I had to activate a new phone today because my current one keeps locking up so they replaced it. I called sprint, and the lady was speaking english words but wasn't understanding my simple grammar of "i want to swap phones". Somehow through the conversation she said that i would need to provider her an alternate number for her to contact me to continue the ESN swap. I said that wasn't possible, she said there was nothing she could do for me.
After some self exploration on their website, i found they had a webtool (that the CSR should have told me about instead of saying she couldn't help me) and i went into that. Joined a chat session with a CSR and had the following, comical but aggravating conversation with yet another inept CSR.
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9:38:26 AM |
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System |
Connected to sprint-ap1.cnxchat.com |
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9:38:26 AM |
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System |
Session ID: 1055692 |
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9:38:31 AM |
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System |
Please hold and the next available agent will be with you shortly. |
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9:38:51 AM |
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System |
Shanika has joined this session! |
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9:38:51 AM |
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System |
Connected with Shanika |
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9:38:56 AM |
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Shanika |
Thank you for contacting Sprint. My name is Shanika. How may I assist you today? |
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9:39:05 AM |
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Me |
need to swap phones |
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9:40:04 AM |
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Me |
new phone: dec:*******48, hex:******c4 |
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9:40:51 AM |
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Shanika |
You will need to contact Activations at 888-715-4588. They will be able to assist you in this ESN Swap. |
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9:40:57 AM |
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Me |
no they couldn't |
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9:41:02 AM |
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Me |
i didn' thave a phone to talk to them on |
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9:41:21 AM |
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Me |
already talked to them |
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9:41:50 AM |
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Shanika |
I do apologize but I'm not able to assist you in this matter. |
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9:42:00 AM |
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Me |
the front page of sprintpcw.com says click here for activations and then leads me to this chat |
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9:42:07 AM |
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Me |
sprintpcs.com |
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9:42:46 AM |
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Me |
the page i clicked "begin chat" on says Swap your phone and activate a new phone for an existing number on your account. Enter your information below and chat with us to complete your activation.
Note: This service is available Monday-Friday, 8 a.m. to 11 p.m. (Eastern) and Saturday–Sunday 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. (Eastern) |
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9:42:59 AM |
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Me |
thats what i did, and thats what took me to you |
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9:43:33 AM |
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Me |
can you explain to me why the website takes me to this chat and you're sending me off to a different place? |
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9:44:16 AM |
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Me |
here's the link: http://www4.sprint.com/WLSApp/esnswap/do/new/ESValidatePhone |
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9:45:27 AM |
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Shanika |
I'm not able to do this for you because there are certain people in the chat department that handle doing the ESN Swaps, also if customers login to their Sprint.com account they can activate the phone there self. |
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9:45:54 AM |
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Me |
so can you get one of those people for me then |
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9:46:17 AM |
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Me |
or tell me how to get to the self-activation page |
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9:47:27 AM |
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Shanika |
I do apologize but I'm not able to transfer you to anyone to handle this. You can login to your Sprint.com account and on the home page their is a Activate link. If not you can log out and then back in to chat in with another Agent to have them assist you. |
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9:48:01 AM |
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Me |
ok, perfect. SHould have said that to begin with. when you say "you can't do X" that's what we, in the customer service industry call "bad customer service." |
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9:48:11 AM |
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System |
The session has ended! |
In case you're new to customer service, the single most important rule that i was taught is: Never ever say you cannot do something, but instead focus on what you CAN do for the customer.
In both of these situations the CSR should have said what they could do for me instead of being unwilling to offer any assistance at all.
The first should have responded to my lack of additional phone by saying "Well an alternative to the phone activation via phone is available, just go to sprintpcs.com and click on the activate phone link"
the second rep when i asked for a phone swpa should have said "sir, i'm actually not a chat rep who can perform an activation and i'm unable to transfer you to one directly, however you could disconnect from this session and open another until you get a chat rep who can help you."
There sprint, enjoy your CSR lesson.