Virgin Generosity
Last night I received a call from back home. My dad was taken to the hospital. He was having chest pain. The doctors decided to keep him overnight and today I drove to the States to see him.
On my way back home I got stuck in construction traffic, which turned into accident traffic, and I was getting frustrated. What should have only taken me about an hour was turning into an adventure.
I had my Virgin Mobile cell phone with me but I didn't have a minutes. My balance was only one cent. You can't make a call or send a text message with only a penny on your phone. So I decided to call Virgin's customer service (which you can do with or without a balance on your phone) to see if I could arrange a top up.
The customer service agent seemed like a nice guy and was very willing to help me. (Most Virgin agents are.) I told him I was stuck in traffic and didn't want to be without cell phone access. As he attempted to process a credit card top up he informed me that their system had just shut down. I asked him how long he thought it would be but he told me he didn't know.
Even more frustrated now, I told him that I'd have to wait until I got home to top up my cell phone via the Internet. That's when he said something I've never heard from a customer service representative say, never mind a PHONE company!
Cell phone minutes. GIVEN to me by Virgin Mobile.
Now THAT'S a cool company.
On my way back home I got stuck in construction traffic, which turned into accident traffic, and I was getting frustrated. What should have only taken me about an hour was turning into an adventure.
I had my Virgin Mobile cell phone with me but I didn't have a minutes. My balance was only one cent. You can't make a call or send a text message with only a penny on your phone. So I decided to call Virgin's customer service (which you can do with or without a balance on your phone) to see if I could arrange a top up.The customer service agent seemed like a nice guy and was very willing to help me. (Most Virgin agents are.) I told him I was stuck in traffic and didn't want to be without cell phone access. As he attempted to process a credit card top up he informed me that their system had just shut down. I asked him how long he thought it would be but he told me he didn't know.
Even more frustrated now, I told him that I'd have to wait until I got home to top up my cell phone via the Internet. That's when he said something I've never heard from a customer service representative say, never mind a PHONE company!
"Since I was unable to help you due to a system failure, and since you're stuck in traffic and in need of cell phone service, I am going to add a couple of dollars to your phone as my way of apologizing for not being able to assist you."
Cell phone minutes. GIVEN to me by Virgin Mobile.
Now THAT'S a cool company.
This entry was posted
on Sunday, July 13, 2008 at 11:53 PM.
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12:23 AMThat IS good. The 2 prepaid phone companies that I answer for will not give ANY credit for ANYTHING. It's frustrating in that situation I would have told you if it was an emergency you would have to call 911 as that is also a free call (well free for your once a month 99 cent service fee) We are not to give any credit under any circumstance, which sucks when you know it is deserved. In a case like yours I would have had to tell you to find your nearest store to buy minutes great service eh
1:03 PM
What a generous gesture! Its hard to find that kind of C.S. these days...Im with Virgin too...& also find them very helpful. One of the cust. service reps even recommended that I pay LESS for a month plan for my business day-calls, so I dont end up paying more than i need...thought that was pretty cool. Looks like Virgin is once again the way to go! LOL
3:14 PM
Think they would offer to buy me out of my current phone contract so I can switch?
2:48 PM
That's a Virgin brand Value (TM) (C). They use our network in the UK so I have a small amount of engineering contact with them and their culture is, well, easy to deal with. They empower people to do things within their job and ability. Empowering the CSA to do something nice for a change just makes a difference to the whole corporate, service company buerocratic hassle that life throws at you sometimes just works- you're a happy customer and the value of dollar or so's airtime, is much less than the cost of a retaining a pissed off customer when you get home.
And they throw a good party- or did back in the good old days. (Insert sounds of telecom companies gnashing teeth and tightening party expenditure in mean times..)
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