Experience buying Telecom XT prepay SIM

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freitasm

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#64035 6-Jul-2010 17:03

A friend arrived from Australia and asked what to buy for a prepay use in New Zealand... I suggested a Telecom XT seeing he is using an iPhone 3GS and wanted data with that.

First thing: the sales person told my friend to use the $18 mobile plan. My friend asked about buying more credits and the sale person said "You have $10 on the SIM, register online for an extra $10".

First fail: there isn't anywhere in the tax invoice the URL for this registration. And it's not easy to find on Telecom's website. It's under "SIM cards" if you want to know.

Second fail: you first need to place a call or send a SMS and wait FOUR days before you can register.

Third fail: the sales person didn't say how to add these packs - no instructions, nothing. I had to ask on Twitter to find out you have to call 333 to have this added to your account.

This is bad user experience from start to end...

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#348474 6-Jul-2010 17:09

Compare to Telstra Australia... You buy a SIM card and walk out of the store with mobile data enabled on your handset.

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#348476 6-Jul-2010 17:11

This is where I give 2degrees and Vodafone credit and its for their self-service, don't like how you got to ring up Telecom if you want anything changed then comes to fun of speaking to their overseas call centre

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#348498 6-Jul-2010 17:48

DjShadow: This is where I give 2degrees and Vodafone credit and its for their self-service, don't like how you got to ring up Telecom if you want anything changed then comes to fun of speaking to their overseas call centre

Exactly - you would think that the cost of developing a self-service website would be cheaper than that of servicing thousands of calls even with offshore call centres. Not to mention the bad customer experience of waiting on hold.

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#348501 6-Jul-2010 17:49

See my experiences with them recently here.

codyc1515

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#348502 6-Jul-2010 17:56

I was just checking my bill when I saw this:
"Credit Adjustment for incorrect Data charges to free sites"

$1 credit

nitrotech

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#348505 6-Jul-2010 18:00

freitasm: A friend arrived from Australia and asked what to buy for a prepay use in New Zealand... I suggested a Telecom XT seeing he is using an iPhone 3GS and wanted data with that.

First thing: the sales person told my friend to use the $18 mobile plan. My friend asked about buying more credits and the sale person said "You have $10 on the SIM, register online for an extra $10".

First fail: there isn't anywhere in the tax invoice the URL for this registration. And it's not easy to find on Telecom's website. It's under "SIM cards" if you want to know.

Second fail: you first need to place a call or send a SMS and wait FOUR days before you can register.

Third fail: the sales person didn't say how to add these packs - no instructions, nothing. I had to ask on Twitter to find out you have to call 333 to have this added to your account.

This is bad user experience from start to end...

Why did they recommend the $18 add on - it's clearly cheaper to be on the 500mb plan - the 240mb add on is charged at 50c per mb while the 500mb add on is charged at only 10c per mb.

Up shot is with the 500mb plan if you only use 100mb your only charged $10

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#348540 6-Jul-2010 20:18

DjShadow: This is where I give 2degrees and Vodafone credit and its for their self-service, don't like how you got to ring up Telecom if you want anything changed then comes to fun of speaking to their overseas call centre

Addons can be changed by calling *333 and using the menus. You don't need to talk to anyone. In addition, I've called Telecom maybe five times and have had a Kiwi each time. However, I haven't called since switching to prepaid, so it's possible that prepaid customers are directed to a different call centre.

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#348568 6-Jul-2010 21:45

Behodar:
DjShadow: This is where I give 2degrees and Vodafone credit and its for their self-service, don't like how you got to ring up Telecom if you want anything changed then comes to fun of speaking to their overseas call centre

Addons can be changed by calling *333 and using the menus. You don't need to talk to anyone. In addition, I've called Telecom maybe five times and have had a Kiwi each time. However, I haven't called since switching to prepaid, so it's possible that prepaid customers are directed to a different call centre.

they can also be changed by browsing the My Telecom on the web browser on the phone (if you have one) and, from memory, from the my telecom website in a normal browser...

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freitasm

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#348569 6-Jul-2010 21:50

I don't mind having a self service on 333... But there was no indication from the sales person that was the case. He recommended a bundle, but never indicated to my friend how to actually go around buying it.

I am a Telecom customer, on account. I wouldn't know it...

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Snowflake

#348575 6-Jul-2010 21:55

i bought a topup voucher from the warehouse and the instructions were very clear on it. the *333 number, the website and the 0800 numbers were all listed. There was also a booklet that came with the SIM card that had all the instructions.

The one thing that really bugged me though, was that they would not accept American Express as a payment on the online topup website. Thats why i went to a warehouse to buy a voucher. Interestingly, they do accept American Express for phone bills, and they charge you less commission than if you use a visa/mastercard...

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munchkin

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#349264 8-Jul-2010 21:38

freitasm:
First thing: the sales person told my friend to use the $18 mobile plan. My friend asked about buying more credits and the sale person said "You have $10 on the SIM, register online for an extra $10".

Did the salesperson give you any information on additional top-up vouchers at all?

freitasm:
First fail: there isn't anywhere in the tax invoice the URL for this registration. And it's not easy to find on Telecom's website. It's under "SIM cards" if you want to know.

I don't know where the 'SIM cards' you refer to is, but you just need to head to www.telecom.co.nz > Mobile > 'Top up prepaid' or 'Your mobile'. This seems pretty logical, but I don't see why it couldn't be on the invoice.

freitasm:
Second fail: you first need to place a call or send a SMS and wait FOUR days before you can register.

I'm sorry, but I'm going to disagree with this. The SIMs that have preprovisioned numbers on them are pre-activated, meaning you can register them as soon as you've paid for them.

For newly provisioned numbers, a phone call (even to a free number) is usually enough to register it on the network. It has been my experience many, many times that a newly connected CDMA or WCDMA (SIM) device is able to have the free $10 registration credit applied minutes after connection, too.

freitasm:
Third fail: the sales person didn't say how to add these packs - no instructions, nothing. I had to ask on Twitter to find out you have to call 333 to have this added to your account.

Did you ask in store for the larger data pack to be added, or how to do this yourself?

Without being rude, as mentioned several times in the thread that codyc15 started, the in store reps. can't read your mind. You have to provide some information.

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freitasm

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#349266 8-Jul-2010 21:48

munchkin:
freitasm:
First thing: the sales person told my friend to use the $18 mobile plan. My friend asked about buying more credits and the sale person said "You have $10 on the SIM, register online for an extra $10".

Did the salesperson give you any information on additional top-up vouchers at all?

No, he didn't.

munchkin:
freitasm:
First fail: there isn't anywhere in the tax invoice the URL for this registration. And it's not easy to find on Telecom's website. It's under "SIM cards" if you want to know.

I don't know where the 'SIM cards' you refer to is, but you just need to head to www.telecom.co.nz > Mobile > 'Top up prepaid' or 'Your mobile'. This seems pretty logical, but I don't see why it couldn't be on the invoice.

The link to the registration page is not there. It's actually in www.telecom.co.nz > Mobile > SIM Cards, which is the icon AFTER the Top Up Prepaid you are talking about.

munchkin:
freitasm:
Second fail: you first need to place a call or send a SMS and wait FOUR days before you can register.

I'm sorry, but I'm going to disagree with this. The SIMs that have preprovisioned numbers on them are pre-activated, meaning you can register them as soon as you've paid for them.

For newly provisioned numbers, a phone call (even to a free number) is usually enough to register it on the network. It has been my experience many, many times that a newly connected CDMA or WCDMA (SIM) device is able to have the free $10 registration credit applied minutes after connection, too.

You can disagree, but you didn't understand, and I quote from http://www.telecom.co.nz/prepaidreg:

"You need to make sure you use your new number - i.e. make a call or send a text - and after four days you'll be able to register your details online."

This is an important thing to know. Because when my friend bought the SIM card he explicitly asked the sales rep about the mobile data pack. After the sale was complete, the sales rep replied "You have $10 preloaded on the SIM and you get another $10 when you register online, so you have enough to buy the mobile data pack, don't worry about top up now".

This is not right... You have $10 on the SIM, but have to wait four days before you can claim the $10 bonus. So in those first four days you don't actually have enough credit to buy a $18 mobile data pack. Bad and wrong information was given.

munchkin:
freitasm:
Third fail: the sales person didn't say how to add these packs - no instructions, nothing. I had to ask on Twitter to find out you have to call 333 to have this added to your account.

Did you ask in store for the larger data pack to be added, or how to do this yourself?

My friend bought the SIM card and said in loud and clear voice "I want to use it with mobile data". The sales rep said "No problem, you can buy a data pack." When the sales rep issued the invoice my friend asked if the mobile data pack was loaded in the system and only then the sales rep replied "You have to buy it". The impression he gave all the time was that he could add the mobile data during the sales process. This obviously didn't happen.

munchkin: Without being rude, as mentioned several times in the thread that codyc15 started, the in store reps. can't read your mind. You have to provide some information.

You are preaching to the converted here. I know that you have to provide information. I was there the whole time and all the information was provided. My friend walked into store and asked for a prepaid SIM that he could use mobile data on. The sales rep said it was not a problem and there were a selection of data packs to buy.

But he didn't give any information after the sale was completed on how to actually buy the data packs, and during the process the impression he gave was that he could add that mobile data pack during the transation so the SIM would be ready to go with that mobile data pack loaded up in the system.

As I said, I observed the whole transaction and did not interfere at any moment, because I wanted to see how it works, since I do not have a prepay account.

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#349272 8-Jul-2010 21:57

I wasn't there, so I can't comment on the sales process and what did or didn't happen.

freitasm:
You can disagree, but you didn't understand, and I quote from http://www.telecom.co.nz/prepaidreg:

"You need to make sure you use your new number - i.e. make a call or send a text - and after four days you'll be able to register your details online."

This is an important thing to know. Because when my friend bought the SIM card he explicitly asked the sales rep about the mobile data pack. The sales rep reply was "You have $10 preloaded on the SIM and you get another $10 when you register online, so you have enough to buy the mobile data pack, don't worry about top up now".

This is not right... You have $10 on the SIM, but have to wait four days before you can claim the $10 bonus. So in those first four days you don't actually have enough credit to buy a $18 mobile data pack. Bad and wrong information was given.

I'm aware what the website says, I'm just saying that it's incorrect - the registration can be completed minutes after a number is activated.

freitasm:
The link to the registration page is not there. It's actually in www.telecom.co.nz > Mobile > SIM Cards, which is the icon AFTER the Top Up Prepaid you are talking about.d wait FOUR days before you can register.

It's on the left "Prepaid Registration" - Telecom.co.nz > Mobile > 'Top up prepaid' or 'Your mobile'.

Again, as for what else happened, I can't comment as I wasn't there.

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#349275 8-Jul-2010 22:01

Where did you buy the SIM from if you don't mind me asking?

The $10 credit can be applied for instantly on pre-provisioned SIM's, I'm not 100% on how it interacts with newly connected prepaid numbers as it did use to take 4 days (but thats some time ago, been awhile for me).

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#349277 8-Jul-2010 22:03

I was able to claim the credit the same day that my new connection was provisioned.

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