4.26.2013

wind mobile: horrible retail customer service but great follow-up after complaint

I sent this email yesterday.

To Wind Customer Service:

Re: Mobile Phone # xxx.xxx.xxxx

Transaction:

Tendered On: 24-Apr-2013 01:08 PM
Tendered At: WCMA01
Invoice: xxxxx

I am writing to complain about some terrible customer service I received at your Square One kiosk (100 City Centre Drive) on Wednesday, April 24, 2013. The transaction information from my receipt is above.

A few days earlier, I had called Wind to enquire about activating international calling on my phone. I was told I would need a new SIM card, plus some add-ons, and that I could pick up the new SIM card at no cost at any Wind corporate store. 


I asked the customer service rep to confirm that I could receive a free SIM card at the Square One location, and was told that I could.

At Square One, I asked for a new SIM card. Two people were working at the kiosk, one male and one female, and I was the only customer.

The man at the booth said, "The thing is, when we are busy, we don't like to do those transactions."

I pointed out that they were not busy. I was the only customer.

He said, "The thing is, what they don't tell you in the email or texts is that we may be very low on stock of SIM cards. They have no way of knowing how much stock we have at any time. We have very few of those cards left right now."

I said, "Do you have one available or don't you? I only need one."

He confirmed that they did have SIM cards, then said, "But we are very, very low on stock. We try not to use them, since it's not a transaction we can bill for."

I told him I would call Wind right now, and ask them to authorize the transaction. At that point, he took out a box of SIM cards (there were about 30 in the box) and processed the swap. He said he would do this as a favour to me because I was already in the store.

I'm sure you can see why this is completely unacceptable. My request was not a "favour", and as long as the kiosk had one SIM card in stock, it should have been given to me with no additional questions or discussion. If a kiosk is low on stock, that is something for Wind to work out. Likewise, if there is a discrepancy between what customer service says and what the kiosk reps prefer they say, that is also Wind's issue, not the customer's.

I hope you will correct this problem so other customers don't have to deal with the same behaviour.

Thank you.

Laura Kaminker
Mississauga, ON


Can you believe this? I imagine a customer coming into the library and requesting a pedometer, an item we keep at the front desk. I would check to see if we had any on hand. If we were low, I might say, "Hey, you're in luck, there's only one left, and you got it."

Perhaps the kiosk guy works on commission and doesn't earn anything from this transaction. In which case, since all Wind customers are entitled to this, take care of it as fast as possible so you can get back to your paying customers (none of whom are present at the moment).

I sent the email and put it out of my mind. It's a very busy time,* so I wasn't even going to blog about it.

This morning, Wind called. A customer service rep said he was "appalled" and apologized on behalf of the company. He said a quality assurance team that monitors retail locations will visit the Square One location in person to discuss this issue. Meanwhile, he wanted to make sure I had what I needed for international calling.

And guess what? I didn't. The person at Square One did give me what I asked for - the new SIM card, plus an add-on that saves a lot of money for international calls. However, he did not check to see if international roaming had been activated on my phone. This is free of charge, and without it, I would not have been able to use my phone in Europe at all - including to call Wind to fix the problem.

Many thanks to Wind for responding quickly, taking my complaint seriously, and asking the right questions so I could have the phone service I need.

No thanks to the little creep at the Square One kiosk!



* Interview prep, interview follow-up, trip prep, dog/house-sitter prep. All good, but: overload.


No comments: