[talks-uk] Re: T-mobile disbands Disability Services Team!
- From: "DurDevil" <durdevil@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: Talks-Uk Email group <talks-uk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Fri, 11 Dec 2009 14:57:16 +0000
Hi All
This is all personal preference really isn't it? I mean for me personally I
don't care if they have good knowledge on disability because I'm independent
and very patient and I would rather find out what's available myself rather
than relying on the phone company because they are often just glorified sales
people who don't necessarily know everything that they should - but I'm sure a
lot of blind people would just rather deal with the phone company and the phone
come ready for use which is fair enough. But even on a dedicated disability
department it still comes down to that persons knowledge and also the questions
you ask, just because Mr Smith works for the disability dept it doesn't mean
that he knows all about Talks for example as he might have only dealt primarily
with deaf people etc etc, at the end of the day the best people equipped for
advice on accessibility needs are people that primarily focus on that area that
applies to your needs - the likes of Comp Room and TalkNav for example or RNIB,
Action for blind etc etc depending on what your trying to achieve.
I would rather deal with the phone company as just a network provider just like
a normal person and I'll sort Talks and a phone myself and the only times I
phone the network is to negotiate my next tariff! Everyone has different
preferences and different needs just like a network and tariff that suits me
wont be the same as someone else because I may have a preferred network and
cheap deal due to my loyalty, I prefer to get Talks sorted myself and through a
dealer such as Steve or Neil but some like to get it all sorted through their
network provider - it's horses for courses isn't it.... Or as I like to say -
Tomato, Potato :-) were all different and that's what makes us interesting :-)
If it were my choice I would not have a dedicated department, I would just like
the option of a newly blind/partially sighted individual to be able to say to
the normal staff - "oh I just realised, I'm blind. Can I have a phone that is
accessible please?" and the staff simply access a accessibility tab on their
system and wholla all the info is there for them to inform you with. No need
for specially trained staff which wouldn't be any better (unless they only
dealt with blind people all the time so their info was up to date anyway)
But hey, if we didn't all have our opinions we would just be robots! And we've
all seen that doesn't end well unless Arnie is on your side LOL!
Cheers
Pete
-original message-
Subject: [talks-uk] Re: T-mobile disbands Disability Services Team!
From: "Hussein Patwa" <talks-uk@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: 11/12/2009 1:10 pm
Hi,
Not to cast aspersions on anyone, but whereas this may seem to be a negative
move on the surface, I think a large part of the 'service' people experience
from any company is the way the person themselves interacts with the
company. I personally have never had a problem with T-Mobile, and had even
forgotten the disability team even existed. Then again, I'm usually quite
patient and if there is something I know to be true that the operator does
not, I'm usually willing to work with them to help them help me. I know
this isn't always true of many customers, for a variety of reasons.
I think it's important to understand that many people don't fully understand
the full implications behind having a disability, whether that be access to
information, understanding complex language, or being able to provide
relevant feedback to an operator's queries. I would hope that T-Mobile
would continue to offer the good service the majority of customers have had
with them, but that customers too would play their part to maintaining that
service.
Thanks for the update in any case, as I said this is something I'd probably
have never known about if I hadn't read it here.
> -----Original Message-----
> From: talks-uk-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:talks-uk-
> bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Matt Brown
> Sent: Thursday, December 10, 2009 6:29 PM
> To: talks-uk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
> Subject: [talks-uk] T-mobile disbands Disability Services Team!
>
> Sorry, I know this isn't exactly Talks related, but it is never the
> less
> important to note, and does impact Talks users who are with T-mobile.
>
> T-mobile have recently disbanded the Disability Services Team that
> customers
> grew familiar with over the last 10 years. The only reason T-mobile
> management were prepared to give me was that it was felt that the
> company
> was positively discriminating in favour of disabled customers, and so
> the
> decision was made to disband the department entirely.
>
> At present, calling 122 from your T-mobile will still route your call
> to the
> Northeast call centre, but I am told that eventually the only function
> of
> 122 will be to bypass the virtual menu system, and your call could be
> answered by any customer service adviser at any T-mobile centre, even
> if
> that happens to be India or Philippines or wherever they may be.
>
> T-mobile will not state publicly that they guaranty there will not be
> any
> change to the level of customer service and knowledge the advisers have
> regarding stuff like Talks, grade 1 or grade 2 Braille and other
> disability
> related issues.
>
> I think its important to remember that the Disability Services Team
> answered
> disability related calls day in, day out for over 10 years, whereas the
> majority of the regular advisers will never have answered a disability
> related call in their entire time with the company. This means that
> they
> will not acquire day-to-day knowledge and experience of dealing with VI
> customers so I strongly suspect we can expect to see a reduction in the
> quality of service from now on.
>
> Sorry to those of you who are not T-mobile customers, but this was the
> only
> way I knew to reach people.
>
> Don't be surprised if you call 122 and no longer hear the message about
> being transferred to Disability Services, as there's no such department
> any
> more, there's no point in having that message now.
>
> That's all folks, sorry if this wasn't relevant to some of you.
>
> Matt
>
>
>
>
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