The Penny Dropped Twenty-Four Months Later

I work in the customer service department for a company that sells phones, subscriptions with the phones, and all kinds of accessories you might need with them. My job consists mainly of answering calls and replying to emails, but we also have a WhatsApp number people can text and a live-chat which customers can enable through our website.

Most phone subscriptions with providers can be made for one or two years, with the latter being the most popular option. As I’m on live-chat duty, I can see which page on our website customers have visited last before enabling the chat.

Customer: “Hi. I’d like to make a subscription with [Phone Type] at [Provider]. I keep clicking on ‘twenty-four-month subscription,’ but when I try to place my order, your website keeps changing it to ‘two-year subscription.’”

I start laughing out loud and tell my colleagues what this person just asked. I answer the customer.

Me: “Good afternoon. I understand there is some confusion about the length of the subscription. It may occur that our website phrases things differently, but twenty-four months is equal to two years. The duration of your contract won’t change.”

After this, the customer didn’t reply anymore. As my colleague put it, he must’ve been too embarrassed after he realised his mistake.