Companies calling up telling you to pay the bill

Daegerty

Has anyone here noticed they are chasing people up a lot sooner these days?
Before you could leave an ESB bill laying till the next one came along, maybe even get a third one in. but no more, a few weeks and they're on your house thinking you're going to abscond or go bankrupt.

Eircon are the same and if you're making a habit of letting the bills laying around they suddenly start sending them every month. For some reason when any of these companies call up its on the afternoon after paying it.

"Its paid already."

"Our system shows that it hasn't been paid yet!"

"Your system must be wrong so."

"Our system is infallible now hurry on and pay up before we send the debt collectors 'round. If you don't pay in the next three days you'll be hearing from Intrum Justitia!"

galwayrush

Contact the supply companies directly asap if you're short, you'll be surprised how helpful the can be in such situations.

krudler

Daegerty wrote: »

Has anyone here noticed they are chasing people up a lot sooner these days?
Before you could leave an ESB bill laying till the next one came along, maybe even get a third one in. but no more, a few weeks and they're on your house thinking you're going to abscond or go bankrupt.

Eircon are the same and if you're making a habit of letting the bills laying around they suddenly start sending them every month. For some reason when any of these companies call up its on the afternoon after paying it.

"Its paid already."

"Our system shows that it hasn't been paid yet!"

"Your system must be wrong so."

"Our system is infallible now hurry on and pay up before we send the debt collectors 'round. If you don't pay in the next three days you'll be hearing from Intrum Justitia!"

Depends on how the payment is made tbh, people always pay with cheque or in the post office thinking it arrives via magic and is processed to their account that very same afternoon.

And to be fair you get plenty of time before a bill is considered overdue, its usually 14 days after its issued to you.

I was actually going to start a thread about the opposite of this, people just leaving bills run up for months these days instead of paying them on time, then getting pissy because the service they havent paid for is taken away from them. Theres a shocking lack of accountability from people these days who think because they cant afford something they should be allowed have it anyway and pay it off when they feel like it. Mobile phone users are terrors for this, they'll happily ignore bills for months then go ballistic when the phone they havent paid for in 4 months isnt working as they "need it" well if you need something, pay for it, simples.

Einhard

Pay your bill on time I s'pose.

krudler

galwayrush wrote: »

Contact the supply companies directly asap if you're short, you'll be surprised how helpful the can be in such situations.

this, everyone assumes companies are the devil and must be paid lest their legs be broke, but they're not. if you're having problems paying bills or have been made redundant or something, theres genuinely no shame in ringing up a service provider and explaining that and they'll do their best to sort out a payment plan or something (I do this every day) to help you bring down your bills, its what they're there for. But what a lot of people do is just ignore them until they mount up and it gets cancelled and debt collectors get involved. I genuinely dont understand this, its better to make small regular payments, even a few quid a week than to let it go to that stage, you're only making it difficult for yourself in the long run.

Daegerty

krudler wrote: »

Depends on how the payment is made tbh, people always pay with cheque or in the post office thinking it arrives via magic and is processed to their account that very same afternoon.

I was actually going to start a thread about the opposite of this, people just leaving bills run up for months these days instead of paying them on time, then getting pissy because the service they havent paid for is taken away from them. Theres a shocking lack of accountability from people these days who think because they cant afford something they should be allowed have it anyway and pay it off when they feel like it. Mobile phone users are terrors for this, they'll happily ignore bills for months then go ballistic when the phone they havent paid for in 4 months isnt working as they "need it" well if you need something, pay for it, simples.

I thought the post office would be faster than it actually is. Bill being scanned for bar code and all. I think they do actually know its been paid and are just wanting you to pay faster or use DD which means more money to earn interest off for them. Because they day the bill has been paid is the only day they ever seem to call me on.

Months? you be fierce lucky to get one month out of it before the calls start coming in. Doesn't matter how long you been a customer either, everyone gets the same degree of hounding

krudler

Daegerty wrote: »

I thought the post office would be faster than it actually is. Bill being scanned for bar code and all.

Months? you be fierce lucky to get one month out of it before the calls start coming in. Doesn't matter how long you been a customer either, everyone gets the same degree of hounding

Takes about 3-4 working days where I work, longer if theres weekends involved, laser/credit/debit cards are the best and fastest way, instant payment. It wrecks my head when people pay for a bill thats already two months overdue with a cheque, cos its "more convenient", how?! its going to take another week to 10 days to clear if it does at all.

Aishae

Daegerty wrote: »

I thought the post office would be faster than it actually is. Bill being scanned for bar code and all. I think they do actually know its been paid and are just wanting you to pay faster or use DD which means more money to earn interest off for them. Because they day the bill has been paid is the only day they ever seem to call me on.

Months? you be fierce lucky to get one month out of it before the calls start coming in. Doesn't matter how long you been a customer either, everyone gets the same degree of hounding

the post office - as far as i know - isnt linked to all of these company servers to pay the bills. they get the barcodes on their system then transfer the money to the service provider. that takes time.

we dont get hounded like that - but were in the habit of paying off a bit each week rather than paying the bills off in one go. its more manageable and you dont forget till the last minute (and beyond). the only time we were hounded was when we did owe a lot on the phone bill and we were behind. but this was 3 years ago.

krudler

Daegerty wrote: »

I think they do actually know its been paid and are just wanting you to pay faster or use DD which means more money to earn interest off for them. Because they day the bill has been paid is the only day they ever seem to call me on.

They genuinely dont, not until it hits, you could just ring with the payment reference number on the post office reciept, thats acceptable proof you've paid but it depends on how overdue it is.

There is actually a system to how the overdue payments work, you have your billing month, the date the bill is issued, 14 or so days to pay it, then it has to be over a certain amount and overdue a certain period of time before contact is made, now obviously every company has their own timeframe for this but where I work is pretty lenient for people.

People seem to think being sent an overdue reminder is some smack in the face insult and you may as well be calling your customers bums, its not, a lot of the time people simply forget it or put it on the back burner, this is a service you've used but not paid for yet remember. you wouldnt eat a slap up dinner in a restaraunt then get mad because the expect you to pay before you leave would you? same logic.

Nightwish

We got hounded by Airtricity recently. We paid the bill through the Post Office and the wonderfully obtrusive Abraham didnt believe us and rang 3 times to make sure we had paid.

Daegerty

krudler wrote: »

They genuinely dont, not until it hits, you could just ring with the payment reference number on the post office reciept, thats acceptable proof you've paid but it depends on how overdue it is.

There is actually a system to how the overdue payments work, you have your billing month, the date the bill is issued, 14 or so days to pay it, then it has to be over a certain amount and overdue a certain period of time before contact is made, now obviously every company has their own timeframe for this but where I work is pretty lenient for people.

People seem to think being sent an overdue reminder is some smack in the face insult and you may as well be calling your customers bums, its not, a lot of the time people simply forget it or put it on the back burner, this is a service you've used but not paid for yet remember. you wouldnt eat a slap up dinner in a restaraunt then get mad because the expect you to pay before you leave would you? same logic.

Has the period of leniency been scaled back since the recession is really what I'm trying to find out here?

I remember clearly with Eircon & ESB in the 90's and even up to not so long ago leaving the bill sit around till a second one came in was normal, acceptable practice not even so much as a strongly worded reminder. The first bill would just show up as 'arrears' and nothing more about it.

Meteor were never great with it. Maybe 3 weeks to just over a month and the "Pay now or be disconnected within 48 hours" text would come in but in fairness the customer care told me it was a fairly idle threat.

The crowd that call up also seem fairly annoyed and just there to give you a simple friendly reminder more of a 'wheres me f*cking money' with the necessary layer of professionalism smeared over it

Dudess

krudler wrote: »

what a lot of people do is just ignore them until they mount up and it gets cancelled and debt collectors get involved. I genuinely dont understand this, its better to make small regular payments, even a few quid a week than to let it go to that stage, you're only making it difficult for yourself in the long run.

My favourite is "That's a crazy amount - I changed address so I didn't get the bills and couldn't pay them"... yet continued knowingly using a service?

Wish everyone did a stint in customer service in order to dispel the cynicism and paranoia... I can guarantee the majority of conspiracy theories are just that. Service providers don't have time to come up with these elaborate, intricate schemes. Direct debit payments are cheaper too for a company to process than manual payments, so they may be able to offer a discount if you pay by DD.

Sonnenblumen

You could change the phone

Daegerty

Sonnenblumen wrote: »

You could change the phone

Eircom are the only crowd around here, the rest are just resellers.

Its not the service I have a problem with and I'm not trying to dodge any bills just find that they start the hounding procedure a lot sooner than they used to

ArtyM

There have been a number of cases recently of people receiving calls from ESB, eircom, and other companies demanding payment for overdue accounts.
These calls have been found to be from scammers looking for credit card information.
Be very careful if you receive any calls such as this.
Always ring the number listed on the bill.

Daegerty

Nightwish wrote: »

We got hounded by Airtricity recently. We paid the bill through the Post Office and the wonderfully obtrusive Abraham didnt believe us and rang 3 times to make sure we had paid.

Airtricity are notorious for it. They don't even want a new (non DD) customer who doesn't pay a 300e deposit they hold onto for a year

Sonnenblumen

Dudess wrote: »

Wish everyone did a stint in customer service in order to dispel the cynicism and paranoia... I can guarantee the majority of conspiracy theories are just that.

Plenty in customer service could do with doing a real job.

krudler

Daegerty wrote: »

Has the period of leniency been scaled back since the recession is really what I'm trying to find out here?

I remember clearly with Eircon & ESB in the 90's and even up to not so long ago leaving the bill sit around till a second one came in was normal, acceptable practice not even so much as a strongly worded reminder. The first bill would just show up as 'arrears' and nothing more about it.

Meteor were never great with it. Maybe 3 weeks to just over a month and the "Pay now or be disconnected within 48 hours" text would come in but in fairness the customer care told me it was a fairly idle threat.

The crowd that call up also seem fairly annoyed and just there to give you a simple friendly reminder more of a 'wheres me f*cking money' with the necessary layer of professionalism smeared over it

Short answer, yes. Companies in the "boom times" where happy to let people pay late and let them away with blue murder, in one way you cant blame customers who have been let get away with paying bills months in arrears for ages then having it sharply changed.

I think personal responsibility is a massive factor as well (not you, am just giving examples here). Every day I deal with people who ring in saying they've got no job or have been made redundant, yet they've ran up hundreds of euros worth of a bill. I mean is it really that hard to understand the concept of dont use something you cant afford? some people genuinely are struggling to make ends meet and try their best to stay within what their phone plan or whatever allows, then theres people who utterly take the piss and whinge and moan that they should be allowed pay it at their own leisure. I just dont get it tbh.
I'm a working stiff just like everyone else, I reckon some people think I'm sitting on a gold throne being fed grapes by comely lasses while I'm at work with their "well you have a job you wouldnt understand!" argument, I do understand, I was on sick leave earning the same as the dole for almost a year, and it sucked, but what I couldnt afford, I stopped using, you make sacrifices.

Heres a perfect example, the other day I had a guy who wanted to pay 20 quid on an 800 euro bill to have his service back and blew his top when I said no, what planet is this guy on? then to top it off he wanted to know when he was due an upgrade because he wanted an iphone 4 :rolleyes: if you have money to drop on an iphone surely you have money to spend on a bill you owe?

Aishae

i can understand companies being more proactive in getting the bills paid in current times. the only thing it means is, you cant put off your bills the same way as in the 90's - which is hard on lower income families/folks
but you cant really blame a provider for looking for payment on a service you used

things were more laid back before - which is a part of the reason the banks f*cked up in the first place. so were learning to pull our bootstraps up more. its not easy. but itll probably help us survive better in the long run.

note: this doesnt include when a person is overcharged for a service or something. there are exceptions to every rule

krudler

Sonnenblumen wrote: »

Plenty in customer service could do with doing a real job.

customer service is a real job, its one of the most stressful work environments you could work in, any job dealing with the public is, anyone who says otherwise doesnt know what they're talking about.

stevejr

Sadly some of the only growth industries in Ireland these days are;

-Debt collectors

-Undertakers

-Off-licences

-Drug Dealers

-Pawn shops (or thier more respectably-named equivalents)

-And the Dept of Social Protection.

So if you've a problem with bills a change of career might be in order. Misery is our new growth driver.

krudler

Aishae wrote: »

i can understand companies being more proactive in getting the bills paid in current times. the only thing it means is, you cant put off your bills the same way as in the 90's - which is hard on lower income families/folks
but you cant really blame a provider for looking for payment on a service you used

things were more laid back before - which is a part of the reason the banks f*cked up in the first place. so were learning to pull our bootstraps up more. its not easy. but itll probably help us survive better in the long run.

note: this doesnt include when a person is overcharged for a service or something. there are exceptions to every rule

Explain that to the guy who called us "a shower of cnuts" the other day because he got cut off for not paying a bill for , wait for it, 8 months. Some peoples sense of entitlement is just ludicrous.

Sonnenblumen

krudler wrote: »

customer service is a real job, its one of the most stressful work environments you could work in, any job dealing with the public is, anyone who says otherwise doesnt know what they're talking about.

As a member of the public, that sounds unlike a real working environment.

krudler

Sonnenblumen wrote: »

As a member of the public, that sounds unlike a real working environment.

whats a real working environment then?

Aishae

ArtyM wrote: »

There have been a number of cases recently of people receiving calls from ESB, eircom, and other companies demanding payment for overdue accounts.
These calls have been found to be from scammers looking for credit card information.
Be very careful if you receive any calls such as this.
Always ring the number listed on the bill.

this even happens with email. i used to be with clearwire broadband, i havent been with them since the year before last and its Imagine now i think. i used to get ebills. ive gotten 2 emails claiming i need to pay an overdue bill. somehow scammers have accessed their customer list. you have to watch things like that. same with phone calls.

Sonnenblumen

krudler wrote: »

Short answer, yes. Companies in the "boom times" where happy to let people pay late and let them away with blue murder, in one way you cant blame customers who have been let get away with paying bills months in arrears for ages then having it sharply changed.

I think personal responsibility is a massive factor as well (not you, am just giving examples here). Every day I deal with people who ring in saying they've got no job or have been made redundant, yet they've ran up hundreds of euros worth of a bill. I mean is it really that hard to understand the concept of dont use something you cant afford? some people genuinely are struggling to make ends meet and try their best to stay within what their phone plan or whatever allows, then theres people who utterly take the piss and whinge and moan that they should be allowed pay it at their own leisure. I just dont get it tbh.

And the company has no responsibility? What's the point in allowing people run up bills without receiving payment? How long does it take for somebody to run up € 800 call charges? The average monthly spend is < € 40?

Reminds me of the banks paying bonuses for dud sales? More of the same?

The killer blow is that paying customers end up paying more and when there's a problem with service, must have to contact moronic CS!!

BAD CREDIT MANAGEMENT = BAD DEBTS => GO PHFLUCK A DUCK.

the groutch

Direct Debit anyone? :rolleyes:

krudler

Sonnenblumen wrote: »

And the company has no responsibility? What's the point in allowing people run up bills without receiving payment? How long does it take for somebody to run up € 800 call charges? The average monthly spend is < € 40?

Reminds me of the banks paying bonuses for dud sales? More of the same?

The killer blow is that paying customers end up paying more and when there's a problem with service, must have to contact moronic CS!!

BAD CREDIT MANAGEMENT = BAD DEBTS => GO PHFLUCK A DUCK.

I've seen people run up 800 euro in call charges in one day, and before you say "no you havent", yes, I have.

They dont let people run up those charges on low cost accounts, thats why we have fraud departments and credit control who cut people off when suspicious or high activity is on their account, obviously they cant monitor every single customer on the network, there isnt the manpower for that.

But as you clearly dont have a clue what you're talking about I'll leave you off to your own conspiracy theories, have fun

Dudess

Meh, they send out bills - not their fault if the customer doesn't bother opening them/doesn't change their address. This phoning up which the OP is talking about is actually doing people like the above type customer a favour - it's a form of hand-holding.

Dudess

the groutch wrote: »

Direct Debit anyone? :rolleyes:

Not everyone is comfortable with money being taken out automatically - understandable. It might not be there. At least paying manually gives the customer a sense of control. I wouldn't blame anyone for avoiding DD, however as I said, it could benefit the customer in terms of discounts, as it's the cheapest payment method for the company.

Daegerty

krudler wrote: »

whats a real working environment then?

Building railway lines, mining with a pickaxe, digging a tunnel through antarctica with a shovel. Shovelling coal into a steam train or some furnace, knocking down a 300m high chimney by yerself with only a crowbar.

All this is real work done by real men. In my day the only cushy job was programming a flawless operating system with only punch cards and a needle cause the computer time was too expensive for mere programmers to be arsing around with when the physicists had important research to do so the bomb could be delivered on time

Rabble rabble, rabble now get off my lawn! Kids these days. The world is going to hell in a handbasket, when horses were horses, and so on.

stevejr

Actually I think I can see both sides of the coin here as someone who has worked as a manager in the Retail/Services industry and as someone who is now a very stressed out consumer trying to keep my head above water financially.

Neither of the above roles is roles is very pleasant.

But as with everything in life a little bit of empathy goes a long way.

Tommorrow when you're on the phone and taking abuse in either direction, take a pause and walk a little walk in the other person's shoes. How does it feel?

Chances are that they're worrying about the exact same things as you once they switch off the bed-side lamp.

Bear that in mind the next time you call someone a prick or conversly put on the official drone/tone that you've a job to do.

We all have jobs to do whether working or unemployed. But as in all jobs, if you show people curtesy and respect, life will be a lot easier.

krudler

Dudess wrote: »

Not everyone is comfortable with money being taken out automatically - understandable. It might not be there. At least paying manually gives the customer a sense of control. I wouldn't blame anyone for avoiding DD, however as I said, it could benefit the customer in terms of discounts, as it's the cheapest payment method for the company.

DD can be a complete pain in the balls when it gets messed up, epecially as changing bank details in the middle of a month or just before a bill is due means it skips over and then people get overdue notices and blahhhhhh. Its easier to just ask to turn it off, pay with a credit card or whatever then put on the new details long before your next bill is due.

MungBean

Dudess wrote: »

Meh, they send out bills - not their fault if the customer doesn't bother opening them/doesn't change their address. This phoning up which the OP is talking about is actually doing people like the above type customer a favour - it's a form of hand-holding.

Companies dont so customers favours. They only like to look out for themselves. Dont try and turn this into companies looking out for customers when all it is is companies hounding people for money.

krudler

Daegerty wrote: »

Building railway lines, mining with a pickaxe, digging a tunnel through antarctica with a shovel. Shovelling coal into a steam train or some furnace, knocking down a 300m high chimney by yerself with only a crowbar.

All this is real work done by real men. In my day the only cushy job was programming a flawless operating system with only punch cards and a needle cause the computer time was too expensive for mere programmers to be arsing around with when the physicists had important research to do so the bomb could be delivered on time

Rabble rabble, rabble now get off my lawn! Kids these days. The world is going to hell in a handbasket, when horses were horses, and so on.

Bet railway builders didnt have AHT, middle management and sales targets to reach though :pac:

krudler

Skunkle wrote: »

Companies dont so customers favours. They only like to look out for themselves. Dont try and turn this into companies looking out for customers when all it is is companies hounding people for money.

sigh...

Daegerty

krudler wrote: »

Bet railway builders didnt have AHT, middle management and sales targets to reach though :pac:

Nah only their own wounds after being whipped to pull the maggots out

MungBean

krudler wrote: »

sigh...

Where have I seen that one before ? lol

Dudess

Skunkle wrote: »

Companies dont so customers favours. They only like to look out for themselves. Dont try and turn this into companies looking out for customers when all it is is companies hounding people for money.

... which they owe. It is a favour - not a direct one, sure, but it's actually of benefit to people who are serial bill ignorers (not talking about letting the odd bill slip under the radar and paid late). I can understand it annoying people who pay regularly and have a good payment history though.

MungBean

Dudess wrote: »

... which they owe. It is a favour - not a direct one, sure, but it's actually of benefit to people who are serial bill ignorers (not talking about letting the odd bill slip under the radar and paid late). I can understand it annoying people who pay regularly and have a good payment history though.

I think the OP's point was that companies are becoming increasingly tighter as regard bill payment. I'm sure with the amount of people in financial trouble they have every right to follow up on payments if they feel it will increase the regularity of the payments and reduce arrears. But one thing its not is a favour to forgetful customers. Its a message to people that they want their money.

krudler

Skunkle wrote: »

I think the OP's point was that companies are becoming increasingly tighter as regard bill payment. I'm sure with the amount of people in financial trouble they have every right to follow up on payments if they feel it will increase the regularity of the payments and reduce arrears. But one thing its not is a favour to forgetful customers. Its a message to people that they want their money.

Which they're entitled to, its a legally binding contract you take out to use a phone service and its right there in the t&cs you're agreeing to pay in a timely manner.

For example:

O2:

If you are a Bill Pay Customer
6.1 You must pay all Charges for O2 Services used by the SIM Card and Mobile Equipment we provide you through one of the payment options we make available. Payment must be made by the date the payment is due and VAT will also be charged if this applies. The amounts you owe us will be calculated in accordance with the Price Plan chosen by you and the Price Plan Rules which apply to your Price Plan.

Vodafone:

Vodafone may immediately, without notice, suspend the service wholly or partially for any valid reason, including without limitation, where you fail to pay Vodafone any sums due under this Contract or any other contract with Vodafone on the due date specified in any invoice;

stevejr

Dudess wrote: »

Not everyone is comfortable with money being taken out automatically - understandable. It might not be there. At least paying manually gives the customer a sense of control. I wouldn't blame anyone for avoiding DD, however as I said, it could benefit the customer in terms of discounts, as it's the cheapest payment method for the company.

Dudess, the only winning side of a direct debit is the payee. Think about it-good customer: no problems, troubled customer*; big stick(to beat them with).

Think about why these companies push the DD agenda so forcefully. Research it, don't be blinded by whatever company's mantra you work or have previously worked for.

Society's prosperity (be it Ireland or wherever) is an unintended byproduct of business, not it's goal.

Of course the above could be called an overstatement. Fair enough but hopefully a byproduct of that overstatement will be your understanding of service-focused businesses' DD agenda.

*lots of troubled customers these days

MungBean

krudler wrote: »

Which they're entitled to, its a legally binding contract you take out to use a phone service and its right there in the t&cs you're agreeing to pay in a timely manner.

For example:

O2:

Vodafone:

Absolutely, I even said they have every right to in the post you quoted (if you'd care to read it). I just made the point that its not a favour to the customer. Its part of the companies plan to keep payments regular for the benefit of the company.

Daegerty

All contracts from mobile phone companies basically sum up to two clauses.

1. We may or may not provide you with any sort of service. If we decide not to offer you a service we owe you nothing. Depending on market competition we may choose, if economically viable for us to provide you with a poor quality service or no service at all.

2. You agree to pay us the full amount of any bill we send you or not before the date stated on such a bill whether or not the amount accurately reflects services provided to you or is merely made up.

The rest is just filler to pull the wool over your eyes so you won't bother reading it. The contract is written by the mobile phone company's lawyers not some independent crowd. Of course it's going to be one-sided

krudler

Skunkle wrote: »

Absolutely, I even said they have every right to in the post you quoted (if you'd care to read it). I just made the point that its not a favour to the customer. Its part of the companies plan to keep payments regular for the benefit of the company.

well yeah, cos if the company didnt make money it wouldnt be able to pay its staff, or run the network, or pay engineers, or the marketing dept, or the bills for the call centre or the shops or sales agents or resellers or building rent or the hardline phones in those buildings and the hundreds of other expenses involved in running a major business. do you know how much it costs to take a call from a customer when they ring customer care? as in how much the network pays to take a customers call? you'd be surprised.

I really wish they'd bring in what some American companies did and charge people a fiver every time they ring in unnecessarily, the amount of baffling calls you take per day is unreal, it just drives up the queue times and makes life more difficult for agents to answer calls from customers who have genuine issues and queries. I regularly get asked what time it is, people who have waited in a queue on hold for ten mins to ask that, wtf like.

Daegerty

krudler wrote: »

I really wish they'd bring in what some American companies did and charge people a fiver every time they ring in unnecessarily, the amount of baffling calls you take per day is unreal, it just drives up the queue times and makes life more difficult for agents to answer calls from customers who have genuine issues and queries. I regularly get asked what time it is, people who have waited in a queue on hold for ten mins to ask that, wtf like.

Are they indians? could be irish mobile phones connected through some VoiP system to an Indian call centre that's being hired by the competition to do a sort of real life Denial of Service attack

MungBean

krudler wrote: »

well yeah, cos if the company didnt make money it wouldnt be able to pay its staff, or run the network, or pay engineers, or the marketing dept, or the bills for the call centre or the shops or sales agents or resellers or building rent or the hardline phones in those buildings and the hundreds of other expenses involved in running a major business. do you know how much it costs to take a call from a customer when they ring customer care? as in how much the network pays to take a customers call? you'd be surprised.

I really wish they'd bring in what some American companies did and charge people a fiver every time they ring in unnecessarily, the amount of baffling calls you take per day is unreal, it just drives up the queue times and makes life more difficult for agents to answer calls from customers who have genuine issues and queries. I regularly get asked what time it is, people who have waited in a queue on hold for ten mins to ask that, wtf like.

Yeah yeah customers are idiots I heard all that before. Were not talking about CS vs Customer here we are talking about company policy.

krudler

Daegerty wrote: »

Are they indians? could be irish mobile phones connected through some VoiP system to an Indian call centre that's being hired by the competition to do a sort of real life Denial of Service attack

nope, just regular stupid people. honestly I could (and should) write a book at this stage about dealing with customers and their insane questions.
We have the regular freaks as well like the heavy breathers who keep ringing until they get someone young and female sounding (regular occurance) the people who ring back over and over again to be told the same answer to the same question by different agents.
The people of a particular ethnic group who seem hellbent on stealing each others phone numbers constantly and trying to get numbers that dont belong to them put on blank sims to sell them.
etc.
etc.
etc.

I really wish I could sit people down beside me for just a day and see the mind boggling stupidity I have to deal with from people every day. eg:
I once had a woman ask me if I could charge her phone up over the phone. By charge up I dont mean with topup credit or anything, I mean literally charge it up. with electricity. over the phone.

Ghandee

krudler wrote: »

nope, just regular stupid people. honestly I could (and should) write a book at this stage about dealing with customers and their insane questions.
We have the regular freaks as well like the heavy breathers who keep ringing until they get someone young and female sounding (regular occurance) the people who ring back over and over again to be told the same answer to the same question by different agents.
The people of a particular ethnic group who seem hellbent on stealing each others phone numbers constantly and trying to get numbers that dont belong to them put on blank sims to sell them.
etc.
etc.
etc.

I really wish I could sit people down beside me for just a day and see the mind boggling stupidity I have to deal with from people every day. eg:
I once had a woman ask me if I could charge her phone up over the phone. By charge up I dont mean with topup credit or anything, I mean literally charge it up. with electricity. over the phone.

No way?

I've just laughed so hard at this, a little bit of wee leaked out!:D:D

krudler

Ghandee wrote: »

No way?

I've just laughed so hard at this, a little bit of wee leaked out!:D:D

Way. Really thats the tip of the iceberg, see the Cries of Retail thread in ranting and raving for more

IvyTheTerrible

I don't get what's so difficult to understand about paying for services received?