Journal Entries
Red Care? Of Course I Do!
Posted May 31, 2003
There is a special kind of buglar alarm called Red Care. It works by sending regular signals down the line so that the control centre knows the line has not been cut by burglars. The rest of it works the same as any other alarm.
Customers whose Red Care alarm line is dead get very panicky. It's understandable, their alarm won't arm if the line is dead. But they expect us to perform miracles, elbow grannies aside and break speed limits to repair the line.
Some of them even think that the statistical risk of being burgled increases when the alarm is faulty.
We try to get them back on ASAP, but when it comes down to it, they are on a standard residential line and will have to wait their turn like everyone else.
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Latest reply: May 31, 2003
Deaf AND Psychic?
Posted May 31, 2003
The most annoying kind of customer to get.
"Good morning -- faults, Kevin speaking, can I hav-"
"Yes, my phone is faulty. What's wrong with it?"
"Well at a guess I'd say some clumsy oaf spilt coffee into the handset last night while looking for the light switch."
"Really?"
"No not really, I need your number before I can check what's wrong with it!"
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Latest reply: May 31, 2003
Net Gain Zero
Posted May 28, 2003
A customer called wanting a gain increase, nothing unusual about that, happens all the time when the Internet is running slow for customers.
Then the customer mentioned that the line was niosy intermitently. I advised that it would be best to find the cause of the noise, as increasing the gain on a noisy line only makes it worse.
Customer said No, she wanted the gain increased.
I told her it might make the noise worse. The customer insisted.
I said that if I increased it and it made it worse it was difficult to reduce it back to normal.
Customer said she had had the fault "diagnosed" and had been told to get the gain increased.
I increased the line knowing full well that it will probably make her line unusable and the Internet won't connect at all.
You have to give the customer what they want.
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Latest reply: May 28, 2003
Net Gain Zero
Posted May 28, 2003
A customer called wanting a gain increase, nothing unusual about that, happens all the time when the Internet is running slow for customers.
Then the customer mentioned that the line was niosy intermitently. I advised that it would be best to find the cause of the noise, as increasing the gain on a noisy line only makes it worse.
Customer said No, she wanted the gain increased.
I told her it might make the noise worse. The customer insisted.
I said that if I increased it and it made it worse it was difficult to reduce it back to normal.
Customer said she had had the fault "diagnosed" and had been told to get the gain increased.
I increased the line knowing full well that it will probably make her line unusable and the Internet won't connect at all.
Discuss this Journal entry [1]
Latest reply: May 28, 2003
Data Provocation
Posted May 22, 2003
The Data Protection Act prevents us from giving out details of a customer to anyone who is not entitled to it. Only the customer and BT can view the information, so when 3rd party caller ask why they can't get through to the number, we have to say.
"I'm sorry I cannot tell you. The data protection act prevents me from disclosing that information."
Some of them get very stroppy at this point and demand to know what is wrong.
I still can't tell them and explain why.
Really it comes down to: "Would you be happy if some stranger called us saying they couldn't get through to you, and we told them it was because you hadn't paid the bill?"
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Latest reply: May 22, 2003
Atlantic_Cable
Researcher U196159
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