Do you hate the web as much as I do?

Originally Posted by OffTheHorseCEO

ALSO, i had a guy come in today who bought 2 phones off of the internet and wanted help fixing them, i asked where he lived and when he replied he lived in my town i asked, "now why would you not come in to my store and do business with me?" he said "CAUSE, yall dont have any free phones in here."

Originally Posted by OffTheHorseCEO

well since the phone he bought online were such a piece, he actually ended up buying 2 more from me, and he plans on cancelling the ones he bought online


maybe we should get this merged with the "other" customer thread

Originally Posted by smg1976

What about the people who get the free phones online, and then come in and expect you to copy their address book from one phone to another?

This is especially annoying for people who are switching from another carrier.

I always throw out a dig and say "you know, you could've bought your phone here, and we would have done this the first time". It doesn't change a thing, but it makes me feel a little better.

I wish there was a fee we could charge for this type of scenario.

Originally Posted by smg1976

This is related, but what about competing with Radio Shack (or national retail) deals? I had a couple come in, they had already had their credit run at RS with a $100 deposit, they wondered if they wouldn't have one with us, so I ran it again. It came back the same.

The woman wanted a Curve, but didn't have enough money so she said she'd be back the next day to sign up for service. Fast forward to almost a week later-I checked to see if the credit check I ran turned into an account (possibly by another rep in our store), and sure enough it did-later that day, no less, but at RS. The lady got a Centro for $49, plus the MIR, so it ended up being free after rebate.

She waltzes into our store, and asks me why her email won't set up properly on her phone. I reluctantly help her out, then ask her why she bought the Centro if she really wanted the Curve. I already knew about the $49 price, so I asked if that was why she went with the Centro. She said yes, that she didn't really like it after all, and she still wanted a Curve, could she change her plan (she had the $99 voice plan with a $50 feature) or would she need to add-a-line. I explained everything to her, and she left, and hasn't been back yet.

I did try to make her regret her buying at Radio Shack by saying I could have given her an instant rebate on the Curve, based on what she put on her plan.

I know we can't price-match national retailers or online such as Wirefly or Letstalk, but it's very annoying in the economic climate we live in, for customers to make their decision on where they buy the phone solely based on price.

Originally Posted by OffTheHorseCEO

unless radio shack is offering its own rebates (directly from radio shack not from AT&T) this cant be true. the bottom of at&t's rebate form clearly disqualifies purchases from radio shack, wal mart, etc

Originally Posted by cingman66

This is one particular customer type that I could do without:

Me: "Is there anything I can help you with?"
Them: "Where are all your phones?"
Me: "They are all around the store"
Them: "Why are there so many more phones on the web site?"
-or- Them: "How come there are so many more FREE phones on the web site?"

In either case, I feel like throwing up on the counter and slamming the customer's face into said vomit. Thank you AT&T.

Originally Posted by smg1976

What about the people who get the free phones online, and then come in and expect you to copy their address book from one phone to another?

This is especially annoying for people who are switching from another carrier.

I always throw out a dig and say "you know, you could've bought your phone here, and we would have done this the first time". It doesn't change a thing, but it makes me feel a little better.

I wish there was a fee we could charge for this type of scenario.

Originally Posted by ilvla2

You need to turn your hate to your company, who obviously sees the need to create this chasm between their web operations and their stores. Is is the customer's fault for that? NO, so don't take it out on them. To them, it's all AT&T, and why should they be expected to think it any different?

I worked sales for US Cellular, Radio Shack and Office Depot, and I NEVER took out my personal issues with the company on the customers. I also don't do sales anymore not because of the customers, I like helping people out, but the stupid quotas and "sell, sell, sell, forget helping your customer" crap.

Originally Posted by cubbieswin21

This scenerio is really frustrating but we should try and remember that at&t pays us all an hourly wage.

Originally Posted by DA.RUSSELL

I agree with you... I'm reading alll of these comments you guys are reading and mind you...I worked at COR and Agents...you ppl at cor get paid 13+ plus commission to not only sell...but to help customer as well....and if you show willingness to help the cust...then sometime the cust will come back to your for the feature sale.. When I worked at COR I got a lot of feture sales from these web cust... so stop B******** and do what you are paid to do...not everyone gets paid 14+

Originally Posted by cingman66

FYI--at Agent stores, we charge a fee for this scenario every single time...usually $20-$25.

Originally Posted by DA.RUSSELL

I agree with you... I'm reading alll of these comments you guys are reading and mind you...I worked at COR and Agents...you ppl at cor get paid 13+ plus commission to not only sell...but to help customer as well....and if you show willingness to help the cust...then sometime the cust will come back to your for the feature sale.. When I worked at COR I got a lot of feture sales from these web cust... so stop B******** and do what you are paid to do...not everyone gets paid 14+

Originally Posted by BlogNetChica

I always tell customers that if a store tries to charge them a fee for this, they should call back in a submit agent feedback.

Originally Posted by cingman66

Everyone writing about "rapport" and "helping the customer is your job" is clearly naive. That may have worked 5-10 years ago, but today, customers don't really give a crap. They will continue to buy on-line as long as it saves them money, then continue to eat up our time getting us to explain to them how to use their phone. The business model is flawed. If they want us to support the sales, then we have to MAKE the sales. Otherwise, you might as well just hire kids at $8/hr. to sit in stores and hold customer's hands all day.

Originally Posted by smg1976

What about the people who get the free phones online, and then come in and expect you to copy their address book from one phone to another?

This is especially annoying for people who are switching from another carrier.

I always throw out a dig and say "you know, you could've bought your phone here, and we would have done this the first time". It doesn't change a thing, but it makes me feel a little better.

I wish there was a fee we could charge for this type of scenario.

Originally Posted by cingman66

Everyone writing about "rapport" and "helping the customer is your job" is clearly naive. That may have worked 5-10 years ago, but today, customers don't really give a crap. They will continue to buy on-line as long as it saves them money, then continue to eat up our time getting us to explain to them how to use their phone. The business model is flawed. If they want us to support the sales, then we have to MAKE the sales. Otherwise, you might as well just hire kids at $8/hr. to sit in stores and hold customer's hands all day.

Originally Posted by floam

AT&T should just go the Apple route with a unified front everywhere (nobody is earning commissions and pushing crap on you, everybody supports everything, prices are the same, etc.). Customers are happy, feel they are well supported (Apple is consistently ranked as the best CS time and time again), and people that work for them are paid fine.

I wonder if there is something specific about the mobile industry that would make this impossible?

Originally Posted by geoffcoplt

As a customer, it is daunting, please understand that non-HOFO power users may not understand the differences between COR/Agent/at&t web sales/tele-sales.

Just the other day, a co-worker came in and over lunch told me of his on-line upgrade on his wife's line of service. He was really pleased with the ease of the website and the price that he received on the phone. He had purchased the Moto Z9 for $249.00 plus a $100.00 mail in rebate (if he decides to bother with the rebate)which is probably the same price that a COR location would offer.

I asked why he had chosen to go with the web, his answer it was more convenient than visiting a store.

When he had trouble with the phone, he then visited a COR location and was told to take a hike as he had purchased on-line. I completely understand the COR employee's thinking and in a sense do not blame him/her, but at&t does not make any differentiation between sales channels and a common customer may or may not know that by simply buying on-line that the COR employee has no financial incentive to assist you when issues arise(and they do arise).

My co-worker called our Corp. at&t Mobility contact and within minutes she had conferenced in a Motorola phone programmer/enginner (not exactly sure of his job title) and he was able to resolve my co-workers issues. Granted, we are one of at&t Mobility's largest Corp. customers and we have a direct line to Corp. HQ., but my co-worker would have been up sh*t's creek if we did not have that contact. What is a customer to do?

Originally Posted by cingman66

You make a very valid point, and that is why most of us do not blame the customers (although it does sound like it judging by the forum thread titles). Personally, I fully blame AT&T for all these issues--they are the ones pushing the customer base to purchase on-line, for the sole purpose of eliminating commission payouts to the stores. Their business philosophy is to keep all the money for themselves...while keeping physical locations open for the sole purpose of assisting "their" customers. Once they start paying us extra money to service "their" customers, we will. Until such time, you can see why we are all a little bitter. We are paid to SELL phones...not to SERVICE phones. We take great pride, however, in servicing OUR customer base, as these are the people responsible for our paychecks. The nature of this business dictates that the money is made ONLY at the time of the initial sale; therefore, we spend our time and energy to this end.

Originally Posted by geoffcoplt

Clearly there is a problem, what is the solution? In my humble opinion, the best solution would be for at&t Mobility to incorporate into the COR model support as well as sales, including a pay increase commensurate with the added responsibilities that support entails.

Verizon seems to use some sort of contract 3rd party company to support their phones in their Corp. stores. Would that be a feasible solution?

I know full well that my idol speculations on this board are not going to make one iota of difference but, I am curious as to what others think.