How Much Is That Feature?
November 26, 2009
You would think that a simple question like, “What does this cost?” would get a definitive answer. But some days it just seems impossible to get a straight answer.
We recently needed to establish new phone service at home and called our local phone company to place the order. Since we value our privacy, we don’t give out our home phone number except to friends and family. But with the widespread use of Caller ID, placing an order over the phone delivers your phone number to the company, and it frequently ends up in their telemarketing database.
Fortunately, there is a feature called “Per-Line Blocking” which prevents your number from being delivered to the called party. In many states, this is a free service. I believed this was the case for us as well and asked the customer-service representative if this was the case.
“No,” she explained, there was a monthly fee; she thought it was $1 or $2 per month. I didn’t think this was the case, so I asked her to look into this and get me the exact cost. She called back two days later and said that it was “less than $5 per month.” ”How much less?” we asked. She didn’t know.
I explained that I was pretty sure it was supposed to be a free feature, and she said she would get the exact amount for me. Three days after that, she called back and said that the cost for Per-Call Blocking was $2.49 per month.
But I explained to her, I was asking about Per-Line Blocking, not Per-Call Blocking. With this feature, you enter a code to block the number from being sent; in Per-Line Blocking, the blocking is the default, and you have to enter a code to actually deliver the number. Again, I explained that I thought this feature was supposed to be provided at no charge.
Finally, the next afternoon she called back and said that she had the correct price this time. It was free!
Why did it take four calls to get the correct information? And had I not kept asking for clarification, I might have ended up paying for a feature that was free.
As a service provider, it’s important to know the specifics about your products and services, particularly if you’re the person dealing directly with the customer. Make sure your customer contact employees have access to the tools, data, and systems they need to correctly answer questions and provide accurate information. Or the next call your customers make may be to your competitor.
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