Why Wind Mobile lost two customers today

37055 Views 153 Replies 35 Participants Last post by g011um, Jan 23, 2011

hugh

Discussion Starter · Dec 30, 2010

This morning I read about the Wind Mobile All in the Family plan.

I thought, excellent, I am going to sign both my kids up with new phones.

Went to my local Blockbuster and asked for the deal. The helpful sales clerk apologized and said that he couldn't give me the deal and that I had to talk to "corporate." The guy is a nice guy and I wanted him to have the sale but he said the only way I might have a chance was to go to a corporate Blockbuster store.

Okay, so I hopped in the car and drove ten minutes to the Blockbuster store at Parklawn and Queensway. Went inside and asked the clerk how to sign up for the All in the Family plan. She said I had to have a "form". I said, I don't have the form but I would like to sign up for the plan. She then proceeded to tell me how I could sign up for "better" plans and so on.

I said no, I wanted the All in the Family plan that I had read about. She refused to offer me the plan and refused to tell me why some people were eligible and I wasn't.

Result:

An hour of my time was wasted.
Wind Mobile lost two customers.
Wind Mobile has gained a vocal critic for its refusal to even exlain to me why I was not eligible for a deal it was offering some and not others.

Seems like Wind has learned about customer service from the Big Three!

21 - 40 of 154 Posts

hugh

Discussion Starter · #21 · Dec 31, 2010

Well, I looked around and couldn't find anything that compared for $20 a month.

I called Wind this morning around 8:30am. Told them I wanted the HAITF plan. WHen they asked what organization, I told them MobileSyrup. They pushed back but eventually I got signed up to the plan.

It took 45 minutes to get signed up and the CSR's english was terrible. Not sure if the call centre is in Canada or not.

It could be about 10 days before I get the phone delivered but its done.

Decided against a second plan for my daughter (who currently is with Virgin Mobile) because I'm still not sure this Wind thing is going to happen.

mr.steevo

· #22 · Dec 31, 2010

What is a good phone on that list?

What did you chose?

Musashii

· #23 · Jan 2, 2011

hugh said:
It took 45 minutes to get signed up and the CSR's english was terrible. Not sure if the call centre is in Canada or not.

It looks like there call centers are based in Mississauga and Peterborough from reading these two articles from 2009

http://www.windmobile.ca/community/...-announces-peterborough-location-call-centre/
http://www.thestar.com/business/article/727788--wind-mobile-keeping-call-centre-staff-busy

gzink

· #24 · Jan 2, 2011

hugh said:
Well, I looked around and couldn't find anything that compared for $20 a month.

I called Wind this morning around 8:30am. Told them I wanted the HAITF plan. WHen they asked what organization, I told them MobileSyrup. They pushed back but eventually I got signed up to the plan.

We need a fist pumping icon here (or something)

hugh

Discussion Starter · #25 · Jan 2, 2011

I chose the Samsung phone because it has the slide out keyboard

TorontoColin

· #26 · Jan 2, 2011

They have a call centre in Mississauga, Peterborough, and one in Egypt that is used for after hours and overflow.

The Samsung is a pretty good feature phone, though reception is below average. Waiting for a second line is a good idea, especially if you're out in the 'burbs, because you never know how strong their signal will be in your neighbourhood.

jshel101

· #27 · Jan 4, 2011

hugh said:
I chose the Samsung phone because it has the slide out keyboard

I would test out this phone quite a bit, and try to stay under the 30 minutes, so you can return it for a different one if need be. When I was with Wind, I had to return this phone 4 times because of problems with it. Besides the low reception, the main problem I had was the phone would automatically reboot itself periodically. Other than that, I actually liked the phone.

recneps77

· #28 · Jan 4, 2011

The auto-reboot bug was a pain.
Though I've since upgraded to an N1 and passed the phone on to my father. He hasn't had it do that since, and it's been nearly six months.
I think it was a bug in the connection/tower signal and the phone's interpretation (it would only reboot the second it locked on wind home from the last reboot) that's since been fixed.

Though, if it does happen, remove the battery and a 30s 'rest' should fix it.

hugh

Discussion Starter · #29 · Jan 4, 2011

Thanks guys for the tips. My son tests stuff more thoroughly than me so he will let me know asap.

hugh

Discussion Starter · #30 · Jan 14, 2011

Wow, what a messed up company.

I received the phone today. Went to activate my phone.

Called in and gave them my Sales Order # and told them I wanted to activate the phone with the plan I purchased. Apparently my sales order did not have a plan attached to it and I would have to goto the second level or I could sign up with another plan - yeah right.

So I said put me through to second level. Two minutes on hold and they came back saying second level couldn't help me and that I would have to leave my name and number and they would get back to me.

While I was on hold, I managed to find a Case ID from my original scribbles. Gave the CSR the case ID. He said give me the SIM # and he would activate.

I gave him the SIM #. After several minutes, he said I could not activate the phone because the SIM Card that I had was previously activated with a different phone. - Okay.

So then he says I have to goto a WindMobile store to get a SIM card but not any WindMobile store, it has to be one that has SIM cards in stock. He assures me that I won't have to pay for the new SIM card!!!

He does a search and finds the closest store which is about a ten minute drive from my house. Great, now I have to go out for half an hour to pick up another SIM Card.

People complain about Rogers, Telus and Bell but this is truly mickey mouse.

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rsambuca

· #31 · Jan 14, 2011

Sorry to laugh at your expense Hugh, but that is so bad it really is comical! I signed up with wind back in June and it took just a few minutes. If my initial experience was like yours, I would be with another carrier right now.

tvlurker

· #32 · Jan 14, 2011

I gave him the SIM #. After several minutes, he said I could not activate the phone because the SIM Card that I had was previously activated with a different phone. - Okay.

That doesn't make sense -- the SIM is your subscriber identity, and is linked to your account or line, not to any specfic phone. (In techy parlance, the IMEI is the serial number of the phone, the IMSI is the serial number of the SIM.)

So while they could (must!) )refuse to register a SIM linked to another account, there should be no linkage between the SIM (IMSI) and an IMEI that should block registration of the SIM.

hugh

Discussion Starter · #33 · Jan 14, 2011

Oh another lovely thing. I never received a confirmation email from the company. The original agent's English was very poor.

On the invoice both my first and last name were spelled incorrectly.

My first name was spelled Uhugh (i told her repeatedly on the phone my name was not "you who" and spelled it out three times. When I was telling my wife the story afterwards, she was rolling on the floor laughing)

hugh

Discussion Starter · #34 · Jan 14, 2011

That doesn't make sense -- the SIM is your subscriber identity, and is linked to your account or line, not to any specfic phone. (In techy parlance, the IMEI is the serial number of the phone, the IMSI is the serial number of the SIM.)

In fairness, he may have said the SIM card was already linked to another account and I misinterpreted. The point was the SIM card number had already been entered into their system and was in use so I needed to get another one.

I'd like to know how the SIM card I received can now be linked to another account. Wouldn't the carrier reject the call if the SIM Card # in their system did not match the one in the phone?

stampeder

· #35 · Jan 14, 2011

Sounds like they desperately need a comprehensive work flow analysis done and an ITIL-based Customer Service system custom designed on that result. Likely (and sadly all too common in the tech world) they just went with a canned CS solution and are still trying to make their systems conform to it, which is backwards. To me your experience has all the hallmarks of that.

My one and only problem with Wind so far was with bringing my N900 over to their system - I requested the PUK code for the SIM card and they were really too busy with the Vancouver go-live-week business rush so I ended up going back to the store and flagging down the manager, who was able to get it done as he was training the staff in real time with real customers. Again, I repeat the part above...

hugh

Discussion Starter · #36 · Jan 14, 2011

My local Blockbuster has a Wind Kiosk. It's ridiculous that I can't go there for a SIM card. I understand that a Kiosk can't change your plan but they should be able to activate an account or provide a user with a SIM card.

hugh

Discussion Starter · #37 · Jan 14, 2011

My god, this is truly one of the worst customer experiences of my life.

I just spent 40 minutes going to the Store which WindMobile told me to goto to get a SIM Card. Guess what? They don't sell sim cards.

They directed me to another store which I went to. Guess what? They don't sell sim cards.

Came home, called Wind. Explained that I was furious. Guess what, it turns out the second CSR made also made errors. Turns out that store isn't corporate (no kidding!) and, oh yeah, the CSR made a mistake and the card could be activated but I need to talk to the back office.

So now I am on hold (for the last 10 minutes) waiting for "the Back office."

Drainc

· #38 · Jan 14, 2011

Apparently folks with the dev build have already tried it and it works with most of the carriers in Canada (reported from the iPhone in Canada web site).

Now I don't know if the carriers will actively block it when it is rolled out, but it is a positive sign.

hugh

Discussion Starter · #39 · Jan 14, 2011

Okay so I have now been hold waiting for the back office for 50 minutes! When I get through the guy has no idea what I am talking about.

I give him the SIM Card #.

Guess what, he can't process the order. He has to create a new sales order!

Back on hold.

cooper83

· #40 · Jan 14, 2011

Is it worth continuing at this point? Just return the phone and get your money back. They don't deserve a single penny from you.

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