I'd like to ask your opinion about the following correspondence

In My Humble Opinion
1

I recently sent some email to my Wireless telephone provider asking them a question. It took me three tries to get the correct answer and I’d like to ask your opinion as to whether the fault was mine or the fault of the service reps who handled my question. Did I fail to write the question correctly? Or did they fail to understand me?

I use a prepaid phone service. We have to purchase a voucher and then we can use that voucher to extend the amount of time we will get service.

For example, my rate is 35 cents per minute. If I buy a $20 voucher, I can use as much as I like up until 30 days. If I don’t refill my account again before another 30 days goes by, my balance will be zapped to zero.

$20 divided by 35 cents is around 57 minutes. So, I can use 57 minutes over the course of the next 30 days. If I use more than 57 minutes, I need to buy another voucher and apply it to my account.

If I use less than 57 minutes but hit the 30 day passes, I will lose all the remaining money in my account and I will have to buy a new voucher.

It sounds a lot more onerous than it is. I’ve used this service for more than ten years now and only once have I failed to notice I ran out of air time.

Anyway, the one question I tried to ask was how long after buying a voucher could I keep it before using it. It’s kind of like asking what the “shelf life” of a voucher is. I expected that I could keep it for perhaps one year before the system would decide the voucher was no longer usable.

The answer, by the way, is that the vouchers are unlimited. So, I could buy a voucher today and keep it for ten years before using it and it would still be valid.

But the question I’d like to ask is that I had to send three emails to my service rep before I finally got the correct answer and I’d like to know whether the misunderstanding was my fault or their fault or maybe no one’s fault. Please take a look at the following exchange and see what you think?

Thank you. (P.S. The name of my service is “FIDO”)

To: FIDO 2:24 PM Sat. Jan 3. 2015
Question: How long is a Fido voucher good for until it expires?

From: FIDO 1:36 PM Sat. Jan 3. 2015

Dear Charlie,

Thank you for visiting our website and allowing us the opportunity to assist you. My name is XXX.

Here is the information you requested:

$10, $20 and $30 vouchers provide access to the network for up to 30 days from date added to the account; $50 vouchers for up to 60 days; $100 vouchers for up to 365 days.

If you don’t refill your account before the balance expiry date, any remaining balance in your account will expire and be lost. You’ll no longer be able to use your phone except for emergency 911 calls. However, you can restore your expired balance if you refill within 7 days of the expiry date.

Regards, XXX | Fido Customer Service Representative

To: FIDO 2:24 PM Sat. Jan 3. 2015

Oh dear. I fear I didn’t ask the right question.

You know how a product can have a shelf life of say 3 months? And after that time it goes bad?

That is what I wanted to know about buying a voucher. If I buy one on say Jan. 1 of this year. How long can I keep it without using it before it expires and becomes worthless?

I hope that I have phrased the question in a better way so that it is clear now and I’m sorry if I failed to ask the proper question in my original email.

From: FIDO 2:47 PM Sat. Jan 3, 2015

Hi Charlie ,

It depends on the value of the voucher, as an exemple, the $10, $20 and $30 expire after 1 month, if you don’t use it all and don’t refill the account within 7 days of the expiry date let’s say the 25th of january for a cvoucher purchased on january 1st, the remaining airtime will be lost.

Regards, XXX | Fido Customer Service Representative

3:39 PM Sat. Jan 3. 2015

I’m sorry to contradict you XXX, but I am 99.99% certain that I have purchased $20 vouchers in the past and kept them for 3 months or longer and then used them and they still worked.

So, can you please check and verify that? I will now try an experiment to prove that to you.

I purchased a $20 voucher on Nov 26, 2014. I purchased this voucher at XXXXX in XXXXXXX. The serial number was 137450589.

The voucher number is 8881 0682 9698 98 and I then used this voucher just a few minutes ago.

I used the voucher successfully today - Jan 3, 2015 and 3:35pm.

So, I’m certain that what you have told me does not answer my question.

2

P.S. There is no problem with my posting the Voucher number and its serial number since the voucher became worthless as soon as I used it.

3

The problem is the thing reading the email is a bot, not a human. All it did was recognize the word “voucher” and spit out the canned set of FAQs disguised as a semi-coherent email.

The other thing when trying to get answers is to keep your writing and vocabulary at about a 4th grade level. If your email ever does find it’s way to a human, that’s about the educational level they have, even if they’ve graduated from high school.

Keep it very simple. “After I buy a voucher, how long can I hold onto it before I must use the voucher to buy minutes?”

Also, is “voucher” the term they use? ALWAYS phrase your question using only the buzz-words and trade names the company itself uses. If they call it a “pre-buy card” and you call it a “voucher”, there’s about 1 chance in hell the customer service people will connect those two concepts. And zero chances in hell any “customer service” bot will do so.

4

What you asked seems pretty clear; you asked how long is a voucher valid if it is never used. The confusion (on their part) was in thinking you were asking how long the vouchers would be valid once they’ve been used. CW-1 Phone Company-0

5

I think it’s a misunderstanding on both sides.

I have a pay-as-you-go plan with Virgin Mobile. I can buy a top-up card almost anywhere and it will be valid for as long as I might reasonably hang on to it without using it.

However, once I use it (activate it), it counts as a top up for that month, and depending on the value of the top-up card, it may mean that I do not have to top-up again for 30 days, or 60 days, or even 90 days.

If I’ve got it right, you’re asking “How long is a card good for after I buy it at a store?” and they’re answering, “How long is a card good for after I activate it?” Different questions, different answers.

6

Yes. I think you nailed it.

7

Since it is an email conversation you might look at the originating IP in the header and then run it through a who is service like domain tools to find out what country it came from. A lot of those service type jobs are outsourced to Asia and Latin America. The people with heavy accents do emails and lighter accents do phones. They make like a dollar an hour maybe vs however much they might make if in Canada.

8

Question: How long is a Fido voucher good for until it expires?

This does not state that the voucher has not yet been activated and could reasonably be interpreted to mean what is its service life (e.g., 30 days) rather than what is its shelf life.

If I buy one on say Jan. 1 of this year. How long can I keep it without using it before it expires and becomes worthless?

Again doesn’t specify not activating it. “Using it” could reasonably be interpreted as actually making calls, i.e. using the minutes provided. They could plausibly assume it was activated soon after purchase, even though you didn’t say that, because that’s likely the case in 99% of the queries they receive.

Sometimes its a challenge to figure out how someone else will (mis)intrerpret something you write or say. It’s like proofreading your own work – you already know what you mean and your mind goes there automatically and subconsciously. A mistake may not register even if you are actively trying to find it.

In this case it seems the “magic word” is activate (or this company’s equivalent thereof), with the word use being interpreted one way by you and another way by them, with neither way necessarily being wrong, although the interpretations differ.

9

I don’t think you got a bot, I think you got an agent for whom English is not their first language. Call centres do not generally pay well, but they do pay and offer benefits. It’s an easy job to get and they really appeal to new arrivals in big cities looking for a job right now.

I think the question could have been clearer initially, but the follow-up should have got it for sure.