By Martin Brampton, 8 March 2005 07:05
COMMENT A recent experience replacing his mobile phone convinces Martin Brampton that the mobile industry has a lot of work to do if it wants to keep customers happy and informed.
Late last year, my mobile phone packed up. Repair attempts turned into a wild goose chase and I finished up buying a new one - but not without a remarkable amount of difficulty.
Lots of moderately upmarket mobiles now boast PDA facilities and those features are quite as important to me as being able to make calls. Always having a basic camera in my pocket has also become something on which I rely. So that set the parameters for a new phone.
Then the problems started. The mobile phone business is structured to let people see nice, shiny gadgets and then to buy them in boxes off the shelf. Trying them out is considered unnecessary. After all, a phone is a phone. And you can return it within 14 days if you are unable to get on with it.
But all that seems to become inadequate when you are looking for office functionality and PC compatibility. Living over 25 miles from the nearest mobile phone store, I opted for mail order. Cheaper and easier, I thought. Disgruntled with the premature failure of the old Nokia, my first attempt was with an Orange smart phone, using the latest Windows for mobiles.
Everything started off smoothly enough, with the new mobile arriving promptly. Of course, some patience is required while the battery charges and the network connection is made. Unfortunately, it arrived on a Saturday so nothing happened until Monday. Then the problems started. The phone would not work with my Bluetooth headset nor would it connect via Bluetooth to my PC.
Lengthy telephone discussions led nowhere so the only route to clarification seemed the journey to the nearest Orange shop. Mostly that merely revealed that shop assistants know very little about the more advanced features of smart phones and have no equipment in the shop that is actually usable to try things out. Everything is in boxes, with batteries that need charging. But after an hour and a half of prevarication and pointless argument, a phone call to the Orange support desk came back with the answer that the phone was faulty.
This was where the Post Office started getting regular business from me for their Special Delivery service. Back went the Orange phone as faulty, with an inevitable delay for returns handling and the despatch of a new one. That behaved in exactly the same way and it became apparent that the phone did not support wireless PC connectivity. Thought a Bluetooth phone would do Bluetooth? Apart from the incompatibilities, I found the user interface quirky - often consistent but then irritatingly different.
Another job for the Post Office, returning the phone as unsuitable. But this time it was immediately returned as being too late for rejection. More telephone calls and another trip to the Post Office finally got rid of that phone.
At this point, I admitted defeat and tried to find a Nokia phone. After all, I only really wanted to do exactly the same things as the one that had broken. Asking phone sellers anything, whether via mail order, over the phone or face-to-face with shop assistants, simply demonstrated that almost all sales people have no information beyond the published literature. If that fails to answer your queries on what is now a pretty complex device, too bad.
Phoning Nokia for advice proved a disaster. Attempts to negotiate their automated attendants mostly finished in dead ends. And this is for pre-sales advice! Writing to them was no better. I am still waiting for a reply to my letter written around last Christmas. All I wanted to ask was what current model would give the same facilities as my old, broken Nokia.
Finally I took the plunge and bought a Nokia phone from an internet dealer. It came with a new bundled Bluetooth headset. Most things work but strangely not as well as my failed older model. My personal ring tone often fails and is replaced by a standard ring. The sound quality on the headset is worse than the old one. The screen is good but the battery life seems worse.
All in all, I am forced to the conclusion that the mobile phone business needs a significant overhaul if it is to be capable of selling and supporting ever more sophisticated devices. Buyers need more reliable information at the point of sale and better support services. The mobile phone is an integral part of many people's personal IT but it is not realising its full potential. Who is going to instigate change here?
Comments
There are 10 comments. Join the discussion
1. anonymous
Would I go out and buy a Linux system after years of using Windows and expect to understand or even be able to boot it up first time? No.
You can argue that it's the fault of the phone manufacturers that they don't make the phones easy enough to use for inexperienced users. But realistically the new phones do so many things and all of them differently that you can't produce a simple understandable interface that can be used by ALL people.
Of course the solution is that Microsofts Mobile operating system becomes standard across the board and all phones work in the same way. That has worked for PCs, imagine if every PC had a different operating system, it would be like picking up a new phone every day!!
An element of truth and sarcasm is in that last statement, please don't bother flaming me for it, boring.
2. David Hughes
If you think buying a phone is difficult you should try upgrading your phone and keeping your number.
All the deals offered are for new customers.
3. anonymous
Having just been through the same process, I can say that I too am unimpressed with both the facilities of the networks and the over complexity of the phones. I wanted a simple phone to make calls and the ability to easily connect to the Internet using (I thought) 3G, as this is touted as the 'way forward'. But no 3G provider offers easy Internet access via a phone except at an astronomic cost. I can, however, have Video conferencing, sport/video/music downloads and online games at a further cost - and all this on a business phone! They do really need to collectively get their act together. Mobile business needs mobile communications - not the services that are currently on offer.
4. John Chandy
Martin's experience there is very similar to what I have experienced and what I have heard many others experience here in the UK. Now I just moved to the UK from California and not to be critical of the UK but I find that Customer Service here is non existent. In California - Martin's story would simply not happen in general and believe me if it did happen, AT&T or one of the other companies would give you a significant rebate to keep you happy. I just do not understand the mentality of the companies here - If this were California Orange would be losing business in droves if people knew they provided bad customer service. Yet here - Consumers seem to put up with it. I just dont understand it. Why isnt there someone who starts a new mobile phone company and just provides amazing customer service ?? Surely theres a business case for that. I feel like I should do that since noone else is ! Is there something I am missing ??
For a country like the UK I am shocked that companies are allowed to treat their customers this way and still able to make money.
Can anyone explain why Consumers arent demanding better Customer Service ?
5. Neil B
Like several of my colleagues, I've given up on Nokia bluetooth car kits - they're connectivity is unreliable, they are very fragile and the old plug it in and charge, plus car antenna functionality, gives BETTER performance than what's now on offer. We're too used to progress always being an improvement?
6. Ev Samuel
To add to Martin's experience, try upgrading your phone in a shop...
Having contacted TMobile while in the shop and going through their security and handing the phone over to the dealer to confirm I was able to upgrade, the dealer then wants me to produce a previous bill (which I had), Company registration documents (It was a company mobile), documents connecting my name to the company, a blank company letterhead and proof of identity.
I explained he has just spoken to TMobile who has confirmed who I am. He replied yes, but TMobile still require the above documents. I left the shop empty handed.
I returned two days later with the documents requested but they rejected Companies House Return that shows me as a director of the Company.
Needless to say I was steam at the ears and walked out with a puff.
I ended up buying a Pay As You Go phone (at another shop) throwing away the sim card and using my old sim. I did not get the phone I wanted by had one that worked.
7. anonymous
In reply to John Chandy's comments - As a country we seem consumed with accepting bad service! People should speak out when things are wrong, and should refuse the pre-fabricated standard letter of apology.
As for setting up another company that DOES provide excellent service - Richard Branson did, its called Virgin Mobile. If all companies were this good, we could go back to complaining about Windows crashes, the cost of beer, and the weather...
8. Graham Guy
The last two phones I've had from O2 have given me similar issues with the Bluetooth. It seems that there are two flavours of talk-while-not-holding-the-phone connections: hands-free and headset. These are not compatible, so if you have an earpiece that supports one and a phone that supports the other then tough.
Having said that the shop DID allow me to try out any functionality I felt like, including connecting peripherals (earpiece, other phones, etc). There was no PC there to see the office connectivity but everything else I was able to try before parting with the cash. The end result - I had a couple of phones (XDAIIs and V600) that did pretty much what I needed without much stress.
The complicated stuff (sync the XDA with two separate non-connected Exchange servers) I found out from various online forums.
9. Jon Hill
I worked for a mobile network for six years, (including working on the XDA2). Whenever a relative asks me about whether this or that phone is good, I always answer the same - never, ever, ever buy unless you've had your hands on it, and are comfortable using the features you want. Even a long trip to the nearest store is preferable to six months of posting/returning.
Also, there's a difference between voice-Bluetooth and data-Bluetooth. If an assistant can't tell you which one your intended phone supports, (which should be both with most recent models) walk away.
Regards buying handsets for business, try any of the 'resellers', (not dealers - different thing) aka MVNO's. Virgina are the biggest, but not the first, and maybe not the best. There's lots that use network support from the big five, but provide service independantly, many specifically for business. Try Townley, Isis, Thus Telecom, Expansys - there's loads of them. Expansys are particularly good at IT connectivity support.
10. anonymous
I don't know the figures, but I suspect Martin is not the stereotypical customer for the mobile phone networks.
These are transient fashion accessories - where even the loss of calendar and contact information is not seen as important - where you live for today. I was interested in my sons' (two) attitudes when they lost their mobile phones. Firstly, they were about to update them anyway; secondly they'd just ask their friends again for their mobile numbers (they've probably lost their phone recently as well); thirdly, next weekend is long range planning.
Why do we think there's so much churn in the mobile business ...