Anyone else ever work at a call center?

catkiki

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Originally Posted by calico2222

I work in a call center, which basically means I'm literally chained to a computer and phone link for 8 hours taking calls from people who are angry about something I have no control over. Its amazing how rude people can be! Not to mention stupid sometimes! I had a US citizen that asked me what state Washington DC was in, and yell at because I told her that was the entire address....Washington, DC. I've been called everything you can imagine, but still have to end the call with "Thank you for calling and have a great day!". Yes, I hate my job but its good money for around here. I am looking for another one, but no luck so far. Anyone else ever have to deal with this? Just curious?

For the record, I don't work for a telemarketer. We take strictly in coming calls, so I'm not someone that calls in the middle of dinner or first thing in the morning, so don't hate me. These people call ME to complain.

Ok, rant done.
I can totally relate. I work in a call center for federal student loans. I am amazed that some of these people actually have a college degree. They don't seem to understand that they must repay their loan! I want to ask them, "what part of 'I UNDERSTAND THAT THIS IS A LOAN THAT I MUST REPAY' in BOLD capital letters above your signature on the promisory note do you not understand!" They call crying and screaming that they can't get a car loan or home loan because they are either delequent or worse, defaulted on their loans. That is when they ask for a supervisor, and, if I am unlucky, it is transferred to ME!!!! Yes, I take the dreaded sup calls...

I am what is called an assist rep. I help other reps with questions and such. At present, I am training someone else for the position as there are not enough of us.

Stupid, stupid people.... sigh
 

cubbie

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I had a summer job working for a woman's clothing catalog. I'm a guy so fielding the calls was quite interesting. Women would call me and ask questions about the products such as: "Does that dress/bra/pantie run big/small? Does that color coordinate with this item?" Etc etc.... It was a decent job. The call center had the best work stations. You could raise the entire work surface up so that you could stand and work or lower it to the ordinary sitting height.
 

krazy kat2

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I work at a call center for DirecTV, inbound calls. It is amazing to me how some people will freak out over their tv watching. I realize it is a service that they are paying for, but some people just get ridiculous. Many of my calls are people trying to get over on us and get something for free. Men ordering porn, the wife seeing the bill, him swearing he never ordered and such thing, blah, blah, blah. I really miss being a full time massage therapist, but the call center pays the bills and will soon give me health insurance. I really don't mind it, I can leave at the door of the call center and not worry about all the stupidity.
 

abbycats

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I work for a call center for the catalog division of a sportmans outfitter. It is the WORST job I have ever had. I think the worst part of it is being chained to the for phone 8 hours. The company I work for treats their employees awful. Most the people are part time until the holiday season. When you are scheduled for 5 hour shifts you do not get a break(this is nebraska) The labor laws in this state are all for the employer. If you have to go to the bathroom the phone stats tell all and you get written up. When you talk on the phone your mouth gets dry and you have to drink water, thus making it impossible to make a 5 hour shift without using the bathroom. Then the abuse you take from some of the customers is just awful. I can't take another year of that place, so I am currently waiting for another job position at another company to open up here.
Where I live there isn't a big city. It's all pretty rural, there isn't alot of choices of different jobs. I really feel for the person who answers the phone for me in a call center. I know what it is like!!!!
 
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calico2222

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Originally Posted by Catkiki

I can totally relate. I work in a call center for federal student loans. I am amazed that some of these people actually have a college degree. They don't seem to understand that they must repay their loan! I want to ask them, "what part of 'I UNDERSTAND THAT THIS IS A LOAN THAT I MUST REPAY' in BOLD capital letters above your signature on the promisory note do you not understand!" They call crying and screaming that they can't get a car loan or home loan because they are either delequent or worse, defaulted on their loans. That is when they ask for a supervisor, and, if I am unlucky, it is transferred to ME!!!! Yes, I take the dreaded sup calls...

I am what is called an assist rep. I help other reps with questions and such. At present, I am training someone else for the position as there are not enough of us.

Stupid, stupid people.... sigh
Yes! I sounds like you and I have almost the same job! I was "promoted" to the Helpline, which means I answer questions for the other reps and take the dreaded sup calls. I get to say "Yes, I'm a supervisor...of the CALL CENTER and no I can't gets things processed any faster." They hate that answer and I get 15 minutes of more yelling and crying. One person actually called me a glorified peon! Of course, I'm NOT a supervisor..the actual supervisors don't take these calls...they're too busy with meetings and whatnot.

Gotta love it!
 

catkiki

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Originally Posted by calico2222

Yes! I sounds like you and I have almost the same job! I was "promoted" to the Helpline, which means I answer questions for the other reps and take the dreaded sup calls. I get to say "Yes, I'm a supervisor...of the CALL CENTER and no I can't gets things processed any faster." They hate that answer and I get 15 minutes of more yelling and crying. One person actually called me a glorified peon! Of course, I'm NOT a supervisor..the actual supervisors don't take these calls...they're too busy with meetings and whatnot.

Gotta love it!
The actual supervisors where I work do take the sup call if it escallates even further. One thing some of the customers yell at me is that they are going to a lawyer and sue us. I would love to tell them that any lawyer that is not a shyster won't even TAKE on such a case. They would look at the customer and tell them they are NUTS to try to sue the UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION!!! You can't sue the Government.

What shuts them up sometimes is that when they ask me who the "top dog" is, I tell them President Bush... LOL
 

delilah_blue

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Originally Posted by Catkiki

What shuts them up sometimes is that when they ask me who the "top dog" is, I tell them President Bush... LOL
LOL


I've worked in 3 call centers. The first one I did "inbound telemarketing". Basically where a customer calls to rent a car or something, and after they've finished their transaction they were offered free gas coupons or something and were transferred to me - at which point I'd give them a 5 minute scripted spiel about why they needed to enroll in the program that would get them the free gas coupons. More often than not I got hung up on, which I didn't mind, but it always amused me when people would get pissed off and want to complain. They'd ask for contact info for the top dog at whatever company transferred them, and I'd tell them I didn't even know which company they'd been dealing with much less how to get ahold of that supervisor. Then they'd want contact info for the program I was schlepping, but all I could offer was a customer service # (different call center) for members of this special program - they rarely wanted that. Then they'd ask who I actually worked for, and when I started to explain that and the chain of connections back to these other companies, they usually hung up on me. That was better than the perverts who call during the night OVER AND OVER AGAIN to listen to me read my script and want us to listen to them, um, y'know... SO GROSS.

The second job was okay, I was a CSR for a catalog company that sells industrial equipment. Good pay, good benefits, and 9-5 hours. The stress of getting yelled at all day long got to me after awhile though.

The third was at a collection agency where my job was to drive all you directory assistance operators nuts all day by calling you over and over again trying to gather contact information for the collectors. That was not horrible - the office atmosphere was actually really nice and professional, and nobody was yelling at me!
 

starryeyedtiger

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No, thankfully i have never had to work in a call center- but i've had just about every other crummy job you can think of
 

katl8e

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MY first call center job was for an auto financing company (one of the Big Three automakers). Initially, it was customer service, processing payments and giving payoff quotes. I then began doing outbound "soft" collections - reminding people that their car payments were 11-15 days past due and POLITELY requesting that they make that payment. If they had some issue, I could make payment arrangements. I got calls from people who didn't have their account numbers or even know what make/model of vehicle they had.

When that job went to India, I moved over to a residential phone company, doing customer service. People wanted to know WHY their bill was so high and I would explain about their long distance calls, the calls to 900 numbers, etc. Did they think that these things were FREE? I was also expected to try to upsell phone plans, DSL and Direct TV. The sales quotas were so high, NOBODY could make their bonus money.

These days, I handle inbound collections for a major cellphone provider. Customers call in, when their phones have been turned off, for non-payment. THEN, they only want to pay just enough to turn the phone back on. Of course, it is VITALLY important that they have their phones. If the phone is THAT much of a necessity, WHY don't they just pay it when it is due?

Some calls are hilarious:

CUSTOMER: How much do I have to pay, to get my phone back on?

ME: xxx$. May I assist you with processing a payment over the phone?

CUSTOMER: Why is my bill that much?

ME: You're 500 minutes over your plan allowance, you made 100 411 calls, you ordered a $300.00 phone and you are 45 days past due.

CUSTOMER: I don't want to pay that much. Can't I just pay $20 and get the phone back on?

ME: No ma'am, you need to pay the full balance.

CUSTOMER: But I NEED my phone.

ME: I understand that, ma'am but, you also need to PAY for it.

CUSTOMER: Well, that's CRAZY! (click)

There are ones who will "agent shop" - they will keep calling, trying to find that ONE agent who will wave a magic wand and turn the phone on, without a payment. I have pulled up accounts, with 20 notations from the same day, all saying the same thing: "Advised customer needs to pay full amount due, to restore service".

All in all, I make good money, am off of my feet, don't have to do any heavy lifting and if someone cusses me out, I can hang up on them.:lol3
 
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