[quote name='sblymnlcrymnl']Simple transference. Just try to remember that it's the product they're actually yelling at.[/QUOTE]
This may be true sometimes, and this is what the higher ups tell you, but there are a lot of people who throw personal insults, racial slurs, and sexist remarks into their rants...that doesn't do anything to reinforce your comment.
[quote name='rallen']I get angry when CSR's don't listen...
I realize they have a job to do, and often it's quite boring. But please LISTEN just a bit. and don't forget, I'm calling not because I want to hear someone's voice, but I need assistance. I don't want to verabbly spar, that's what my woman's for.[/QUOTE]
I can agree with you, as I hate when customer's don't listen either. For example, on a universal remote, if I told you to press the clear tv button at the top of the remote, it's the 2nd one from the left. Then you respond and say do you want me to press the red tv button or the clear one? What didn't you understand from the way I described it?
[quote name='SkyGheNe']I've accidentally gotten aggravated with people over the phone years ago - this was because I subconciously felt they were responsible for my grievances and when they put you on hold or aren't understanding a point - you feel as if they are trying to screw with you. It really isn't the case and now I try to be kinder.
CSR really sucks though. Most people are crazy.[/QUOTE]
Would you rather listen to dead air, or muzak? I don't know about you, but have you ever listened to dead air over the phone for 20seconds? It feels like a couple mins... I hate when people refuse to be put on hold... If I need to fulfill your request by doing something away from my desk, if I can't put you on hold (and I can't put you on hold without ASKING) then your request is never going to get done, and your just wasting your time as well as mine. I'll normally end up just hitting mute on the phone, hitting aftercall on my softphone, and do what needs to be done...
Also if you're yelling, a common tactic at my place is to "accidently" hit the hold button for a brief moment, come back to the line and say "oops, i'm sorry about that" and immediatly go into what needs to be said or done without giving the customer a chance to speak. It breaks the customer's focus and allows you to interrupt them without interrupting them if that makes sense.
[quote name='rabidmonkeys']That's not always the case. If I'm yelling at you, (hopefully) you have done something to deserve it. Remember you are a customer SERVICE rep. You are there to service the customers needs and uphold the integrity of the company that employs you. Most, (note I say MOST), reps are horrible and have no idea what they are doing.
When I do get a person who actually knows what they are talking about, I generally speak to their manager next to mention the calibur of service I was given. Sadly, this happens rarely... Although I have to say, chik-fil-a has the best drive thru/counter help in the industry
I also need to say that if you are employed in a field that requires you to speak over to people over the phone, you should be required to do the following:
Speak english. (Capital one take note)
Understand english. (Capital one take note)
Have basic problem solving skills. (Comcast, please pay attention)
Be able to listen. (Godaddy? Are you listening)
Speak clearly and don't mumble. (80% of crs need to pay attention)
Type. ( I shouldn't need to spell my first name 4 times, which only consists of 5 letters and is fairly common).
Sound at least midly interested in my situation. (Asus is awesome at this)
I could go on and on but what it comes down to is, if you don't like your job (in general) get a new one, but surely don't take your lack of knowledge out on the person that is calling, who in effect pays your salary. But, clearly there are cases where people call bitching immediately, without regard for reason or benefit of the doubt as is the case for the OP, I'm sure. And doing that all day, having people scream at you is not anyone's dream job I'm sure.[/QUOTE]
Good post - I can understand your thoughts...however, your list of rules can also be applied to the customer as well...
Speak english. (If you can't speak english how can I help you?)
Understand english. (If you can't understand me - how can I help you?)
Have basic problem solving skills. (This doesn't apply so much... but you should be able to follow directions.)
Be able to listen. (I talk - You Talk - I talk - You Talk... Get it? Good!)
Speak clearly and don't mumble. (Telephones don't have the greatest connections all the time - I hate repeating myself, so YOU should do the same!)
Type. (ok - this one doesn't apply)
Sound at least midly interested in my situation. (N/A too)
I don't like my job - that's true, but I live in a somewhat small town where there simply aren't enough jobs for the amount of people... the call centers are the only places that will hire anyone (yes I mean anyone) and pay more than minimum wage.
[quote name='RedvsBlue']Simple answer: Who else are we going to yell at if your company is screwing us over?[/QUOTE]
What is yelling at me going to accomplish? I just answer calls, I can't do anything special.
[quote name='KingSpike'][/QUOTE]
Your yelling was deserved - I can understand that. Wellsfargo keeps calling me trying to sell me insurance... Since I work in the field, I know how things go, but you can always tell when they're really trying. Agent calls and asks for me, I answer, they go on about the insurance and how it's free for a certain amount of days and want to confirm some information (allowing me not to talk - another tactic used)... This is referred to as pitching (yes like baseball)... I refuse...they rebuttal... I refuse again... they rebuttal again... I refuse a 3rd time (the magic number) and they end the call... Yelling at the start won't help, because I know they HAVE to do all this and won't get off the phone untill it's done. *shrug* such is life.
[quote name='camoor']I get angry when the call center is a bureaucracy where you just get passed around from CSR to CSR without resolution. If I have to wait an hour, I'm going to let the CSR know about it. He's gotta tell his management, and why will he bother if I'm Sam Sunshine over the phone.[/QUOTE]
Every call center i've worked for has different departments for different calls... Rushing through the menu system won't help you all the time. It's pretty common for someone with a tech question to go through the sales menu because they know they won't have to wait as long, and they figure it's a live person they'll help me anyways -- wrong -- we'll just transfer you to the correct department. Oh yea, do you honestly think the agent is going to tell his management? That's funny - sorry...
[quote name='BLarR']I never yell at CSR's, I just sit there and be patient with them knowing they're all hopefully gonna burn in hell for all eternity. [/QUOTE]
I don't believe in heaven & hell, but thinks for the kind thoughts.
[quote name='Strell'][/QUOTE]
Man Strell, you hit pretty much everything on the head... When you said you have a light on the phone to tell you how many calls are in queue, do you use ASPECT phones by any chance? We used those when I used to work for a company called RMH Teleservices doing tech support for MSN Internet Access (yes, it's a contracted out). The light would glow green if there were like up to 10 calls waiting, then amber for up to 20 calls waiting, then red for anything more. I loved those phones. We also had plantronic headsets they were cooler than my current company. Too bad the managers ruined that job for me.
I did level 1 tech, then I was a team lead for awhile, then during graveyard shift I was doing UK Tech Support (dealing w/ uk customers) as well as regular customers, then I moved to Level 2 (if a level 1 agent couldn't fix it, they'd transfer to us) then they laid us all off. The end. Oh yea and as a Tier2 agent, I had access to a little tool called WUE or WebUserEdit which would allow us to see all details of your account, oh and we could read your @hotmail.com and web-bassed @msn.com email too. Not that I ever did.
At my current employment we use RUMBA and softphone on AVAYA phones (IP Telephony)... I've never had more problems w/ a phone system before. Dropped calls. ghost calls, can't transfer, no beep to indicate a new call coming in, and we have to look at a reader board to see how many calls are waiting - no indicator... Annoying...
[quote name='JJJJJS']I used to work CSR at a cell phone company. I'd say that 8 out of ten calls started out with the customer being hostile. The big problem I saw with the call center was how it was managed. It was almost designed specifically to piss customers off. [/QUOTE]
Man this is true... I didn't quote your whole post, but all of it is true... In my current employment though, I get back to back calls all day every day... I have not time inbetween calls, I can't use aftercall (makes calls not come in while you finish notes) because that will hurt my "productivity". If I put a customer on hold, I have to check back every 2 mins or I have someone ringing my phone. If I use hold it hurts my stats for the day, oh and if i'm taking too long on a call, I have someone standing over my shoulder asking what's taking so long...
Don't forget about your Quality Assurance scores too... I was QA for this current company, that is untill they decided to centralize QA to only a couple of the call centers for all the centers, and what do they do w/ the ones they don't need... They throw us back on the phones... Thank you!
[quote name='rabidmonkeys']When dealing with CSR issues related to the tech field, I found that calling closer to or past midnight is better if they have 24 hour service. The really good tech guys seem to be night owls and work the graveyard. This has helped me on more then one instance.[/QUOTE]
This is the truth - I used to work graveyard when I did MSN tech, because A) they gave me more money, and B) i'm a night owl. My current company has 24hr service, but MY center closes at midnight
[quote name='Strell']Wanted to make some more comments...
1. JJJJS is right, most of the time CSRs have strict things they MUST abide by, or face termination. This can be a script, whether or not they can transfer/give out another contact number, or even tell you their name. The general rule is that we won't intentionally
around with you because we hate our jobs just as much as you hate dealing with us, and we don't want to be on the one with you any more than you do. Hence, if we request something or have to do something a specific way, that's generally beacuse our jobs hang on such menial and insignificant structures.
2. Rabidmonkeys is right. Call LATE AT NIGHT, especially if it is 24 hours. Not only is it slow, but you generally get people like me - nerdy tech types - that will be generally more knowledgable than a dime-a-dozen day crew person. I kind of relish it when someone asks me WHEN SHOULD I CALL IN WITHOUT A WAIT? I tell them about 3 AM because 1) it's true, and 2) I won't be around. >
Anyway, tonight was a f*cking TERRIBLE night for me - basically had to deal with a bunch of f*ckers that wanted to blame me for shit I had no handle over. And even when I asked them to calm down, they didn't and continued to insult me. There's nothing quite like the sweet tranquility of putting the f*ckers in their place by hanging up on them. Especially when you know it will piss them off more and have little, if any, negative recourse to your own person. I don't generally take pleasure in knowing I'm pissing someone off, but tonight was an exception. As one of my friends put it, "it's the time of the month for tech support."
To the people that say they are polite - you are in a scarily minute minority, and I, along with several others, are very grateful for that. I hope in time that more people adopt this mentality and begin to realize that we're all humans.
Last thing - I have found that the best therapy for this is to go to my fellow techs and relate the assholes I deal with. Since we generally all laugh at how stupidly mean people are, it's refreshing and lets me vent in a decent manner. Of course, then I come home and play Paper Mario. That also is a good release.[/QUOTE]
Right again you are? If you don't mind me asking who do you work for if you can say? I can understand if you can't say of course...
We often talk about customers to each other while we're taking calls! Gotta love the mute button
They only give us 2 15 min breaks, and it takes 2 mins to get to the break room, and 2 mins to get back to our seat, and a 30 min lunch which I normally sit alone away from my team. They get mad at me, but I need to cool down.
Wow I bet this post is going to be long... I have an interview tomorrow for another position, but i'm growing tired of my job... I really really really want to go to school, but I have about a year left of paying off my car - so i'm looking into some more options that would allow me to do so... As of 08/04 i'll be with my current company for the 2 year mark... I have a reputation at work for knowing a lot - I get that reputation everywhere I go, i'm not gloating it's just what happens... They always ask why i'm working there, and state that I have so much more potential and I completly agree, except I need the money and sadly that's what has been holding me back... No degree = bad jobs.
I think all of you for your inputs, and I am glad to hear from some fellow peers w/ other companies
On a side note: What do you think of all these Game Design programs popping up? I'd love to do that (or Special F/X), but there are so many different schools offering it now, that it's hard to pick a good one heh.
-Vpr