5 Tips to Deal with Cell Phone Customer Support

Since I put off college for a year, I have had to take jobs from time to time in fields I am not proud of. One of these was a job as a Customer Care Representative for an outsourcing company. The contract in place at the facility I worked at was for national wireless provider Sprint Nextel. Even though I was glad to leave that job, I did learn a few things about how customer service for wireless carriers work, and most importantly how Sprint's customer service works. Here are some tips to make your interactions easier, and possibly help get you what you need.

You are not that important
While Sprint lets every customer know they are important with competitive rates and first rate service, you are not worth more to them because your bill is $300 a month, or because you have 5 lines on your plan. I would say the majority of customers that get directed through customer care pay hundreds of dollars on their monthly bills, and have a full lineup on their family plan. The really important corporate accounts are referred to as "white glove" accounts, and are worth tens of thousands of dollars every month. If you are a contact that is authorized to make big decisions on a large corporate account, you will speak to a special representative in a Sprint office somewhere that you know by name. They are likely to call you with a solution before you know you have a problem.

Customer Care Representatives are limited on what they are allowed to give you

While I was working, an average representative had a $25 per call limit they could refund. A lot of agents would give up to that amount every few calls for good reviews. Supervisors will have a higher limit, but will still have to get authorization from management for a credit more than $100 or so. If there was an actual mistake in billing, they will refund your losses. However cell contracts are set up to accrue charges constantly, so most people calling about their bills had legitimate charges. Even if you are in the hospital, you lost your job and your dog just died, they still expect you to pay your phone bill. Sometimes supervisors will make a deal with a customer to give a larger credit if they make a change to their account that will fix the problems in the future. If you think you need an unlimited package, you may be able to get this month's overages deducted by signing up for premium service.

You are in the wrong department

Different departments have different operating procedures. While customer service is severely limited in what incentive they can provide to a customer that wants to cancel their service, the retention department can do a little better. The department that deals with shipping can give you discounts that are only available on line, while the same purchase from another representative will cost more and incur additional fees. At Sprint, the Welcome department that picks up when you make your first outgoing call can waive fees that management take a hard line approach to. Sometimes you just have to say the right thing, like telling them you do not get service at your home could get you access to technology that was not on the market at one time (The Airave). By being nice to the first person you get on the line, you may be able to coerce them into directing you to someone that can fulfill your request. Like they say, you catch more flies with honey.

Representatives notate interactions on your account

Some customers get in the habit of calling every 3 days if someone tells them they got a better deal. They think that the next person they get on the phone will save them hundreds of dollars, even though the last person could do nothing. The secret is that it will show how long it has been since you called, how many times you called recently, and the reps will notate if you were rude or demanding. If you threaten to leave your carrier every time you call, they will not take you seriously when you truly are fed up. All that repeated calling about the same issue does is make sure that no one you talk to will try any harder to help because they have documented proof that your problems could not be mediated the last time.

No amount of complaining can make up for bad purchasing decisions

You really need to research all the plans on the market, and make a well informed decision before you sign a contract on any type of service. The number 1 complaint I got was that a customer's first bill was higher than it was supposed to be. Cell service contracts charge you a month in advance the first billing cycle. Your first month could include 2 months worth of plan charges, plus the cost of your new phone and any accessories. You also need to be aware of state taxes, and FCC surcharges. There is actually a charge for having an account with a spending limit unless you enroll in automatic payments. The cell phone industry is heavily taxed, and as many of those charges that can be passed on to the customer are. If you buy a Sprint phone from somewhere other than the Sprint website, you will have to pay a one time setup fee that is currently $35. Store clerks often leave out the details because they get a commission for the sale, and being charged $350 for a phone you think is free and a plan that is $89.99 a month will often blow the deal.