Do Our Translation Company Policies Make Sense?

Like many people I own a smart phone (iPhone) and a tablet (iPad). When I go to the gym to pedal like a maniac for a period of time, I sometimes like to read something. Reading from an iPad is much nicer than reading from a smaller iPhone screen.

The problem is the cycling machines I use are out of range of my fitness facility’s internal wifi, and I don’t subscribe to cellular service for the iPad. It occurred to me that I should use my cell phone as a hot spot for my iPhone. So I called my wireless carrier (AT&T). “Sure no problem there’s no charge for enabling the hot spot services. Please hold while I check into that,” said the telephone agent.

When the agent returned  they explained that my cell phone plan doesn’t allow me to enable the hot spot service. To use the hot spot service I’d need to upgrade to another plan (that of course is available at a higher price). “Rest assured though there is no charge for the hot spot service.”

I declined on principle. The blame in this case apparently falls to “the plan.” It’s not our (AT&T’s) fault that this valuable and convenient service would cost you more. It’s the darned plan. Sorry.

It’s experiences like this that often infuriate customers. I had to wonder, does our company have policies that unintentionally irritate our translation clients? We do our best to make sure the answer is no.