john@zygot.ati.com (John Higdon) (12/28/89)
One of the greatest annoyances connected with subscribing to 800
service is The Wrong Number. Naturally there are those calls where you
say "hello" (remember, I'm not a business) and the caller simply hangs
up. But what began getting to me some time ago was the pattern that
started emerging.
Idiot calls to my 800 number now fall into two categories:
1. Callers wishing to reach a local (SF) ferry and public
transportation service;
2. Callers wishing to reach the Hilton Hotel chain.
After blowing my stack when awakened at 5:45am by a woman who said,
"Isn't this ferries?" (I beg your pardon!!), I developed a new
approach. The moment I realize what the person who is on the line is
after, I take their reservation or give them what (made up)
information they seem to be seeking. Great fun!
A similar tactic is used for the Hilton callers. I used to take their
confirmed reservations, but lately I have informed them that Hilton
has gone Chapter 7 and that they should call 800-325-3535 for
reservations at Sheraton. "Are you sure?" "Well, I answered the phone,
didn't I? We're just the cleanup crew, carting stuff out of the
offices."
Maybe this is all a bit mean, but after all I am paying for the
entertainment.
John Higdon | P. O. Box 7648 | +1 408 723 1395
john@zygot.ati.com | San Jose, CA 95150 | M o o !
[Moderator's Note: A similar situation here in Chicago several years
ago was when the Hyatt Regency people opened their new, very posh
hotel. A flop house of half a century here, the *Hotel Regency* was
frequently getting phone calls wanting reservations at Hyatt Regency.
They took the reservations, had the customer secure them with a credit
card number, and cheerfully gave out their address to the naive
out-of-town callers who if they showed up at Hyatt Regency were
disappointed to find their reservations had never been received, even
though the charge came through on their card later on....if they
showed up at the Hotel Regency, they were doubly disappointed, I'm
sure. And in the few cases where Hotel Regency got sued, they won
every time; they had said nothing deceptive on the phone, and they had
given the address of their establishment. PT]William Degnan <wdegnan@f39.n382.z1.fidonet.org> (01/01/90)
A client was getting dozens of wrong number calls on his 800 number.
It turned out that his number was a cross-polination of two numbers
printed (too close to each other) on Southern New England Telephone's
bills.
To place an order: 1 800 555-2345
Billing questions: 1 203 555-1234 (numbers changed
to protect the innocent)
If the caller dialed, 1 800 555-1234, they got the unhappy client.
We asked the nice folks at SNET to put "a little air" between the
numbers (or pay for a number change, stationary printing and
advertising costs), but they were uncooperative, at best.
In desperation, I hinted that the client might have no other choice
than to tell callers what they wanted to hear:
"You are moving your offices from Danbury to Hartford on Monday and
want to keep the same number? NO PROBLEM!"
"Can't pay your bill? NO PROBLEM! Just send us what you can, when you
can. We won't cut you off..."
SNET managed to find a way to fix the unfixable. They just needed a
little motivation. And to understand that some problems are less
expensive than other problems.
Regards, Bill
Disclaimer: Contents do not constitute "advice" unless we are on the clock
William Degnan | wdegnan@mcimail.com !wdegnan@at&tmail.com
Communications Network Solutions | William.Degnan@telenet.com
P.O. Box 9530, Austin, TX 78766 | voice: 512 323-9383
William Degnan -- via The Q Continuum (FidoNet Node 1:382/31)
UUCP: ...!rpp386!tqc!39!wdegnan
ARPA: wdegnan@f39.n382.z1.FIDONET.ORGroy@phri.nyu.edu (Roy Smith) (01/02/90)
wdegnan@f39.n382.z1.fidonet.org (William Degnan) write: > In desperation, I hinted that the client might have no other choice > than to tell callers what they wanted to hear [...] SNET managed to find > a way to fix the unfixable. They just needed a little motivation. This is somewhat off the original subject, but... my mother recently told me a cute story. An organization she works with was having a day-long seminar. They printed up flyers giving a phone number to call for information and reservations. Unfortunately, they printed the wrong number, and some bakery was getting all their calls. Neither party was happy about the screwup and tensions mounted. Then somebody got a bright idea and a deal was struck -- the bakery agreed to politely redirect calls to the proper number and in return, the group agreed to use the bakery to cater all their danish etc. for the coffee breaks. Roy Smith, Public Health Research Institute 455 First Avenue, New York, NY 10016 roy@alanine.phri.nyu.edu -OR- {att,philabs,cmcl2,rutgers,hombre}!phri!roy "My karma ran over my dogma"
"Steven W. Grabhorn" <grabhorn@marlin.nosc.mil> (01/13/90)
Speaking of wrong 800 numbers, today's (1/12/90) San Diego edition
of the Los Angeles Times had the following article (a little
background, the San Diego Padres are up for sale by Joan Kroc):
It started with a joking headline on Times sports editor
Dave Distel's column on Thursday: "Have a Credit Card Ready and
Call Now! 1-800-BUY-PADRES."
Richard Cole, co-owner of Emslee Products of Cleveland,
Ohio, is not laughing. His company sells sanitary napkins. Its
number is 1-800-BUY PADS.
"Our phone has been ringing all day," Cole said. "My secre-
tary can't get any work done, I'm losing orders, I'm paying 12-
cents per minute for every call, what in hell are you people
doing out there?"
Cole hopes people will stop phoning. He spent an exasperat-
ing day telling callers he's not related to Joan Kroc.
"I told them, `Listen, I can't sell you a baseball team, but
if you need sanitary napkins, toilet seat covers or diapers, I'm
your man,'" Cole said. "I didn't make a single sale!"
Steve Grabhorn, Code 645, Naval Ocean Systems Center, San Diego, CA, 92152
Phone:619-553-3454 Internet:grabhorn@nosc.mil UUCP:..!sdcsvax!nosc!grabhorn