There be rants here.
I never knew trying to pay your phone bill at a Sprint store was so hard. They can't just take your money and credit it against your account, like you would expect. Even given that you do hand them money when you sign up, and they activate your account on the same system. They can also look up your balance and all your personal account details on this system, but in order to actually pay, you have to use a vaguely ATM style machine that accepts either cash or checks, but not credit cards, ATM debit cards, or check cards. Oh, but if you have a check card with a Visa or MasterCard logo, then you can actually have your payment processed by a staff member at the desk, which is again, the same aforementioned system (and process) you go through when you sign up.
This is after I tried paying via credit card through the web. I figured that by actually walking down to a real Sprint store, I wouldn't have this problem. It's not even a Radio Shack!
The annoying thing about the ATM-like machine is that it uses a touchscreen, which are still lame for this sort of thing, and that it's hopelessly non-customer-service-oriented. I'm sure (well, I hope) that it'll be a win later on when I need to pay, since now I know how to use it, but I still like the idea of having these sorts of machines available primarily when there are no humans in the building. This machine is in the same store. You couldn't get to it late at night, for instance, like you could an actual ATM. You have to use it during business hours. I'm sure the idea here is that it frees up the staff from simple account payment issues, so that they have more time to try to sell potential customers expensive phones and airtime plans, but it amazed me how many times I was told to go back to the machine even after I told several staff members that it wasn't working.
This isn't entirely true, the machine was working fine. I was being petulant somewhat on purpose because, as a customer, once I've tried your recommended option (i.e. "use this automated payment machine") and have noted that "it doesn't work", it should no longer be an issue as to why, you should find some other way to service me. I want to pay you! The lack of a fallback, unless you really become irritating, is pretty damn stupid, and will lead to actual pissed off customers. I'm not going to get into the reasons why I said the machine "didn't work" -- again, it did in fact work, when you provided all the appropriate information and were willing to deal in the formats it accepted. In the end, I did get my bill paid via the machine. What boggled me was the complete abscence of anything resembling anything less than the minimum of customer service for a person who wants to give the company his money.
I don't really blame the employees either. Many of them did help me, although one was less than happy about it. It was near the end of their shift, so I'm sure they weren't in the best possible mood to be dealing with a problem customer. That's fine, I understand. I'd like to believe that the problems I encountered had more to do with the directives Sprint is now giving it's employees, and the "automated" systems they're rolling out. Point is, when I go to the source vendor of a product or service that I pay money for, and that I want to pay more money to in order to receive same service, I expect an easier transaction.
I never knew trying to pay your phone bill at a Sprint store was so hard. They can't just take your money and credit it against your account, like you would expect. Even given that you do hand them money when you sign up, and they activate your account on the same system. They can also look up your balance and all your personal account details on this system, but in order to actually pay, you have to use a vaguely ATM style machine that accepts either cash or checks, but not credit cards, ATM debit cards, or check cards. Oh, but if you have a check card with a Visa or MasterCard logo, then you can actually have your payment processed by a staff member at the desk, which is again, the same aforementioned system (and process) you go through when you sign up.
This is after I tried paying via credit card through the web. I figured that by actually walking down to a real Sprint store, I wouldn't have this problem. It's not even a Radio Shack!
The annoying thing about the ATM-like machine is that it uses a touchscreen, which are still lame for this sort of thing, and that it's hopelessly non-customer-service-oriented. I'm sure (well, I hope) that it'll be a win later on when I need to pay, since now I know how to use it, but I still like the idea of having these sorts of machines available primarily when there are no humans in the building. This machine is in the same store. You couldn't get to it late at night, for instance, like you could an actual ATM. You have to use it during business hours. I'm sure the idea here is that it frees up the staff from simple account payment issues, so that they have more time to try to sell potential customers expensive phones and airtime plans, but it amazed me how many times I was told to go back to the machine even after I told several staff members that it wasn't working.
This isn't entirely true, the machine was working fine. I was being petulant somewhat on purpose because, as a customer, once I've tried your recommended option (i.e. "use this automated payment machine") and have noted that "it doesn't work", it should no longer be an issue as to why, you should find some other way to service me. I want to pay you! The lack of a fallback, unless you really become irritating, is pretty damn stupid, and will lead to actual pissed off customers. I'm not going to get into the reasons why I said the machine "didn't work" -- again, it did in fact work, when you provided all the appropriate information and were willing to deal in the formats it accepted. In the end, I did get my bill paid via the machine. What boggled me was the complete abscence of anything resembling anything less than the minimum of customer service for a person who wants to give the company his money.
I don't really blame the employees either. Many of them did help me, although one was less than happy about it. It was near the end of their shift, so I'm sure they weren't in the best possible mood to be dealing with a problem customer. That's fine, I understand. I'd like to believe that the problems I encountered had more to do with the directives Sprint is now giving it's employees, and the "automated" systems they're rolling out. Point is, when I go to the source vendor of a product or service that I pay money for, and that I want to pay more money to in order to receive same service, I expect an easier transaction.
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