Mobile phone issues *sob* (long, get comfy) - update, maybe resolution!

[iradney]

Oh dear dog, where do I even begin?

Cast: TTO - le husband of much sexiness
me: duh
MTN: mobile service provider, so inept that they couldn't organise a piss up in a brewery. THE PIT OF DESPAIR
Nashua Mobile: Third party mobile reseller that we haven't dealt with for over 2 years

Mid March: TTO upgrades his mobile contract via the direct call centre of MTN, the PIT OF DESPAIR. Receives Sony Experia Ultra Z that is roughly the size of our dog. (seriously, that thing is quite large).

First week of May: Phone refuses to turn on. Leave to charge overnight, no dice. Find reset button, press it. Still no life. Dammit Jim, I'm a doctor, not a miracle worker!

So I take it into the repair centre for a lookie-loo - 2 month old phone still under warranty. They advise that they need the invoice for a warranty assessment, which seems totally reasonable. TTO has lost it. So he contacts the call centre (While I am still at the repair centre) to ask them to email it to him and the repair centre.

Half an hour later, the very nice consultant I was talking to got the mail. But their IT policies don't allow attachments >.< . TTO hasn't received the invoice. He has a reference number, but no invoice. So I go home, hoping that the invoice will arrive and we can get this sorted.

48 hours later, no invoice. I called the call centre and had to get very upset in order to get something done. Invoice finally sent to us on the 9th of May.

Hand the phone in on the 13th of May (they're not open on weekends and work got in the way on Monday the 12th), hang around the repair centre for 30 minutes or so. Get a receipt saying "Yarp, phone is borked, totes covered by warranty". Have a collection number, will travel. After getting transferred from person to person to person to person (to person to person....), TTO finally gets hold of someone who knows what a collection number is! Huzzah, progress!

Still 13th of May - MTN calls TTO to find out
a) what model of phone it was (which they should know, they sent it to us and they booked it in!)
b) our physical address so they can courier it to us (which they already have since that's how he got the damn thing in the first place).

Nearly forgot to mention, while trying to get hold of someone who knew what they must do with the collection number, I had the lovely experience of speaking with an agent who told me that, no, the upgrade and phone was processed by Nashua Mobile - false on all accounts, as TTO's number was moved away from NM over 2 years ago, all the bills have MTN branding, and surely the MTN repair centre would've said "Oy, we didn't supply this phone, go to Nashua". So yeah, being called a liar by a rude consultant definitely made my day.

So fast forward to today - after numerous (ignored) emails and phone calls requesting feedback from the account manager that is dealing with the swop out, we get told "Soz, no stock."

It took them 5 full working days to tell us that they're out of stock.

I'm wondering how long it will take for them to tell us how long it will take to get stock.

And then how long it will take to get the damn phone.

Thankfully TTO has his old (smashed up) Samsung i900 to use in the interim, so he's not completely fucked, but...just wow.

[otakuneko]

Oi, what kind of nitwits are in that company? I'd be on their ass for a different model if they can't provide me the same one.

[iradney]

It's still out of stock. They've vaguely suggested the next phone up, which costs more, which means that TTO would have to pay in some $$$ to get it. He just wants the same phone he had before. They haven't given us any updates since Tuesday afternoon. I just sent an email asking if they've ordered more stock. Because quite clearly I need to do their job for them.

[icmedia]

Huh...when we're out of stock on a warranty replacement, we always offer the next model up for free. Sorry to hear your company isn't as nice

[iradney]

Apparently they're only expecting stock in 3 weeks time. Which means that by the time they HAVE stock, TTO will have been without a decent phone for over a month. No mention of any kind of compensation or anything. Just half hearted apologies >.<

What's even FUNNIER, is the account manager claims that the Sony Xperia Ultra Z LTE is worth more than the Sony Xperia Ultra Z, but they've got the LTE model ON OFFER on a contract that costs less than the one TTO is currently on. Sense - there is none...

[iradney]

Update: We suggested on Thursday that instead of making us wait another 3 -4 weeks for replacement stock, they give us the LTE instead, and TTO would pay in the difference in value (roughly $20). This despite the fact that the contract the LTE is currently being offered on is worth 30% of what TTO's monthly spend is, but whatever.

The Head Account Manager said today that's not possible. Their system is apparently not able to fathom the idea that sometimes handsets break and people request different ones. We would either have to downgrade the contract (and pay a penalty!!) or wait for the stock to come in. So it took them another 2 working days to come up with a response. Bear in mind, tomorrow will have been 2 weeks since the phone was handed in.

TTO just got really bleak. So he did some sleuthing and found the freaking CEO of the entire MTN group's email address. I don't know how, but he did. And he sent off a very polite mail basically outlining the issues we've been experiencing, stating that we just want the phone that MTN is charging for (the cost of the phone is, after all, built into the monthly subscription fee), and we have no problem paying in the difference in price between the Ultra Z and the LTE.

Not 45 minutes later (and this was after hours), TTO got a call. From the Chief Officer of Customer Services. Apparently the CEO actually did read TTO's mail. And went "WTF?!?!" and told the COoCS to sort it out. And apparently they'll get this sorted by the end of the week.

Frankly, I'll believe it when I see it. But still. After nearly a month, TTO may just get a working phone!

[crazylegs]

Well if they don't, then drop the CEO another email, show how much their company is letting them down and failing to do as they instruct. Might light a fire under their arse.

Might.

[iradney]

Yeah well, I'm tempted to just forward on the mail trail with just the account managers so they can see how inept they are. But TTO wants to be nice, so I'll defer to him



for now

[crazylegs]

I wouldn't be nice. Nice doesn't get change, nice doesn't sort issues. Nice allows the status quo to remain. Forward the chain.

[/grumpy rambling]

[EricKei]

I'm wondering how long it will take for them to tell us how long it will take to get stock.

Until exactly one day after the warranty runs out Oh, I'm sorry, it looks like your phone's warranty ran out. Should have contacted us sooner. Have you seen our newest model? ...

[iradney]

ROFL! Unfortunately for them, we already handed the phone in - so if they were to do that, they would be in big big trouble.

[iradney]

So the COoCS called me personally as TTO told her that I was involved in this palaver far more than he was. She'd gotten their quality assurance people to listen to the (many many) call recordings of our struggle to get this sorted, and was quite shocked when they told her that I had literally been driven to tears during one call because of sheer frustration.

She's advised that TTO can choose a phone from the range they have available, and they can either check which store in our area will have stock, and we can swing by and get it, or they can courier it directly to our place. So I've sent TTO a list of the phones they have available and once he's made a choice, I can let the COoCS know.

I also forwarded to her (on her request) the mail trail between TTO, myself, the account manager and senior account manager. She said when she saw that the soonest time they could have a phone for us would be mid June, she had to swallow a gasp, because that was ridiculous.

So yes, feeling a little more optimistic.

[solar]

there is hope and you have inspired me as to how I could potentially get resolution from the useless telecommunications carrier that I have no choice to use here...

[iradney]

Huzzah! TTO has a NEW PHONE! It was sorted out so fast once he got hold of the right people. Sometimes you just need to keep climbing the ladder until you find someone who will listen and help.

[rose_metal_nz]

Huzzah! TTO has a NEW PHONE! It was sorted out so fast once he got hold of the right people. Sometimes you just need to keep climbing the ladder until you find someone who will listen and help.

Woot! Congratulations