All the user has to do to take advantage of this service is enter inquiries on their mobile handset and type in their phone number followed by #4466. Then a BC Card customer service consultant will receive a text message and answer quickly either via a text or multimedia message.

Once this system is up and running, the time it takes to process customer inquiries, and the waiting time when calling an operator will be cut by a large margin. In particular, the common inquiries that take up most of the operator’s time, including itemized billing details, transaction approvals, balance inquiries, and stolen or lost card reports, are expected to be reduced significantly.

If, on the other hand, the user sends text messages using a mobile phone service provider, they will be charged the text message rate set by the provider. BC Card will officially launch the service starting August of this year.

A BC Card official said, “The text message service we will offer is to make up for shortcomings in our existing customer relations service, and give our customers more options to choose from, thereby enhancing their satisfaction.”

* What is an email response management system?

This is a system whereby a card member or non-member searches similar queries in the past or FAQ’s for answers to his or her inquiries on the corporate website, and makes a recommendation to the customer service consultant.

* What is a multimedia messaging service?

This is a service capable of sending out rich media messages such as TV commercials, video clips, audio files, pictures, and animations combining text, music, still images, and moving images.