Mystery Caller: prepay phone for under £100

With Christmas fast approaching, Mystery Caller is on the lookout for a present for her mum – a prepay phone costing around £100. Can the networks help her find the perfect gift?

6: Virgin

Jane did a pretty good job but I missed out on the best deals as I’m not with Virgin Media

Manner – 2/5
Understanding – 3/5
Knowledge – 2/5
Helpfulness – 2/5
Clarity – 2/5
Overall – 2/5
Total – 13/30

5: Three

CSA Mark at first denied having any phones within my budget, but he came up with some when I pushed him

Manner – 3/5
Understanding – 2/5
Knowledge – 4/5
Helpfulness – 4/5
Clarity – 2/5
Overall – 3/5
Total – 18/30

=3: O2

Although she had not tried the phone herself, Lesley said she had heard it was very easy to use

Manner – 4/5
Understanding – 3/5
Knowledge – 1/5
Helpfulness – 4/5
Clarity – 4/5
Overall – 3/5
Total – 19/30

=3: Vodafone

Natalie was genuinely happy to help me and would have got higher marks if able to give more detailed information

Manner – 4/5
Understanding – 3/5
Knowledge – 2/5
Helpfulness – 4/5
Clarity – 3/5
Overall – 3/5
Total – 19/30

2: Orange

We got off to a good start but then I was placed on hold while she ‘checked phones’

Manner – 3/5
Understanding – 4/5
Knowledge – 2/5
Helpfulness – 4/5
Clarity – 4/5
Overall – 4/5
Total – 21/30

1: T-Mobile

At the point CSAs usually start to get annoyed with me for asking too many questions, Simon was still going strong

Manner – 5/5
Understanding – 5/5
Knowledge – 4/5
Helpfulness – 5/5
Clarity – 5/5
Overall – 5/5
Total – 29/30

Summary

Prepay is always an area where CSAs, usually only responsible for selling postpay devices, fall down. This issue’s mystery caller marked no exception, with most unable to provide pre-pay tariffs.

For this reason Simon at T-Mobile stood out, as I got all the information I wanted from him. Orange’s CSA out-performed O2 and Vodafone simply because she was well reasoned in her recommendation, despite lacking detailed knowledge.

O2, Vodafone and Three all performed similarly well, making many of the same product suggestions and all unable to actually sell me a phone.

Full article in Mobile News issue 554 (December 16, 2013).

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