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I don't think any customers prove the "give them an inch and they'll take a mile" theory better than wireless customers. I came across two egregious examples of this the past week alone:
The Moon...I want it
Our general policy is warranty replacements are like for like swaps. That means if you have a Galaxy S4, you get another S4. If you have an HTC One, you get an HTC One. That's usually how warranties operate across most products.
Well, some SCs think they can use a warranty as a backdoor to get an upgrade or different phone. All the managers at my center pretty much stick to the policy and demand we do the same. Fine by me. Unfortunately there are other centers with managers who don't have similar levels of spine.
Our story begins with a guy who had problems with three, count 'em three S4 phones in nine months and decided he'd had enough of that device and wanted something else. He happened to get on the line with one of the aforementioned spineless managers who decided to break policy for this guy and send him out a different phone on a warranty claim.
Evidently he couldn't decide on a replacement device so he called back and got me when his mind was made up.
The manager had given him a choice of the S4 Active or LG G2.
He decided he wants the G2. And he wants us to ship it overnight to him at no extra cost. AND he wants a $30 credit on his account for the inconvenience of having to call us so many times because his phones never work.
Of course I tell him no dice. We can send the G2 as agreed upon, but that's it. He demands a manager. Manager tells him (again), it's G2 or bust. He hangs up before we can even complete the order.
If the other manager had done her job correctly, I never would have had to take that call.
I should also point out that, if you go through THREE warranty phones in a year about 99.9% of the time, it's something YOU'RE doing, not any problem with the phone.
Break the rules more for me!!
This one is even more outrageous.
Guy had a malfunctioning Moto X, but get this: It's off warranty.
No problem, he's got insurance. But he doesn't want to pay the deductible. Problem.
Well, as (bad) luck would have it, he too got in contact with one of our invertebrate superiors who, for some mind blowingly ridiculous reason offered to either credit him part of the deductible (a big no-no) OR send him a free phone (an even bigger no-no). So he opted for a free SIII. A slight downgrade from what he had, but still, no cost, out of warranty replacement. Not a bad deal.
Except now he's decided he doesn't like the SIII. He wants the S4 instead.
Ummm, let me think about it...NO.
Look dude, you already got REALLY lucky that we twisted the rules into a pretzel for you to get you a free SIII in the first place. You've got all we're going to give you.
Unacceptable, he wants the S4 and he wants it sent Fedex at no charge (maybe he's related to the guy from the first story...).
Of course I tell him no again. I can replace the SIII if he likes, I can troubleshoot it for him if there's a particular reason he doesn't like it, but that's all.
Like the previous guy, he asked for a manager.
This gets better.
He complained to the manager that *I* was being "unreasonable", "unaccommodating" and "disrespectful". He then requested that I immediately be retrained in customer service.
Oh and he still wants his S4. And free express shipping. Oh and now he also wants a monthly credit on his account for "everything" we've put him through regarding this free phone he never should have actually gotten in the first place.
Thankfully, sanity prevailed (as did our policies) and he got none of those things.
I guess I am expecting too much from humanity to think that people might be happy enough with just getting unexpected free stuff.
The Moon...I want it
Our general policy is warranty replacements are like for like swaps. That means if you have a Galaxy S4, you get another S4. If you have an HTC One, you get an HTC One. That's usually how warranties operate across most products.
Well, some SCs think they can use a warranty as a backdoor to get an upgrade or different phone. All the managers at my center pretty much stick to the policy and demand we do the same. Fine by me. Unfortunately there are other centers with managers who don't have similar levels of spine.
Our story begins with a guy who had problems with three, count 'em three S4 phones in nine months and decided he'd had enough of that device and wanted something else. He happened to get on the line with one of the aforementioned spineless managers who decided to break policy for this guy and send him out a different phone on a warranty claim.
Evidently he couldn't decide on a replacement device so he called back and got me when his mind was made up.
The manager had given him a choice of the S4 Active or LG G2.
He decided he wants the G2. And he wants us to ship it overnight to him at no extra cost. AND he wants a $30 credit on his account for the inconvenience of having to call us so many times because his phones never work.
Of course I tell him no dice. We can send the G2 as agreed upon, but that's it. He demands a manager. Manager tells him (again), it's G2 or bust. He hangs up before we can even complete the order.
If the other manager had done her job correctly, I never would have had to take that call.
I should also point out that, if you go through THREE warranty phones in a year about 99.9% of the time, it's something YOU'RE doing, not any problem with the phone.
Break the rules more for me!!
This one is even more outrageous.
Guy had a malfunctioning Moto X, but get this: It's off warranty.
No problem, he's got insurance. But he doesn't want to pay the deductible. Problem.
Well, as (bad) luck would have it, he too got in contact with one of our invertebrate superiors who, for some mind blowingly ridiculous reason offered to either credit him part of the deductible (a big no-no) OR send him a free phone (an even bigger no-no). So he opted for a free SIII. A slight downgrade from what he had, but still, no cost, out of warranty replacement. Not a bad deal.
Except now he's decided he doesn't like the SIII. He wants the S4 instead.
Ummm, let me think about it...NO.
Look dude, you already got REALLY lucky that we twisted the rules into a pretzel for you to get you a free SIII in the first place. You've got all we're going to give you.
Unacceptable, he wants the S4 and he wants it sent Fedex at no charge (maybe he's related to the guy from the first story...).
Of course I tell him no again. I can replace the SIII if he likes, I can troubleshoot it for him if there's a particular reason he doesn't like it, but that's all.
Like the previous guy, he asked for a manager.
This gets better.
He complained to the manager that *I* was being "unreasonable", "unaccommodating" and "disrespectful". He then requested that I immediately be retrained in customer service.
Oh and he still wants his S4. And free express shipping. Oh and now he also wants a monthly credit on his account for "everything" we've put him through regarding this free phone he never should have actually gotten in the first place.
Thankfully, sanity prevailed (as did our policies) and he got none of those things.
I guess I am expecting too much from humanity to think that people might be happy enough with just getting unexpected free stuff.
Retrained? What, does he think there's some kind of ongoing remedial class offered in the call center for employees who piss off a certain percentage of their customers?
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