O2 chat once again. Gotta laugh...or cry :)

[cyrillicguy]

Hi there

So I've damaged my O2 Pay&Go sim, ordered a new one, and once it has arrived went to the O2 chat in order to get my number transferred to a new sim.

Posting a transcript here, as to me it tells a thing or two about the O2 customer service as well as puts a kinda sad smile on my face.

info: Welcome to O2. Someone will be with you soon.
info: You're through to 'O2'
O2: Hi I'm *****. How can I help?
Eric: Hi
Eric: As I damaged my PayGo sim, I asked for a new one to be sent out to me
Eric: Now it has arrived, so I'd like to transfer my PayGo number, tariff, credit and alowances onto that new sim
Eric: could you help me with that?
O2: I'll help you in transferring your number.
O2: Can you help me with your old number and its SIM Serial number?
Eric: which one is the "old" number?

(I know it sounds like a stupid question to ask, but I did just in case )

O2: The one which is damaged.
Eric: it's 07*********
Eric: i don't know the serial number of that sim though
O2: Can you help me with the 2 numbers you frequently call or send text?
Eric: just a sec
Eric: *********** and ***********
O2: Thank you.
O2: Just give me a minute.
O2: Thanks for waiting.
O2: I'm sorry to say that this is a special number and we won't be able to take the request for this number.

("SPECIAL" NUMBER? :[ ] Any ideas what that could mean? )

O2: I'll help you with the link to send the request for the number transfer.
Eric: what do you mean by the "special number"
Eric: ?

O2: Click here (THE LINK LEADS TO http://swapmysim.o2.co.uk/)
O2: Special number is a specific series of numbers and we've specialized team on call which handles theie query.
O2: their*
Eric: so you gave me that link
O2: Click here to send the request for number transfer
Eric: Are you aware of the very first step your website asks me to do once I click that link?

A PAUSE....

Eric: hello?
O2: Yes, I'm with you.
Eric: Are you aware of the very first step your website asks me to do once I click that link?
O2: It ask you to enter the number.
Eric: it asks me to enter the number, so it can send me a verification text
Eric: how am I supposed to receive that text if my sim is damaged?
O2: Therefore I requested you to call our team. (NO, YOU NEVER )
O2: From your O2 mobile 4445 25p per call
O2: From a landline 0344 8090222 Standard UK Rate
O2: From abroad +44 7860 980 202 International rates

WELL, NOW YOU HAVE REQUESTED TO CALL THE TEAM

Eric: why you gave me the link then if it's clearly unusable
Eric: ?
O2: Opening times
O2: Monday - Friday 08:00 - 21:00
O2: Saturday 08:00 - 20:00
O2: Sunday 09:00 - 18:00
O2: We provide this link to call the customers for self serve.
O2: I'm sorry, if this would've been possible from my end, I'd have already helped you

Have a nice evening, folks

[viridis]

"The experienced posters here are no better, because it seems that with the exception of me, most take pleasure in deliberately tripping up the support staff"

Or, and this may be a crazy idea, we just know when someone is talking rubbish.

Sorry but you are acting like you're the only person who is nice to them or the only person who will take the time to explain a second time, we have, and on occasion still do.
Your patronising manner at which you refer to people who have a LOT more experience with the O2 support ecosystem is tbh a bit insulting as someone who has only just joined o2 and therefore has only possibly had a fraction of the problems members have seen for years.
As suggested, a quick use of the search function will show you some of the results people have had from live chat over the years and whilst you may have had good experience in your short o2 lifespan, rest assured you are firmly in the minority.

[cyrillicguy]

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@Anonymous wrote:

I think it's amasing to see people who are normally very open minded having such a narrow minded vision when it comes to this issue.

It's easy to criticise and much more difficult to present a solution.

Nobody it seems is satisfied with the live chat, but what do you actually want from it?  Do you want to get rid of it altogether?  Better not, because CS will be loaded down with more calls and the service there will detreriorate.

If you think that O2 should have a team of fully trained telephone technical specialists in a UK based call centre, be realistic.  The cost would simply be too high.  That is why these services are outsourced abroad - to make them a financially viable option.  British people simply wouldn't do the job here.

As for the issues that they should be able to speak English well enough to resolve the problem, and the system shouldn't let them down, these are both valid points.  However, in the majority of examples I have seen here of chat logs, I don't see this as the source of the problem.  Most of the time, at the first mistake, the customer starts trying to pick holes in the service or 'score' over the advisor by pointing out the mistake in a sarcastic manner.

I have never worked in a call centre, but I have lived abroad for some time and I know that some people get real pleasure out of deliberately trying to pick holes in your mistakes.  Gets old really quickly and I just tend to loose the desire to converse with such people.  I imagine that the chat advisors do the same.

For example, in the lastest chat log, after Aerial gives the link out, I don't see the point in asking whether she knows what the website is going to ask, as a sarcastic way of saying that it won't work.  Almost certainly, the sarcasm bit would have gone completely over her head, because she wasn't expecting it.  Much better to have said, "thanks, but that link won't work, because I'll be unable to receive the text it sends back".

Maybe it is easier for me, because I program computers professionally, am multi-lingual and have lived abroad in a different culture for some time.  As such, I am used to making myself clear.

Garbage or sarcasm in, garbabe out, and really I'm yet to see a chat log where the customer explained clearly and politely what they wanted and it still ended in confusion.

---

I do agree that it is much more difficult to present a solution than it is to criticise. However, I wouldn't like to start mixing up the roles here. I am a customer, and when it comes to my relationship with a service provider, my only two obligations to the company are to timely pay the agreed amount and to use their service in non-abusive manner (i.e. to honor any relevant restrictions set up in their T&Cs). That's it. I don't want to be a 'solution seeker' for someone who I don't work for. I want the service provider to tell me what solutions are available from their end instead. If O2 says "hey, we've got that Live Chat here for you customer service needs", then I do assume that when I have a problem or an enquiry, this would be "the door to chap", or one of the "doors" anyway, and they'll take it from there. Ok, there always be problems they might not be able to resolve there and then (though, in my opinion, merely porting a number between sims shouldn't be one of them), but there should be the system in place allowing my enquiry to reach the person with an appropriate level of expertise / being allowed to make certain decisions. All I want as a customer is just to "chap the door" and ask for help.

As for cost-cutting measures, it is of course up to the company what they do to save up a few bob. All I am asking is to be upfront to their customer in regards to how that affects their service quality. Got a Live Chat which is not capable (for whatever reason) handling certain enquires? Fine, let me know in advance if that's the case, don't make me to find it out the hard way. 

Finally, yes, you're right in saying that sarcasm perhaps is not always justified, but sometimes it is just a defencive reaction sort of.  When it comes to customer service, the "I neither have a clue nor really care about your problem, but I'll just follow the script and expect you to smile and be patient" attitude seems to become one of the main trends these days.

[Anonymous]

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@Bambino wrote:

I only asked you to copy and paste what you interpreted as sarcasm because I don't see the sarcasm. What I see that may be sarcastic is what the OP put in parentheses, but that isn't anything the chat operator would have seen. The OP was specific and clear in what he was asking for. Live Chat got it wrong, as they so often do.

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@Just about ten posts ago I wrote:

"I interpreted his question about the link not working as sarcasm.  Up to that point, the operator was giving all the information he had to hand"

And before that:

"

For example, in the lastest chat log, after [name removed] gives the link out, I don't see the point in asking whether she knows what the website is going to ask, as a sarcastic way of saying that it won't work.  Almost certainly, the sarcasm bit would have gone completely over her head, because she wasn't expecting it.  Much better to have said, "thanks, but that link won't work, because I'll be unable to receive the text it sends back".

"

You are continuing to comment on a thread which you have not read from the begining.  I feel like a live chat operator at the moment.

[Anonymous]

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cyrillicguy wrote:

I do agree that it is much more difficult to present a solution than it is to criticise. However, I wouldn't like to start mixing up the roles here. I am a customer, and when it comes to my relationship with a service provider, my only two obligations to the company are to timely pay the agreed amount and to use their service in non-abusive manner (i.e. to honor any relevant restrictions set up in their T&Cs).

Agreed

If O2 says "hey, we've got that Live Chat here for you customer service needs", then I do assume that when I have a problem or an enquiry, this would be "the door to chap", or one of the "doors" anyway, and they'll take it from there. Ok, there always be problems they might not be able to resolve there and then (though, in my opinion, merely porting a number between sims shouldn't be one of them), but there should be the system in place allowing my enquiry to reach the person with an appropriate level of expertise / being allowed to make certain decisions. All I want as a customer is just to "chap the door" and ask for help.

Again, I agree.  That's why I commented on this thread, because I believe that there is a way to improve the service, whilst keeping it outsourced to India, which is the only financially viable way to run it at all.

As for cost-cutting measures, it is of course up to the company what they do to save up a few bob.

It's more than you think.  Typically the cost would rise at least four fold to bring the live chat facility here to the UK.  It's not just the operators there, you know, real techies have to maintain the internet connectivity and infrastructure too, and they don't earn the minimun wage, I can assure you.

All I am asking is to be upfront to their customer in regards to how that affects their service quality. Got a Live Chat which is not capable (for whatever reason) handling certain enquires? Fine, let me know in advance if that's the case, don't make me to find it out the hard way.

I think you're being a bit hard here.  Nobody is obliged to use it, it's not a replacement for CS.

Finally, yes, you're right in saying that sarcasm perhaps is not always justified, but sometimes it is just a defencive reaction sort of.  When it comes to customer service, the "I neither have a clue nor really care about your problem, but I'll just follow the script and expect you to smile and be patient" attitude seems to become one of the main trends these days.

The big problem is that most people do not realise that people of a different culture or who speak english as a second language usually don't interpret these things in the same way.  They will try to interpret what you say literally.

In your case, the operator probably thought that you wanted to clarify what the link would ask you to do, before you ended the chat, not that it was a sarcastic way to tell him that it wouldn't work.

Not your fault, but not his either.  Both are valid interpretations.

[Anonymous]

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@viridis wrote:
"The experienced posters here are no better, because it seems that with the exception of me, most take pleasure in deliberately tripping up the support staff"

Or, and this may be a crazy idea, we just know when someone is talking rubbish.

Sorry but you are acting like you're the only person who is nice to them or the only person who will take the time to explain a second time, we have, and on occasion still do.
Your patronising manner at which you refer to people who have a LOT more experience with the O2 support ecosystem is tbh a bit insulting as someone who has only just joined o2 and therefore has only possibly had a fraction of the problems members have seen for years.
As suggested, a quick use of the search function will show you some of the results people have had from live chat over the years and whilst you may have had good experience in your short o2 lifespan, rest assured you are firmly in the minority.

---

Note how you are resorting to personal attacks directed towards me, and contributing no new suggestions as to how to improve the live chat service?

I don't know why you assume that I have had a short O2 lifespan just because I only joined the forum a couple of weeks ago.  That has no connection to how long I have been an O2 customer.

If it's an attempt to provoke me, or wind me up, then it's failed.

[Toby]

Hi guys,

This has become a very constructive and meaningful debate from my point of view, but please ensure it remains this way, as some very interesting points are being made that I can feed back to the team. I'm not aiming at anyone specifically, its just a general request from me.

You've all got great points to make and I want to hear them all without having to close the thread

[viridis]

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@Anonymous wrote:

---

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Note how you are resorting to personal attacks directed towards me, and contributing no new suggestions as to how to improve the live chat service?

That's no personal attack, it's an opinion on your method of writing about regular members here. However, you stating you could tie up regulars on here with no problem was not insulting at all was it?

I don't know why you assume that I have had a short O2 lifespan just because I only joined the forum a couple of weeks ago.  That has no connection to how long I have been an O2 customer.

@Because on Dec 29th you wrote:

"I've just started a 12 month sim only contract with O2, ending my many years with EE, infact I had been using them since the Mercury days, (I was just a teenager back then)."

If it's an attempt to provoke me, or wind me up, then it's failed.

No it was an effort to make you see that you are talking down to members as if you were the only one who got good results because you were the only one who was nice and the only one who gave them courtesy, which is nonsense.

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[cyrillicguy]

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@Anonymous wrote:

---

@cyrillicguy wrote:

I do agree that it is much more difficult to present a solution than it is to criticise. However, I wouldn't like to start mixing up the roles here. I am a customer, and when it comes to my relationship with a service provider, my only two obligations to the company are to timely pay the agreed amount and to use their service in non-abusive manner (i.e. to honor any relevant restrictions set up in their T&Cs).

Agreed

If O2 says "hey, we've got that Live Chat here for you customer service needs", then I do assume that when I have a problem or an enquiry, this would be "the door to chap", or one of the "doors" anyway, and they'll take it from there. Ok, there always be problems they might not be able to resolve there and then (though, in my opinion, merely porting a number between sims shouldn't be one of them), but there should be the system in place allowing my enquiry to reach the person with an appropriate level of expertise / being allowed to make certain decisions. All I want as a customer is just to "chap the door" and ask for help.

Again, I agree.  That's why I commented on this thread, because I believe that there is a way to improve the service, whilst keeping it outsourced to India, which is the only financially viable way to run it at all.

As for cost-cutting measures, it is of course up to the company what they do to save up a few bob.

It's more than you think.  Typically the cost would rise at least four fold to bring the live chat facility here to the UK.  It's not just the operators there, you know, real techies have to maintain the internet connectivity and infrastructure too, and they don't earn the minimun wage, I can assure you.

All I am asking is to be upfront to their customer in regards to how that affects their service quality. Got a Live Chat which is not capable (for whatever reason) handling certain enquires? Fine, let me know in advance if that's the case, don't make me to find it out the hard way.

I think you're being a bit hard here.  Nobody is obliged to use it, it's not a replacement for CS.

It's not quite about what I am obliged to use, it's about what kind of tools the company provides to me and other customers in order to handle our CS enquiries. The chat facility itself is just one of the methods to have a conversation, like a phone line, or a face-to-face chat. To me, calling it a "replacement" or "non-replacement" for CS is not quite logical, as it is (or should be anyways) essentially CS, just delivered  differently (or via different media if you like).

[Anonymous]

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viridis wrote:

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Telephone_user wrote:

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Note how you are resorting to personal attacks directed towards me, and contributing no new suggestions as to how to improve the live chat service?

That's no personal attack, it's an opinion on your method of writing about regular members here. However, you stating you could tie up regulars on here with no problem was not insulting at all was it?

It's a fact.  I have demonstrated my technical knowledge in numerous threads.  I also said that I didn't have any desire to do this.  Not sure how you see that as insulting.  It was not intended in that way, and I think the intention was clear.

I don't know why you assume that I have had a short O2 lifespan just because I only joined the forum a couple of weeks ago.  That has no connection to how long I have been an O2 customer.

Because on Dec 29th you wrote:

"I've just started a 12 month sim only contract with O2, ending my many years with EE, infact I had been using them since the Mercury days, (I was just a teenager back then)."

But I was a PAYG user before then, which was not really relevant at the time posted about my new contract, so I didn't mention it.  You didn't ask, you assumed.

If it's an attempt to provoke me, or wind me up, then it's failed.

No it was an effort to make you see that you are talking down to members as if you were the only one who got good results because you were the only one who was nice and the only one who gave them courtesy, which is nonsense.

Is it nonsense?  As I said before, I am unable to reproduce the same problems other people claim to have had with the live chat.  The difference I see is that other people, sooner or later, become sarcastic, post unclear or confusing information, or become inpatient right at the begining of the chat session.

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[Anonymous]

cyrillicguy wrote:

It's not quite about what I am obliged to use, it's about what kind of tools the company provides to me and other customers in order to handle our CS enquiries. The chat facility itself is just one of the methods to have a conversation, like a phone line, or a face-to-face chat. To me, calling it a "replacement" or "non-replacement" for CS is not quite logical, as it is (or should be anyways) essentially CS, just delivered  differently (or via different media if you like).

So would you be in favour of taking CS representatives off of the phones and putting them in live chat, thereby reducing the number available, and making waiting times on 202 longer?

That would be the trade off you took.

And realise that operators who are skilled at handling telephone based queries may struggle to talk to ten people at once on a live chat - or do you think that they just deal with one at a time?  Ha!