Mystery Caller: Upgrading to contract

Mystery Caller is upgrading to a contract from prepay and wants the best handset he can get within a limited budget. He needs about 200 minutes, lots of texts and a decent data allowance, and is only prepared to pay £20 per month

5: Vodafone

His response to my concerns about limited data usage left me unsatisfied

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

=4: Orange

I hung up, disappointed I had been offered so little

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

=4: Virgin

She was really putting in the hard sell. I wasn’t entirely convinced

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

3: O2

I doubt anyone without an obsession with ’80s pop would have stayed on the line to talk to him

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

2: Three

His final pitch at getting me to make a snap decision was a little annoying

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

1: T-Mobile

Kerry gave me a thorough run-through of what the Xperia U offered

Manner – 4/5
Understanding – 4/5
Knowledge – 4/5
Helpfulness – 5/5
Clarity – 5/5
Overall – 5/5
Total – 27/30

Summary

Quite varied performances this time from the CSAs on a pretty standard question.

Vodafone’s CSA could have seemed like he cared more, and seemed misguided on his handset recommendation.

Both Orange and Virgin were simply too pushy, while O2’s horrendous queue lost them points, despite some enjoyable tunes.

Three’s David wasn’t perfect, but seemed to know his stu and was impeccably friendly, at least until he could feel the deal slipping from his grasp.

In the end Kerry, with a good manner, strong knowledge and a heartfelt but not pushy recommendation, took the top spot.

Full review in Mobile News issue 517 (July 2, 2012).