Move over “Jake from State Farm” and “Alex from Target” – there’s a new favorite in town, at least for me.
That would be Kristy from Sprint.
I love good customer service – this woman went above and beyond. I already let the company know directly, but she is a great example of how to do customer service right.
Back story: Sprint allows customers to upgrade their phones a few months before their contract is up. I love this feature and, because I’m not really particular about my phones as long as they work (I just gave up my old Blackberry a year ago if that tells you anything), I’m good with getting an older phone for a great deal and adding another two year contract.
One of my lines was eligible for an upgrade on February 1st. Unfortunately, I was unable to upgrade at that time. When I went to the website mid-March to upgrade, I saw that my upgrade date was pushed back until June. I immediately started a chat session to find out why, and was told that this change was made on March 1st and was stated on my bill. Hmm….went to look at the bill, and sure enough it was there in small print. Completely my fault.
Fast forward to last week….my daughter’s birthday is this week, and she is a good kid who never wants anything. While that is great in so many respects, it’s painful when it comes time for birthday gifts. Remembering she has a very old phone, I thought a new one would be a great idea, until I realized that my upgrade didn’t happen for a few weeks after her birthday.
I visit Sprint’s site and go to their chat. While not verbatim, it went something like this….
Me: I would like to know if there are ever exceptions made for phone upgrades. I was originally due for an upgrade on 2/1, but was unable to do so at the time. On 3/1, the upgrade policy changed and I was pushed back until 6/1. Is there anyway this could be pushed up a bit? I’d love to surprise my daughter with a new phone for her birthday.
Rep: I would be happy to look up your upgrade date. May I have your information to review your account?
Several seconds pass….
Rep: Congratulations! Your line is eligible for an upgrade on 6/1. For future reference, you can log into your account to check your upgrade date. Is there anything else I can help you with?
Me: Thank you. I did log in to check my upgrade date. I wanted to find out if I can move that up at all given that I was originally eligible in February.
Rep: Let me check…..Great news! You can upgrade early if you switch your plan and payment method. If you switch to our newest program, you can upgrade now.
Me: Thank you, but I would like to keep things as they are. Is there any way the upgrade date of 6/1 can be moved up to mid-May?
Rep: I’m sorry. As sales and service, we have limited options. Please call our customer care center at xxx-xxx-xxxx.
So there you go. I figured it was a moot point and almost gave up, but thought I’d call anyway, just to see what happens. And that’s when I met Kristy.
She greeted me in a warm, pleasant manner. I explained the situation and she listened to what I had to say – this was getting exciting! To add to it, she even empathized with my situation, saying that she is a mom herself and understands when we want to surprise our children.
She looked up my account history and confirmed some information. She then explained the reason that the policy was changed, which made perfect sense but I was not aware of it prior to this, and then stated that she would see what she could do. She asked me to hold for a moment
When she returned to the call, she said she would have to ask her supervisor, and apologized for the fact that it might take some time, as they were a bit backed up that day. She assured me that she would find an answer for me and call me back as soon as possible, though it might be up to 24 hours. I was completely fine with that and told her I appreciated it very much. She then went on to confirm the number to call me back at AND said that when she called, if she got my voice mail, she would be careful to keep the message as generic as possible in case my daughter picked up the message so that, if it is possible to move up the upgrade date, the surprise would not be ruined. That last little bit was above and beyond as far as customer service!
In the end, Kristy did leave a voice mail about an hour later and left a generic message stating that the upgrade was backdated to 5/1 so I was all set.
Even if the outcome were different, and I was stuck with my upgrade date of 6/1, I would have felt the same way about my overall experience. This representative went out of her way to show empathy and do what she could to help me with my request. I appreciated the fact that she listened as well – this was not my experience with the online chat, and it almost kept me from calling at all. Had I not, I would have never experienced the exceptional customer service I did from Kristy!
