topic Re: Adventures in customer service from the other side in Community Chat

Adventures in customer service from the other side

Laura14 — Fri, 04 Aug 2017 19:33:32 GMT

I am in customer service. I hear your collective groans but stick with me here.

Following is why you all have issues with customer service people. Please find these people who are giving the rest of you a bad name and stop them because they ruin good employees like me.

Man calls in and wants a credit above and beyond his actual charge.

I don't have the authority to do that but I offered to have a manager speak with him to see if she'll say yes.

Long story short, he demanded his credit from me and me only and, after telling him 3 times (my limit) that it was not going to happen with me, he called me rude.

Yep, I was. I was very firm in telling him he would not yell at me any longer as there was no point in wasting each other's time when I could not give him the answer he wanted.

He then demanded the manager call him. Um, were we not there just five minutes ago to solve the original problem? Listen up!

So she calls him back and he tells her he had no problem with his original credit and he was good.

AAAARRRRRGGGGHHHHHH!!!

Right after this joy of my life:

A vendor criticized my voicemail for the first 30 seconds of her message because it wasn't set up like she thought it should be. BTW, she was trying to reach a completely different department which she would have known had she actually listened to my voicemail which specifically says what I am and what I do but please leave a message and I'll be happy to forward anything I don't deal with to the appropriate person.

It took me an hour to calm down but I did eventually forward her message to the right people and called off the hit. I mean, really? Who does this and in a professional capacity to one of her customers no less?

And the piece de resistance:

We have the woman who has just left a message complaining about people who just walked into a community pool with a baby with no diaper on and smoking in front of the clearly posted non-smoking signs. Someone needs to come over and tell these bottom feeders to get out.

Um, my company doesn't run or have any affiliation with a community pool.

HELP! I have an hour and a half to go!

Re: Adventures in customer service from the other side

chrystaltree — Fri, 04 Aug 2017 19:48:09 GMT

That's just the nature of customer service work, that's the job. Sure it drives people nuts but as someone once told me...no one ever calls a customer service rep to say "everything is great, your a wonderful company and I have no problems at all". The work is 90% negative. A lot of jobs are.

Re: Adventures in customer service from the other side

QVCkitty1 — Fri, 04 Aug 2017 19:49:15 GMT

@Laura14 wrote:
I am in customer service. I hear your collective groans but stick with me here.

Following is why you all have issues with customer service people. Please find these people who are giving the rest of you a bad name and stop them because they ruin good employees like me.

Man calls in and wants a credit above and beyond his actual charge.

I don't have the authority to do that but I offered to have a manager speak with him to see if she'll say yes.

Long story short, he demanded his credit from me and me only and, after telling him 3 times (my limit) that it was not going to happen with me, he called me rude.

Yep, I was. I was very firm in telling him he would not yell at me any longer as there was no point in wasting each other's time when I could not give him the answer he wanted.

He then demanded the manager call him. Um, were we not there just five minutes ago to solve the original problem? Listen up!

So she calls him back and he tells her he had no problem with his original credit and he was good.

AAAARRRRRGGGGHHHHHH!!!

Right after this joy of my life:

A vendor criticized my voicemail for the first 30 seconds of her message because it wasn't set up like she thought it should be. BTW, she was trying to reach a completely different department which she would have known had she actually listened to my voicemail which specifically says what I am and what I do but please leave a message and I'll be happy to forward anything I don't deal with to the appropriate person.

It took me an hour to calm down but I did eventually forward her message to the right people and called off the hit. I mean, really? Who does this and in a professional capacity to one of her customers no less?

And the piece de resistance:

We have the woman who has just left a message complaining about people who just walked into a community pool with a baby with no diaper on and smoking in front of the clearly posted non-smoking signs. Someone needs to come over and tell these bottom feeders to get out.

Um, my company doesn't run or have any affiliation with a community pool.

HELP! I have an hour and a half to go!

@Laura14, you have my sympathy, people can be delightful can't they ? I have mostly good luck with customer service I think because I try to be pleasant and clearly state my issues. There are always exceptions, but for me they have been few and far between. The same thing can happen here, when people don't read your whole post, and then go off on an unnecessary tangent. I hope the rest of your day goes better. 🌺🌷🌺

Re: Adventures in customer service from the other side

Carmie — Fri, 04 Aug 2017 19:50:46 GMT

I feel your pain. I worked in CS almost 25 years for a health insurance company. I could write a book about the calls I received. The calls from the doctors themselves were the worst.

How many ways can you tell someone that if something is excluded from their coverage? the insurance has a contractual obligation not to cover it. To do so is illegal. If you pay for one person with no coverage, you could end up paying everyone else too. You can't single people out for good or bad reasons.

I've been cursed out, yelled at and called awful names. To my credit, I handle irate people very well. So good, in fact, that all irate callers were transferred to me.

When I call CS I am always polite. The nicer you are, the more they are willing to help you. When you scream and swear, all they want to do is get you off of their phone.

@Laura14 Someday when you retire, you can think back at all of the nutty people that called you and smile, time turns those hot on fire moments into funny moments that you can laugh at.

Hang in there and know that many people do really appreciate what you do for them

Re: Adventures in customer service from the other side

makena — Fri, 04 Aug 2017 19:53:06 GMT

@Laura14 I hear you loud and clear. I am in CS and have been for 20 years. It's not pretty. I leave work and by the end of the day I feel like 2-inches tall from being beaten up on.

Re: Adventures in customer service from the other side

IamMrsG — Fri, 04 Aug 2017 19:57:07 GMT

@chrystaltree wrote:
That's just the nature of customer service work, that's the job. Sure it drives people nuts but as someone once told me...no one ever calls a customer service rep to say "everything is great, your a wonderful company and I have no problems at all". The work is 90% negative. A lot of jobs are.

Actually, I have called customer service at a company before to express gratitude for good service.

Re: Adventures in customer service from the other side

IamMrsG — Fri, 04 Aug 2017 20:00:03 GMT

@Laura14 I have worked in a sort of customer service before -- it can be one of the hardest jobs in the world. You have my complete empathy.

Re: Adventures in customer service from the other side

Laura14 — Fri, 04 Aug 2017 20:12:48 GMT

99% of them are good calls. I don't count the ones just having a bad day for a good reason. Billing issues are frustrating.

I think the recent owners who have complete tolerance for abuse of their employees is the bigger problem around here now. That NEVER was stood for ever.

But there are days like today when you look for the sign on your back or the cloud over your head.

To those of you who are in it with me, I'm raising my shot glass on my desk to you.

To the others, thank you for letting us vent!

Re: Adventures in customer service from the other side

WenGirl42 — Fri, 04 Aug 2017 20:28:58 GMT

@Laura14 You have my total sympathy as well. I could not survive in a CS job (if you remember the episode of "The Office" when Angela from Accounting had to take CS calls and apologize to people on behalf of the company, I'm pretty sure that's my competence level at that job as well).

When I call a company for CS, I try very hard to keep in mind that the front-line folks often are not empoowered to do what I want or need, if it's in any way out of the norm. My recent most frustrating example involved trying very hard to get to someone who could actually help me but not being able to. Every time I called, the supervisor "wasn't available." In the end I just said to the rep that I knew we were at an impasse because of their rules and that I hoped this call was, in fact, being recorded, because I wanted someone at a level above her to listen and know that the rules were incredibly stupid and anti-customer. This was my 3rd call to the company to try to get the rest of a refund I was due because "they don't refund shipping," but the reason I got a refund in the first place was that the item I ordered was discontinued and never sent to me. So yes, apparently I was expected to just pay for shipping when they never sent me anything. Eventually I got what I was due by being a PITA on social media.

Re: Adventures in customer service from the other side

IamMrsG — Fri, 04 Aug 2017 20:29:49 GMT

@Laura14 Oh how I hope that shot glass is full to the brim with something good!

Re: Adventures in customer service from the other side

chrystaltree — Fri, 04 Aug 2017 20:41:05 GMT

@IamMrsG wrote:
@chrystaltree wrote:
That's just the nature of customer service work, that's the job. Sure it drives people nuts but as someone once told me...no one ever calls a customer service rep to say "everything is great, your a wonderful company and I have no problems at all". The work is 90% negative. A lot of jobs are.

Actually, I have called customer service at a company before to express gratitude for good service.

Then you are that one in a million. But people don't really do that. When they want to say something nice or hand out praises, they call or email the manager of the department or the corporate offices. That's what I do when I want to acknowledge that a worker has gone above and beyond for me. I want the higher-ups and that person's manager to hear it directly from me. C.S. reps to a great job but they are on the low end of the totem pole and overwhelmed with their own jobs, I'd worry that my call would not be passed along to the appopriate management person. Telling a c.s. rep that Mary Smith in Purchasing did an amazing job isn't going to do much for Mary.

Re: Adventures in customer service from the other side

IamMrsG — Fri, 04 Aug 2017 20:45:16 GMT

@WenGirl42 wrote:
@Laura14 You have my total sympathy as well. I could not survive in a CS job (if you remember the episode of "The Office" when Angela from Accounting had to take CS calls and apologize to people on behalf of the company, I'm pretty sure that's my competence level at that job as well).

When I call a company for CS, I try very hard to keep in mind that the front-line folks often are not empoowered to do what I want or need, if it's in any way out of the norm. My recent most frustrating example involved trying very hard to get to someone who could actually help me but not being able to. Every time I called, the supervisor "wasn't available." In the end I just said to the rep that I knew we were at an impasse because of their rules and that I hoped this call was, in fact, being recorded, because I wanted someone at a level above her to listen and know that the rules were incredibly stupid and anti-customer. This was my 3rd call to the company to try to get the rest of a refund I was due because "they don't refund shipping," but the reason I got a refund in the first place was that the item I ordered was discontinued and never sent to me. So yes, apparently I was expected to just pay for shipping when they never sent me anything. Eventually I got what I was due by being a PITA on social media.

I learned a long time ago to not accept "no" from someone who doesn't have the authority to say "yes." That said, there are wrong and right ways to do it. If I cannot get satisfaction over the phone (and I document my calls, btw, with dates and names), a letter follows.

Re: Adventures in customer service from the other side

Laura14 — Fri, 04 Aug 2017 20:48:33 GMT

@WenGirl42 You go girl! Good for you! And I can't abide stupid. If I have the ability to make someting right, I don't care what policy is. I will do the credit all day long with proof the company didn't do what they should have done and it's obviously owed.

Laura= GOOD ONE!

@IamMrsG You know it! I keep the liquor companies in business, girl!

Re: Adventures in customer service from the other side

Moonchilde — Fri, 04 Aug 2017 20:50:38 GMT

Some days, your scenario #1 was the story of my life. Patient on phone wants something that no one can provide. I explain this, and exactly why. Patient gets very personally rude and "demands" to speak to supv (who is always pithed off that you give them the call, never mind that's what you're supposed to do when people get rude). Supv tells them the exact thing I told them, using the exact words and phrases I used, and they're 'OK I'm good thx bai.' I could have handed the phone to Housekeeping and told the caller it was a supervisor and they would have been good.

Sometimes people wanted something "immediately", which we normally could not and did not provide (office policy), though we made exceptions if possible and if the person asked politely. Can't give it to me in half an hour? Give me your supervisor!! (Who also tells them they can't have it in a half hour, or an hour either.)

90% of the time we'd bust our butts to get something for someone with a critical need within their time frame - IF they were polite, understanding and appreciative. If they were the opposite, they simply didn't get what they wanted exactly when they wanted it. We weren't required to go above and beyond. Whether we did or not usually depended on the caller.

Re: Adventures in customer service from the other side

Laura14 — Fri, 04 Aug 2017 20:59:27 GMT

@Moonchilde Housekeeping!! OMG, I'm rolling! I'm gonna do that the next time someone gets a bit uppity with me. LOL

Re: Adventures in customer service from the other side

GenXmuse — Fri, 04 Aug 2017 21:51:12 GMT

@Carmie wrote:
I feel your pain. I worked in CS almost 25 years for a health insurance company. I could write a book about the calls I received. The calls from the doctors themselves were the worst.

How many ways can you tell someone that if something is excluded from their coverage? the insurance has a contractual obligation not to cover it. To do so is illegal. If you pay for one person with no coverage, you could end up paying everyone else too. You can't single people out for good or bad reasons.

I've been cursed out, yelled at and called awful names. To my credit, I handle irate people very well. So good, in fact, that all irate callers were transferred to me.

When I call CS I am always polite. The nicer you are, the more they are willing to help you. When you scream and swear, all they want to do is get you off of their phone.

@Laura14 Someday when you retire, you can think back at all of the nutty people that called you and smile, time turns those hot on fire moments into funny moments that you can laugh at.

Hang in there and know that many people do really appreciate what you do for them

Could you share your tips for handling irate customers? I would love to know! Thank you 😊

Re: Adventures in customer service from the other side

croemer — Fri, 04 Aug 2017 21:55:35 GMT

I can just imagine and people now-a-days think they can treat others rudely because we are no longer face to face.

Re: Adventures in customer service from the other side

Desertdi — Fri, 04 Aug 2017 22:19:44 GMT

Another former CSA here.............."If you continue to speak to me in that way, I will terminate this call."

Re: Adventures in customer service from the other side

I am still oxox — Fri, 04 Aug 2017 22:28:02 GMT

I was at a hotel over that last two days and I was double charged for one night, the desk clerks were useless to explain what had happened, all I got is oh it was automatically done, meanwhile I had paid for the trip on a credit card and this card was for incidentals.

The manager was whitless as to why and why it happened, I was livid and wanted an explanation.We are not talking a small amount either it was a 500 charge to my bank card which could of caused all sorts of error, the problem was taken care of but never one did I get an I am sorry this happened or wow can we comp you for a drink tonight with dinner. All I got was an annoying transaction with some women who acted like a drone

When I left I aksed for the name of th GM aand I emailed her once I returned home

Re: Adventures in customer service from the other side

Desertdi — Fri, 04 Aug 2017 22:33:15 GMT

@I am still oxox wrote:
I was at a hotel over that last two days and I was double charged for one night, the desk clerks were useless to explain what had happened, all I got is oh it was automatically done, meanwhile I had paid for the trip on a credit card and this card was for incidentals.
The manager was whitless as to why and why it happened, I was livid and wanted an explanation.We are not talking a small amount either it was a 500 charge to my bank card which could of caused all sorts of error, the problem was taken care of but never one did I get an I am sorry this happened or wow can we comp you for a drink tonight with dinner. All I got was an annoying transaction with some women who acted like a drone
When I left I aksed for the name of th GM aand I emailed her once I returned home

@I am still oxox Hotels put a "hold" on your credit card for the amount they think you will spend. When you check out, the "hold" is removed.