Talking to the BT broadband people » June 28th, 2008 · See comments
Our contact with our ISP is up for renewal soon and I headed over to the BT broadband site to look at what options were available to us. One of those “scrolly” type adverts popped up saying I could have an IM conversation with a BT rep. I thought this would be easier than reading through all the waffle, so away I clicked!
Chat Information
We are now routing you to one of our chat team…
Chat Information: You are now connected with Jonathan
Rachael: Hi Jonathan.
Jonathan : Hi, my name is Jonathan. I’m here to assist you with your BT Total Broadband order.
Jonathan : Can I please have your BT Telephone number to check Broadband availability?
Rachael: ***** ******
Rachael: We actually already have broadband…
Rachael: I’m not sure what option we’re on at the minute, but I know that the contract runs out soon, and when we re-new, we’d be looking at having a wireless router.
Jonathan : So you have B Tbroadbnd.
Rachael: Yep.
Jonathan : We currently only deal with new orders, but please click here for information on Upgrades.
Rachael: Ah, okay, well… sorry to bother you then. I just clicked this advert when it flashed up on my screen.
Rachael: Enjoy the rest of your weekend! 
Jonathan : Yo utoo.
Jonathan : Goodbye
BT people, you should state that the IM conversations are for new customers only. I feel bad for wasting Jonathan’s time. Jonathan, wherever you are, I’m glad someone else shares my problem of accidentally putting spaces inside words rather than between them.
Oh my god, Rachael, you are too nice.
Anyone else would be all “Why did you waste my time? Grr!” But you feel bad about wasting HIS time. 
Johnathan needs to learn to type properly.
BT smell. Don’t put more money in their pockets
You were very nice considering!
Why not try http://www.thephone.coop? Smaller friendlier, doesn’t use D.P.I. or throttle traffic etc.
Especially if you like cooperatives, as I do!
That guy sounds very robot-like… much better than my tech support.
Me: I’m sorry my internet is not working
Tech support guy: it should be working perfectly
Me: but it’s not…
Tech support guy: my information here says it works fine.
Me: Yeah…
Still, what’s with this policy of not helping out existing customers? Shouldn’t they be even more (or well just as) important than the new ones?
I wouldn’t worry about Jonathan too much. Chances are you were the only person who IMed him the during his entire shift.
Haha, what Lucy said.
Yea, I’m fairly certain he welcomed your iming him.. Breaks up the monotony of sitting there doing nothing!
“Johnathan needs to learn to type properly”
Irony right there, Sarah.
(Sorry – nothing to do with your post
)
You are so nice. I’m pretty sure I would have been a little more pissed off. Then again, I have no patience/symptahy for customer service people, even though it’s probably one of the pissiest jobs to have.
My ISP is Shaw, and I phone the guys up just to chat, they are SO NICE. They will help me fix ANY problem with my computer. I love them.
I waste live chat people’s time all the time
Well, not all the time. But, I waste their time for small problems.
I actually think being a customer-service IM person would be pretty fun.
When I worked in customer services I wish more people had been like you, nice and apologising for going through to the wrong department instead of constant shouting at me!
Johnathan fails. D:
At least he wasn’t a bot
Hahah, I bet when a new customer gets on the chat, he says, “I’m sorry, this chat is only for existing customers…”
Maybe he works for another ISP and is secretly trying to transfer customers
I’m sure he appreciated how polite you were! And you probably didn’t waste his time. He’s paid to have conversations like that. =P
I actually occasionally get an urge to click those advertisements for live tech support via instant messenger just to say hello and wish them a good day. I’ve always wondered how they’d respond.