Verizon wireless - experience in a cingular/at&t company store

Author

experience in a cingular/at&t company store

james g. keegan jr.

2007-06-18, 3:33 pm

about a week ago, i decided to visit the cingular/at&t store on
central avenue in albany, ny.

my verizon commitment is up and i wanted to see what cingular/at&t
could offer even though my colleagues have consistently labeled
cingular the worst of the worst.

i entered the store at 11:05am. there were 4-sales / customer service
kiosks and a welcome area with a sign up for service sheet.

as there were 4 sales reps and only 2 customers being serviced, i
signed the sheet certain i'd soon be speaking with a rep.

how wrong i was.

the customers being served when i entered left the store. now there
were 4 sakes reps, a person who might have been a manager, a greeter
and me. still nothing.

at 11:22AM, i advised the greeter that i was leaving since no one has
waited on me and i was a potential customer. i was imagining the
horror of being under contract to such fools.

no wonder cingular/at&t is so badly thought of.

--
get real. like jesus would ever own a gun or vote republican.

Nick Danger

2007-06-18, 3:33 pm

It's pretty common, in any setting, for a queueing or sign-in-and-wait
system to fall apart when there is no one waiting and there are available
customer service people to wait on anyone who walks in. They assume that if
you don't go straight to one of those people, then you just want to be left
alone. If I had been there, I would have considered it a relatively pleasant
shopping experience - no pushy salesdroids hovering over me. This reminds me
of the oft-repeated sitcom scene where someone walks into an empty shop,
takes a ticket - number 123 - from the dispenser, and then stands there all
alone while the clerk calls out "Number 79 ... Number 80 ... Number 81 ..."
etc.

Bob Walker

2007-06-18, 3:33 pm

"Nick Danger" <yourname@yourdomain.com> wrote in message
news:ewBdi.27$QA2.11@newsfe12.lga...
> It's pretty common, in any setting, for a queueing or sign-in-and-wait
> system to fall apart when there is no one waiting and there are available
> customer service people to wait on anyone who walks in. They assume that
> if you don't go straight to one of those people, then you just want to be
> left alone. If I had been there, I would have considered it a relatively
> pleasant shopping experience - no pushy salesdroids hovering over me. This
> reminds me of the oft-repeated sitcom scene where someone walks into an
> empty shop, takes a ticket - number 123 - from the dispenser, and then
> stands there all alone while the clerk calls out "Number 79 ... Number 80
> ... Number 81 ..." etc.
>

I agree. Take the chip off your shoulder, walk up to someone and start the
conversation. "Hi, here's my situation.........."

Chuck

2007-06-18, 10:33 pm

Cheer up, it might have gone another way. Think of car dealers.
Darken the doorstep, and a sales person is all over you.

"james g. keegan jr." <jgkeegan@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:jgkeegan-3AC778. 15260718062007@indiv
idual.net...
> about a week ago, i decided to visit the cingular/at&t store on
> central avenue in albany, ny.
>
> my verizon commitment is up and i wanted to see what cingular/at&t
> could offer even though my colleagues have consistently labeled
> cingular the worst of the worst.
>
> i entered the store at 11:05am. there were 4-sales / customer service
> kiosks and a welcome area with a sign up for service sheet.
>
> as there were 4 sales reps and only 2 customers being serviced, i
> signed the sheet certain i'd soon be speaking with a rep.
>
> how wrong i was.
>
> the customers being served when i entered left the store. now there
> were 4 sakes reps, a person who might have been a manager, a greeter
> and me. still nothing.
>
> at 11:22AM, i advised the greeter that i was leaving since no one has
> waited on me and i was a potential customer. i was imagining the
> horror of being under contract to such fools.
>
> no wonder cingular/at&t is so badly thought of.
>
> --
> get real. like jesus would ever own a gun or vote republican.

XS11E

2007-06-18, 10:33 pm

"james g. keegan jr." <jgkeegan@gmail.com> wrote:

> about a week ago, i decided to visit the cingular/at&t store on
> central avenue in albany, ny.
> no wonder cingular/at&t is so badly thought of.

It's entirely the personnel that make or break a store. Most direct
stores for Cingular and others have minimum wage employees and they
really don't care if you're happy or not.

OTOH.... I've posted this before but it's worth repeating:

Interesting story about employees, my sister asked me to go with her to
get a new phone, she was eligible for a free upgrade from her carrier
(NOT Verizon). We went to the place where she'd bought her phone and
service 2 years before and found a young man who REALLY knew about
carriers, plans, phones, etc. He actually listened to her as to what
she needed, realized she didn't know much about phones and took the
time to go over all the features of her new phone, explained and
demonstrated how everything worked and what features she would want and
wouldn't want. After getting the phone home, more questions came up,
she called and was told to bring the phone back and he went over
everything again!

It was an unusual experience to find someone who knew his stuff and
was willing to take whatever time needed to make sure the customer was
happy!

And what store was this? Radio Shack, believe it or not! Why was the
service so much better than you encountered with a Cingular store?
Because Radio Shack pays their employees commission. It pays an
employee to know his stuff and take the time to be sure the customer is
satisfied.

--
XS11E, Killing all posts from Google Groups
The Usenet Improvement Project: http://blinkynet.net/comp/uip5.html

Larry

2007-06-18, 10:33 pm

"Nick Danger" <yourname@yourdomain.com> wrote in
news:ewBdi.27$QA2.11@newsfe12.lga:

> This reminds me
> of the oft-repeated sitcom scene where someone walks into an empty
> shop, takes a ticket - number 123 - from the dispenser, and then
> stands there all alone while the clerk calls out "Number 79 ... Number
> 80 ... Number 81 ..." etc.
>

Candid Camera did a great segment on this. They had an empty bake shop
with the take-a-ticket machine near the door. The guy takes the ticket.
It reads 92. The sign up over the counter reads 24. The girl calls out
for number 24, even though he's the only one in the shop. After a 2
minute pause for 24 to respond, she clicks the numbers up to 25 and
repeats the call for 25, 26, 27, 28. Somewhere around 40, ticket holder
92 is now screaming at her obvious stupidity, throws the ticket at her
and runs out the door before Allen Funt can catch him. They interview
him on the sidewalk to the laughs of all...(c; Great stuff on CC...

Larry
--
God I miss great television.....

Larry

2007-06-18, 10:33 pm

"Chuck" <Chuckk2nospam@cox.net> wrote in news:zFDdi.124173$vE1.19601
@newsfe24.lga:

> Cheer up, it might have gone another way. Think of car dealers.
> Darken the doorstep, and a sales person is all over you.
>
>

Take a test drive. Drive to your destination.

"I don't think I like this car or your attitude much. I'll get out here."

Put it in Park and just walk away....(c;

Larry
--
http://www.spp.gov/
The end of the USA and its Constitution....RIP

Kurt

2007-06-18, 10:33 pm

In article <1FBdi.14924$RX.2109@newssvr11.news.prodigy.net>,
"Bob Walker" < rowalker@sbcnospamgl
obal.net> wrote:

> "Nick Danger" <yourname@yourdomain.com> wrote in message
> news:ewBdi.27$QA2.11@newsfe12.lga...
>
> I agree. Take the chip off your shoulder, walk up to someone and start the
> conversation. "Hi, here's my situation.........."

Exactly. "The barking dog gets the biscuit."

--
To reply by email, remove the word "space"

Diamond Dave

2007-06-18, 10:33 pm

On Mon, 18 Jun 2007 15:26:07 -0400, "james g. keegan jr."
<jgkeegan@gmail.com> wrote:

>at 11:22AM, i advised the greeter that i was leaving since no one has
>waited on me and i was a potential customer. i was imagining the
>horror of being under contract to such fools.
>
>no wonder cingular/at&t is so badly thought of.

The difference between night and day. My wife used to be a Stinkular
customer. Sat in the waiting room for over an hour to get waited on.

Verizon, on the other hand, usually got to us within 5 minutes.

Glad I switched over 5 years ago.. never looked back. Got the wife to
switch over to Verizon last year (she was on Stinkular before we got
married).

Dave

Jeffrey Kaplan

2007-06-18, 10:33 pm

It is alleged that james g. keegan jr. claimed:

> i entered the store at 11:05am. there were 4-sales / customer service
> kiosks and a welcome area with a sign up for service sheet.
>
> as there were 4 sales reps and only 2 customers being serviced, i
> signed the sheet certain i'd soon be speaking with a rep.
>
> how wrong i was.
>
> the customers being served when i entered left the store. now there
> were 4 sakes reps, a person who might have been a manager, a greeter
> and me. still nothing.

I had a similar setup to a visit to a Cingular store about two weeks
ago. My Cingular contract expired the day before, so I went into a
corporate owned store to ask them what they can do for me to entice me
to stay with Cingular/AT&T rather than take my newish and unlocked
phone over to T-Mobile.

There were three or four service reps behind the counters, and two or
three customers being helped. I noticed the sign-in book by the front
door, so I signed in. Then I noticed that the last person to do so was
several hours earlier. So I looked at the CSRs again and saw one with
no customer.

So guess what I did...

What I did NOT do was stand there like an idiot. I walked up to the
counter and posed my question to her.

--
Jeffrey Kaplan www.gordol.org
The from userid is killfiled Send personal mail to gordol

If I Am Ever the Sidekick... 15. If the Hero does something that hurts
my feelings, I shall presume that it was an honest mistake. I will not
go wandering off by myself in a fit of self-pity, only to be captured
by the Evil Overlord.

tscottme

2007-06-19, 4:33 am

If they can't read your mind they probably can't provide reliable phone
service anyway.

--

Scott

james g. keegan jr.

2007-06-19, 3:33 pm

In article < 8r2dne7ubdA4EurbnZ2d
nUVZ_segnZ2d@comcast
.com>,
"tscottme" <blahblah@blah.net> wrote:

> If they can't read your mind they probably can't provide reliable phone
> service anyway.

i thought this was a typical cingular/att apologist response to
follow-up on.

the store had a sign up sheet and the greeter advised people that the
sales clerks would call their name when it was their turn.

so, when no names from the list are called, no one is serviced: not
current customers, not potential new customers.

it is clear that the manager on duty at that time should be
terminated; perhaps some of the sales reps too.

current employees like those in the central ave., albany, ny store
are a big part of the reason cingular/att customer service is so
widely, and fairly disparaged.

--
get real. like jesus would ever own a gun or vote republican.

el KaBong

2007-06-19, 3:33 pm

"XS11E" <xs11e@mailinator.com> wrote in message
news:Xns99539F345AC5
Exs11emailinatorcom@
127.0.0.1...
> "james g. keegan jr." <jgkeegan@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> It was an unusual experience to find someone who knew his stuff and
> was willing to take whatever time needed to make sure the customer was
> happy!
>
> And what store was this? Radio Shack, believe it or not!

I had the same experience at Sam's Club. I later found out their phone
kiosk spaces are leased by Radio Shack.

Jeffrey Kaplan

2007-06-19, 10:33 pm

It is alleged that james g. keegan jr. claimed:

> current employees like those in the central ave., albany, ny store
> are a big part of the reason cingular/att customer service is so
> widely, and fairly disparaged.

I am no one's apologist. I started with Cellular One some time ago,
when the StarTac was the top of the line phone. I switched to
BellAtlantic Mobile because I needed to tether a cellphone to my
laptop's cellular modem and TDMA was no good for that. BAM became VZW,
and I stayed with them because the service worked. Then, eventually, I
moved somewhere that happened to be in a signal shadow, neither VZW nor
Sprint would work but there was a line-of-sight to a GSM tower used by
both Cingular and T-Mobile. Cingular had the handset I wanted.
Cingular is now AT&T, and I just renewed my contract. Because the
service works.

I've had both good and bad CSR experiences with every provider I've
used. They're human, not robots, and some humans are just rude selfish
jerks and some are very nice people. But on average, I've found that
the CSRs at the stores and/or kiosks, the ones you talk to
face-to-face, have been courteous and professional regardless of which
carrier they work for (except for the Sprint reseller mall kiosks,
where they accost almost everyone asking them what phone they have...).
Every encounter I've had that I can recall, the clerk has been able to
answer all of my questions about service coverage, options and rates. I
do not expect them to know the specific capabilities of all of the
actual phones, especially since I use a Treo which is typically outside
of their normal training. When I was still with Verizon, I was using a
Kyocera 7135, also a PalmOS smartphone.

The only times when I've had an actual bad experience with a CSR from
either cellular carrier I've used was over the phone, and both are
equally guilty. The trick I've learned is to know what types of
questions can be answered by the store clerk, which by the phone rep,
and which by 2nd tier or the "data group" and just go straight there.

As for your complaint about being ignored in the store, I still say
it's your own fault. In your original post, you made no mention of a
greeter. When did that person show up? I've only seen greeters in VZW
stores, nowhere else. Then again, I don't live in NYC. But if, as you
said, there were more CSRs at the counters than customers in the store,
just go up to one, say "hi", and explain your situation.

--
Jeffrey Kaplan www.gordol.org
The from userid is killfiled Send personal mail to gordol

Tips for the Innocent Bystander: 20. Never purposely investigate the
Hero in order to learn his true identity. Success will get you
kidnapped by the Evil Overlord.

james g. keegan jr.

2007-06-19, 10:33 pm

In article < kllg73pa9vq0q1qtegc1
t29etl86jdd6t7@gordo
l.org>,
Jeffrey Kaplan <nomail@gordol.org> wrote:

> It is alleged that james g. keegan jr. claimed:
>
>
> I am no one's apologist.

sure you are

> As for your complaint about being ignored in the store, I still say
> it's your own fault.

of course you do, even with more direct information that it wasn't.

> In your original post, you made no mention of a
> greeter.

but i did say "i entered the store at 11:05am. there were 4-sales /
customer service kiosks and a welcome area with a sign up for service
sheet." i suppose i could have been more clear bu explaining that a
human said to sign up and wait to be called, but even without that,
the intent was obvious.

people entering the store were to sign up and wait to be called.

> When did that person show up?

see how argumentative you are?

any reasonable manager would have been ashamed by the people in that
store that day.

any cingular/att person would have also been humiliated by them.

except, perhaps, those few like you who are " a big part of the
reason cingular/att customer service is so widely, and fairly
disparaged."

--
get real. like jesus would ever own a gun or vote republican.

Jeffrey Kaplan

2007-06-19, 10:33 pm

It is alleged that james g. keegan jr. claimed:

> except, perhaps, those few like you who are " a big part of the
> reason cingular/att customer service is so widely, and fairly
> disparaged."

I was going to respond, but I don't think you're worth the effort.
You're either a moron or a troll.

--
Jeffrey Kaplan www.gordol.org
The from userid is killfiled Send personal mail to gordol

Peter's Top 100 Things I'd Do If I Ever Became An Evil Overlord, #174.
If I am dangling over a precipice and the hero reaches his hand down to
me, I will not attempt to pull him down with me. I will allow him to
rescue me, thank him properly, then return to the safety of my fortress
and order his execution.

Justin

2007-06-19, 10:33 pm

Jeffrey Kaplan wrote on [Tue, 19 Jun 2007 21:14:58 - 0400]:
> It is alleged that james g. keegan jr. claimed:
>
>
> I was going to respond, but I don't think you're worth the effort.
> You're either a moron or a troll.

Looks like a response to me.

james g. keegan jr.

2007-06-20, 3:33 pm

In article <slrnf7h17i.nv.nospam@debian.dns2go.com>,
Justin <nospam@insightbb.com> wrote:

> Jeffrey Kaplan wrote on [Tue, 19 Jun 2007 21:14:58 -0400]:
>
> Looks like a response to me.

moron indeed. i don't think he understood what was being said,

--
get real. like jesus would ever own a gun or vote republican.

Paul G

2007-06-23, 10:33 pm

the sad thing here is this:
next friday, the iphone will hit the stink stores, and you will watch
all the crowds there...NOT...the smart customer will buy it at the apple
store...THEN suffer the poor service.
who the hell gave this device to at&t???

"Jeffrey Kaplan" <nomail@gordol.org> wrote in message
news:7hde73t0akis9nl
qfpv57nc48ok9d9o6cg@
gordol.org...
> It is alleged that james g. keegan jr. claimed:
>
>
> I had a similar setup to a visit to a Cingular store about two weeks
> ago. My Cingular contract expired the day before, so I went into a
> corporate owned store to ask them what they can do for me to entice me
> to stay with Cingular/AT&T rather than take my newish and unlocked
> phone over to T-Mobile.
>
> There were three or four service reps behind the counters, and two or
> three customers being helped. I noticed the sign-in book by the front
> door, so I signed in. Then I noticed that the last person to do so
> was
> several hours earlier. So I looked at the CSRs again and saw one with
> no customer.
>
> So guess what I did...
>
> What I did NOT do was stand there like an idiot. I walked up to the
> counter and posed my question to her.
>
> --
> Jeffrey Kaplan www.gordol.org
> The from userid is killfiled Send personal mail to gordol
>
> If I Am Ever the Sidekick... 15. If the Hero does something that
> hurts
> my feelings, I shall presume that it was an honest mistake. I will not
> go wandering off by myself in a fit of self-pity, only to be captured
> by the Evil Overlord.

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