T-Mobile attempts to mitigate customer service costs with Nuance Mobile Care
By Darren Murph 
posted Oct 11th 2008 5:48PM
posted Oct 11th 2008 5:48PM
In a growing effort to keep costly CSRs from spending entirely too much time trying to explain how to activate a speakerphone over the, um, phone, T-Mobile has inked a deal with Nuance Communications to bring an on-device application to select mobiles. Essentially, the Mobile Care software will rear its head whenever someone with one of the aforementioned handsets dials up customer service; from there, an "intuitive, user-friendly" guide attempts to walk users through "issues such as diagnosing and repairing configuration problems as well as with making account and billing inquiries." T-Mobile asserts that trials of the service have shown that customers actually prefer this over a live human, which probably has everything to do with the wait times that invariably come with calling a fellow Earthling. Still, we can imagine quite a few smashed phones deriving from frustrations with this computerized service, at least one of which we hope to get captured on video for posting.[Via RCR Wireless News]
Oh God.
Terrific Picture!!!!
- D
You mean I might be able to stop yelling english!!!! into my phone when i call 611?? Good thing I kept the secret direct line from corporate
No freaking way! I already hate their current 611 menu "Ask for what you want and I'll give you whatever I feel like at that moment." If I had to put up with such system directly on the phone, I might end up smashing the it against the nearest wall.
Hmmm I definitely think this is a step in the WRONG direction, especially since T-Mobile's Customer Care recently lost to Verizon's didn't they?
I never did like calling Customer Care anyway because they always assume you're so phone-ignorant--granted most people are, but I don't want to deal with "Did you reset the phone?" or "Did you take the battery out?" It's like DUH OF COURSE I TRIED THE EASY STUFF. Plus I normally tell them I've already done that stuff, and they still insist on doing it. In any case...you get the point.
Is this the Nuance, of PaperPort and Dragon Naturally Speaking? Then T-Mobile is doomed. Nuance has some of the worst customer support I have ever experienced, a bad combination with their finacky (sp?) software!