Some telecom retail store staff don't know their products

Forums › Spark New Zealand (including Skinny and BigPipe) › Some telecom retail store staff don't know their products

robbyp

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#81708 17-Apr-2011 00:58

I sent my parents into a telecom store to get a new micro sim for their ipad. I told them they needed to get one and get it for the 500MB prepaid mobile broadband plan, where you only pay for what you use each month. Eg. you pay 10cent per MB, up to 300MB,($29.95) and you then get 200MB free.

I am only going on what my parents told me me, but they were not happy about the quality of service they received, and didn't end up buying one.

They spoke to a woman in the store, who didn't initially know what a micro sim card was. She had to go and ask a person out the back of the store about it. Eventually the woman returned having figured out what one was, but said they would need to bring to ipad into the store so they could install it, which is rubbish.

The woman told my parents that there were no prepaid plans for the micro sim, but there were plans starting from $6 per month. I am not sure of the plans they were referring to , but it was not the mobile broadband plan that I had told my parents to ask about.

They left the store as they weren't happy with the quaility of service and the lack of product knowledge. They did however feel a little pressured to sign up to something while in the store. I will therefore probably just purchase one online and set it up for them.

I however do think that telecom really need to explain their broadband plans better, and train their staff too, as this particular plan is not particularly well explained on their website, and their staff should these things inside out.

[Moderatord edit (MF): added paragraph breaks to make it easier for everyone else to read]

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#459587 17-Apr-2011 07:03

Pay peanuts = get monkeys

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firefuze

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#459592 17-Apr-2011 08:21

Curious as to what store your parents visited?

sbiddle

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#459598 17-Apr-2011 09:18

Mentioning the store and staff member involved to Telecom so it can be followed up upon would achieve far more than just having a gripe about it.

While I've only ever visited Telecom stores a handful of times in recent years I've found the staff to be extremely good, but like any retail store maintaining consistency isn't easy.

wreck90

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#459611 17-Apr-2011 10:09

sbiddle: Mentioning the store and staff member involved to Telecom so it can be followed up upon would achieve far more than just having a gripe about it.

While I've only ever visited Telecom stores a handful of times in recent years I've found the staff to be extremely good, but like any retail store maintaining consistency isn't easy.

Frankly, this is a waste of time IMHO.

You'll get the corporate blurb answer, "Thank you for you feedback. blah blah blah " and nothing will actually change.

Posting here is great, but, should name and shame the store too.

Ivor

72 posts

Master Geek

#459632 17-Apr-2011 11:16

Frankly, this is a waste of time IMHO.

You'll get the corporate blurb answer, "Thank you for you feedback. blah blah blah " and nothing will actually change.

Posting here is great, but, should name and shame the store too.

Much agreed!

oxnsox

1923 posts

Uber Geek

#459638 17-Apr-2011 11:57

robbyp: .... (edit).... They did however feel a little pressured to sign up to something while in the store.

And therein lies the problem for all Telco stores. The 'service' they provide the customer is to get them committed to their network, with a signature. Anything else is just a detail.
And as customers we shouldn't have to worry about the details.... right???

sbiddle

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#459640 17-Apr-2011 12:09

wreck90:
sbiddle: Mentioning the store and staff member involved to Telecom so it can be followed up upon would achieve far more than just having a gripe about it.

While I've only ever visited Telecom stores a handful of times in recent years I've found the staff to be extremely good, but like any retail store maintaining consistency isn't easy.

Frankly, this is a waste of time IMHO.

You'll get the corporate blurb answer, "Thank you for you feedback. blah blah blah " and nothing will actually change.

Posting here is great, but, should name and shame the store too.

It's clear you don't know any senior staff at Telecom. There are people within Telecom who read Geekzone on a daily basis and take issues such as this very seriously.

Getting something off your chest is fine, however it won't result in any action. There are people on here who could certainly help addressing the issue, but they obviously can't do this without information.

robbyp

1199 posts

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#459739 17-Apr-2011 15:18

sbiddle: Mentioning the store and staff member involved to Telecom so it can be followed up upon would achieve far more than just having a gripe about it.

While I've only ever visited Telecom stores a handful of times in recent years I've found the staff to be extremely good, but like any retail store maintaining consistency isn't easy.

It was the Masterton outlet. I personally have found the staff at telecom stores to be good and knowledgeable, which is why I actually told them to go into one of the stores to get a microsim and to sign up to their prepay mobile broadband plan, but the staff member said they didn't offer it on prepay. I have never been to the Masterton store myself, instead I have only been to wellington ones, but in this case I will probably now just get it online for them.

raytaylor

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#459922 18-Apr-2011 00:35

robbyp: I personally have found the staff at telecom stores to be good and knowledgeable, which is why I actually told them to go into one of the stores to get a microsim

At work we get tourists in from australia come in with vodafone cellphone issues and we hate having to send them down to the "3 dumb blondes" at our local vodafone outlet.

Personally I find that knowing alot about a product and the facts and how it all fits in like what plan can fit with what, and plan x costs bla bla bla, is really good.
A salesman who really knows their stuff is awesome.

Problem is there is a difference between knowing the facts about a product and someone who understands a product.
The 3 dumb blondes above will easily sell someone a 500mb mobile broadband plan and do it really well but when you find someone that KNOWS 500mb is bugger all for someone who wants to do more than check their email and they understand this. It is this person who you want to have on staff.

When I worked in an appliance store it pissed me off that some sales staff could know everything about a TV and all its facts - its got HDTV, an hdmi plug and sell the customer on this. But they dont understand that you dont get HDTV in NZ unless you have mysky or freeview HD (not freeview via satelite) and the customer then blames the installer because their TV is not crystal clear like they were promised.

I would much rather have someone who understands a product, rather than someone who only knows the facts. And I am happy if the person needs to go out the back to check something like if it can be sold with a certain plan - so long as they know the product itself is what I am after.

Ray Taylor

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akia

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#459936 18-Apr-2011 08:21

Hi @robbyp - if you're able to PM me details about who they were talking to at the Masterton store that would be great. We'd like to avoid naming and shaming because that won't help anyone.

In terms of store staff - Sorry you've had an experience you're not happy with. Our front line team receive training and are expected to know all services. It's a challenging job but these guys do an awesome job.

NZCrusader

646 posts

Ultimate Geek

#459941 18-Apr-2011 08:33

Well in this day & age ISPs & techshops are employing monkeys & muppets locally.

However if you are really unlucky, when you call the help desks, you end up with a monkey / muppet from overseas.

One such quote. " I have no idea what interleaving is, I will forward this to the Tier 2 support. "
- overseas call center muppet.

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old3eyes

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#459942 18-Apr-2011 08:34

I've always found that the staff in the Telecom owned stores are very good but the agency ones sometimes leave a lot to be desired..

Regards,

Old3eyes

GH33

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#460035 18-Apr-2011 11:28

Raytaylor is spot on on this one. Big difference between script and true understanding of the products. Frontlines tends to get told sell sell sell! And it ends up with complaints compliants complaints! It takes time, resources and passion to truly understand a product and I tend to think the frontline staff lacks the support from top dogs

freitasm

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#460037 18-Apr-2011 11:29

NZCrusader: Well in this day & age ISPs & techshops are employing monkeys & muppets locally.

However if you are really unlucky, when you call the help desks, you end up with a monkey / muppet from overseas.

Am I the only one to think these statements are extremely disrespectful? One thing is to say "ISPs are employing people without necessary skills", something completely different is calling people names.

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