Misleading email on the day of transfer

sloz

The email received from giffgaff on the morning of a number transfer, is misleading and due for a change,

This is what's received....

Your number transfer was successful!

Congrats, we've successfully transferred your old number **phone_number_removed**to giffgaff.

If your service still isn't working try turning your phone on and off again, some phones need this to get the service going again.

Any more questions?

Visit giffgaff.com/help

Cheers,

The giffgaff team

My suggestion is ...

Welcome to giffgaff

The proccess of transferring your number

**phone_number_removed** to giffgaff has started,

This may take several hours to complete fully, during this change over time, you may notice that incoming calls and texts are the last to complete

You may need to switch your phone off and on or dial the balance codes

*100*7# and *100#

to kick start your services

Any more questions?

Visit giffgaff.com/help

Cheers,

The giffgaff team

Anyone have any more suggestions for the wording?

jossy22

I think you have nailed it @sloz

Needs that clarity to help people.

moominpappa

Good idea @sloz - this process should be simplified and explained better.

It's been a while since I ported into giffgaff, but I seem to recall that the porting process was really, really fast (unlike some other networks), but this may not always be the case, so a more informative email would be helpful.

endorphin

Rest assured @h_henna is looking into this, https://community.giffgaff.com/t5/contribute/number-transfer-complete-message/m-p/23334133#m552391

I've confirmed with her the offending email.

germansheppard234

@sloz. Really why do they send it at all till it is complete or just reword it your transfer of your numbr has started It's time they put what they mean and looked at it from point of view of member who gets its Cheers brian

harrrrrry

An email to say the transfer is complete is more useful than an email to say that it's started -- but it's absolutely essential that the completion email is not set until it is totally certain that the transfer is complete.

pthapa25

maybe customers should get notified twice..

first, when the porting process has started..

then, one when the process has fully completed..

sloz

@harrrrrry
The problem is, can the system detect that the teansfer has completed fully and successfully?

If not, if the systems can only prompt the sending of the current email,
It needs changing

harrrrrry

If it's not possible to reliably detect when the transfer is complete, then there are three sensible alternatives:

send the email when the transfer begins, but say only that the transfer has started and should be complete by 9pm, though in most cases it will be complete by 3pm, or
wait until 3pm and then send the email to say that the transfer "is probably now complete but can sometimes take until 9pm", or
wait until 9pm and send the email to say that the transfer "should now be complete".
In each case, as you suggest, it would be useful to further describe the process and to say what action to take at various stages and especially if the transfer appears not to be complete at 9pm.

A reminder that iPhones are likely to need a sync with iMessages once the transfer is complete would also be helpful.

endorphin

@harrrrrry wrote:

If it's not possible to reliably detect when the transfer is complete, then there are three sensible alternatives:

send the email when the transfer begins, but say only that the transfer has started and should be complete by 9pm, though in most cases it will be complete by 3pm, or

I think only this option sets the right expectations, in the other two options the disclaiming words "probably" and "should" smack of guesswork which is unhelpful and unprofessional in my view.

A link to the relevant KB article in the email wouldn't go amiss either (if it's not there already).

gotha51

Makes sense to change it. Why say it is complete when it has only just begun. The email should be changed as suggested.

magnushirst

Hi @sloz. I'm one of the engineers working on a project related to this so I'll mention it to the team next week to see if we can make them more relevant. Thanks for bring this up!

sloz

magnushirst
I raised this 5 months ago so I'm asking again about the possibility of changing the wording on the email

You mention that the "team" were looking at the possibility,
Did you discuss it?
Decided to keep the email as is?
or are you intending to change it?

5 or 6 threads posted in the last few hours enquiring why their number transfer hasn't completed yet the email they received said it had

sloz

Hi @magnushirst
Any update on this?
Was it decided to not change the wording of the email
Or are you still planning to change it?

jaymailsays

sloz so I'm asking again about the possibility of changing the wording on the email

I agree that the misleading email ought to be amended to something more neutral to explain the porting transfer is in progress, rather than suggesting completion.

Although 'Content' of this type may not fall under @antonlg 's remit, often Anton knows who to put the proposal in front of, for change, or at least review.

Fingers crossed ✅

antonlg

jaymailsays
Cheers for the tag. I and @h_henna bumped this internally just to make sure it's picked up again.

Once we have some relevant updates, myself, Henna or @magnushirst will come back here.

Cheers again for re-raising this!

endorphin

antonlg there are still quite a few Help posts daily where people have been mistakenly led to believe their number transfers have fully completed by this email. Whilst waiting for a technical fix (if there is one) to sending the email out too early is it not possible to simply reword it to prevent people being misled?

sloz

endorphin
Yes, a little puzzling why after 6 months, a simple change of wording hasn't been made that instructs, clarifies and reassures a new customer

antonlg

sloz @endorphin

The email was rewritten based on everyone's feedback and here is it. This is with the emails team already and should be updated asap.

The new email will say:
Today is your number transfer day

_Hi <membername> Woohoo. Today is your number transfer day. We've begun transferring your number *070000000* to giffgaff. This can take several hours to complete fully. You may need to turn your phone off and on again throughout the day to get it going again. Parts of your service (such as calls, texts) may work intermittently during the day, but it's important to allow up to 9pm for your transfer to be completed and full service to be restored. If you have any questions, please visit giffgaff.com/help. Ta, ta for now, The giffgaff team._

jaymailsays

antonlg .......several hours to complete fully.

How about:-
several hours to fully complete.

What do you think?

sloz

antonlg
I have to be honest it's certainly not the wording I would have used, but anything is better than the current message

antonlg

sloz
What would you have used?

jaymailsays - I got your feedback. Makes sense 🙂