The Angry Customer Phone Shop Idol

This programme contains some strong language

There are 24,000 mobile phone sales reps in the UK...

The same materials that are in aeroplanes,

-some of is in this phone.

-..and every year,

the industry holds a competition to find the best one.

Get in there! Go on!

It's the same as it would be for a journalist to win the Pulitzer

or for a writer to win the Booker.

Over the past six months,

the judges have ruthlessly whittled down the contestants...

From your experience at Three,

how much exterior noise is blocked out, out of 100%?

BELL RINGS ..and some of the nation's

best sellers have bitten the dust.

-It sounds really rehearsed, that.

-I do find that offensive.

I am passionate about what I do.

I didn't make it.

For those who remain, the grand final has arrived...

I'd like you to line them up in decreasing battery size.

..and the winner is about to be picked.

I'm emotional cos I'm passionate, not because I'm soft.

It's just so difficult. It's just so tough.

A total nightmare.

I'm very disappointed in myself, though, and I am in no doubt

I'm going to do it again, oh...

If stress is for you, sell mobile phones.

And the winner of Shop Idol 2015 is...

Christ on a raft!

They came from across the land...

I want to win. I'm going to win.

..the top 12 phone sales reps in Britain...

I'm really nervous.

I was fine last night. I got a meal. I had a bit of my jitters,

but, this morning, wow, I woke up like, "Aah!"

..with one shared dream...

A little bit nervous, excited, apprehensive, aroused.

..to be the Shop Idol.

OK, guys, this is the grand final of Shop Idol. This is it.

No second chances.

Nobody's going to win who's going to show potential.

Somebody's going to win who's going to deliver.

So, who is actually going to be?

I really want to see everything - the complete package.

They've already faced the Five Phone Challenge...

-'When you're put under this pressure...'

-What phone is this?

..your brain goes against you, doesn't it?

I'd bet my life on it that every person in there

will not be expecting that.

-Can I change?

-No, you cannot.

..and all 12 struggled with the quickfire quiz.

How many colour options are available for Motorola's Moto X?

Four.

No, the answer's 25.

They want to break everybody...

-It's gone. I'm sorry, it's gone.

-I'm going to do it again, oh...

..but they're never going to break me. You watch me.

HE SIGHS

No comment.

Now, just one round remains in the grand final.

Only six candidates will survive

and go through to the Mobile Industry Awards,

where one of them will be crowned Shop Idol.

I'm hoping that I don't throw up, more than anything.

They don't know it yet

but the contestants are about to come face-to-face with

every sales assistant's worst nightmare -

the angry customer.

Look, this phone is rubbish.

What are you going to do about it? What are you going to do about it?

-Darren's an actor...

-Look, what are you going to do about it?

..and for the critical final round, he'll test the candidates' ability

to deal with an extreme customer situation.

-How angry would you like me to be?

-Start really angry.

So, actually, I'll come in expecting a fight.

And it's their job to turn you around.

Is it OK to swear if I'm...? If somebody's really riling me or...?

-Yeah.

-Don't use the C word.

-Just what feels natural.

You know, they might drop some stupid line,

"Well, you can't expect us to."

And, suddenly, that becomes the trigger to take the customer

to an epileptic level.

-SUNETRA:

-If they start crying then, yeah, just stop.

-Save it.

-Yeah.

Be angry, but not necessarily personal.

I'm really looking forward to this now.

I think a lot of them are

very, very good at customer service, so hopefully...

Or, at least, that's what they've been trying to tell us.

First to go is Nick from Three Mobile in Swindon -

one of the competition's frontrunners.

-Hi, are you all right?

-Sir, are you all right?

-Yeah.

-Nice to meet you.

-I got this phone this time last week.

-Yeah.

-I dropped it and

it's cracked, so I want you to change it for me, all right?

-Let's have a look. Do you want to take a seat?

-Sure.

I understand your concerns.

Take a seat, sir,

-and we'll have a little look.

-I don't want to sit down!

-It's not something I'm going to be able to exchange today.

-Why not?

Because it's not company policy, I'm afraid. As I said...

Screw the company policy, just change it for me, yeah?

-It's like a car.

-Yeah.

-If you crash it, and you don't have insurance,

would you be liable for the damage on the car?

But it's not a car, it's a phone, and I wouldn't drop my car, yeah?

So your argument doesn't work.

-We're going round in circles.

-Mm-hmm.

-BELL RINGS

-So what we can do...

That was intense.

Next up is Roland.

Darren's brief is to improvise increasingly challenging scenarios.

-I'm Roland, and you are...?

-I'm Darren.

Darren, have a... So, what happened? Tell me just...

Yeah, so, I'm arguing with the wife, this morning,

and we've had a...

She left me but, anyway, I don't want to get into it.

All right.

Yeah, so we're having an argument,

I've knocked it off. She's left me and the screen's broke.

Basically, I need you to change it, all right?

-She left you and the screen is broke?

-Yeah.

-How did the screen broke?

-I knocked it off.

OK, no problem, no problem, that's all right.

Roland's customer service skills suffered under the pressure

-of the competition's early rounds.

-It's your fault.

Sort it out, fuck off and get some lunch or breakfast,

and sort yourselves out.

I need to control it, this energy what I've got, I need to control it.

So, he enlisted a drama coach to help him keep his cool

on the shop floor...

I would like to show, "Hey, I'm here, I'm Roland,

"I'm good at customer service."

..but nothing could have quite prepared him for Darren.

Erm, OK, erm...

It's only six days old -

-a phone this expensive shouldn't be that fragile.

-Yeah.

All I did was knock it over as we were arguing.

No, it's OK. Calm down, please. Calm down.

Oh, don't tell me to calm down.

I just want you to change this rubbish six-day old phone

for another one.

Erm, yeah...

What did you think of Roland? That was, like, a mixed bag, for me.

It wasn't his strongest performance, I have to say.

He didn't really come across as connecting with the customer.

I felt quite tense and I don't like

when somebody's in my face and somebody's stressed,

so I think they've just chosen the wrong scenario for me, as well.

Erm, I can't deal with people who...

He was in my face, like, nearly hit me.

It's totally different in real life, you know?

It's totally different.

They can feel, they make it up. It's different.

For the next two competitors, there's an added frisson.

Gemma and Mark work together in the Poole branch of EE...

If you were to actually flip over the S6 Edge,

it actually has its own lighting system.

..but they share a friendly rivalry.

-HE YAWNS

-That's brilliant and everything, OK?

But let me tell you this, OK?

So, the Sony's got a 20.7 megapixel camera, OK?

If anything, I'm more nervous of not doing as well as Mark.

I need to do the same as him or better.

-Gemma.

-Good luck.

-Have fun.

-Good luck.

-Thank you.

-Bye!

-It's six days old.

-I'm sorry, but this is something...

This phone is only six...

Do you want to calm down for a second, sir, and take a step back?

-Don't tell me to calm down.

-Please.

I just want you to change this phone.

Sir, if you carry on raising your voice at me,

-I will not be able to help you at all.

-I'm in a rush.

I need to get back to the hospital.

My little girl's in hospital. I need to get back,

so just if we can sort this out, that would be brilliant.

Right, what I can do is, unfortunately, where it is damaged,

we'd have to send it off to repair for you...

While she handled Darren's anger well,

Gemma completely ignored the fact his daughter was in hospital.

You know, from a company perspective, she was very solid.

The challenge was, there wasn't enough empathy.

-I guess.

-There was... Yeah, there was a surprising lack of empathy,

in that case, cos if we had a child being in hospital...

-Yeah, but...

-Do you think we are expecting too much?

Because we haven't really seen any compassion up till now.

-But, you know something? We're looking for Shop Idol...

-Yeah.

..so we should expect a lot.

You're pretty much on the precipice

of something really, really big here,

and something that could really help change your life for the better.

As much as I like everybody in that room,

this is very much dog-eat-dog. I am here to win the competition,

I am here to stand out and I'm here to, you know, shine through.

'When I'm in that room, it's all about me.'

Under our policy, sir, unfortunately,

we can't do anything with regards to a change of mind.

What to do, in this circumstance,

is give a proper demonstration of the handset.

I don't want a demonstration of the handset. I want a new phone.

Again, I can understand where you're coming from.

Unfortunately, I can't do an exchange on the handset.

Of course you can do an exchange on the handset -

it's your job. It's what you do.

Under a change of mind, I won't be able to change the handset.

Maybe a gesture of goodwill -

let me have a chat with the boss man,

-see what they come up with and then we'll go from there.

-Uh-huh.

-How does that sound for you?

-All right. OK, yeah.

Look at it. You can see, it's clearly a fault of the phone, yeah?

-You can see, it's rubbish.

-Do you want to...?

If you can just change it for me, and I can be on my way.

I can't change the phone, unfortunately.

What you mean you can't change the phone?

Well, unfortunately, you did break it.

-OK, so, what's wrong with it? What do you want to change?

-Everything.

-I can't stand it.

-OK.

-I hate the whole menu system.

I hate the contact system.

Can I do anything to help you make your experience better, maybe?

Yeah, you can change the phone for me, for another phone, basically.

I'm going to try my best to rectify that, then.

I can't give you a phone.

BELL RINGS

HE EXHALES

Oh, I love Jake, but he sort of fell down a little bit.

Oh, sugar-tits!

Andy.

When it comes to customer service,

Andy from Fonehouse in Sunderland is one of the best in the business.

-And that's it.

-Thank you.

-Thank you.

-Anything else?

-Are you pretty... Are you happy with that now, aye?

-That's fine...

When I approach someone in the shop, it's just like, erm,

I'm trying to already predict what they want

and predict what they're going to say.

You couldn't have picked a finer day to come down, you couldn't.

You're just watching him and go, "Eh, how did you do that?"

He'll just make a sale out of nowhere.

But Andy's chances took a knock when his nan died

while he was at the regional heats,

and he's chosen to miss her funeral today to be at the grand final.

Apparently it went well. I got my sister to say a few words

for us, to say why I wasn't there,

and members of the family who might be a bit funny about it,

you know, can kiss my arse.

-Hi, mate, are you all right?

-Yeah, I got... Not really, actually.

-I got this phone. about a month ago now.

-Mm-hmm.

And I just... I just don't like it.

-What is it that you don't like about it?

-It's everything.

-It's a good, decent phone.

-No, everything, and it's like...

-Everything?

-Yes.

-Every last detail, you hate about the phone?

-Yeah, most of it is pants.

-Well, can we use them seats?

-Sure.

Do you want to come and have a sit down

-and have a bit of a, you know, sit down and stuff?

-OK.

Erm, I'm not against you. I'm on your side.

-That's what to remember, yeah?

-In that case, just swap the phone.

Which is what I probably will do for you.

You know, I don't have an issue, if you want to swap the phone

-and pay the difference - that's not the issue.

-Awesome.

Oh!

-So, Darren, what did you think?

-What I really got from him was

a willingness that he did want to solve and help,

and that, kind of, as we went on, felt really genuine, actually.

Yeah, OK.

Former dancing champion Claire doesn't see much aggro

on the shop floor of Carphone Warehouse in York.

How can we help you, sir?

-Sort my phone out - to get it sorted.

-Oh, right...

She's the store's top seller, and queen of technical knowledge...

I'm really interested in the Oculus Rift,

which is virtual reality.

-It's all magic.

-I know it is! It is real, though.

..but how will she cope with Darren?

-Hello.

-Hiya.

-Welcome to Carphone Warehouse.

How can I help you? My name's Claire.

-Yeah, I bought this phone about six weeks ago now.

-OK. Mm-hmm.

And I hate it. It's really... I just can't stand it.

I can't get to terms with it.

-There's nothing about it that I like.

-OK.

I mean, I used to have an iPhone and it was so much better than this.

-Right, OK.

-Yeah, I mean, it's like, I hate the display. I hate the menu.

I hate the contacts system.

The internet is just pants on it as well.

If you can change it for me, that'll be brilliant.

Absolutely, that's what we'll do.

We'll find the easiest way of doing that for you

-that isn't at a cost to you.

-OK.

-What I'll do is I'll see how much

-we can it give you back for it as a trade-in.

-Right?

-It's in very good condition.

-Yeah, it's only six weeks old.

You've looked after it, yeah.

-That's not going to cost me a penny?

-That's the plan.

-Fantastic, brilliant.

-All right. OK.

-OK, great.

Did you get compassion from Claire? Did she do a good job?

I got everything from Claire.

She never said, "Well, you'll have to pay for this."

She said, "Well, the idea is that you don't have to."

Yeah, yeah, I mean, for me...

And she would have put a positive spin on everything.

-I mean...

-Everything that came out of her mouth was positive.

It's decision time.

The judges will now select the final six who will go to

the Mobile Industry Awards in a few days' time,

where one of them will be crowned Shop Idol.

Those who don't make it will be sent back to the shop floor.

Andy, you haven't had the easiest competition,

but you have made our final six.

Oh, unbelievable, like.

You think you would have made your granny proud?

Aye, right, so far. I'd say, if that were me, I'd be proud, reckon.

Nick, you've had an interesting competition - some ups and downs.

I'm really pleased to say, you will be through to the final six.

Henry, it hasn't been easy,

but you have made it to the final six.

-Thank you very much.

-OK.

Claire, it wasn't the strongest start.

You really redeemed yourself in the angry customer

and I'm really pleased to say that

you will be going through to the last six.

What does this mean to you?

Quite a lot. Yeah, an awful lot.

A ridiculous amount.

Jake, the whole of the judging panel was blown away

with your likeability.

We can imagine, as a customer, everybody going out with a smile

on their face, probably cos you've cracked an amazing set of jokes.

Erm...

We didn't think you were the rounded individual this year.

Meh!

Roland...

your performance today wasn't great,

but the judges have got together, and they thought...

..you do deserve a place in our final six.

What, you mean, I'm going to the stage?

-Yeah.

-Really?

-Yes.

Thank you so much. Thank you so much. Thank you.

Yay!

Holly, you should be proud for getting to this

stage of the competition,

but, for us, it's a no. You haven't made the final six, so...

OK, well, thank you for the chance.

I'm really proud that I've got this far.

For the failed finalists, it's the end of the line.

The people going home today must be just devastated, like,

do you know what I mean?

-They've put all this effort in for nothing.

-Thank you.

This is not the worst thing that's ever happened to me, sort of thing,

so onwards and upwards.

I'll keep doing good. I'll make my son proud of me.

But there's one place left to decide.

Are you ready, Sunetra?

It's a straight choice between Mark and Gemma.

Gemma, we expect a lot from our contestants

and it's always difficult coming back a second time.

And unfortunately, you didn't deliver what we had hoped you would.

Mark, you delivered,

so you've made it to the top six.

Well done, mate.

Thank you. Thank you very much.

You're getting me now.

-It's the right decision.

-Yes.

-Yeah.

Get in, yes!

Oh, God, I've never felt like that before.

I just...I just didn't do well enough, that's all.

There's nothing else I can say, other than...

..I just let my mum down.

-I so wanted you to do it as well.

-I know.

I hope I can do this for you now.

HE SHOUTS

The best six phone reps in the country have been selected.

Nick and Roland from Three Mobile...

Henry from Tesco Mobile...

Claire from Carphone Warehouse...

Andy from Fonehouse...

and Mark from EE are all headed for the glittering awards ceremony.

But which one of them will win?

What a day to win Shop Idol.

Lovely day. Lovely day to win Shop Idol today.

It's the day of reckoning.

The top six have returned to London,

and one of them will be going home a Shop Idol.

There couldn't be more at stake.

Previous winners had been offered well-paid managerial roles,

their lives and careers transformed.

I think, just being in the six, she could do so many things now.

I think a lot of people probably take her quite seriously.

She's not just a pretty girl.

And it will change her life quite a lot, I think.

Might not need to work again!

In my eyes, he's the best salesman I've ever seen.

This is like a massive thing for your career

and what you could do from here on.

So I'm rooting for him. Yeah, going to win.

Boom!

Why won't that crease? Fuck off!

Know what I mean? You iron and iron it and it doesn't piss right off.

That's going to pissing do me, that, like.

The Mobile Industry Awards are held

at a top venue in the heart of London.

A table at the front costs over £5,000.

Christian may now be the head judge,

but as a former contestant in Shop Idol himself,

the night is tinged with memories.

When I was in the top six, I was walking in and just thinking,

"Wow, it's the real event."

They go from the store, they turn up, and it's a big, glitzy event,

and everyone is looking at them.

But they're going to be nervous. They're going to be nervous as hell.

But it's about them experiencing.

They'll wake up tomorrow and realise it wasn't just a dream.

The awards ceremony is one of the hottest nights

in the mobile phone calendar.

And hundreds of the most influential players in the industry have gathered.

It's where we belong, you know what I mean?

The elite, the phone elite of England.

It's just amazing, you know,

it's literally like being at the Oscars of the phone world.

32 and 33. That's the three tables.

The industry is worth £15 billion a year, and for the final six,

it's a unique chance to impress the great and good.

As one as the Shop Idol top six finalists,

you can just walk up to them and say,

"Hi, I think I would like a better job."

-It's such an achievement just getting here.

-Yeah, it's brilliant.

That'll be the icing on the cake.

That was Deirdre, that's one of our big, big bosses, that is.

It was like, no, I'm on five, he's six.

Everybody knows who you are.

It's quite awkward, don't know how to open a conversation,

don't know where to start, never been there.

-I just came to say good luck.

-Oh, thank you.

Basically don't know what to do, never been in a big event like this.

Opportunities like this are very hard to come by.

I'm rooting for you, I reckon we've got to win something.

You go up to people you've never seen before and just say, "Hello."

And he's like, "Excuse me, you are?" OK, all right.

And I just... It's not good, you know what I mean?

Welcome to the 2015 Mobile Industry Awards.

As the ceremony gets underway,

it's left to stand-up comic Alun Cochrane to introduce the finalists.

We start with shop Idol.

-CHEERING

-Indeed.

So, let's welcome to the stage the super six.

And they are...

..Andy Gray, Fonehouse.

You've got one minute to tell us why you should be shop Idol.

Me, I think I should win it because...

I just think I've got the full package.

And it's just become my life.

And to win it would just mean absolutely everything,

especially now more than ever, you know.

For the judges, picking a winner was not an easy task.

For me, he's always had that likeability.

He's not been as strong in terms of products,

and my worry has been... has he made up for that

simply through his likeability and his jovial character?

Claire Pulpher, Carphone Warehouse.

For me, it's about changing the whole image of this industry.

I want to show that we're not cut-throat,

I want people to know we're here to help,

I want to be that...I want to be the Idol, I really do.

Unfortunately, I think you have this thing about,

oh, she's a girl in the industry,

a bit of a bimbo, doesn't really know much.

Her way of selling buys you in, pulls you in, you believe her.

Henry Duong, Tesco Phone Shop.

From a family point of view, it would make my mum really proud.

We came over actually as refugees from Vietnam.

And we started off with nothing, so to be able to show her

what I've managed to do would make her really proud.

Marc Davies, EE. Where are you, Marc?

Hopefully, I've shown a drive and determination

to prove my knowledge base,

to show my calmness under extreme circumstances and pressure,

to show I have that little bit of extra factor.

-BELL RINGS

-Thank you very much.

Nick Fosh from Three. A round of applause for Nick.

This competition started for me years ago when I became a salesman.

I've had a lot of people telling me that you're unique, special,

and I think that I do deliver. I think I'm the whole thing.

Nick walked into the competition thinking, "I've got this

-"in the bag."

-Yeah.

-And I think

one word we'd have to use for him is consistent.

Scores, rounds, everything he's done, he's been very good.

And last, but by no means least, Roland Ratvai, from Three.

A round of applause for Roland. Up you come.

I want to make a difference. When I'm selling, I'm changing lives, OK?

I'm having fantastic, great conversations with customers,

and that's what I'm doing.

I think it's fair to say these six deserve all the recognition

they get this evening. They've done brilliantly to get this far.

Give them a huge round of applause.

One of them tonight is going to walk away with the Shop Idol trophy.

That was the world, I felt like I ruled the world.

It's such a good feeling. When he said, "Roland Ratvai,"

I felt, yeah, man, absolutely.

Sorry, guys.

After six months of tests and challenges,

the big moment has finally arrived.

It's time to learn who the winner of Shop Idol 2015 is.

We're now going to meet the final three.

This is it.

We'll see. what happens, happens. I've done my best.

I could win.

Let's turn to the night sky

and see which three sales stars have made the final this year.

-Who's our top three?

-I actually think we have a clear top three.

The top three are...

..Henry...

..Claire...

..and Nick.

For Andy, Marc and Roland, the dream is over.

A huge round of applause, welcome our top three back onto the stage.

But, for Nick, Henry or Claire,

retail glory beckons.

You know what I think we should do?

I think we should write down the name,

then show the name, each of us.

We can now reveal...

the winner...

of Shop Idol 2015...

..is...

Claire Pulpher, Carphone Warehouse!

Come on, Claire, get in!

Yeah!

-Do you think we made the right decision?

-Yeah, I think we did.

People might look at her and think, yeah,

we did it because she looks great.

No, she is actually an amazing candidate

and she showed that every single step of the way.

-Whoo!

-An amazing ambassador for the industry.

-Completely, completely.

Well done to you for making it, you know, we're all winners. Seriously.

I'm gutted, genuinely my heart sunk

because I know how he's feeling.

I'm proud of him, so proud of him to get this far.

But, yeah, he just didn't get the number one spot. Yeah, gutted.

I'm a celebrity now!

I didn't even make it to the top three,

so I'm quite, like, feeling a bit, like, down.

Let me tell you something, the difference between possible

and impossible lies within a man's determination...

So I'm going forward.

Congratulations for Claire, of course. She did amazing as well.

But you know, that's life.

I came in the final three.

Thanks, Mum. Yeah, no, it means a lot. Thank you.

I think it went to the right person, Claire was brilliant.

She's amazing, she knows everything about phones.

She's worked the hardest to be here and she deserves every minute.

We can't underestimate just how amazing, what we have done,

you know? We're all winners.

We have, yeah. Thanks for that.

No, pleasure to meet you, mate. Come here, give me a hug.

Let's hug it out.

Self-belief, confidence, that's all it is, that's all it takes,

that's everything in life, if you've got loads of confidence,

you've got life sussed. Really, you know what I mean, that's all it is.

This competition's given us a drive to do it, you know what I mean?

Just to fucking go for it, man,

there's more to life than mobile phones.

It's time to move on to bigger things, sell bigger shit.

I hope I'm just like a breath of fresh air in the industry.

I don't want to go out there and hit targets.

I know it's my job, but I want to go out there and make people happy.

And I believe you can make people happy in any industry,

so I'm going to go out there and change the world.

# Hold me close and hold me fast

# The magic spell you cast

# This is la vie en rose

# When you kiss me, heaven sighs

# And though I close my eyes

# I see la vie en rose... #