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 .