Anyone ever SUCCESFULLY done this??? Phone related

We bought a new Cingular phone (pretty nice Siemens C61) to have our work/home number transferred permanently too.

The Cingular Babe took better than a day to get us the phone with the promise it would be up within 5 days.

It hasn't "taken" yet...

Two calls to SWB got two COMPLETELY different stories, and now sis is at Cingular about ready to strangle someone!

Are we asking for too much? Or have we just hit upon a crew of idiot drones?

It has my sister tied up in anger knots, and that has me in anxiety knots!

Re: Anyone ever SUCCESFULLY done this??? Phone rel

Whoops!

Apaerrently, Sis made a big enough huff that it is now done.

So if it happens, it must be possible eh?

Re: Anyone ever SUCCESFULLY done this??? Phone rel

Not to defend them, but it seems that you got the usual "we can do anything" from the Sales person, and then their systems and procedures limitations hit the fan. That's the worst part about it. The Sales Babe probably meant every word she said and even believed it. It's what make them so dangerous.

Re: Anyone ever SUCCESFULLY done this??? Phone rel

All's well. Sort of...

We are quickly falling back into the rut of "get free satellite TV" "call 1-877-xxx-xxxx" "get cheap healthcare" etc.

Only on a cell phone now!

Re: Anyone ever SUCCESFULLY done this??? Phone rel

Always bear in mind one fact about telephone companies - they're still the phone company. Local phone companies used to be monopolies - they had terrible service and byzantine procedures because A) what were you going to do, go without phone service, and... B) they've always been regulated by scads of government agencies, so their internal procedures are cumbersome, slow, and generate more paperwork than you can imagine.

Porting numbers between carriers is not easy. LNP (for landlines - dunno if it's the same for wireless or landline >> wireless) was mandated by legislation, so of course an inefficient process with a low success rate was set up to handle it.

LNP for landlines takes 8 days. The carriers can't talk to one another directly - they have to use a 3rd party (whose acronym escapes me... CMC?) that manages all communication between the carriers and can nix the deal at any time. Often there's some meaningless clerical error on one side or another and the CMC kills the port because that seems to be their function, and it takes another 8 business days to make the deal happen. Something can also stumble slightly on either end and the CMC quashes it for good measure of the window is missed somehow.

...or that's what I hear from the provisioning specialists at work. Maybe somone with more telco background can correct me.

Re: Anyone ever SUCCESFULLY done this??? Phone rel

I can agree with the salesman lying. I do it all the time as a dumb telemarkerter whos getting laid off the 17. I just sold a 24 ft box truck with powered lift gate. Kind of puts the guys in a bit of a bind as they CAN sell anything, but want to only do bucket trucks. Once I break the ice, I forward them on and never deal with them again and in some cases never know of the sale til I get my check.

Re: Anyone ever SUCCESFULLY done this??? Phone rel

Just remember to be nice and courteous when you call, especially if the agent seems competent.

When people call me and they're nice, I feel sorry for them and truly do everything in my power to get their problem fixed. The system isn't perfect but I try to do what I can. When people screen and demand I fix it now I just want to get them off the phone as fast as I can work the system to make it happen.

Oh last thing, customer and tech support agents don't hang up on people. I'm sure it happens but it's very rare, even when people are mean. More likely your cell phone dropped out /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/icon6.gif

Re: Anyone ever SUCCESFULLY done this??? Phone rel

The Siemens phone is taking me a LOT longer to setup compared to the Nokias I've been used to.

But there ain't a landline at the house anymore, and the cell rings just like it's supposed to.

So everything is hunky dory.

Also when I call in for tech support, I try to imagine I'm on the other end and treat the Tech accordingly.

Re: Anyone ever SUCCESFULLY done this??? Phone rel

I have to take exception to the description of the pre break up local phone companies. "Local phone companies used to be monopolies - they had terrible service and byzantine procedures"

I used to work for one of the larger ones (Pac Bell) and can tell you that it was one of the most service oriented companies I've ever found. This was in the 1970s and early 80s. There was tons of paper-work required by the various government agencies, but that did not stop us from providing the best telephone service in the world. By every measure, our service was at least twice as good as aywhere else in the world.

Things have changed. Other areas have built nice new systems and some countries have made a phone infrastructure a national priority. We made the telephone infrastructure a 'competitive industry' and threw the quality requirements out the window.

Since the break up of AT&T, the local phone company management was replaced by people with few scruples who were interested inly in personal profit. SBC has one of the most flagrently greedy and unscrupulous managment groups there is. I don't use Cingular because I saw the process that led to it's creation and the selection of it's management.

Daniel

Re: Anyone ever SUCCESFULLY done this??? Phone rel

Can't argue with success though. It just rang with a business call.