I hate customers who think I am out to screw them

[jackfaire]

My job as a customer service rep is to help customer's yes I will also keep an eye on the bottom line because frankly if we are just giving away the company I will be out of a job. You won't have a company to do business with. That being said if you do most of this I will suddenly do the bare minimum of work for you and my supervisor will not be nice.

http://consumerist.com/341815/how-to...eps?source=rss

Opinions?

[Peppergirl]

Thanks, Jack. If I had blood pressure issues, I'd be on the floor right now.

Kidding aside, what an entitlement whore. The quickest way to get me to dig my heels in and not help, is to tell me what I *WILL* do.

Do they not realize that most CSR's are NOT idiots and that many of us have found ways to do the bare minimum for people like this AND keep their jobs at the same time?

Oh, and last I checked, I thought most companies were in the business to make money. How would it be profitable if they kept supervisors on staff to deal with every single call? Wouldn't that negate the need for CSRs?

Don't get me wrong...I know customer service is at an all time low in many ways, but it's people like *this* that make us want to NOT help them.

So yeah, fuck her and the horse she rode in on. Sideways.

[DesignFox]

Yea, someone posted this article on CS awhile back.

Telling me I *WILL* do something is the perfect way to get me to do anything, but.

I hate people who do that with the passion of a thousand suns.

-or- because I'm a total asshole when I want to be, I *WILL* do exactly the bare minimum to get them to STFU, when in reality, had they been nice to me and not ordered me around like a damn dog, I *could* have done much more for them.

I want to go up to the person who wrote that article and slap them around with a clue-by-four.

Oh, I also hate people who use your name repeatedly. Yes, I introduced myself. Yes, I will always remind you of who to ask for so that I can resolve any issues you have. But the minute you use my name in a degrading tone, you're done. I had some douchewaffle try that on me a few months ago. As soon as he started, I told him, "I'm sorry sir, there is nothing else I can offer you, and I have other customers to help. This conversation is over." *click*

[BlaqueKatt]

at the call center I worked at if you couldn't get the basic info from the caller you could not transfer them to a sup-as the sups had no more power than we did, and they didn't even know the systems-you were better off with a rep. no info no transfer and after the 3rd request for info was refused we were to informe them that without the information we were disconnecting the call as they were unwilling to help us help them.

[MaggieTheCat]

Man, I'm glad I never had to deal with that...person...when I worked in my old call center. I agree with everyone here, she is a complete entitlement whore and it makes me sick to my stomach that her article was actually posted to HELP people be MORE like her. Disgusting.

At my old call center, reps had to get a customer's info before transferring anything to anyone, including why the person was calling, because often times, a CSR could handle a situation without getting a supervisor involved -- including "escalated" situations. A lot of ours CSRs had been with the company for years and had quite a bit of power to give goodwill credits, issue refunds, send replacement products for free, etc.

[freeatlast]

I had a customer on the phone yesterday who had the balls to tell me that we were going to stop charging him late fees. He actually said that we were "at the bottom of the food chain" as far as he was concerned. Being "at the bottom of the food chain" meant that his bill with us was never going to be paid on time, but if we were going to insist on charging him a late fee every month, he would consider taking his business elsewhere. It really pissed him off when I told him that was his perogotive and didn't beg him not to leave us. I simply explained that customers who never pay on time end up costing us too much money in billing and collection attempts. Then, he asked what he would have to to to get us to stop charging him late fees. I suggested that he pay his bill on time each month.

[jackfaire]

I work for an outsourcer we offer comprehensive customer service solutions for all of your business needs, no I don't write the brochure I should though.

Anyway our reps we receive the in depth training that the companies provide us. Our Supervisors get some form of this training. Then our supervisors never get it again. When something changes the company we contract for teaches us the changes and we teach our supervisor. When they are helping someone new and need to ask a question they ask us.

1) I have more current up to date training than my supervisor

2) Only one of my supervisors will bend the rules as much as I will. One of the other two will not bend on the rules at all and the other will only do so if I cajole her. You talk directly to the one that will be calling you back you will get told no.

3) I know it sounds geeky as hell but when I save a customer 200 dollars and drop their monthly bill from 150 to 80 dollars it gives me a rush. I like that rush I need that rush. Believe me my supervisor just wants to get a paycheck.

[Boozy]

Number 4 is especially galling ("When you get a CSR on the phone, immediately ask to speak to a supervisor").

However, it does make me chuckle a bit at what these people think they're getting away with. I've worked briefly at three different call centres in my time, and it was standard practice at each one to pass the phone to some other random rep in your cubicle island when some idiot asked for a supervisor right off the top of a call.

We didn't have enough supervisors to handle every call from these speshul snowflakes who believed that a) reps are powerless (they are often far from it), and/or b) their particular problem is so spectacular that no regular CSR can handle it.

Never ask for a supervisor right off the bat. You will either get passed laterally to another rep, or you will get the supe, but get treated with the contempt you deserve for having asked for one.

[jackfaire]

Note to sucky customers you don't want to talk to my supervisor he can tell you your a dillhole and get away with it.

[tropicsgoddess]

4. When you get a CSR on the phone, immediately ask to speak to a supervisor
When/if they insist that they can help you, keeping your tone low and even, state again that you need to speak to a supervisor. Not want, need. If they again insist, state in a clear and calm, low tone, that they WILL connect you to a supervisor, now. Do not yell, shout, or raise your voice or tone. "No. You are going to get a supervisor for me. Thank you. I'll wait." Say "thank you" immediately. Do not wait for them to answer your request first. If they again insist, hang up immediately. Call back. If you get the same person, make the request again, and if they again refuse, hang up, wait one hour for a shift change, and then call back. Do not give the initial person your name. They do not need it.

7. If the supervisor insists that your solution is outside of policy, ask for the full policy
Do not accept "It's just not policy to do this." You want a full description of the policy. This does not mean twenty pages, faxed. A simple description of the section they feel affects your situation is what you need from them. IF they again simply say "It isn't policy to __", you say "That isn't a policy. What, exactly, is your policy in this situation?" If they refuse to give you the policy, ask for their supervisor, or a corporate number - if you choose to or must call corporate, refer to *A - however, this will most likely not be necessary. If they give you the policy, continue to step 8.

I completely disagree with this. Supervisors NEVER take the call unless they know WHY that customer wants to speak to them and to top that the agent can get dinged for not documenting the call. Not only that but 9 times out of ten there's customers that say "I wanna speak with a supervisor" and flat out refuse to give out any information for the agent to verify and/or document the account before relaying it to their supervisor prior to transferring the call. As for the policy, there's a reason that this policy is in place. Every department can do so much and we have to churn and burn calls that come in like a cashier does with the customers in their lane. Get them in and out as quickly as possible, resolve the issue to the best of their abilities AND within policy. It's okay to ask about policy but just don't be an ass about it is all. I know some supervisors that will PWN SC's hard and put them in their place without batting an eye.

[MaggieTheCat]

I read this article to my husband. His response, having never worked in any kind of retail or customer service based job:

"This sounds like a guideline on how to get your story posted on notalwaysright.com."