Mystery Caller: NFC

Mystery Caller’s friends have started using contactless payment cards. She wants to go one better and impress them by using her phone to pick up lunch – but can the networks help her?

6: Three

When I asked James for a phone with NFC technology, I wasn’t expecting his response: “NFC? What is that?”

Manner – 2/5
Understanding – 1/5
Knowledge – 0/5
Helpfulness – 1/5
Clarity – 1/5
Overall – 1/5
Total – 6/30

5: Vodafone

Katrina sounded anxious and mumbled her responses, which showed she didn’t really know what she was talking about

Manner – 2/5
Understanding – 1/5
Knowledge – 1/5
Helpfulness – 2/5
Clarity – 2/5
Overall – 2/5
Total – 10/30

4: Orange

Andrea did well for someone who didn’t know what NFC was at the start of the call

Manner – 5/5
Understanding – 2/5
Knowledge – 0/5
Helpfulness – 4/5
Clarity – 3/5
Overall – 3/5
Total – 17/30

3: T-Mobile

Mel gave up immediately when I said I wanted to do some more research before buying anything

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

2: Three

Jack listed the things ‘that are good about NFC’ – most likely he was reading from his computer screen, but I was relieved nonetheless

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

1: Virgin

Darwin had a lot of general knowledge about NFC, saying it was being used around the world to connect gadgets

Manner – 3/5
Understanding – 4/5
Knowledge – 4/5
Helpfulness – 4/5
Clarity – 2/5
Overall – 3/5
Total – 20/30

Summary

A very disappointing performance from all the CSAs this issue, especially Three’s James who didn’t know what NFC was.

A few others had this problem, including Orange’s Andrea and Vodafone’s Katrina, but they bought themselves time on the call by asking generic questions so they could find out what it was.

O2’s Jack also seemed very uninformed, although he coped well for someone who seemed to be learning about NFC for the first time during our call.

Mel at T-Mobile should have done better, as she had some knowledge of NFC, but let herself down by not knowing about EE’s Cash on Tap app.

Virgin’s CSA, Darwin, only just won by knowing a little more than all the others about NFC. He was the best of a bad bunch.

Full article in Mobile News issue 544 (July 29, 2013).

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