Mystery Caller: Business phones

Mystery Caller has scored a promotion and been told by his boss he can have a £35 a month allowance to spend on a business phone. Would the networks get inventive, or will it be BlackBerry all the way?

6: Virgin Mobile

“Would you like me to set-up an account for you now?” “No thank you,” I said. “Hmmm, yeah,” was her reply

Manner – 1/5
Understanding – 2/5
Knowledge – 3/5
Helpfulness – 2/5
Clarity – 2/5
Overall – 2/5
Total – 12/30

5: Orange

“I’m not supposed to use my phone at work, but I use it under the desk and nobody knows.”

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

4: O2

Adi (male) was the chalk to the cheese of the mournful time I’d spent waiting in the queue and was forthright and affirmative with his tone

Manner – 2/5
Understanding – 2/5
Knowledge – 3/5
Helpfulness – 3/5
Clarity – 2/5
Overall – 2/5
Total – 14/30

3: T-Mobile

Jenna was as chatty and bubbly as Laura had been, but this time stayed on the line

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

2: Vodafone

He was very courteous and referred to me as ‘sir’ on many occasions, although I’d have been happy to exchange names at the very start

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

1: Three

“The only difference is that BlackBerrys have BlackBerry Messenger, which Nokias don’t because, well they don’t.”

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

Summary

Of course BlackBerry was the preferred choice in this scenario, but did you really expect anything else? It’s just a shame that the majority of information was delivered in a haphazard way.

Three’s John-Paul gave the clearest indication that he knew his stuff and could offer me something to suit. And although he kept himself anonymous, Vodafone’s man offered me the most handset choices beyond a BlackBerry.

T-Mobile’s Jenna and Laura also did themselves proud by being so bubbly, even though fundamentally they weren’t that helpful, while O2’s Adi redeemed himself with a late blast on the HTC trumpet.

As for Orange’s David and Virgin Mobile’s Ivy, the less said the better.

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