: xxx-xxx-xxxx and xxx-xxxx
Me: The second number is the same area code?
SC: Yes it is, sorry.
Me: Thats alright, just wanted to make sure. Now, give me a second to look up the particulars here.
*checking the system showed the first number she had given me was an active account as was the second. The second number however had the first number as its MIN --- IE the second number is her MDN (her actual number) and the first was her MIN*
SC: Now the last person I spoke to had me dial *xxx (this is an industry standard to have the phone download programming information from the Switching Office) Since it wasn't working. Thats when this second number showed up (by second she is referring to her MIN) – Anyway I loaded minutes to that number and now its not working. She told me I should call her back after I dialed the *xxx
Me: Well, that shouldn't be needed. One last question, are you calling me from your cellular phone?
SC: Yes. *this was the last confirmation I needed to make sure everything was matching up. Sure enough the number she is seeing on her phone and has added the minutes to is her MIN. *
Me: Ok, well thats the last bit I needed to know to be sure. Our caller ID shows xxx-xxxx is your number. The second number your seeing is whats called a Mobile Identification Number, or MIN for short. It would be a very long winded and technical explanation to explain exactly why that number is needed. (As you can see from above it is a long explanation) Sufficing to say without that number on your phone it would not work. You technically only have one number which is xxx-xxxx, the second number is just a helper that works behind the scenes.
SC: So I loaded my minute to the wrong number is what your saying.
Me: Yes (wow she gets it, and shes not arguing), now normally we don't allow airtime to be moved once it has been loaded to an account, but we do make allowances for special circumstances which this counts as one. So, all you need to do now to have that airtime moved is to take the card back to the store of purchase and they can call it in and have it moved. (This is standard procedure, I have no idea the exact reasons for it, but this is concrete law and has never been compromised on by any one of our supervisors. The fine print on the card actually states the airtime is not transferable so if we really wanted to we could tell her she is SOL, but given the situation, IE there is really no way she could have known the difference between her MIN and MDN we will allow her to move the airtime)
SC: Well can I talk to Jane Doe (JD)
Me: Really, Jane can't help you on this and would have to give you the same answer, all you need to do is take it to that store and they will help you. This is standard procedure for us ma'am. Technically airtime can't be moved once it has been loaded, but we do make special allowances for outstanding circumstances such as this.
SC: But Jane said if it didn't work after dialing *xxx that I should call her back.
Me: Ma'am it's really quite simple. You loaded minutes to the wrong number, we need the store you bought them from to call us and we can move them. Until that happens no one, not me, a supervisor, or Jane will be able to do anything more.
[insert inane arguing back and forth for about 5 minutes with repeat of same info over and over]
Me: [insert canned phrase designed to get customer the hell off of my phone]
SC: Well... I really think you should let me talk to Jane.
Me: Ma'am just go to that store and they can help you. Have a very nice day. *click*
rant
I mean seriously, why do people insist that once an answer they don't want to hear has been given that they have to be transferred to someone else. You have been given a perfectly valid, and might I add easy, solution. Why do you insist on being a belligerent moron and continuing to argue just because we haven't said what you want to hear.... ARGGGGGHHHHH I hate SC's
/rant
In Cellular you have several numbers behind the scenes that make things work. A System Identifier (SID) which acts like a zip code identifying what region of the country you are in. This varries from carrier to carrier, for this story the SID is irrelevant other than to say that its one of several behind the scenes numbers.
You also have ESN, MEID, IMEI etc that identify the phone itself. For those computer techs this is like a mac address. It is a unique identifier for each cellular phone out there.
You also have the Mobile Directory Number (MDN) aka your phone number, and a Mobile Identification Number (MIN). The MIN most customers will remain blissfully unaware of. In reality all of the cellular transmissions are made using the MIN and the ESN. Think of the MDN as the account number for your MIN. Basicly when somone calls your MDN from any phone the system compares it to its database, looks for the MIN and ESN that match it and then route the call.
I could get into a much more technical explanation, but this is enough for the purposes of this call.
Anyway, on most newer phones the MIN works in the background and you will never as a customer know about it unless you go digging around the back end of the software that makes your phone work. Some older phones existed before the thought or need for an MIN came up, so when you get a phone like this you have to program it with the MIN to make it work. (Hence why in the industry many will refer to the MIN as the "programming number") Also the customer sees the MIN instead of the MDN.
This opens up a whole load of extremely difficult and wholly unnecessary calls and mistakes.
This is one such call.
Me: The one and the only....
SC: You know it, she was actually very pleasant just plain bullheaded
Now, its been a long day, its really really windy here in Ohio today and as such our Internet has been yoyoing back and forth all day. So as you can imagine I'm just a little agitated from the system malfunctioning practically every fifteen to twenty minutes or so. I just took this call about 30 minutes prior to writing this post.
Me: Thank you for calling brand cellular, how can I assist you today?
SC: Yeah, I don't know how this is possible but my phone has two phone numbers. (We get this quite often, confusion between MIN and MDN, so right away this is what I'm thinking the issue is)
Me: Well it actually should not be possible for any phone to have two phone numbers. I think i know what is going on, but just to be sure what are both phone numbers you think you have.
SC: xxx-xxx-xxxx and xxx-xxxx
Me: The second number is the same area code?
SC: Yes it is, sorry.
Me: Thats alright, just wanted to make sure. Now, give me a second to look up the particulars here.
*checking the system showed the first number she had given me was an active account as was the second. The second number however had the first number as its MIN --- IE the second number is her MDN (her actual number) and the first was her MIN*
SC: Now the last person I spoke to had me dial *xxx (this is an industry standard to have the phone download programming information from the Switching Office) Since it wasn't working. Thats when this second number showed up (by second she is referring to her MIN) – Anyway I loaded minutes to that number and now its not working. She told me I should call her back after I dialed the *xxx
Me: Well, that shouldn't be needed. One last question, are you calling me from your cellular phone?
SC: Yes. *this was the last confirmation I needed to make sure everything was matching up. Sure enough the number she is seeing on her phone and has added the minutes to is her MIN. *
Me: Ok, well thats the last bit I needed to know to be sure. Our caller ID shows xxx-xxxx is your number. The second number your seeing is whats called a Mobile Identification Number, or MIN for short. It would be a very long winded and technical explanation to explain exactly why that number is needed. (As you can see from above it is a long explanation) Sufficing to say without that number on your phone it would not work. You technically only have one number which is xxx-xxxx, the second number is just a helper that works behind the scenes.
SC: So I loaded my minute to the wrong number is what your saying.
Me: Yes (wow she gets it, and shes not arguing), now normally we don't allow airtime to be moved once it has been loaded to an account, but we do make allowances for special circumstances which this counts as one. So, all you need to do now to have that airtime moved is to take the card back to the store of purchase and they can call it in and have it moved. (This is standard procedure, I have no idea the exact reasons for it, but this is concrete law and has never been compromised on by any one of our supervisors. The fine print on the card actually states the airtime is not transferable so if we really wanted to we could tell her she is SOL, but given the situation, IE there is really no way she could have known the difference between her MIN and MDN we will allow her to move the airtime)
SC: Well can I talk to Jane Doe (JD)
Me: Really, Jane can't help you on this and would have to give you the same answer, all you need to do is take it to that store and they will help you. This is standard procedure for us ma'am. Technically airtime can't be moved once it has been loaded, but we do make special allowances for outstanding circumstances such as this.
SC: But Jane said if it didn't work after dialing *xxx that I should call her back.
Me: Ma'am it's really quite simple. You loaded minutes to the wrong number, we need the store you bought them from to call us and we can move them. Until that happens no one, not me, a supervisor, or Jane will be able to do anything more.
[insert inane arguing back and forth for about 5 minutes with repeat of same info over and over]
Me: [insert canned phrase designed to get customer the hell off of my phone]
SC: Well... I really think you should let me talk to Jane.
Me: Ma'am just go to that store and they can help you. Have a very nice day. *click*
rant
I mean seriously, why do people insist that once an answer they don't want to hear has been given that they have to be transferred to someone else. You have been given a perfectly valid, and might I add easy, solution. Why do you insist on being a belligerent moron and continuing to argue just because we haven't said what you want to hear.... ARGGGGGHHHHH I hate SC's
/rant
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