Geekzone: technology news, blogs, forums
Guest
Welcome Guest.
You haven't logged in yet. If you don't have an account you can register now.


freitasm

BDFL - Memuneh
79253 posts

Uber Geek

Administrator
ID Verified
Trusted
Geekzone
Lifetime subscriber

#8946 8-Aug-2006 18:28
Send private message

Last week I called Vodafone to pay my wife's account, using my credit card. An one off payment. All went very smoothly.

This week I call them again to pay my own account. I passed the name in the credit card, number, type and expire date. The CSR came back to me with a "Sorry, this card is registered to someone else's name".

Surprised, I replied "It can't. The card is mine, this is the name on the card.".

Then came the explanation:

"Oh, no I am not talking about the name on the card, but this is someone else's account already".

The penny drops. I used the card to pay my wifes account, and the CSR back then entered the card into my wifes account so that next time if she calls she can just follow the deep-six menu and enter the last four digits of the card and pay from there.

So I explained this to the CSR, passed my wife's PIN and she confirmed this was the case. The card was removed from the account and the payment went through.

What a strange system, Vodafone. A credit card belongs the card holder, the person whose name appear in front of the card, not to the person your billing system thinks it belongs to.

Note 1: technically a credit card belongs to the credit company, and used by the card holder. But you get the idea.
Note 2: Can anyone get the inline joke about the menu system? Post a note here and I might have a prize for you.









Please support Geekzone by subscribing, or using one of our referral links: Samsung | AliExpress | Wise | Sharesies | Hatch | GoodSyncBackblaze backup


Create new topic
bradstewart
4335 posts

Uber Geek

Retired Mod
Trusted
Lifetime subscriber

#43563 8-Aug-2006 18:41
Send private message

Well deep six means to throw something overboard a ship (originally a lead weight for depth testing i believe).

Im not sure how that would apply to a menu...... Unless your saying its a lead weight and needs to be thrown off a ship.....



freitasm

BDFL - Memuneh
79253 posts

Uber Geek

Administrator
ID Verified
Trusted
Geekzone
Lifetime subscriber

#43565 8-Aug-2006 18:45
Send private message

Close, it's related to ships, but not what you thought. "Deep six" is a sea burial. The options you want are well buried under lots of water on those menus. I think it took me six levels to find the payment option I wanted...

On the Unisys OS (MCP) there's a command "DS" used to discontinue the execution of a program or command. Some say it's "Discontinue" while others say it's actually "Deep Six" a process. Seeing that the MCP came from a bunch of navy people involved in some projects with then Burroughs Corp, it could well be.

I will see something for you later.









Please support Geekzone by subscribing, or using one of our referral links: Samsung | AliExpress | Wise | Sharesies | Hatch | GoodSyncBackblaze backup


richms
28168 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted
Lifetime subscriber

  #43575 8-Aug-2006 23:48
Send private message

Same problem happens with pre-pays and topping up. I got so p'd off with it that I just went to the store and got the vouchers (was scratchy cards at the time) rather then deal with vodafone CSR's - Means vodafone get less money for it but they made it so hard to pay them otherwise.






Richard rich.ms



freitasm

BDFL - Memuneh
79253 posts

Uber Geek

Administrator
ID Verified
Trusted
Geekzone
Lifetime subscriber

#43585 9-Aug-2006 10:06
Send private message

OMG... People here probably know how I think about Call Centres in general. I really think most people are not well trained, don't their jobs right, etc.

Exceptions are probably Air New Zealand (which has always been great for my travel arrangements).

Vodafone New Zealand seems to attract lots of attention here on Geekzone. This is my turn. I though all was ok after my first call (reported in the OP).

But guess what? No, nothing was ok.

Later I was talking to my wife and told her about my credit card being recorded on her Vodafone account. And she comment "strange, I got a SMS from Vodafone today saying thanks for a payment and my account is in credit now".

Yes, the CSR credit my wife's account with my payment!

I am calling Vodafone now to try and transfer the credit. What a waste of my time, which is not cheap.





Please support Geekzone by subscribing, or using one of our referral links: Samsung | AliExpress | Wise | Sharesies | Hatch | GoodSyncBackblaze backup


freitasm

BDFL - Memuneh
79253 posts

Uber Geek

Administrator
ID Verified
Trusted
Geekzone
Lifetime subscriber

#43586 9-Aug-2006 10:13
Send private message

The amount is being transferred to my account.

What a complicated system they have... No wonder I found this yesterday (which by the way refers to my blog too):

http://news.tmcnet.com/news/2006/08/07/1775637.htm





Please support Geekzone by subscribing, or using one of our referral links: Samsung | AliExpress | Wise | Sharesies | Hatch | GoodSyncBackblaze backup


alasta
6703 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted
Subscriber

#43588 9-Aug-2006 10:13
Send private message

freitasm:

OMG... People here probably know how I think about Call Centres in general. I really think most people are not well trained, don't their jobs right, etc



I would hate to work in a call centre. They typically seem to have a very high staff turnover, which means that the employer is reluctant to invest in decent staff training, which in turn worsens the staff turnover problem.

When you receive poor service from a call centre, it's tempting to take it out on the staff, but that's not necessarily entirely fair.

freitasm

BDFL - Memuneh
79253 posts

Uber Geek

Administrator
ID Verified
Trusted
Geekzone
Lifetime subscriber

#43593 9-Aug-2006 10:18
Send private message

Oh, no. I wasn't taking on the staff. I actually had good service (as in over the phone) in both calls. Attention, nice voice, can't complain. It's just that the process in itself is absolutely out of this world.

Just read that link I posted before in this thread and you will find out more...






Please support Geekzone by subscribing, or using one of our referral links: Samsung | AliExpress | Wise | Sharesies | Hatch | GoodSyncBackblaze backup


 
 
 

Cloud spending continues to surge globally, but most organisations haven’t made the changes necessary to maximise the value and cost-efficiency benefits of their cloud investments. Download the whitepaper From Overspend to Advantage now.
alasta
6703 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted
Subscriber

#43603 9-Aug-2006 12:43
Send private message

freitasm: Oh, no. I wasn't taking on the staff. I actually had good service (as in over the phone) in both calls. Attention, nice voice, can't complain. It's just that the process in itself is absolutely out of this world.


Yes, that's exactly why I would hate to work in a call centre. Call centre staff usually seem to do their best to be helpful, but they are held back by inefficient processes.

freitasm

BDFL - Memuneh
79253 posts

Uber Geek

Administrator
ID Verified
Trusted
Geekzone
Lifetime subscriber

#44310 19-Aug-2006 11:09
Send private message

They did it... They did not transfer the amount from one account to another.

Why CSRs can't do anything right (or at least the ones that do are not the ones that answer us)?








Please support Geekzone by subscribing, or using one of our referral links: Samsung | AliExpress | Wise | Sharesies | Hatch | GoodSyncBackblaze backup


Create new topic





News and reviews »

Air New Zealand Starts AI adoption with OpenAI
Posted 24-Jul-2025 16:00


eero Pro 7 Review
Posted 23-Jul-2025 12:07


BeeStation Plus Review
Posted 21-Jul-2025 14:21


eero Unveils New Wi-Fi 7 Products in New Zealand
Posted 21-Jul-2025 00:01


WiZ Introduces HDMI Sync Box and other Light Devices
Posted 20-Jul-2025 17:32


RedShield Enhances DDoS and Bot Attack Protection
Posted 20-Jul-2025 17:26


Seagate Ships 30TB Drives
Posted 17-Jul-2025 11:24


Oclean AirPump A10 Water Flosser Review
Posted 13-Jul-2025 11:05


Samsung Galaxy Z Fold7: Raising the Bar for Smartphones
Posted 10-Jul-2025 02:01


Samsung Galaxy Z Flip7 Brings New Edge-To-Edge FlexWindow
Posted 10-Jul-2025 02:01


Epson Launches New AM-C550Z WorkForce Enterprise printer
Posted 9-Jul-2025 18:22


Samsung Releases Smart Monitor M9
Posted 9-Jul-2025 17:46


Nearly Half of Older Kiwis Still Write their Passwords on Paper
Posted 9-Jul-2025 08:42


D-Link 4G+ Cat6 Wi-Fi 6 DWR-933M Mobile Hotspot Review
Posted 1-Jul-2025 11:34


Oppo A5 Series Launches With New Levels of Durability
Posted 30-Jun-2025 10:15









Geekzone Live »

Try automatic live updates from Geekzone directly in your browser, without refreshing the page, with Geekzone Live now.



Are you subscribed to our RSS feed? You can download the latest headlines and summaries from our stories directly to your computer or smartphone by using a feed reader.