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You should have called the Police FIRST!!

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  • You should have called the Police FIRST!!

    As usual, things have been fun at the Red Checkmark lately. I eagerly await the wonderful nonsense the holidays are sure to bring.

    I ain't got no badge or gun....

    Ok, your friend or loved one is missing. I'm very sorry to hear that and I hope they are found safe and unharmed but why are you calling me BEFORE you call the COPS?! I get that we live in a connected world and it stands to reason that maybe your wireless provider might be able to track a phone for you and find out where someone is but there's a few problems with that:

    1) Telling you the precise location of a phone opens us up to a TON of legal liability that we'd rather not touch with a ten foot pole.

    2) While we do, in some instances, have the capability to do this, that capability is NOT given to headset jockeys like myself. You see, we have a specific group that handles requests from law enforcement. The cops will contact them on behalf of you and they can help find your missing friend or loved one.

    3) Screaming at me for a manager will not help find your loved one either.

    Please folks, call the Police first and let them handle it. It's kind of what they're paid to do.

    Math, how the F&!% does it work?

    So you got a phone three months ago on our SHARP installment plan and then you lost it. So you filed an insurance claim and got a replacement. Now you're calling me because the insurance replacement isn't working. No problem, it's under warranty, we can send another one.

    Oh you want a different model of phone? Sorry, no can do. The warranty is like-for-like. You do have upgrade options if you want a different kind of phone, but yes, they would cost you some money.

    Not satisfied with this, you launch into a tirade about how frustrated you are at having to pay nearly $900 for one phone.

    Except you're wrong on multiple counts.

    First of all there's two phones, the one YOU lost and the insurance replacement. You've paid a total of five installments for a total of around $100 plus the $200 deductible.

    So at this point you've paid only $300 for TWO phones and yet, amazingly, you still feel you've paid almost $1000 for a single mobile device and my company is mercilessly gouging you for no other reason than to be evil bastards out for nothing but money.

    And now you want a manager? No problem but I must warn you. He knows math too.

    If you're having PIN problems, I feel bad for you son...

    Well, actually no, no I don't. Because the PIN has nothing to do with the network my company operates nor the central services we provide.

    I also don't feel bad for you because YOU set the PIN and if you forgot it that's not MY fault.

    99 times out of 100 when this happens, unless the customer was smart enough to put a remote lock app on the phone beforehand (which most aren't), the only way to restore access to the phone is a master reset, which yes, will erase everything on it. Then starts the whining:

    - No, there's no Default or Master PIN. (If there was, that would defeat the whole purpose of a PIN in the first place!)

    - No, there's nothing I can "reset in the system" to get you back into your phone. The PIN code is self contained within the phone itself. In other words, you're SOL.

    - No, you can't get a credit for inconvenience. (Seriously, you really expect us to give you a credit because you inconvenienced YOURSELF? It'd be funny if I didn't hear it ALL the time).

    - No I can't backup your contacts or any other information before the reset. I'm just as locked out of the device as you are.

    Almost inevitably, after the grumbling, the customer will go along with the reset. It doesn't stop them from blaming us though. My coworkers and I have gotten bad surveys from customers because we were unable to get them access to their phones.

    Greed is Good...

    ...Or not, as this poor sap found out. Basically he'd been paying for three years for a service he hadn't used and apparently had asked to be removed not long after he first got it. The total charges were around $350. Company policy is we only credit back up to 6 months for situations like this.

    That may seem unfair, but the reality is at some point the customer has to take responsibility for what's on their bill. If they choose to ignore it and keep paying, that's on them, NOT us.

    So he was offered the six month credit (around $65) but that wasn't good enough, so he escalated to a manager who amazingly offered him $200 or about 18 months worth of credit. You'd think that would be enough for most people but not this guy.

    Now he's on the line with me because he wants credit for EVERY single charge. Every penny. Holy crap dude, you should be happy enough we offered you three times our standard credit in the first place! But no, he's still raging mad, so he asked for a manager again.

    Here's where it gets awesome. After the guy realized he was NOT going to get the full credit back he tried to get the $200 he'd been offered before. But that $200 offer was an out of policy decision made by another manager, one that my manager was under no obligation to fulfill now (the account notes specifically stated the SC declined this offer). So my manager offered him $90. Cue more pouting and raging. Manager said that's as high as he would go. Guy hung up.

    That's not how it works. That's not how ANY of this works!

    One week later and I am STILL trying to wrap my head around this one.

    This guy calls me swearing up and down he's paid $200 to my company for some sort of insurance program that:

    A) Has no monthly premium
    B) Allows for him to get a replacement phone at one of our company stores at NO COST should anything happen to his phone
    C) Lasts a total of two years

    While we DO offer an insurance plan for mobile phones (which he has NEVER had on any of the lines on his account), it doesn't work anything like the mysterious program outlined above.

    The plan we offer DOES have monthly payments and does NOT allow you to get a replacement at a store, you have to get one in the mail. Also the plan we offer has no time limit. As long as you keep paying the premium and don't remove the service from your account, you have coverage.

    I've been in the business for awhile and I know mobile insurance has worked this way for at LEAST eight years now.

    At one point, I start to wonder if this person had maybe signed up for some kind of third party product insurance through Best Buy or Radio Shack or wherever so I asked him and he swears up and down that he signed for it at a company store.

    This leads me to two possible conclusions:

    1) He might have gotten it at a company branded but NOT company owned authorized retailer. I know these places can sometimes have policies and procedures separate from the corporate stores, but I've never heard of that happening with an insurance program and I've worked at such a store before.

    2) This guy is off his rocker.

    Obviously, I'm leaning towards the latter. There's nothing I could do except tell him to go back to the store where bought this mysterious insurance plan and take it up with them.
    Last edited by CrazedClerkthe2nd; 11-06-2014, 05:07 AM.
    "If we refund your money, give you a free replacement and shoot the manager, then will you be happy?" - sign seen in a restaurant

  • #2
    For the last guy, I would lean towards option 1. The company branded store my family gets our phones from has an insurance plan available that covers things the Red Checkmark's policy does not cover, like water damage. It is one we have to pay for in full when we get the phone rather than monthly installments. We must go back to that specific store for any claim but will be able to get a replacement phone for free. At our last phone upgrade the plan only covered 22 months but at that time we were able to upgrade at 22 months, not the full two years that it is now.

    Comment


    • #3
      Quoth CrazedClerkthe2nd View Post
      2) While we do, in some instances, have the capability to do this, that capability is NOT given to headset jockeys like myself. You see, we have a specific group that handles requests from law enforcement. The cops will contact them on behalf of you and they can help find your missing friend or loved one.
      I blame TV shows like Supernatural, that show someone calling their provider to get their relative's phone unlocked for them so they can find them. Just call the provider, provide a few details, and wham-o, you can trace the phone on the internet.
      Sorry, my cow died so I don't need your bull

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      • #4
        Quoth CrazedClerkthe2nd View Post
        This guy calls me swearing up and down he's paid $200 to my company for some sort of insurance program that:

        A) Has no monthly premium
        B) Allows for him to get a replacement phone at one of our company stores at NO COST should anything happen to his phone
        C) Lasts a total of two years
        Maybe he got that plan from some guy named Prince in your Nigerian store.
        "I don't have to be petty. The Universe does that for me."

        Comment


        • #5
          Quoth EvilEmpryss View Post
          I blame TV shows like Supernatural, that show someone calling their provider to get their relative's phone unlocked for them so they can find them. Just call the provider, provide a few details, and wham-o, you can trace the phone on the internet.
          I think the best example actually was probably die hard 4 when they convinced onstar to steal a car for them
          Interviewer: What is your greatest weakness?
          Me: I expect competence from my coworkers.

          Comment


          • #6
            Quoth CrazedClerkthe2nd View Post
            Company policy is we only credit back up to 6 months for situations like this.

            That may seem unfair, but the reality is at some point the customer has to take responsibility for what's on their bill. If they choose to ignore it and keep paying, that's on them, NOT us.
            That's not just "company policy" that's actually federal law, covered under Sarbanes-Oxley. You know that team you probably have in your call center that handles the time sink investigation of complex billing disputes(that has to know every single policy/law/etc. that governs accounts), yeah, I was part of that team for over two years in my center. We had to know SOX inside and out.

            Quoth CrazedClerkthe2nd View Post
            This guy calls me swearing up and down he's paid $200 to my company for some sort of insurance program that:

            A) Has no monthly premium
            B) Allows for him to get a replacement phone at one of our company stores at NO COST should anything happen to his phone
            C) Lasts a total of two years
            worst buy protection plan
            Honestly.... the image of that in my head made me go "AWESOME!"..... and then I remembered I am terribly strange.-Red dazes

            Comment


            • #7
              Quoth CrazedClerkthe2nd View Post
              No, there's no Default or Master PIN. (If there was, that would defeat the whole purpose of a PIN in the first place!)
              Gee, I can't imagine how. Seriously, one disgruntled ex-employee and two minutes on the interwebz and BACKDOOR PIN FOR MOTOSUNG CELLS would be all over the world.

              (btw CCt2, I appreciate the time you put into your formatting; makes that big rant easy on the eyes and brain.)

              Comment


              • #8
                My parents have been credited for nearly a year of overcharges. HOWEVER, pretty much every single month we called them to try to get it fixed. And it was for business phones, so it would have been terribly hard to cancel and go to a different provider. Additionally, Big Red Checkmark is the only provider which gives decent service in our area. At some point we got through to someone who not only could fix the problem, but saw we had an extensive history of trying to get it fixed and kindly refunded the overages.

                And the PIN issue... I hate when SCs blame others for their own stupidity. Or maybe they are so deluded that they really think you DO have a special "fix it" button. And you're sitting in your luxurious office on a massage chair, being fanned by half-naked 20 year old studs, snickering and refusing to help.
                Replace anger management with stupidity management.

                Comment


                • #9
                  Quoth notalwaysright View Post
                  And the PIN issue... I hate when SCs blame others for their own stupidity. Or maybe they are so deluded that they really think you DO have a special "fix it" button. And you're sitting in your luxurious office on a massage chair, being fanned by half-naked 20 year old studs, snickering and refusing to help.
                  I have customers and coworkers who must think that's my morning in the back room.

                  I wish that were the case, and even though all those guys who come though my back door Monday - Friday bring me anything my heart desires (beer, wine, Little Debbies, chips, cookies, etc) the security cameras tell a somewhat different tale.
                  Human Resources - the adult version of "I'm telling Mom." - Agent Anthony "Tony" DiNozzo (NCIS)

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    Quoth sms001 View Post
                    Gee, I can't imagine how. Seriously, one disgruntled ex-employee and two minutes on the interwebz and BACKDOOR PIN FOR MOTOSUNG CELLS would be all over the world.

                    (btw CCt2, I appreciate the time you put into your formatting; makes that big rant easy on the eyes and brain.)
                    For years I knew the long unchanging tech passcode for a major insecurity company [for the commercial accounts, I didn't deal with household accounts.] If I had wanted to, it would have looked like a service tech had wandered into banks, jewelry stores, factories, offices ... the crap I could have pulled.... They should be absolutely glad I am very honest.
                    EVE Online: 99% of the time you sit around waiting for something to happen, but that 1% of action is what hooks people like crack, you don't get interviewed by the BBC for a WoW raid.

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      I wonder if there are any wireless companies that do have an option to pick up at a company-owned store. Seems like that'd be something they could use as a selling point for a higher-priced insurance plan.
                      Supporting the idiots charged with protecting your personal information.

                      Comment


                      • #12
                        Re: moron screaming about paying for a $900 phone: I've had several of thise come into my Big Red Wireless store and scream at me, the temp (and therefore the least likely to have any power to do anything) for their plans costing them $400 a month for 6 lines and x amount of data.
                        Success is not final, failure is not fatal: It is the courage to continue that counts.-Winston Churchill

                        Comment


                        • #13
                          Quoth CrazedClerkthe2nd View Post
                          - No, there's no Default or Master PIN. (If there was, that would defeat the whole purpose of a PIN in the first place!)
                          Oh, but sometimes there is. (It still defeats the purpose if you don't change the PIN from the default, but hey...)

                          We have a pair of Canon printers where I work. We lease them, because paying a base fee plus a per-page charge for some heavy-duty printers is actually cheaper, by like $4000 a year, than what we were doing. Because they're leased, we don't have access to the management functions--access to those requires the System Manager ID and System PIN.

                          I had to re-number our internal computer network this weekend, and because we didn't have access to the management functions, I was a bit concerned; changing the printer's IP address is a management function.

                          ...until I found Canon's documentation web page for the printers. Which includes the default System Manager ID and System PIN. Which worked on both printers.
                          "I often look at every second idiot and think, 'He needs more power.'" --Varric Tethras, Dragon Age II

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