Yo She-Bitch... Let's go.

[methedras.livejournal.com]

Hey bitch,

1) Do not try and tell me that I have no ability in customer service. I eat, breathe, and shit customer service. Primarily the latter of the three.
2) Do not try and tell me how the company should run itself internally, and that our well trained staff are hopeless.
3) Do not try and tell me that "As the customer I should be overpowering you, not you overpowering me". I'm the one with the knowledge here, I'm running the show.
4) Do not tell me that at the age of 24 I do not have the experience to do my job properly.
5) Do not become indignant when I tell you that I am offended by your statement, and furthermore when I advise you that you are rude.
6) Do not feign surprise when you find out that : Yes, I am the supervisor, and I'm telling you that you're a bitch.


Yours faithfully,

The guy who was going to fix your problem.






NOTE : No troubleshooting was done because we did not get past the cow's "feedback"

<--- BEGINNING OF NOTES --->

Before we could begin troubleshooting, customer wished to complain about the length of queues, and that we dont provide call backs on customer request until the 3rd or 4th call. This is policy, and this is also because most troubleshooting will resolve the issue on the first call.

Explained to cust that we can never guarantee there'll be no queue. Adv that sometimes we may have totally dead queues and too many staff, and sometimes we have high queues and not enough staff. Explained that Monday is a busy day, and quite often we may have too many people off sick. Explained that you can't guarantee short queues in chaotic situations.

Explained that training a rep to a good level can take roughly one month, and quite often staff will leave for their own reasons all the time, and it is hard to keep the training up. Cust said that she's worked in call centres too and it doesnt take this long. Adv that this is for a technical role, and there are procedures and steps that require alot of training, it's not that simple.

Cust suggested that maybe ISP Name should look at changing the way management looks after staff if we are receiving a high turnover of staff. Cust suggested that people wouldnt leave all the time if they were treated better. Tried to suggest to customer that this wasn't really relevant to the current issue, but cust continued to explain.

Cust complained further about the lack of callbacks. Adv that if we called every customer back that requested it, the queues would be higher. Cust says that only people who've been having trouble for a few weeks should be able to request it. Adv cust that alot of people request callbacks all the time. Cust thinks that we really mustnt be doing a good job if people are doing so. Explained once again that most troubleshooting done on first call will resolve issue.

Cust asked me my age, I adv I am 24. Cust told me she is 44.

Cust began to personally attack me saying that I dont have the experience she has, and that my customer service skills were inadequate. I adv customer that I was trying to inform her of the state of the company so she knew how things were done here, but she still claimed that my 'young' age dictated an inability to do my job.

Cust said she didnt mean to offend, but advised cust that I DO take offence to her claims. Cust basically said that's a pity, but she's the customer and she's always right. I advised cust that I am a human, and that she is being rude. Explained to cust that my age DOES NOT dictate my ability to do my job.

Cust then said "Yeah sure, in technical stuff, Im sure you know alot more than me. But customer service you dont know anything. I am the customer and I should be overpowering you, you should not be overpowering me"

I advised cust that I am the person calling to assist her in her technical problem and she's not being receptive.

Cust wants to speak to a supervisor. I advised her I AM the supervisor. Cust decided she wants to speak to someone else as "we got off on the wrong foot".


[Transferred to another supervisor here]


<--- END OF NOTES --->

From here on in she was quite calm when speaking to my colleague, but he wasn't defending anything, he just let her bitch and moan.

Comments

[aiglet.livejournal.com]

Sometimes you just have to let people get whatever their problem is out of their system so they'll calm down and let you get anything done.

Still sucks, though. :(

[methedras.livejournal.com]

I totally agree.

If a customer is calm, and not being a supercow I'll usually let them go off, sympathise, and if they're really cool I'll make sure the problem is resolved and maybe organise a credit.

It depends on the way you start the call. She didn't even really say hello, or thanks for the call when I called her.

I forgot to mention that, I called her... against policy.
She should be thankful.

[invader-kitty.livejournal.com]

Get her email address. Sign her up to porn sites. You know you want too.

[methedras.livejournal.com]

Haha, oh you know I will.

[invader-kitty.livejournal.com]

Thats my boy!

[jecook]

I had gotten one call from someone that I let vent for about 20 minutes on this, that, and just about everything else. Didn't do much in the way of troubleshooting, but I guess he just needed a sympathetic ear. Most of his tirade was about his account rep, who he had been trying to get a hold of for one reason or another. I ended up faxing something to the mother office about it. Hope it got resolved.

I hate to tell you this

[yduras.livejournal.com]

From a Customer Service standpoint, she had a point. Arguing with the customer or even getting defensive (and as neutral as your language in the ticket was, you were getting defensive) is not good customer service. You were so caught up in having to 'win' the argument, that you lost control of the call.

Was she being obnoxious? Yeah, a little. Was it out of line for her to have asked you your age? Yes, and for future reference, you do not have to answer personal questions. Should someone who has worked in Customer Service for as long as she claimed know better than to expect the tech answering her call to have any control whatsoever about management policy? Absolutely.

The thing is, though, customers do get to be obnoxious, and it really is your job to suck it up. Arguing with the customer is bad customer service, partially because it lengthens a call, and partially because of what happened in this case - it got to the point where you were both so antagonistic you were unable to help the customer, which is, after all, your primary function.

Your colleague did the right thing. He let her vent. And then moved on.

Your comment in #3 up there is a real potential problem. When you're dealing with a technical issue, you may be running the show, but when you're dealing with a customer complaint, the customer's the one paying the bills, and thus, you, so she's running the show.

Yeah, it sucks to have to take crap from customers, but that's customer service for you. I know it's hard to swallow your pride and let someone talk to you like that, but ultimately it's not your job to win an argument with a customer, it's your job to get them connected to your ISP.

Re: I hate to tell you this

[methedras.livejournal.com]

Yeah, but what you fail to see here is that I was calling the customer back to try and resolve her issue. We're free technical support, and we have a policy that we don't call people back unless it is their fourth call into the call centre.

We're a major ISP, if we start calling every customer back straight away, it means that nobody is going to get answered on the queue. So for a start, we were doing something right by her.

I started the call friendly and offering to give her a hand with a problem, as I should. She started complaining about the queues, and I apologised that yes, we were having a very busy day.

She was questioning and arguing further and further everytime I said anything. I explained that yeah, it's rough because we don't have as many people on... so she wanted to take it further. She was one of those people that wouldn't have been happy if I'd said something along the lines of "Well yeah, I know... I understand... it's really hard", she was egging me on and fighting more. A person that wants an answer for everything. Arguing with the customer was not my intention, it's what she coaxed out of me. These notes are not an accurate representation of the call, these are just the easiest parts to note.

I answered her personal question, because it often interests me to see where they are going to take information like that. I have no problem with someone knowing my age.

She hadn't worked in customer service that long, she said she'd spent a small time in a call centre - that deals with welfare payments.

The customer made a complaint, I explained to her why there can be problems and why we can't guarantee that there'll never be a queue. I tried to inform, she didn't like the information and had a hissy fit about it. And regarding paying the bills, nope, we're free support, and advertised as such.

I know it may not be the best customer service to get in an argument like that with a customer, but I am of the notion that you don't suck on a customer's ass when dealing with their issue. You try and keep them on an equal level to yourself, even if they aren't the brightest, but never bend to their will unnecessarily when it's an unavoidable situation.

She started the call with a bad attitude, and the way she started it dictated the way it would end. It happens all the time, you see it constantly in call monitoring.

Re: I hate to tell you this

[yduras.livejournal.com]

I do get where you're coming from with this. My job is about half Customer Service half Tech Support.

The idea of humoring a customer is not really a "me = lowly agent, caller = god" but that arguing with them never resolves anything and generally just keeps anything productive from happening. It's like telephone judo, you know? Just let them slide past. I only argue with people whose opinions mean something to me.

Probably the best way I can think of to handle a customer like that is to say "Well, I'm really not empowered to change company policy, but I can take down your complaint and pass it upstream the next time we have a feedback meeting." Then the customer feels she's "won" and you can move on to the actual issue.

I do miss the days when I could 'go blonde' on callers - I'm a little too techy to pull it off these days. It's amazing what you can deflect with "perky and a little dim".

Re: I hate to tell you this

[methedras.livejournal.com]

Well yeah, so is mine, and dealing with irate customers is a large part of my role as a supervisor.

Normally I let the customer have their rant and bitch, apologise, and discuss the issue to see if I can resolve it. Though this woman just really rubbed my rhubarb straight off the bat, she needed a smack down.

I train my reps to let the customer talk and talk until they've made themselves heard, and then to deal with things. I wouldn't have come down on any of my guys for giving this woman a serve.

I wasn't arguing with this customer, well trying not to, I was just explaining why things can be hard. I gave her a real life, and believable, explanation for why queues could sometimes be long, but then she started getting narky about the way management were running the place if we had staff churn. It was really a pointless area to take the discussion, and I had apologised already.

Some people just go looking for fights. Hehe.

Haha go blonde? Nah, I love knowing what's going on, and being able to use that adequately to get the job done right.

Re: I hate to tell you this

[methedras.livejournal.com]

Uh, that should say "giving this woman a serve though."

Re: I hate to tell you this

[digitalfunk.livejournal.com]

she was a bitch

i was the poor sucker who took the call after casey....

she shut up after a while though.

*meh* to her and her netsky virus...

im to drunk to care....

[azraelsdaisy.livejournal.com]

4) Do not tell me that at the age of 24 I do not have the experience to do my job properly.


This one upsets me. I'm also 24 and I'm often talked down to. It also doesn't help that I sound like a 24 year old blonde with DD breasts, so I FREQUENTLY get talked down to. When I was a night supervisor in the tier 1 group, I used to have my own employees second guess me and treat me like crap because of my age. It was horrible.

And by the way, I don't look like that.

[anaesthete.livejournal.com]

When a customer goes where it's really none of their business, I find that the following, polite fuck-off helps:

"I'm sorry that you feel that way."

Refuse to argue, repeat this as many times as you need to, and follow up with, "Would you like me to help you with your technical issue now?"

[dmsalem00.livejournal.com]

My wife is a 23 year old redhead with DD breasts, but she knows and does the job every bit as good as I do, which to no great humility, is rather well.

[methedras.livejournal.com]

Redhead with DD breasts?

Can I borrow her? =P

Re: I hate to tell you this

[methedras.livejournal.com]

Haha I didn't know you were still using this.

Re: I hate to tell you this

[digitalfunk.livejournal.com]

only when im drunk and bored @ 3am. hah!

[dmsalem00.livejournal.com]

C'mon man, I've only been married a month, you gotta let me enjoy married life before throwing around offers like that.

when...

[geekgrrl-ca.livejournal.com]

I worked for an ISP I had customers complaining about billing issues (I was tech) because their internet wasn't working and it was fun to say, "I'm sorry, I don't have access to fix that let me transfer you to billing". Billing would say "oh we can't do anything about that until the issue is resolved". Training the customers one at a time...

Irates would complain about the service and I'd just say well "I can transfer you to some one who can discuss your disatisfaction with the service or I can fix your technical issue". I miss the good old days of support, now I'm so tied up in policy that I'm not even allowed to hang up on a customer for any reason. Right now I've been on hold for 12 minutes as I write this. Thankfully I don't have an AHT.

Re: when...

[methedras.livejournal.com]

Haha you come from the same school as myself, and our call centre. We have billing and tech separate as well, and accounts work 8 - 7, Monday - Friday.

I love the customer that comes through late on a Friday evening bitching about their account being closed, and that they wont be able to reconnect til Monday.

"Oh, see I'm sorry, I'm a supervisor in tech support and have no access to the accounting system, but I can see here that your account has been closed due to non-payment..."

[taiirei.livejournal.com]

Eh, you should have made it a point that asking for someone's age is very rude and entirely unnecessary in providing cust. support!!

[methedras.livejournal.com]

Haha, I think I made it pretty clear by telling her she was being rude.

I thought I'd bait her into it.

Re: I hate to tell you this

[buckaction.livejournal.com]

a customer starts get to be personally insulting towards you, i don't at all blame you for becoming defensive/argumentative... i would have too, but it's also well known that i have an arguementative/defensive personality.

Something similar happens to me today, but i won't get into the details of that. Suffice it to say, if you want to badmouth my company, you can do so to your hearts content, i'll stand there quietly and mock you listen to you do so, but the second you begin to personally attack me or call into question my abilities/experience, i'm going to call you on it. You called me, if you can't shut the fuck up and listen because, for whatever reason, you are not convinced of my ability to assist you, then at least excuse yourself from the call in some polite manner, call back and find someone else to talk to, otherwise shut up and do as i say. again, you called me for help, not vice versa.

Re: I hate to tell you this

[methedras.livejournal.com]

Hear fucking hear brother.

Sad thing here is, I called HER.

[funkybenn.livejournal.com]

Im 21 and used to be a supervisor, many times people would keep asking my age, i usually dont answer, then when hearing my honest reply they would laugh, or insult or carry on. This i view very seriously as ageism.. i tell this to the customer, then calmly tell them that due to the abuse which we have recieved from him/her to the call centre I was cancelling their policies.. then inform them they are no longer our customer and have a good day. Then terminate that call.. It was my pleasure!

Im not sure how your centre works, I know I really couldnt do that at this job Im at now, but if you have the power use it! for the rest of our sakes, so these pricks get theyre just-deserts

Re: I hate to tell you this

[gravito.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I think the major problem is she started off the call complaining about policy. The best way to advise her is to state up front that you are a Supervisor and that your role in setting policy is very minimal and that due to budget constraints and availablity of good help, you cannot address that specific issue, but you'll log a complaint on her behalf. Then keep it in mind at the next meeting.