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I can boldly say that the average customer care agent in any GSM outfit in Nigeria does not possess reasonable and sufficient information about the services of the network that employ them. Any tech-savvy Nigerian likely knows more about the available mobile services than the customer care agents who are supposed to inform users about available services and how to use them. Heart-breaking enough, it is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a GSM subscriber to put a successful call through to the customer care line of GSM service providers in Nigera (Airtel: 111, Etisalat: 200, Glo Mobile: 121 and MTN: 180). If you ever manage to get them on line and ask them a simple question, it is likely that the agent won't know what you are talking about, or worse still, they will give a misleading information.

I don't want to appear as if I am making unfounded claims against or detracting from the reputation of the customer units. Hence, I think I should give some real-life examples on what I am saying:

MTN recently introduced some new Internet plans, including a 1GB monthly option. I wanted to subscribe to the 1GB option, so I sent 111 to 131 on several occasions without success. I called MTN customer care line and told them I was having problems subscribing to the plan. To my utter disbelief, the agent informed (or should I say misinformed) me that they didn't support such plan. Could you believe that my subscription to the IGB data resource option later became successful, a plan which an MTN agent had told me didn't exist?

Yomi Adegboye of Mobility told of how a Glo customer care agent told him that his Nokia 9500 Communicator could not receive fax. Meanwhile, he had been receiving fax on the Communicator. He was also told that GloFlat Internet settings were meant for PCs, and therefore would not work on mobile phones. But they were wrong because millions of Glo Internet users continue to browse on their phone using the said settings.

When MTN was running XtraCool, they normally gave 10 free on-net MMS on a monthly basis provided you made at least one minute of chargable call in the month. At that time, if you checked your account balance and assuming you had N456 and 7 free on-net MMS, your phone display would show, "Your XtraCool balance is 456NGN. MMS is 7." Later, they stopped showing the MMS balance aspect when you checked your account balance. However, XtraCool subscribers were still entitled to the MMS freebie, just that it no longer showed when you did balance inquiry. So, I was curious to know my MMS balance. I called MTN customer care line (it was easier to get them on line those days) and inquired what my MMS balance was. To my utter surprise, the agent who answered my call told me that MTN was not giving free MMS to XtraCool subscribers or any subscriber for that matter. I told her that even before I called them I had sent some free MMS. She couldn't give me any tangible answer.


Feel free to share the failure of a GSM customer agent to correctly answer your questions!
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Yes dats true because early last month, I spent almost a week trying to retrieve My Airtel line (after they stole My GSM at Eyo festval TBS).
D 1st day I called customer care, d person who attended to Me took only d serial no on My old SIM. I felt d informatn taken was incomplete as she said I shld call dem by dat time following day to confirm if I can start using d new SIM; when I Called next day, dey said I should put d SIM in GSM dat d swap has been activated, but when I put on d SIM, SIM card registratn failed nd dere was no net work on it. I kept on calling them for abt 6 days abt 5 pple attended to Me dey kept telling Me to call back flg day b4 somebody got it. she took d detail of d last SIM I used in retrieving because d details I hav been giving d previous agents was dat of d 1st SIM I bought.

I over-scratched the N200 Glo card and I was unable to load the credit. The customer care agent I spoke with online said there were procedures they follow. I know that the serial number generates the PIN automatically (I stand to be corrected). I am not so surprised because we are in Nigeria and customer service is nothing to these GSM service providers. It is not that N200 is so huge an amount that I cannot forgo but for a company giving me the assurance that it cares and then acting funny is a big issue. It's not funny.

Oshosam: I over-scratched the N200 Glo card and I was unable to load the credit. The customer care agent I spoke with online said there were procedures they follow. I know that the serial number generates the PIN automatically (I stand to be corrected). I am not so surprised because we are in Nigeria and customer service is nothing to these GSM service providers. It is not that N200 is so huge an amount that I cannot forgo but for a company giving me the assurance that it cares and then acting funny is a big issue. It's not funny.

What happpened afterwards considering the explanation. You statement is too skeletal add some flesh man (what did the CCA tell you or....)?

The call went on for about seven minutes before I got a CCA to respond to me. And when the guy came on board, he did not introduce himself. Well, he told me to take it to Opebi/Head Office for resolution of the issue. He later told me to hang up the phone and I had to refuse because I was so disappointed at the way he responded. I read all my serial number to him only to hear his supposed "verdict." I told him that I work at Ilupeju and he still insisted that I went to their Opebi/Head Office. Isn't that ridiculous?