Mystery Caller: calls to Australia

Mystery Caller’s better half is moving out to Australia for at least six months and he wants to keep in touch on his mobile. He asked the operators what they could offer to help him maintain his long-distance relationship

6: Virgin Mobile

Mark had nothing to offer and didn’t seem to care very much

Manner – 1/5
Understanding – 1/5
Knowledge – 2/5
Helpfulness – 1/5
Clarity – 2/5
Overall – 1/5
Total – 8/30

=4: Orange

The Camel looked promising, but the sneaky idea could have left me single

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

=4: O2

Jamie wasn’t confident, but his “Call Me” option had appeal

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

3: Vodafone

Gary’s deal wasn’t too bad, but he should get that cough checked out

Manner –3/5
Understanding – 4/5
Knowledge – 4/5
Helpfulness – 4/5
Clarity – 3/5
Overall – 4/5
Total – 22/30

2: Three

Huw was a pleasure to listen to, and he had an unusual prepay option

Manner – 4/5
Understanding – 3/5
Knowledge – 4/5
Helpfulness – 4/5
Clarity – 4/5
Overall – 4/5
Total – 23/30

1: T-Mobile

Carrie was friendly, and came up with a range of options

Manner – 5/5
Understanding – 4/5
Knowledge – 4/5
Helpfulness – 5/5
Clarity – 4/5
Overall – 4/5
Total – 26/30

Summary

Most of the CSAs put in a decent performance this week, except for Virgin, which couldn’t offer me anything and wasn’t even able to be nice about it.

Otherwise, the operators came up with interesting solutions, and the variety of international calling options was impressive. O2’s Call Me idea, and Three’s cheaper prepay calls were both standouts.

But in the end, Carrie at T-Mobile came top because she could offer a flexible range of relatively cheap options for calls to Australia, and presented them with clarity and charm.

Full review in Mobile News issue 500 (October 24, 2011).