I have found a significant difference between the landline and cellphone divisions of my local phone company.
The landline folks know their stuff, and behave in a courteous manner. They come across as telecommunications professionals.
The cellphone folks are generally clueless, and sell cellphones based on features that the cellphones have but their phone company does not support. They come across as discount stereo store salespersons.
Muffin’s experience with the cellphone division of his local phone company:
Muffin: “How do I use the text messaging function of my cellphone?”
Cell phone representative: “You can’t. The cellphone that we sold you has that function, but our system does not.”
Muffin: “How do I download the video from my phone to my computer?”
Cell phone representative: “You can’t. Although the cellphone we sold has a video function, you can only download the photos, not the video.”
Muffin: “Why is that?”
Cell phone representative: “I don’t know.”
Muffin: “How can I download my photos from my cellphone to my computer using the wireless data transfer function.”
Cell phone representative: “You can’t. The cellphone has that function, but our system does not. You have to use a wire to connect the cellphone to your computer.”
Muffin: “Then I’d like to purchase a wire.”
Cell phone representative: “You can’t. The wire has been on back-order for over a year.”
Muffin: I’ll purchase one from your competitor.
Muffin: “How can I temporarily disable the auto-shut-off feature when I am uploading my calendar and phone list from my computer to the cellphone? The auto-shut-off interrupts the upload.”
Cell phone representative: “I don’t know to to shut off the shut-off. I’ll have to play with it. I didn’t know that it could upload anything.”
Muffin: I’ll find out from the manufacturer.
Muffin: “My cellphone keeps track of how many minutes and seconds I use my phone. Why does my cellphone’s actual usage differ so greatly from the bill you have sent me?”
Cell phone representative: “Anything less than one minute equals one minute.”
Muffin: “Why did you leave an automated message for me threatening disconnection for non-payment of my bill?”
Cell phone representative: “Because you didn’t pay your bill.”
Muffin: “Hold on while I dig out my bank statement and my phone bill. . . . . Here it is. I did pay it. You put the payment toward the wrong account. Here is the electronic transfer number from my bank indicating that payment was made to account XXX-XXXX, and here is your bill indicating that account YYY-YYYY was overpaid by the amount that you should have placed in XXX-XXXX.”
Cell phone representative: “I don’t understand.”
Meanwhile, here is Muffin’s experience with the landline division of his local phone company:
Landline representative’s hand-written note: “I just wanted to send you a quick note to say thank you for doing business with us. I hope that ZZZZZZZ will be able to provide solutions for all of your business requirements. It was very nice to meet you, and should you require anything in the future please don’t hesitate to give me a call.”
Solves that very problem.