| rev:text
| - I reserved a phone and requested a new line on Sprint's website. We made an appointment and received a confirmation number via email. I chose this location because it's an official company store and not too far from home. The store was very busy with a few waiting chairs. It's a relatively small store and there's minimal space to wander.
An associate writes your name down on an unofficial piece of paper or post-it (no sign-in sheet) and let's you know that someone will be right with you. I arrived a few minutes before our appointment at noon and I informed the associate of that. I wasn't very confident with their ability to assist me on time because of the queue and the lack of staff, but fortunately for everyone, they were prompt and began assisting me exactly at 12pm.
What followed was a very frustrating hour. Yes, it took ONE HOUR to pick up a phone, pay for it, add it to an existing plan, and port the phone number. The associate didn't know what she was doing and was so crass about it.
1. The associate couldn't distinguish the type of order I made online (online order vs. store reservation). I didn't choose, so obviously, I didn't know there were two different types. She also insisted that I was "supposed to" pay for the phone online, but I explained to her that it didn't give me an option to pay (apparently, store reservations don't require payment prior to pick-up, but she didn't know this either). I provided the information she requested (order number) and it wasn't until the manager came to assist that we were able to move along.
2. Both of them were unfamiliar with Google Voice or the ability to port phone numbers to and from the service. But why admit you don't know about it? The associate insisted that we could not port the number from Google Voice even though I told her we had ported the number to them from another major carrier. Nope, she said we couldn't. So, I googled it and of course, found instructions on how to port your number back to a major carrier. Also, the instructions didn't state that a PIN was necessary, but she, again, insisted that we couldn't carry on. She finally entered in the account number and - guess what - a PIN was not needed.
3. The associate attempted to activate the phone, but there were complications. We didn't know what was going on because she didn't communicate with us. We just stood there in front of the counter as she carried our phone into the backroom and when she waited in line at the self-service kiosk to assist another customer. Once we found out that the activation wasn't working, I asked her if we could take the phone with us and do the activation at home. "Well, you can, but if it doesn't work, you need to call customer service." Okay, thanks for wasting our time and not giving us that option earlier. We left with the phone, the customer service number, and her business card (yeah, not using that). By the way, we ended up having to contact customer service anyway! It couldn't be completed through the new phone. Hilarious. Also, I'm fairly certain Sprint's customer service is located outside the U.S. because that was the first time in my life that I could not understand a single word the representative was saying. Excruciating!
4. All of the store's associates were continually interrupting our transaction with items that could easily be solved with organization. They couldn't remember who they signed in or what they looked like, no one kept track of who was helped and who was still waiting. I know all of this because the manager was talking to the associates, including the one helping me, directly in front of us. Why do managers insist on making snide comments or reprimanding their team in front of customers?? It's not only embarrassing for the associate, creating a negative work environment, but for everyone involved. It's a terrible way to lead and one of my biggest pet peeves! Do not air your business in front of customers.
This wasn't even all of it. There was more, but I'll stop. The store associate didn't apologize at all during the entire interaction (the manager apologized once for the system taking a long time processing). It was absolutely one of the worst customer service experiences I've had. The only positive part of our time here was my appointment being kept and even that seemed like a coincidence. Oh, the manager was nice to us too. Moral of this story: Buy your phone on the website and have it delivered to your house. Do not go to the store and do not call customer service unless absolutely necessary.
|
![[RDF Data]](/fct/images/sw-rdf-blue.png)
![[cxml]](/fct/images/cxml_doc.png)
![[csv]](/fct/images/csv_doc.png)
![[text]](/fct/images/ntriples_doc.png)
![[turtle]](/fct/images/n3turtle_doc.png)
![[ld+json]](/fct/images/jsonld_doc.png)
![[rdf+json]](/fct/images/json_doc.png)
![[rdf+xml]](/fct/images/xml_doc.png)
![[atom+xml]](/fct/images/atom_doc.png)
![[html]](/fct/images/html_doc.png)