Stop Abusing Call Centre Workers

Donkey Oaty · 08-11-2010 12:32PM

EurasianBadger wrote: »

I had a silly woman this morning that wanted to know how to type in capital ie uppercase NUMBERS

ONE, TWO, THREE..?

yoyo · 08-11-2010 12:35PM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g7xQa8-k93A

:pac:

Nick

mickoneill30 · 08-11-2010 12:37PM

I used to work in a call centre supporting Ireland & the UK. This was about 15 years ago but back then when you'd see the call identified as Irish you'd have to take a deep breath.

A lot of the Irish callers just seemed to be geared up for a fight and if you start off by being rude or unreasonable the guy on the other end of the call will give you the bare minimum of support. Frequently (back then anyway) we could give the official company line or bend a few rules to help out really nice or helpful customers. If you started screaming about "I know my rights" then you only got your rights.

A few years later one of the companies I used to have as a mental customer tried to recruit me to their company. The money was reasonably better than what I was on but I turned them down as I really couldn't work for somebody who escalated every tiny thing into a huge disaster that had to be fixed in the next 10 seconds or they'd be suing us.

phill106 · 08-11-2010 12:38PM

What type of cranky called forced this thread to arise?

I remember working in one in shannon, retail store cards for uk chain stores. UK addresses only, irish not allowed to have cards.
Store rings up, goes through details blah blah.
S= Store M=Me
S:Phone number 003531 blah
M: Is that an irish number?
S: No its a new mobile number over here
Im suspicious but keep on.
M: House number and post code?
S: They dont have their postcode, number is xx
M: Ok, full address?
S: Blah blah address in dublin
M: Sorry, I cant open that account, its an irish address.
S: Oh no, thats in southern ireland, thats part of the uk. Its Northern ireland thats a republic.
M: Sorry, I'm afraid not. Good bye!

So i laugh about it with my colleague for a few seconds, then take the next call in the queue.

S: Hi, You won't believe it, I just tried to open a card for a customer, and the guy on your side tried to tell me southern ireland wasn't in the uk!
M: I would believe it. That was me. Ireland still isnt in the Uk. Goodbye!

Hundred calls in the queue between two call centres in different countries, with 50-100 staff in each place, and i get the same woman

I do support for a hosting company now, and i am amazed at how many IT people do not understand the very basics of networking!
M:

mahamageehad · 08-11-2010 12:45PM

I worked in retail, so I know how hard it can be. But call centers are the most frustrating thing on the planet!!!

A few months ago I was on to an Irish phone company, we'll just call them..Comet. Granted it was the weekend, but the lady I spoke to literally didn't have a clue! I rang for a simple unlock code for my phone- i have had the phone for 2 years and have put in the required credit.

After being on hold for 20 minutes, I finally get through to a real person, just as I'm about to give up. This silly bint was obviously in a rush to get back to doing her nails or something because she did not listen to one word I had to say. She managed to...wait for it... lock my phone down completely to my sim card by giving me the wrong code 3 times. I double and tripled checked the codes before I put them in each time. Then she tells me I obviously typed them wrong and I needed to go to a shop.

I go to the Comet shop where I'm told there is nothing they can do as the phone has now been locked and needs to be sent away. Oh and thats it's not under warranty so I'll have to pay for the privilege. He rings the centre to double check the code and the guy who answers immediately asks for my IMEI. Then gives him ... a completely different code.

At this stage the Comet guy apologizes for the weekend staff, but says there is nothing he can do. At this point I lose the plot and pull a loaded pistol from my back pocket*.

* this last bit may or may not have happened, i might have just rang back and asked for the dozy cow again and fcuked her out of it

dr.bollocko · 08-11-2010 12:45PM

phill106 wrote: »

What type of cranky called forced this thread to arise?

I remember working in one in shannon, retail store cards for uk chain stores. UK addresses only, irish not allowed to have cards.
Store rings up, goes through details blah blah.
S= Store M=Me
S:Phone number 003531 blah
M: Is that an irish number?
S: No its a new mobile number over here
Im suspicious but keep on.
M: House number and post code?
S: They dont have their postcode, number is xx
M: Ok, full address?
S: Blah blah address in dublin
M: Sorry, I cant open that account, its an irish address.
S: Oh no, thats in southern ireland, thats part of the uk. Its Northern ireland thats a republic.
M: Sorry, I'm afraid not. Good bye!

So i laugh about it with my colleague for a few seconds, then take the next call in the queue.

That's a lot of S&M for a family forum on a monday morning buddy.

krudler · 08-11-2010 12:59PM

EurasianBadger wrote: »

its not even that abusive - just this kinda tone they have with us - bitternes mainly I think.

on a second issue- why can't customers read the manual?? all issues are resolved there. Thats all I do to fix the issue.

I had a silly woman this morning that wanted to know how to type in capital ie uppercase NUMBERS

Because most people are stupid and lazy.

I'm in the same boat, I feel your pain buddy, ringing a call centre is usually my last port of call, not the first, theres the manual, the internet and common fcuking sense when it comes to fixing simple issues, people dont seem to grasp this the majority of the time.

also the lack of personal responsibility is incredible "my bill is huge! i used about a thousand times my allocated minutes and you mean I have to pay for it! I'm ringing Joe duffy!"

Pretending I dont know who Joe Duffy is and listening in case i actually hear someones head explode on a call is one of the few pleasure in work i have left.

Tiddlypeeps · 08-11-2010 01:01PM

I hate call centers, I don't think I have ever had a good experience with one. They are always totally void of any technical knowledge altogether. I try not to be rude to them because I know its not their fault that its company policy to hire people that are not qualified to do the job.

It really really gets to me tho when your on the phone to an internet provider. My parents change provider pretty much once a year and things always go wrong for them. I'm always the one called over to fix it because I have a background in computing. Sometimes the router is just fu**ed so I have to call up the help center and they just insist on going through this check list of stuff and even when I insist I tried it before I called they would make me do it again. THE ROUTER IS BROKE! JUST SEND ME A NEW ONE!
So fustrating, just wasting everybodies time, and those call centers usually aren't free to call either.

whydoibother? · 08-11-2010 01:07PM

I totally agree that people need to stop abusing call centre workers. I did this (very briefly for this reason) during one of my summer holidays. The problem is that the person in the call centre has very little control over how to fix many of the problems, and little discretion also e.g. the company I worked for had just increased it's charges for non direct debit customers, which it had reserved the right to do in the terms and conditions, but had not notified people very well of the change. I got endless abuse from people very annoyed (quite rightly) about this, but I had no discretion to change the charge. I remember one guy got me 5 mins before I was due to head out the door and kept shouting at me for 40 mins which of course I had to stay for because you can NEVER end a call. He'd clearly had a bad day at work and regarded shouting at me as a form of free therapy. Now whenever I have a problem with a company I ring the call centre first and if they can't do anything I just politely let it go. Then I write a quick email of complaint to the company about the issue. Solves two problems - anything in writing gets taken way more seriously, avoids abusing people who are in no way at fault and whos hands are tied.

phill106 · 08-11-2010 01:11PM

dr.bollocko wrote: »

That's a lot of S&M for a family forum on a monday morning buddy.

Only you would think that

Should i save it all for the afternoon then?

PanchoVilla · 08-11-2010 01:12PM

After being sacked from Xtravision for telling several customers to go fúck themselves, I learned that customer service jobs require a certain personality trait that I simply do not possess. If you take things personally or are easily upset by arseholes then maybe working at a call center is just not the right job for you.

donutheadhomer · 08-11-2010 01:13PM

Tiddlypeeps wrote: »

I hate call centers, I don't think I have ever had a good experience with one. They are always totally void of any technical knowledge altogether. I try not to be rude to them because I know its not their fault that its company policy to hire people that are not qualified to do the job.

It really really gets to me tho when your on the phone to an internet provider. My parents change provider pretty much once a year and things always go wrong for them. I'm always the one called over to fix it because I have a background in computing. Sometimes the router is just fu**ed so I have to call up the help center and they just insist on going through this check list of stuff and even when I insist I tried it before I called they would make me do it again. THE ROUTER IS BROKE! JUST SEND ME A NEW ONE!
So fustrating, just wasting everybodies time, and those call centers usually aren't free to call either.

my one is free to call. last week someone called to ask what time it is

donutheadhomer · 08-11-2010 01:19PM

PanchoVilla wrote: »

After being sacked from Xtravision for telling several customers to go fúck themselves, I learned that customer service jobs require a certain personality trait that I simply do not possess. If you take things personally or are easily upset by arseholes then maybe working at a call center is just not the right job for you.

nawh I've done this a long while. its not me (well not often me)
Customers are getting worse and worse, very few nice ones anymore

PanchoVilla · 08-11-2010 01:22PM

EurasianBadger wrote: »

nawh I've done this a long while. its not me (well not often me)
Customers are getting worse and worse, very few nice ones anymore

Sounds like you're just getting burned out and starting to let things get to you more. Either that or you're so fed up with the job that people calling the center pick up on it and automatically get a bit pissy. I know if I call customer service and they answer the phone like they don't wanna talk to me I'll be fairly rude to them.

ChopShop · 08-11-2010 01:36PM

Call center staff generally get treated like something scraped off the pavement.

Starts with the company they're working for, they push them to the edge of what's legal then look for ways to push them further, whilst finding the best way to shaft the callers and just skirt the limits of their entitlements too.

And the people who have take the calls are the pigs in the f*cking middle.

Is it any bloody wonder they're miserable?

...and yes i do speak from experience.

phill106 wrote: »

Hundred calls in the queue between two call centres in different countries, with 50-100 staff in each place, and i get the same woman

I suspect there's something that routes the customer back to the same agent as before, if they're available at the time.

LK_Dave · 08-11-2010 01:37PM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mkdoogjic4I

......sorry if somebody posted this already

Mr Benevolent · 08-11-2010 01:44PM

Donkey Oaty wrote: »

Next!

Hello, you're through to Donkey Oaty in Eircom. How may I hinder you?

Eircom have the worst call center I've ever worked in. Their way of motivating employees is to hold a lottery. The winner of the lottery gets to... wait for it.... fix their shifts for the next three weeks.

Truley · 08-11-2010 01:53PM

Worked for a market research company that involved a bit of cold calling so I can understand why we were considered a pain for many people. BUT this company was very strict on interviewing willing participants only and we were under no circumstances allowed to persue or badger people into taking part. As soon as a person stated they weren't interested their number was permanently blocked and we wouldn't go near them again.

The only problem is people often don't outright say that they're not interested. So while they try and fob the caller off with an excuse, (I'm having my dinner, I'll do it another time, I'm too busy right now...) they may be entered into the database as a potential recall. So when we did call them again people could get extremely abusive because they claimed they had said no when in fact they said 'maybe another time.'

So word of advise if you ever get called for a market research survey clearly (and politely!) state that you are not interested so the caller knows straight up not to waste their time persuing you and a future caller might be spared another b*ll*cking. Not all call centres are shysters, many people are happy to take part in surveys which in turn provide a valuable service to business and agencies. Not to mention the employment they provide for 100s of Irish people. I would wager many of the people who harp on about call centres are the same people that complain about the lack of jobs and the number of welfare receipients in this country.

ToxicPaddy · 08-11-2010 01:55PM

Einstein wrote: »

...I worked as Tech Support for IBM for the US market..

Snap.. me too..

Einstein wrote: »

...we just told them that we'd hang up if they didn't stop shouting / cursing.

Ahh me too.. and did it many a time, jeez Americans know how to complain, whine, give out, moan etc.. gotta love that call disconnect button..

On another note, I was trying to get through to a call centre that handles a certain bank's transactions that I do business with.. When I eventually got through, I informed them that there was a problem with their phone system and they continually drop calls and there is no voicemail service available despite the system saying there was..

After 5 mins of the agent in question informing me that there are no such problems happening with their system, the line drops..

He calls me back about 30 seconds later rather sheepishly and apologises, then puts me on hold to check if the answer service is working.. again, he comes back apologising..

I wasnt rude to him, or impolite, just pointed out some issues..

Simple fact is, if you get an incompetent idiot on the phone who comes across as not giving a toss, with long deep sighs and an attitude problem, that is not going to make the already irate customer any more easy to deal with, if anything its going to piss them off even more..

So always be polite, act interested even if you're not and talk to the customer, let them say what they need to say, even let them rant a little, once they have it off their chest you'd be surprised how much they calm down and become more co-operative..

Tox

MitchKoobski · 08-11-2010 02:03PM

I started off in a call centre trying to be as nice as possible to every single caller. 1 in every 50 calls was nice and said thanks when I was able to help. Eventually as I slowly died inside I became sarcastic and stopped being nice because I never got anything done. Got given out to for it once or twice, but after I became an uncaring bastard on the phone I got more work done, and my customer satisfaction reports doubled.

If you're getting bored, try playing the random word game or the swear game. When there was an old bag on the phone I would sign off with "Have a nice day, fuck you very much." Got away with it for a while too....

Once someone swears at me though I generally lose all sympathy. Other ways to void my help is using the phrase "YOU TOLD ME.." . No I didnt. Some feckin sales eejit in India did.

"Do you have call centres in Ireland?" No, you're through to a shed.
"Why can't I speak to an english person?" Because we're generally nicer.
"You don't understand, you don't live in England." I still have a phone and broadband though...

Best one was last week...
"IVE BEEN THROUGH TO 3 DIFFERENT PEOPLE OVER THE LAST 4 HOURS--"
call log shows she called once, 15 mins ago
"-- AND I WANT YOUR NAME AND YOUR DEPARTMENT!!"
MitchKoobski, the boards department
"AHA! I HAVE YOU NOW YOU ****ER!! IF YOU DONT SOLVE MY PROBLEM NOW IM GONNA GET YOU SACKED WITH A COMPLAINT!! AND THEN YOUL--"
dingdingdingdingdingding
Sorry ma'am but theres a fire alarm going off so I have to terminate this call....buh bye now

alandublin15 · 08-11-2010 02:32PM

This thread makes me look back on the days that i worked for ...orange (i think) ...in clontarf. I remember my work as a call centre minion.
Plenty of abuse was sent my way but back then i had some kind of superiority complex and so made it my mission to dish out as much as i got, even more maybe, i remember people used to think they had terminated the call after giving abuse but somehow had'nt, id sit there listening to their pathetic lives while their credit slowly withered. fond memories.
along with other tactics such as pretending the line was bad as soon as they got smart and hanging up or giving cnuts the wrong info i must have dished out as much as i got.
id like to take this time to thank my younger self, he recognised that the value of his wage was not worth consistently taking sht from the public.
Dignity > min wage
Well done me, have that lunch. thank you i will. hey anytime.

gbee · 08-11-2010 02:43PM

I'm appalled at the carry on of the 'call center employee confessions'

I'm beginning to think the bad ones really were in the majority. No wonder most were moved to India.

Dravokivich · 08-11-2010 02:45PM

EurasianBadger wrote: »

I work in a call centre taking calls all day from ye guys. Please stop abusing me.

This will put people like me out of a job... just think about what you are doing here.

krudler · 08-11-2010 02:45PM

gbee wrote: »

I'm appalled at the carry on of the 'call center employee confessions'

I'm beginning to think the bad ones really were in the majority. No wonder most were moved to India.

Try working in one sometime and then make that statement. working in retail is bad, over the phone people are way more cnutish.

OutlawPete · 08-11-2010 02:53PM

I generally have no issues with call centre staff, I even like Sky's customer service - which most people hate.

However, there is one company whose staff make me want to track each of them down and preform unnecessary operations on 'em with a blunt spoon.

Won't name the company, but they they are masters at selling concert tickets and providing fuck all customer support afterwards.

krudler · 08-11-2010 02:57PM

OutlawPete wrote: »

Won't name the company, but they they are masters at selling concert tickets and providing fuck all customer support afterwards.

Touts are indeed cnuts :pac:

pipelaser · 08-11-2010 03:20PM

EurasianBadger wrote: »

I work in a call centre taking calls all day from ye guys. Please stop abusing me. I have worked in many call centres and its always the same. People think because we are on the phone they can say what they want to us and we don't get bothered by it - we do.
People think they can talk to us like dirt and it is acceptable - its not. We are real people who are just workiing in poorly paid jobs to avoid drawing the dole in most cases. We have no personal interest in your problems and the less you abuse us the faster we can fix them.

Thanks

Was anyone waiting in the queue while you wrote this?:rolleyes:

alexa5x5 · 08-11-2010 03:20PM

Used to work in a call centre, never again! I only worked there for 2/3 months but it was honestly one of the worst jobs I’ve ever had.

I totally agree with the OP, just because you can’t see the person doesn’t give you a right to treat them like $hit. There wasn’t a week that went past that I didn’t go home crying because of the abuse I had to take during 70% of my working day. It’s like the customers don’t see you as a person.

My breaking point came when on one particular day about 1000customers landlines where cut off. As much as I hated Eircom and there over priced products I have to say in nearly every cut off case the customers hadn’t paid a bill in months. I cut corners and reconnected people that I probably shouldn’t had just to shut them up. But in a few cases I just had to say no, not without at least a payment. During my final call I was called a "fooking cnut...b*tch...etc" because I wouldn’t turn on an account that hadn’t been paid in a year, and as the guy said, he had no intention to pay because it was a public service to have a landline.... :rolleyes:
Yeah I walked out that day!

!

CrazyRabbit · 08-11-2010 03:47PM

Einstein wrote: »

I worked as Tech Support for IBM for the US market for 2 years...we just told them that we'd hang up if they didn't stop shouting / cursing.

6 months is the average burn out time for Call centre workers!

ToxicPaddy wrote: »

Snap.. me too..

Snap...me three. Good old Aptiva PC's with their horrrendous MWave modem/soundcard combo's!

Some of the common 'types' of call are:

1. Users calling up saying they got an error in some application but didn't bother to take note of what is was, can't reproduce it and yet expect us to fix it.

2. Users demanding we support things that we didn't sell them. Like the guy who bought a monitor from a rival company and demanded we replace the monitor when it broke...just because the PC was ours.

3. Users getting angry at us because their PC broke. You don't ring up a cars manufacturer to complain when you get a flat tyre, so why is it ok when a PC breaks down?

4. Users out of warranty looking for free support for a PC model so old we don't even have support docs for it anymore.

5. Users calling up looking for us to train them in how to use some application they just installed, even though it's not our application....and we are not a training centre.

6. Users calling up to have a chat. We had one guy make 864 calls, and we never determined if he actually owned one of our PC's. We'd just put him on mute, go for lunch/coffee etc and come back to find him still talking.

7. Users who don't know the absolute basics...like using a mouse, or the names of the various parts (tower, mouse, monitor etc). They'd get angry when we used 'technical terms' like 'Start menu' and 'icon' etc.

I got a lot of abuse from customers when I worked on that support desk. Generally speaking, American's get very very angry if they don't get the service they think they should be getting.

After that, I moved to a new support desk providing internal support for company employees and it was 10000% better. I much preferred dealing with professionals.

Now, I code those applications that customers call in to complain about

the_syco · 08-11-2010 03:47PM

Ix Deadmau5 wrote: »

Now you know how we feel when we have problems with the ****ty product.

Your laptop is broken because your dog pissed on it...

Stop Abusing Call Centre Workers

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