Yesterday I spent over an hour on the phone with the support team at the cell phone company where we have our current cell phone plan. Basically I went through the past couple bills and realized there were some errors in billing and discounts which were promised to us were not processed. Here are some tips to help you get what you want the next time you have to deal with any sort of customer support on the phone.

Before you make the call be clear about what result you want and have a pen and paper handy to take notes. Remember to write down the following :

- the reason for your call, this way you can always refer back to it during the conversation to remember every detail you wanted to cover.

- when the customer support agent answers ask them their name and write it down. (ask for a employee number if they won’t give you their name) Always address them by their name to make them feel important during the call.

- also make note of the date and time

- ask them if they open a file for every call they get and ask for that file number (write it down)

- write down every bit of info during the conversation you have with them.

- if they mention that a work order was created for your case, ask for that number and write it down as well.

All this information will be useful if you have to follow up in the future if you still see that your problem wasn’t resolved, so keep all the notes you make in a safe place where you can refer back to it. Don’t make these notes on the back of an envelope or scrap paper as I assure you it will get misplaced. I would even suggest you make these notes or transcribe it later to a text file on your computer.

During the call.

Don’t start off on a negative note. as there’s nothing to gain if you approach the call with anger. Be polite, introduce yourself and be clear about the reason for your call. Customer support agents are always willing to work with civil people, so even if you find that during the call  your patience is being tested, pause and reassure the agent that you’re not mad at them and that you know they’re only following directives given to them.. however you would still like to get this resolved.

Be sure to point out why you feel you deserve what you’re asking for. In my case it was an instant discount on the phones we upgraded to as well as a mail in rebate. The person helping me said that according tho their notes (from the person that sold the package to me) showed a different price than what was being quoted by me. I explained to her that while on the phone back in late December I was promised a certain price and that is what I expected. I went on to explain that though the sales agent told me the price on the during our conversation I had no control what she entered in the “notes” she took (as was not looking over her back to see what she entered). However I was able to produce exactly what was quoted to me, since as I mentioned above.. I take notes. This I can control, since this is from my end. This is where the note taking comes in handy.

I was getting nowhere very fast, so I politely mentioned to her that I’d like to know what the procedure was for escalating this (I didn’t want to come out and say “you’re no help to me) so she then put her floor supervisor on the phone. I again was very polite and explain the situation and was very clear about “what I expected”. You must be clear and to the point. Don’t ask..demand, but politely.

Though that conversation was headed in the same direction as with the person before, I was not going to give up and I pressed for the result I wanted. This was promised to me and I would get it.

With the help of the notes I had from when I first dealt with their sales agent and the fact that I was clear about the result I expected added to the fact that I didn’t get mad and harsh to the people helping me… it was resolved.

Leave me your comments if you have some tips on dealing with customer support agents and getting what you want during a phone call.
Cheers

Chris….