Empty Promises

Robin turner, PhoneSmart call center manager speaks out on the importance of promises.

Welcome to the PhoneSmart call center blog, and insider view of the secret shopping industry.

Last Friday we stopped by a garage sale that was in our neighborhood to find a Kenwood Surround Sound System and it was very nice. It was all black, hardwood and in good condition. Normally they run for about $400 – $500 for the entire system. Kenwood makes a good product, and the price was right for what they were asking, considering…. The speaker’s wires were missing, but that was okay since we could buy those ourselves and hook them up.

The owner’s mother told us how well the system worked and what good condition it was in and that it was rarely used. She even went so far as to tell us how well her son knew
Electronics. We bought it and went out and purchased everything we needed. We went home, hooked it up and realized that 3 of the 5 speakers weren’t working. My husband went back to the ladies house early the next morning and explained to her how they weren’t working, and asked if her son could come over and show us if we hooked them correctly.

She said her son was working and would be off at 2pm and would call us back when he got off of work. Later that morning, we received a message stating that her son had the same problems with the system many times and had to call an 800# each time he hooked it up, and that we needed to do the same thing.

When we got home we packed it up and brought it back to her for a refund. She asked us if we called the 800#…. Was she serious? No way we were going to waste another minute of our time.

Always be honest and up front with your self storage customers. They may accept it the way it is and work with it. But give the customer their options and let them decide. Don’t deceive them with empty promises, as it always comes back to bite you.