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Canceled AT&T iPhone X Orders Causes Uproar
AT&T may have some unhappy iPhone (News - Alert) X customers right about now. Many iPhone users held off on upgrading to the 8 and the 8 Plus, when it was released on September 22, opting to wait until the X’s October 27 pre-order date. Unfortunately, AT&T (News - Alert) had bad news for some who pre-ordered the X; their orders had been canceled.
"I stayed up to pre-order an iPhone X, created a new account with AT&T, and was confirmed to receive the phone Nov 3. Today around noon, I received an email telling me the order was cancelled. I called into AT&T and first was told the sale department can't help, so I need to call the e-commerce department, then the e-commerce department told me I had to go to a store, then the store manager told me it's because they 'couldn't contact me for a few days', which is not possible as I did this last night, and he told me to call customer service," wrote atandtwhy on Friday.
Customers are now furious that their orders were canceled with little to no explanation. Furthermore, some were told to place the order again and would receive the phone a month or more after the November 3 release date. This is not the first time AT&T has had this problem. Orders were canceled during pre-sales of the iPhone 4 and 6.
With an inundation of email and telephone complaints, AT&T encouraged customers to contact customer care to resolve the issues. But even customer care has become a hassle for the understandably frustrated iPhone purchasers.
How does a customer call center handle the overabundance of customer complaints in an omnichannel world? From email, text, social media and calls, staffing is of the utmost importance. Each customer requires personal attention and care, offering assurance and confidence that the issue will be handled accordingly. Things like properly routing calls can go a long way in a situation like this.
“I called customer service to get the matter straightened out. First customer service agent spent 20 minutes trying to figure out why my order was canceled. I was placed on hold multiple times, going back and forth, ensuring that it is being looked at by a manager. After being on hold for 20 minutes, my call was ended. I waited 10-15 minutes for the customer representative to call me back, but no call back," stated one buyer, therunaround123.
In the end, all the call center can do is be prepared to empathetically and effectively handle whatever comes their way. In terms of the iPhone X, this is a long-awaited and expensive upgrade, so the carrier does not want further dissatisfied customers.
Edited by Maurice Nagle