Things you hate about working in the mobile phone industry.

Rsaeire

Sam Vimes wrote: »

a girl shouting in a thick dublin accent: "d'ya hav deese on sim card?"

she meant pre pay

and i overheard a customer looking at a phone marked as sim free and he said to his friend "oh they must have moved beyond sim cards"

lol Beyond sim cards? What, as in sim cards imbedded into the phone? That would be great!

*That is if we didn't already have it back in the 088 days.

Sam Vimes

Rsaeire wrote: »

lol Beyond sim cards? What, as in sim cards imbedded into the phone? That would be great!

*That is if we didn't already have it back in the 088 days.

there's also the american company sprint:
http://wiki.answers.com/Q/Can_you_buy_a_sprint_sim_card

sim cards are a gsm thing

Soundman

That is a brilliant answer that they give on that page.

Rsaeire

I heard a story a few years ago that still makes me laugh. It was when 3G handsets were being launched on a certain mobile network. The conversation was between an agent in one of the mobile network’s stores and a customer who was just looking around.

Agent: Can I help you?
Customer: It's ok, I'm just looking at the phones.
Agent: Oh, well you should look at this new 3G handset. It's the new Nokia 6630, it's 3G and it is the best handset available right now!

The agent was very enthusiastic about trying to sell the 6630, but what the customer didn't know was that the handset was practically recalled by the network during this time, as the handset would restart when switching from 3G to GSM. Didn't stop the agent from trying to sell it anyway.

Just goes to show, some of the staff members in these stores would sell you anything just to make a bit of commission.

johnson1

had a guy in buying an iphone, I was explaining everything to him and informed him that he would need a pc to connect the iphone to activate it and tranfer music/video/contacts etc. (its a first gen iphone)

Customer: but i dont have a pc ?
Me: well without one you wont be able to transfer any music/contacts onto it.
Customer: sure cant you do that for me ?
Me: Eh no i can't
Customer: Why not ?
Me: well for a start i dont have your music or contacts backed up!, and neither do you since you don't own a pc...
Customer: Thats some joke ...

I was getting tired at this stage so i offered to activate the iphone in the store and he cheered up. So I completed the connection and got the phone activated.

Customer: now are all my numbers on that ?
Me: Well no, as i said already i can't put them on it unless you have them backed up on your pc !!
Customer: Sure i don't have a pc !
Me: We've already been through this.
Customer: Right forget about it so It's too much hassle, if you wont help me out im going to vodafone.
Me: OK bye

brophis

Customer rings shop at 3pm, asks "What time do ye close at?" 6pm they're told... Yet they always manage to arrive at 5:59pm looking to sign up for a new phone contract, mobile internet and they want you to copy all their numbers!! :pac:

mobileplaza

brophis wrote: »

Customer rings shop at 3pm, asks "What time do ye close at?" 6pm they're told... Yet they always manage to arrive at 5:59pm looking to sign up for a new phone contract, mobile internet and they want you to copy all their numbers!! :pac:

always good too tell them you close a half hour before actual closing.

tony1kenobi

Me: Kid bought a sim yesterday, lost the pin..I need the pin
MDS: It's not registered, need to register it
Me: Need the pin to register it, whats the pin
MDS: Can't give the pin, data protection, need to register
Me:How do I register it for the kid?
MDS: Online or over the phone.
Me: I need the pin to do that yea?
MDS: Yes
Me: Any suggestions?
MDS: You need to register
Me: Tell you what, I'll give the kid an o2 sim and I'll post this one up to you yea?
MDS: Why send it here?
Me: So you can stick it up your hole

Click.

Gummy Panda

Another American tourist (seriously they are bane of my life)

tourist: I'm with T-mobile and i can't roam.

me: Okay. Did you check with T-mobile who their preferred network is?

tourist: No but it won't work on any network here.

me: Your roaming may be restricted. I'd advise you to contact your customer care to solve this.
*customer stares at me for awhile*

tourist: are you not going to fix this? i mean i'm a big spender and there is money in it for your network. (i don't know how he figured this)

me: sorry i can't do anything for you if its a network issue. I can see if I can find a contact number for T-mobile.

tourist: This is not good enough. I pay big bills to you and this is how i get treated when i have a problem.

me: erm..

---

Oh! we had a woman piss on our floor.

She was in at lunchtime and i came back to work. Another lad was serving her and i got bang of urine when i entered the store. I said it to the other lad after she left and he said he was gagging the whole time.

He was working the late shift that night. I get a phone call from him saying that the woman had come back with the phone and wanted to change it because she didn't like it. Immediatily i was telling him to check it for liquid damage and that i wasn't keen on taking it back (i was afraid it was soiled in some way).

He told me he had already swapped it but when he came out of the back with the new phone she was complaining about him not moping the floor properly. He looked over and she had pissed all over the floor.

I told him to lock up and grab some bleech :pac:

metalfest

Gummy Panda wrote: »

Oh! we had a woman piss on our floor.

She was in at lunchtime and i came back to work. Another lad was serving her and i got bang of urine when i entered the store. I said it to the other lad after she left and he said he was gagging the whole time.

He was working the late shift that night. I get a phone call from him saying that the woman had come back with the phone and wanted to change it because she didn't like it. Immediatily i was telling him to check it for liquid damage and that i wasn't keen on taking it back (i was afraid it was soiled in some way).

He told me he had already swapped it but when he came out of the back with the new phone she was complaining about him not moping the floor properly. He looked over and she had pissed all over the floor.

what a strange strange person

Our man in Havana

Gummy Panda wrote: »

Oh! we had a woman piss on our floor.

She was in at lunchtime and i came back to work. Another lad was serving her and i got bang of urine when i entered the store. I said it to the other lad after she left and he said he was gagging the whole time.

He was working the late shift that night. I get a phone call from him saying that the woman had come back with the phone and wanted to change it because she didn't like it. Immediatily i was telling him to check it for liquid damage and that i wasn't keen on taking it back (i was afraid it was soiled in some way).

He told me he had already swapped it but when he came out of the back with the new phone she was complaining about him not moping the floor properly. He looked over and she had pissed all over the floor.

I told him to lock up and grab some bleech :pac:

WTF? Seriously WFT?

I hope that person is barred now from your store.

krudler

had this one today, call came through validated so all details entered correct on IVR

customer:"you have my details there yeah?"

me:WE do indeed what can i do for you?

customer : well cos I rang Irish Broadband and they said my address is wrong

me:........on our system?

customer:no they have my wrong address

me:.....Irish Broadband....

customer: yeah what would be the issue there?

me: did you ask them?

customer: yeah they said it might be an old address, what can you see on your thing there?

me:we have the last address you have (confirms address)

customer: yeah thats right! why cant they have that?

me.....we're not the same company

customer: wa?

me....they're a different company, just becuase you change your address with us doesnt mean every company who has it gets an update...

customer: bit Irish isnt it?

me: (in my head) are you ****ing retarded?

customer: jaysus i better ring em back so, i thought ye were all the same crowd

me:thats because you're a moron



dealing with the public in general, but especially with phones you literally deal with some of the dumbest ****ing people alive, i can never get over how many people cant find the serial number on their sim card, think about it, its a tiny, thin card, only has two sides yet you ask people to read you out the number and hear them fumbling around with it, then you get the "no theres no number on here would it be anywhere else on it?" anywhere else?! its only has 2 ****ing sides where else would it be!

drunkmonkey

Customer: Can you cut off my phone so nobody can call it

Me: What Happend?

Customer: Somebody stole it sunday

Me: Stones: no bother i'll call 02 and get your number blocked.

Customer: Thanks

Next Day

Customer: I gave you the wrong number

Me: I know

Customer: Here's the right number

Me: Grand, i'll get it blocked, Have you tried calling the number?

Customer: No

Me: Right sure we'll call it and hopefully somebody might answer.

Customer: Sound...

Ring Ring Ring, Hello, Who's this?, Brendan, Bendan who? Brendan the Garda
Ah well, drunkmonkey here, you've got Billys phone, i'll send him down, sound, gud luck!

Me: Right Billy, Brendan has your phone down in the garda station.

Billy: I know

Me: What do you mean you know?

Billy: They took it off me, I don't want to go down to the station

Me: Ok look i'll go down and grab it for you

Billy: Thanks

Drunkmonkey walks out the door, Billy calls me back and says, "I really should go down myself", ya I think you should:rolleyes:. I wave Billy good by and watch him meander slowly towards the Station....haven't seen him since, he must be off the beer:)

seclachi

Gummy Panda wrote: »

Oh! we had a woman piss on our floor.

She was in at lunchtime and i came back to work. Another lad was serving her and i got bang of urine when i entered the store. I said it to the other lad after she left and he said he was gagging the whole time.

He was working the late shift that night. I get a phone call from him saying that the woman had come back with the phone and wanted to change it because she didn't like it. Immediatily i was telling him to check it for liquid damage and that i wasn't keen on taking it back (i was afraid it was soiled in some way).

He told me he had already swapped it but when he came out of the back with the new phone she was complaining about him not moping the floor properly. He looked over and she had pissed all over the floor.

I told him to lock up and grab some bleech :pac:

Fecking hell, either it was little Britain secretly filming or yer one has serious plumbing problems. I mean you`d think she`d realise and get it sorted, maybe she was just crazy.

drunkmonkey

seclachi wrote: »

Fecking hell, either it was little Britain secretly filming or yer one has serious plumbing problems. I mean you`d think she`d realise and get it sorted, maybe she was just crazy.

Ask a Taxi driver what's the worst thing about working in the Taxi industry, Women will be somewhere on the top if their lists...
Saying that I haven't seen a girl piss in public since primary school....

Gummy Panda

seclachi wrote: »

Fecking hell, either it was little Britain secretly filming or yer one has serious plumbing problems. I mean you`d think she`d realise and get it sorted, maybe she was just crazy.

Basically she was an alcoholic who was made redundant. she had really greasy bed hair. She wore leggings and you could see a rash around the waist band. Her walk was similar to a young child who wet themselves or a person who was sitting on a saddle too long.

she came back and did it again to a smaller extent, then i told her i was refusing her business (she was a serial exchanger). I felt sorry for her but i couldn't keep RMAing my stock and exchanging phones for her. Also the whole health & safety of having her in the store and putting other customers off sales.

seclachi

Gummy Panda wrote: »

Basically she was an alcoholic who was made redundant. she had really greasy bed hair. She wore leggings and you could see a rash around the waist band. Her walk was similar to a young child who wet themselves or a person who was sitting on a saddle too long.

she came back and did it again to a smaller extent, then i told her i was refusing her business (she was a serial exchanger). I felt sorry for her but i couldn't keep RMAing my stock and exchanging phones for her. Also the whole health & safety of having her in the store and putting other customers off sales.

Ah horrible, its nasty the state people get themselves into. I was thinking more along the lines of a forgetful old lady (little Britain). The worst I have seen is seeing something drop out of the bottom of some drunks pants one night driving through town, my friend then pointed out it was a turd ><.

turly

seclachi wrote: »

Ah horrible, its nasty the state people get themselves into. I was thinking more along the lines of a forgetful old lady (little Britain). The worst I have seen is seeing something drop out of the bottom of some drunks pants one night driving through town, my friend then pointed out it was a turd ><.

You owe me for a coffee-removal kit for my keyboard and monitor.

krudler

People who ring customer care to see if they can fix something thats physically wrong with their phone "my # key fell off!" "my screen is cracked!" "the phones battery wont charge, can you fix it?" HOW?! I'm in an office 100 miles away from you! you wouldnt ring Sony and ask them to fix your busted tv over the phone would you?

h57xiucj2z946q

people who complain about working in the mobile phone industry.

jesus_thats_gre

People who think they work in the mobile industry...

seclachi

jesus_thats_gre wrote: »

People who think they work in the mobile industry...

I wonder is there some guy from nokia scoffing at this thread because he has to try and figure out how to come up with a phone that will sell well in a saturated market, and all these bozos in phone shops have to worry about is crazy people peeing on their floor.

towel401

seclachi wrote: »

I wonder is there some guy from nokia scoffing at this thread because he has to try and figure out how to come up with a phone that will sell well in a saturated market, and all these bozos in phone shops have to worry about is crazy people peeing on their floor.

prolly

they need to make a phone that can bypass expensive network charges

like VoiP, but with long-range wifi

120_Minutes

oh i just thought of another one

the "thats ridiculous" customer.


and its almost always a woman.

me: sorry ma'am the warranty doesnt cover water damage

her: thats ridiculous


or

me: no we cant give you a free replacement phone while yours in in for repair

her: thats ridiculous


me: the iphone is only on o2

her: well....you get the point.


world hunger, racism, the economy....these things are ridiculous, NOT THE ****E YOU'RE COMPLAINING ABOUT.

chrislad

I've had about 10 'Day One' customers in the past 3 days. Must be the weather bringing them out.

"I've had this phone six months, and it keeps turning off. It's being doing that since day one. Can I get a new one?"

Me: "Sorry. Can only exchange within 28 days, but I can send it for repair"

Customer: "That's ridiculous. It's never been working properly, since day one"

Me: "Well, you should have brought it back then...."

I also had a guy go mad because I wouldn't exchange his daughters phone, because the outer casing was cracked. She said it was just in her pocket with a 10e note, and she took it out and it was cracked. He then went on to say that it was cracked when the phone was opened. I asked him why he didn't bring it back then (which was about 3 weeks later), and he said he actually had to work for a living (which I clearly didn't have to, obviously), and couldn't make it in. I said that he should have called us, and we're open 7 days a week. He asked to speak to the manager, I said that you are, and then he demanded the mobile number for my manager. His daughter had walked out, with the phone, mortified at this stage. Eventually, he just stormed out, ringing customer care.

krudler

People who complain about coverage in the most random places
"yeah i cant get a signal when im standing behind my garden shed...in the rain"

and people who ring in on carkits or put me on speaker when talking to me, absolutely drives me bananas,especially when the tv is blaring in the background and theres 8 screaming kids running about the room, then they complain "i cant here yas would yas talk oop a bit would yas, me kids is rooning around dere watchin de telly?" arrrgggggh!

Bijoux

Epic thread....I've been only working in the business for a month, but jebus there are some weird things that go on.

Here's one from today:


Dude: I want this navigator phone.
Me: Profiles customers needs, picks a tariff, explains about the phone, including that it has MAPS installed on it.
Dude: Yes but I need GPS.
Me: Yes, the GPS maps for Ireland are preloaded, and the European maps can be downloaded at any time.
Dude: But I need European maps.


Cue this conversation being repeated over and over for twenty minutes, I must have told him ten times that he could download any map he likes at the touch of a button.
He leaves without buying the phone because the European maps aren't on it.
:rolleyes:


Or the mammy who came in whose daughter wants a flip phone


Me: Well we only have one flip phone at the minute, it's the nokia 2760
Your wan: Does it come in pink?
Me: I'm afraid not.
Your wan: Oh right....well she wants a flip phone.
Me: I'm afraid thats the only one we have, flip phones are being replaced by slide phones now, would she be interested in one of those?
Your wan: So what other flip phones do you have?

Smart attentive lady, she was


That said, for every 3 or 4 crazy customers you do get 1 lovely person who has a genuine problem or query.

yeroulfella

Dont work in the phone industry but was behind a foreign woman a few years ago in a vodafone kiosk in Blanch. Her fone had water damage and wanted it fixed. The woman behind the counter kept saying that water damage was not covered but she could send it off to be repaired for 80euro. The woman wanted it replaced there and then as it was an accident. she was told no again. this went on for a bit with the customer getting more annoyed. Then the customer said something in a different language which I can only imagine wasnt very nice (which I thought was from Nigeria) To my surprise the woman behind the counter replied to her in the same language. The customer turned and walked out of the shop, the look of shock on her face was priceless. It turned out the customer was speaking French. we had a good laugh as I got my 20euro credit.

Dont know how ye deal with some people shouting at you. I'd scream at them and tell them how stupid they are and throw the fone at them,

120_Minutes

I replay the scene from high fidelity in my head, where tim robbins gets hit in the face with a phone. except in my head i'm punching the customer full force in the face.

Garth

Yes French is a common language in several African countries... and there are a lot of black people who are French as well!

The accent is very different but I have managed the same trick myself in the past. Shocked the hell out of a couple of young fellas.