In our internet business, we are considering getting an 0900 customer service number to dissuade people from casually asking things which they should know the answer to or are not our problem to solve.
We have not done that because we aim to make the service so simple that people don't get any problems which tempt them to phone and we in fact get few calls to deal with problems people should solve themselves. It's also good to hear from people which is free market research - knowing what's going on 'out there' of a problematic nature. People like to have the phone answered, not just by a local, but somebody who knows what they are doing, and does it. Also to not have to go through a maze of voice instructions to choose different departments then sub departments, then sub departments in the sub departments. That's good for business because people know there is somebody there and they will not be stuck in a holographic image in cyberspace.
We consider many calls to our business are similar to people buying a Toyota, pulling in to our petrol station for a few litres of really cheap top quality fuel, then asking us to teach them how to drive the car and repair unintended acceleration [they put their foot on the accelerator instead of the brake]. No doubt many Toyotas caught on speed cameras will have experienced unintended acceleration - "Thank you for capturing that evidence so we can present it to Toyota".
An 0900 number is a reasonable way of providing a service to people who do not Read the Manual.
Yes, it can be annoying to have to read a bunch of Geekzone FUG before posting, or terms and conditions of using a service, or reading the fine print when signing up for a house mortgage, but fine print often matters; "Your interest rate will double in 2 years if the market moves". Skillful reading can make it brief - easily identifying whole tracts which are irrelevant and mere boiler plate. "If you enter an automatic bid, your bid will always be the top bid unless somebody puts in a higher bid" = seems intuitively obvious.
Think about this for a second. The person who answers the phone must be paid, an 0800 number costs to setup, and the company pays for each call. if this just gets swapped with questions like from the first post.... you can see where im going.
And besides, most people dont like talking to real people these days :)
Completely unrelated to my first post i wanted to reply to "MauriceWinn"
Yes i was wrong above and yes if support is free I would of rung them, it would of been resolved in seconds. Yes i see where you are coming from.
But.
The problem i have with this method is say bidding is broken on trademe (just as an example), your not going to get anyone telling you because they have to pay to do it.
or another example
Say you overcharged a client, should they have to pay to get that fixed? This is where I have an issue with paying for customer support.
These are all valid concerns about 0900 numbers, but the fact remains that online support IS available and it is free.
Trademe wants to you make sure you have read all the online information before you use it and rightly so - the OP's question was answered quite well in the autobid help section.
The OP got angry as they didn't RTFM, and then complained about a lack of online support, which they do have, if you just RTFM.
patatrat: These are all valid concerns about 0900 numbers, but the fact remains that online support IS available and it is free.
Trademe wants to you make sure you have read all the online information before you use it and rightly so - the OP's question was answered quite well in the autobid help section.
The OP got angry as they didn't RTFM, and then complained about a lack of online support, which they do have, if you just RTFM.
Lesson of the day? Read The FineManual
Yes i was wrong above, i have admited that and the discussion moved on.
If you read above a little youll see what I said (and others) was in response to another post about 0900 numbers in general.
ArcticSilver: Yes i was wrong above, i have admited that and the discussion moved on.
If you read above a little youll see what I said (and others) was in response to another post about 0900 numbers in general.
Sorry, I assumed you were still talking about a situation on trademe where bidding was broken and not being able to tell anyone as you would have to pay for it.
ArcticSilver:
The problem i have with this method is say bidding is broken on trademe (just as an example), your not going to get anyone telling you because they have to pay to do it.
ArcticSilver: Yes i was wrong above, i have admited that and the discussion moved on.
If you read above a little youll see what I said (and others) was in response to another post about 0900 numbers in general.
Sorry, I assumed you were still talking about a situation on trademe where bidding was broken and not being able to tell anyone as you would have to pay for it.
ArcticSilver:
The problem i have with this method is say bidding is broken on trademe (just as an example), your not going to get anyone telling you because they have to pay to do it.
I am one who learns from mistakes, i can admit a fault, like with the original post.
It happens to the best of us at times. =)
Oh and just so you guys know, i will use trademe again, i dont hold a grudge because it was my fault.
They dont want to hear from you. No online service does. They have made systems to make it so you can find the information you want without their involvement.
A CS charge is ideal for them to prevent timewasters which most queries will be.
More like: [freeadvertising] This site is so great, e use it and you should give it a try too! [/freeadvertising]
lol.. But sella are at least up-front with it plugging, and free.
Trademe's auto bid process works like the following..
Current bidding is $22.00 on an item.
You place an autobid of $30
Current bidding price raises to $23.00
Another potential bidder also places an autobid for $30
a bid will suddenly show at $24.00 and your bid ill show as top at $30 immediately. The first-in auto bidder will get preference. You will also get a generated email, "Your auto-bid has been equalled"
EG:
$30.00 4 Mar 4:56 pm carebears (57) < - as voltron equalled your $30 auto-bid but you were still in the lead as per the trademe "first-in" rules $22.00 4 Mar 4:56 pm voltron (873) < - whom placed the second $30 auto-bid $23.00 4 Mar 4:45 pm carebears (57) < - your initial $30 auto-bid $22.00 4 Mar 4:32 pm pufnstuf (30) < - The bidding as previous
And an example of me beating a guy by 1c, minimising my outlay "to the cent", literally
$25.01 3 Mar 2:52 pm paradoxsm (329) < - Me guessing right, beating him by $0.01c and winning the auction. $25.00 3 Mar 2:52 pm kcornish (116) < - His auto-bid $21.01 3 Mar 2:52 pm kcornish (116) < - This indicated he had a higher auto bid, estimated to be $25 $20.01 3 Mar 2:52 pm paradoxsm (329) < - my initial Auto-bid
ATinyChipmunk: Think about this for a second. The person who answers the phone must be paid, an 0800 number costs to setup, and the company pays for each call. if this just gets swapped with questions like from the first post.... you can see where im going.
And besides, most people dont like talking to real people these days :)
Even though the above is true the cost should be absorbed by Trademe (or any business). Support shouldn't be something you have to pay for.
I disagree with the use of an 0900 number for support purposes. The other thing I do not like about Trademe is the fees, there are just too many and over priced.
The products offered on Trademe are no longer "deals" just need to check them on gear bot or pricespy (ugh.. to the new pricespy :() usually saves me $40-$50 over second hand items listed on Trademe and more on new items.
I've also notice a trend on Trademe where someone wins a $1 reserve auction for a really good price then 2-3 minutes after this happens the person holding the auction sends out an offer for a higher price...
I can go on all day about Trademe after being a member for years I've seen some bad changes. Still looking for an alternative, could always go back to using the T&E d:)
I checked out Sella, great website just not many listings, fingers crossed it picks up as it could be the Trademe of old.
The $1 res are to get interest in the product. The offer at the buy now price to all the losers has been going on forever. Whats the problem with that?
We dont do it because it means 2 things get the same auction number, and only one can accept the offer so its pretty pointless.
You just need to send a message to the seller and ask them to remove the last bid you made, then the leading bid will be your one at $15 or whatever it was beforehand. It says in Trademe help that if you ask a seller to remove a bid you made for any reason then they have to as long as they've been given fair notice. I once bid more than the buy now price thinking it would automatically win me the auction, but instead the bidding carried on higher and higher, so I requested its removal so I could use the buy now option.
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