First thing is order on the phone. If anything gets messed up or you misunderstand something and need to call in the agent will be much less sympathetic to you’re plight, but if they think that one of the agents messed up they will normally bend over backward to help.
Orders can’t be changed or canceled or rerouted once they have been submitted. That being said they sometimes can, but assume they can’t
Normally computers ship before the Estimated ship date, and nothing ships ground from china (5-7 days) but things are sometimes delayed. As long as you have you’re notebook by the build date + 7 business days then it’s NOT late. For example if it ships early but takes 8 days to get to you, most of the time they will not give you a shipping refund, but if you are nice and pled you’re case well they might.
When a build gets delayed we know nothing for 24 hours after it was going to ship. For example if the ESD was august 3 and you call in on the 4th all we can tell you is that it’s not shipped yet. But if you call in on the 5th we MIGHT be able to give you a new date and possibly a reason, but the reason is not likely.
Most of the agents are very nice, but also realize that you are NOT in a retail store. If you scream and yell in best buy they will give you what you want just to get you away from the other people who ARE buying. But yelling on the phone it’s just you and me, and I get yelled at for a living. There are several levels of service I can offer, they range from “everything within my abilities” to “what is required of me” most don’t know, but that’s a VERY large range. Be nice, joke a bit.
Agents are evaluated based on a few main metrics. Quotas are monthly, more dollars sold is better for an agent, but we are also evaluated on conversion (number of calls taken vs. sales made in a given day) and line items (number of individual priced items sold) sometimes we can wiggle with an order and break it up into more then one line (selling speakers with a desktop jumps to mind, as long as it does not cost any more please don’t complain).
Now that you know how we are measured you must know that agents measure a call based on the quality of a sale. So a 6 line $1000 sale is better almost every time then a 1 line 1500 sale. If you allow it, agents can often find small deals in the system that benefit both of us, some ink twin packs for example can (I stress, can, not do) come with free paper. That’s an extra line item for us and a free bit for you, it’s not much but it turns a junk order into a super one very fast.
Calling to ask questions of fine, and we do know a lot about the products in most cases, but make sure you press the right phone buttons going into the system (888-999-4747) know that we have 5 main divisions,
- PC sales (very computer lit rite, knows the spec of our systems very well)
- Gen sales (mainly printer sales, (Ipaqs and cameras to) VERY printer knowable)
- CS (service. Within you’re 30 days or if it is an order related question, otherwise call tech)
- Escalations (the “supervisor” they are basically someone with a little more power, but they don’t know product and they don’t do sales. They just basically calm down angry people)
- Loss prevention. They watch for fraud
Once you call in please be ready to place you’re order. If you are a person to do a books worth or research before ordering that’s cool just do it in advance, get you’re questions ready and know what answers will make you buy or not. The agent will likely try and up sell you, listen to what they have to say, give a reason as to why you don’t want the items you don’t want and move on. If you order a computer with 256 megs of ram because it’s cheaper to install it you’re self then just say that so we don’t spend time trying to convince you to go with more.
If you don’t know anything about computer specs then just call in with a list of things you want it to do and a price range, we will tell you if you are totally out to lunch or if we have nothing for that “I want a desktop with a 19” LCD and MS office pro for less then 500 please” or “I want a 14” notebook under 6 lb that can play doom 3 at >30 FPS ultra high quality” don’t be shy in what you do with you’re computer. I know people who’ve made sales because of how good Brightview makes a flesh tone in porn. And how Quickplay lets you show a DVD demo to a client very quickly (selling to porn dealers is fun)
Orders under review (being verified) this is a big bonus to placing you’re order on the phone vs. the web. If this happens to you’re order it means it’s going to be investigated by a supervisor and they will decide to approve or decline it. If you’re order is declined it does the agent that placed it NO GOOD AT ALL. So they will do everything in there power to make sure that does not happen. Including asking you a bunch of questions that will give the supervisor more information to validate the order.
If you’re order is declined (not bank declined) we basically suspect the order of fraud and the call has been made that we don’t want the order. If you still want the order the responsibility is now on you to prove that you are you. The people that deal with this keep business hours in all time zones (10 – 10 EST M-F) if you call outside this there is nothing we can do for you. The poor agent you are speaking to honestly has no information. Declined orders with custom computers can’t simply be put back in motion once they are approved, they must be reordered so things like build dates. May be effected. Most importantly don’t get offended or upset. Sometimes declines can happen for things as stupid as you’re address is a place a fraud suspect once used. Or you’re shipping address is next door to a major fright forwarder.
Sometimes agents have the ability to muck with pricing a little. This is normally done through the use of internal coupons. Because of the way we are evaluated normally instead of simply using a $100 coupon to close a sale we will use it and add $100 worth of stuff while explaining that it is free. (Most common are the 3 and 4 item accessory kits, or a $99 service plan, it depends on how the spiffs/bonus is working that month and what my numbers look like). On you’re invoice this will not be clear. It will simply say, “ESP $99” then way down at the bottom “discount $100” or more depending if there was any instant rebates. This was recently changed so that now the original prices of you’re computer and the price you actually paid is shown. But the agent still does not have the ability to apply a coupon to a specific item.
Agents also sell things based on the bundled method of selling. Basically say something along the lines of “and you’re computer with a 3 year service plan, a printer and a printer cable is 1356 after rebate” some people take this to mean “the computer comes with a service plan” and It does, at 1356 but that does not mean that you couldn’t chose not to get the ESP and spend less money. We experience a bit of a regional dialect problem with our people saying “it comes with” or “I’ll toss that in” and meaning that they will add it, and customers are thinking “I’ll get it free” so when I say “you’ll need a cable for that printer, so I’ll toss that in” what I mean to say is “you’ll also be needing a printer cable, so pay 16.99 for this one” the agents are NOT trying to be depictive it’s just we say a line meaning one thing and it turns out the whole rest of the world takes it to mean something else.
If you have any confusion ask the agent how much something is. We can recommend a printer because it’s better for you, then quoting the final price with that printer included but unless you ask we should not come right out and say how much it is. For example I could say something like “the 6540 is a much better deal then the free printer because it’s much more economical over time every 30 you spend on ink gets you twice the number of pages printed” but unless you ask I won’t tell you it costs 49.99 more. This rule is not as zealously followed as some by agents, most of the time I will come right out and say it’s 49.99 more then pitch why I think you should spend it.
P.S the free printer is always a scam, unless you intend to sell it or give it away in the end it will cost WAY more then any other printer we sell. The current promo has the 49.99 printer a full nickel cheaper per page, does not take long to get 49.99 worth of nickels. If you are a student/are buying for a student or work for a large company or government then ask if you get a discount (particularly if (meaning HP, not just Hpshopping) sell you’re products: AMD, Intel, Linksys, FedEx all get very good deals.)
Also, we are NOT HP. If you did not buy the product from my store you’re not my customer. I will be as nice as possible to you since you’re my boss’s bosses boss customer but when I say I can’t help, I’m not just being an ass. If you scream and yell about never buying another HP again then I don’t care, nether me or anyone I work for has ever seen a dime of the money you spent.
Orders can’t be changed or canceled or rerouted once they have been submitted. That being said they sometimes can, but assume they can’t
Normally computers ship before the Estimated ship date, and nothing ships ground from china (5-7 days) but things are sometimes delayed. As long as you have you’re notebook by the build date + 7 business days then it’s NOT late. For example if it ships early but takes 8 days to get to you, most of the time they will not give you a shipping refund, but if you are nice and pled you’re case well they might.
When a build gets delayed we know nothing for 24 hours after it was going to ship. For example if the ESD was august 3 and you call in on the 4th all we can tell you is that it’s not shipped yet. But if you call in on the 5th we MIGHT be able to give you a new date and possibly a reason, but the reason is not likely.
Most of the agents are very nice, but also realize that you are NOT in a retail store. If you scream and yell in best buy they will give you what you want just to get you away from the other people who ARE buying. But yelling on the phone it’s just you and me, and I get yelled at for a living. There are several levels of service I can offer, they range from “everything within my abilities” to “what is required of me” most don’t know, but that’s a VERY large range. Be nice, joke a bit.
Agents are evaluated based on a few main metrics. Quotas are monthly, more dollars sold is better for an agent, but we are also evaluated on conversion (number of calls taken vs. sales made in a given day) and line items (number of individual priced items sold) sometimes we can wiggle with an order and break it up into more then one line (selling speakers with a desktop jumps to mind, as long as it does not cost any more please don’t complain).
Now that you know how we are measured you must know that agents measure a call based on the quality of a sale. So a 6 line $1000 sale is better almost every time then a 1 line 1500 sale. If you allow it, agents can often find small deals in the system that benefit both of us, some ink twin packs for example can (I stress, can, not do) come with free paper. That’s an extra line item for us and a free bit for you, it’s not much but it turns a junk order into a super one very fast.
Calling to ask questions of fine, and we do know a lot about the products in most cases, but make sure you press the right phone buttons going into the system (888-999-4747) know that we have 5 main divisions,
- PC sales (very computer lit rite, knows the spec of our systems very well)
- Gen sales (mainly printer sales, (Ipaqs and cameras to) VERY printer knowable)
- CS (service. Within you’re 30 days or if it is an order related question, otherwise call tech)
- Escalations (the “supervisor” they are basically someone with a little more power, but they don’t know product and they don’t do sales. They just basically calm down angry people)
- Loss prevention. They watch for fraud
Once you call in please be ready to place you’re order. If you are a person to do a books worth or research before ordering that’s cool just do it in advance, get you’re questions ready and know what answers will make you buy or not. The agent will likely try and up sell you, listen to what they have to say, give a reason as to why you don’t want the items you don’t want and move on. If you order a computer with 256 megs of ram because it’s cheaper to install it you’re self then just say that so we don’t spend time trying to convince you to go with more.
If you don’t know anything about computer specs then just call in with a list of things you want it to do and a price range, we will tell you if you are totally out to lunch or if we have nothing for that “I want a desktop with a 19” LCD and MS office pro for less then 500 please” or “I want a 14” notebook under 6 lb that can play doom 3 at >30 FPS ultra high quality” don’t be shy in what you do with you’re computer. I know people who’ve made sales because of how good Brightview makes a flesh tone in porn. And how Quickplay lets you show a DVD demo to a client very quickly (selling to porn dealers is fun)
Orders under review (being verified) this is a big bonus to placing you’re order on the phone vs. the web. If this happens to you’re order it means it’s going to be investigated by a supervisor and they will decide to approve or decline it. If you’re order is declined it does the agent that placed it NO GOOD AT ALL. So they will do everything in there power to make sure that does not happen. Including asking you a bunch of questions that will give the supervisor more information to validate the order.
If you’re order is declined (not bank declined) we basically suspect the order of fraud and the call has been made that we don’t want the order. If you still want the order the responsibility is now on you to prove that you are you. The people that deal with this keep business hours in all time zones (10 – 10 EST M-F) if you call outside this there is nothing we can do for you. The poor agent you are speaking to honestly has no information. Declined orders with custom computers can’t simply be put back in motion once they are approved, they must be reordered so things like build dates. May be effected. Most importantly don’t get offended or upset. Sometimes declines can happen for things as stupid as you’re address is a place a fraud suspect once used. Or you’re shipping address is next door to a major fright forwarder.
Sometimes agents have the ability to muck with pricing a little. This is normally done through the use of internal coupons. Because of the way we are evaluated normally instead of simply using a $100 coupon to close a sale we will use it and add $100 worth of stuff while explaining that it is free. (Most common are the 3 and 4 item accessory kits, or a $99 service plan, it depends on how the spiffs/bonus is working that month and what my numbers look like). On you’re invoice this will not be clear. It will simply say, “ESP $99” then way down at the bottom “discount $100” or more depending if there was any instant rebates. This was recently changed so that now the original prices of you’re computer and the price you actually paid is shown. But the agent still does not have the ability to apply a coupon to a specific item.
Agents also sell things based on the bundled method of selling. Basically say something along the lines of “and you’re computer with a 3 year service plan, a printer and a printer cable is 1356 after rebate” some people take this to mean “the computer comes with a service plan” and It does, at 1356 but that does not mean that you couldn’t chose not to get the ESP and spend less money. We experience a bit of a regional dialect problem with our people saying “it comes with” or “I’ll toss that in” and meaning that they will add it, and customers are thinking “I’ll get it free” so when I say “you’ll need a cable for that printer, so I’ll toss that in” what I mean to say is “you’ll also be needing a printer cable, so pay 16.99 for this one” the agents are NOT trying to be depictive it’s just we say a line meaning one thing and it turns out the whole rest of the world takes it to mean something else.
If you have any confusion ask the agent how much something is. We can recommend a printer because it’s better for you, then quoting the final price with that printer included but unless you ask we should not come right out and say how much it is. For example I could say something like “the 6540 is a much better deal then the free printer because it’s much more economical over time every 30 you spend on ink gets you twice the number of pages printed” but unless you ask I won’t tell you it costs 49.99 more. This rule is not as zealously followed as some by agents, most of the time I will come right out and say it’s 49.99 more then pitch why I think you should spend it.
P.S the free printer is always a scam, unless you intend to sell it or give it away in the end it will cost WAY more then any other printer we sell. The current promo has the 49.99 printer a full nickel cheaper per page, does not take long to get 49.99 worth of nickels. If you are a student/are buying for a student or work for a large company or government then ask if you get a discount (particularly if (meaning HP, not just Hpshopping) sell you’re products: AMD, Intel, Linksys, FedEx all get very good deals.)
Also, we are NOT HP. If you did not buy the product from my store you’re not my customer. I will be as nice as possible to you since you’re my boss’s bosses boss customer but when I say I can’t help, I’m not just being an ass. If you scream and yell about never buying another HP again then I don’t care, nether me or anyone I work for has ever seen a dime of the money you spent.
