[3GScottishUser]

Took my faulty 3Skypephone to my local 3Store today and what a pantomine!!

The manager thought it would be a straightforward return to TRS. Nope... they don't fix 3Skypephones...

So on to 3Store support and that is based in Mumbai.

The loonies asked for my name etc and then decided I had a problem with my contract phone!! DUH!!

The poor 3 sales person had no joy explaining the problem to the Mumbai support staff and gave up.... no wonder!

The dafties called my contract mobile from Mumbai and talked a pile of nonsense before connecting me to a sales menu!!

What a complete load of !! Nothing changes when 3's inept Indian call centre gets involved.

I have left the handset with the helpful chap in the 3Store and good luck to him. Happily I am in no great rush for the repair or replacement which seems just as well.

Whilst in the store I saw two USB modems returned because there was no coverage in Glasgow.... no arguments either.... accepted back and contracts cancelled. Do I smell a whiff of chancers?

[Hands0n]

I keep reading that the Mumbai experience is improving. But my suspicions are that it may well be, but only in places. Unless they replace their staff and training wholesale it is unlikely to make much difference.

In my work I occasion Call Centres for a rather large and well known UK company. We, too, have an Indian call centre. I have experienced them, as have a few of my friends and associates - some of whom have vowed never to deal with the firm ever again as a direct result of their own Customer Experience at the hands of our Indian call centre. My strict advice to anyone I know is to hang up and redial if they get our Indian call centre.

It is not 3, it is not Abbey, it is not any of the other UK companies that are at fault - it is, pure and simple, that the Indian nation does not have the Customer focus that the West does. A Customer, to them, is someone who should be grateful for getting any service at all. Theirs is not a nation of such wide choice borne of rabid capitalism. They do not have at their disposal five rival main mobile networks in such a compact and congested market. And so when they are confronted with an upset and indignant Customer their reaction is often one of indifference at best or abuse at worst. We, here in the UK, do not like to be treated like that and we vote with our cash at the earliest opportunity.

I cannot believe for a moment that 3 are still ignorant of this situation of their own making. That they do not, or cannot, do anything about it is indefensible. All and any of 3's good efforts - and they have been coming along thick and fast - are utterly squandered at the hands of their Mumbai call centre.

It grieves me to read your tale of woe above. Completely unacceptable in UK 2007 plc.

[gorilla]

I have to agree on most accounts. My gripe is with call centres in general. I've never experienced really good customer service over a phone. Yes I resolved problems and been informed but I prefer face to face contact. I feel that I communicate better that way.

With the amount of 3stores around now, you would expect there to be a section dedicated to customer / handset problems.

Do you think, 3GSU, that if you had walked in to the 3store, went up to a desk and said "I've got a problem" and the helpful rep said "no problem sir, lets see what I can do", and if he couldn't fix it, then leave it with him to sort out, that you would have had a more positive impression? Rather than have to listen to some BS from a customer rep who hasn't a clue.

[Ben]

That does indeed sound preferable, gorilla - even if it were just putting a professional face on a situation that would still result in mayhem behind the scenes.

[Hands0n]

Absolutely Gorilla and Ben - the Customer experience is king, and many of today's compnies forget that simple little thing. The very worst that any company can do is to expose their customer to their own inner workings which are [inevitably] chaotic at best.

To the customer 3 should be an icon of efficiency and effectiveness - whatever happens behind closed doors is another matter entirely.

Can 3 manage this? They have an opportunity to via the 3 stores - but their [short] history has been one of squandering opportunity, snatching failure from the hands of success and otherwise cocking up things up left, right and center. I have some faith in the new Guv, Kevin. But he has to (a) know about and (b) focus on these issues or he will go the way of his forebearer (and good riddance to that idiot Bob Fuller too!) who almost single-handedly did a Gerald Ratner on the company.

[3GScottishUser]

Well it's 48 hours later and no news from the 3Store.

I told them there is no rush and I don't expect to hear anything much until after new year.

The whole point about this is the often quoted example of not how well a company does when things go right, they should be judged on how well they manage issues when things go wrong.

My thoughts so far on this one are that 3 have made a bit of a meal out of this problem. The phone is an exclusive, valid with a valid SIM. That much they can check easily. It is faulty and was checked and confirmed as such. If no repair service applies then they should simply replace it. Makes sense when it has been explained to the staff that it was provided as a promotional item for evaluation by a 3G forum moderator.

We shall see how 3Store deal with this one. The staff seem OK but they just seem hamstrung with procedures that are complex and not customer friendly and they are supported by Mumbai and we all know if they dont have it on the script they are more hinderance than helpful.

[hecatae]

Any update on this?