Manner Understanding Knowledge Helpfulness Clarity Overall

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Time of call 10:24 Duration of call 7 minutes Length of queue 0 minutes Assistant introduced by name Yes

I began the call to James at Three as I had the others – by asking for a phone with NFC technology. I wasn’ t expecting his response:“ NFC? What is that?”

I explained it was technology that allows users to make contactless payments by touching their phone against a terminal. James thought I wanted Pingit, the Barclays app that enables users to transfer money between accounts – which does not use NFC and cannot be used to buy items through a contactless payment.

He said the Samsung Galaxy S III and Galaxy S4 had NFC. I asked him if the iPhone had the technology.“ As far as I am aware it does. It’ s an app, so any phone can have it.” Because he didn’ t know what NFC was, I couldn’ t really

explain that it wasn’ t the same thing as mobile banking.“ The HTC One and Sony Xperia Z are also top of the list,” James said, and he was lucky these devices are actually NFC-compatible.

I asked him to check that the iPhone 5 had NFC.“ The iPhone has not had a great review. Ah, Apple put NFC on it but it has wiped it off now,” he said. At least he had corrected himself.

Getting desperate, as James still hadn’ t done what several other CSAs had and googled‘ NFC’ to put us both out of our misery, I asked him to recommend a high-end handset.“ The HTC One is the best on the market,” he said.

I asked whether Three had any mobile payment apps, hoping they had a service on the way such as EE’ s‘ Cash

on Tap’, Vodafone’ s new upcoming service with Visa or O2 Wallet.

James left me on hold so he could check. He came back after a minute to tell me Three did not have any“ policies” specific to NFC.

He’ d clearly stumbled across some decent information while I was on hold, however, as he then said:“ The UK is not an NFC country as yet. In the US and Far East, they use NFC to pay for things at vending machines, but we aren’ t yet using it in that way here.”

He said no one really used it to pay for things in the UK, but that I could use it to transfer files such as music between handsets.

Just in time, James had found out what NFC is.

Katrina at Vodafone didn’ t seem to know what NFC was. After listening to my request, she said:“ I’ ll just pop you on hold quickly to check what I have here for you.” I imagined her hastily googling the term to find out what it was and asking colleagues for help.

Four minutes later Katrina returned, but she still wasn’ t sure which phones had the technology.“ I’ m just doublechecking what phones have it,” she said as I waited silently.

After a long pause she told me the Samsung Galaxy S III and Galaxy S4 were NFC-enabled, but that Apple’ s iPhone range was not. She said it seemed to be only Android phones which were enabled, listing the Sony Xperia Z and HTC One as further

examples. This isn’ t correct as Windows Phone 8 devices also support NFC.

“ It is a really good feature,” Katrina said, but she couldn’ t answer my questions on how I would go about making the most of it.“ The phones comes with a manual, I have never seen it work,” didn’ t exactly inspire confidence.

I asked whether Vodafone offered any mobile payment services, saying I had heard some operators had launched so-called“ wallets” for phones. I was, of course, hinting about the partnership Vodafone has with Visa, which has seen it launch a contactless payments app in Australia, which is expected to come to the UK sooner or later.

“ As far as I am aware, yes,” Katrina said.“ Vodafone is top of the range so

I am sure it would have one.” In other words, she didn’ t have a clue.

I pressed on, asking if I would need to download an app to use NFC at contactless terminals. I had completely lost Katrina by this point.“ We have it. With all the phones that are compatible, it is there,” she said, rather nervously.

In fact, she had sounded anxious throughout the call and mumbled her way through many responses, which showed she didn’ t really know what she was talking about.

Katrina was happy to help and I am sure her performance was more down to a lack of training than a lack of ability. I turned down her offer of a free Samsung Galaxy S III on a £ 25 contract and ended the call.

Manner Understanding Knowledge Helpfulness Clarity Overall

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Time of call 9:59 Duration of call 7 minutes Length of queue 0 minutes Assistant introduced by name Yes

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Time of call 10:48 Duration of call 9 minutes Length of queue 0 minutes Assistant introduced by name Yes

Andrea at Orange didn’ t know what NFC was, so she had to search online for a definition before she could help me – not a great start.

She said there are currently 13 NFCenabled handsets on sale in the UK, including the Samsung Galaxy S4 Mini, Galaxy S4, Galaxy S III, BlackBerry Q5 and Z10, and BlackBerry Bold 9900.

Granted, none of this was her own knowledge and she would have been lost without Google, but at least Andrea was giving it a try.

She then asked how many minutes I would like and whether I would like a touchscreen or keypad device.

Before going any further, Andrea checked stock and confirmed Orange had the Galaxy S III, Galaxy S4 and

BlackBerry Z10. She suggested Orange’ s‘ The Works’ tariff, which for £ 36 would get me 1GB of data and unlimited texts and calls.

Andrea was in her comfort zone explaining tariffs, so I decided to challenge her with a question about different contactless payment applications.

“ I have not got a clue,” Andrea said.“ I do not even know what NFC is.”

After a bit of explaining from me, Andrea found some information on‘ Contactless’, or Quick Tap as Orange’ s NFC mobile payments application is called. She told me the operator had partnered with Barclays and Santander so people could“ pay for things by swiping”, such as cinema tickets, bus fares and parking tickets.

The app comes preloaded on NFC phones, Andrea said, although I would only be able to use it when I had access to 3G or Wi-Fi.

I asked her about spending limits, and – still clearly reading from a web page – she correctly told me it was £ 20.

I didn’ t want to score Andrea for her ability to google things. But despite her lack of knowledge, she was the most pleasant of all the CSAs this issue.

Going on Orange’ s website later, there was no mention of Santander, only Barclays. For bonus points Andrea should have told me I could transfer money to Quick Tap from any Visa or MasterCard credit or debit card. But she did well for someone who didn’ t know what NFC was at the start of the call.