When calling into a call center....

1. Be nice. I know I'm going to get heck for that one, but it works. The nicer you the more likely I am to do something for you.

2. Don't talk down to me. I know you think that this is a minimum wage job (it's not by the way I make over 30k a year), and that is no reason to treat me like I'm the dirt on your shoe.

3. If I say something you don't like ask for my supervisor, just know that he will most likely say the same thing that I do.

4. If there's a long hold time you have many options. A. You can leave a voice mail. We will get back to you. B. You can hang up and call again C. You can e-mail us. D. You can fax in your question. E. You can write in your question. F. You can ask your agent. Do NOT hold for 15 minutes and then complain about the hold time.

If anyone else has anything else to add please feel free!

I am pretty down on call centre agents today... I sat on hold needing to speak to one to be told she would call me back, about 4 hours ago only to get a nasty email from her saying I told you that you need to call me.

Maybe if some call centres were more organised, people wouldn't be so down on the other ones

I work as a Office Manager/Receptionist... I will agree with everything you just wrote.

One time we had a lockout of a car at 3:00AM (note that I work for a locksmith company) anyways the customer was SCREAMING that we were supposed to give him customer service (for the price he wanted to pay) and was screaming to talk to our manager. Who's manager is at the store 24\\7? Not my boss. So, then he screams I want you to send out a technician NOW, for $40 not more. (Please note our service call is $45 plus labor) The story goes on and on....

So. Do NOT think that just because we have a company that you have to run it, and treat us like we are 3 years old!

Originally Posted by icklemiss21

I am pretty down on call centre agents today... I sat on hold needing to speak to one to be told she would call me back, about 4 hours ago only to get a nasty email from her saying I told you that you need to call me.

Maybe if some call centres were more organised, people wouldn't be so down on the other ones

Click to expand...

That's true, there are some really rude people out there, whether or not it's the person working there or the customer.

I have one from the other end of the telephone line - remember that whatever - up the company has made, it almost 100% certainly wasn't perpetrated by the person you're talking to.

I had cause earlier this week to complain to an energy supplier through a call centre about an ongoing issue regarding fraudulent use of my home address resulting in at least 5 fraudulent accounts for the supply of gas that I am aware of to date (lord knows why they think I have that many gas meters in a 2 bed flat!) but despite the fact that this may result in legal proceedings against them and has been a source of stress for me, I still managed to hold it together and be polite and friendly to the person I speak to on the telephone on each and every stupid occasion where it is necessary to tell them that I don't have a gas supply from them, I still manage to be polite and friendly. Because it's a person like me at the other end of the line, working to pay their bills the same as me, and they've certainly not done this to me deliberately.

That doesn't mean I won't sue the off their company if need be though!

lol i always like gettting yelled at for taking so long to answer the phone/voice mail/email,

lol to which i respond with, i am not the helpdesk they leave at 7pm est , i am doing this to be nice and to try and help the company Since you chose to be a jerk, you can wait until the helpdesk comes in at 8 am EST.

as for calling call centers, please give me someone that speaks and understands the inglish.

Being vague about the situation does not help. If you are having computer issues, please recite the error message it is giving you, do not just say "I have an error message".

Oh and anything I did not place on your computer I do not support. Our company pays me to support the business requirements...not iTunes. Apple supports that.

Do NOT scream and/or swear at the rep. Do NOT make threats of physical violence - this will result in you being reported to Federal authorities and you MAY find a Federal investigator at your door. At the least, repeated incidents will get you put on "written contact only" and representatives will refuse to take your call and hang up on you. You will be forced to communicate with the company via mail, fax or e-mail only.

Originally Posted by theimp98

as for calling call centers, please give me someone that speaks and understands the inglish.

Click to expand...

Uh... Bruce? What language is inglish? Sorry... I had to
'


Also, don't tell the company that you'll take your business elsewhere.
90% of the time, if you're a jerk, they want you to go somewhere else!

Originally Posted by katl8e

. Do NOT make threats of physical violence - this will result in you being reported to Federal authorities .

Click to expand...

lol i had a few people do that, to which i tell them please come over.
but, oh well that's me.(lol liked i said i had a miss spent youth)

i would not suggest other people do that

Let me just say that I am generally a very nice, patient person. My biggest pet peeve are the call centers that outsource and hire people who barely speak english, It makes for very difficult communication. How do these companies expect us to communicate with someone who barely understands what were saying?

Recently I had a my purse stollen on vacation and three of my credit cards were used. I talked to each company over the phone to report the loss and the charges. Company A was amazing, thier people were polite, well trained and handled the issue quickly and efficiently. Company B was okay, they weren't quite as on the ball as company A, but after only 2 phone calls the problem was solved. Now company C was AWEFUL. They lost the initial report that I made, so I had to make a second one. They sent me a letter saying not to worry about the charges on the card, that they were looking into the matter. Well thats when the daily phone calls started from thier collection agency. After telling them literally hundreds of times that they charges were under investigation they would say "ok, ill put a note on the account saying not to make any more collection calls." But then the very next day the calls would start all over again. So I called thier customer service department. They were completely unhelpful, everyone was poorly trained. Numerous times they tried to transfer me to the fraud department, only to make a mistake and transfer me somewhere else. I still have not yet been able to get the issue solved, even after multiple calls, each time im assured everything has been corrected, only to find out shortly after, it hasn't been.

One of my MANY pet peeves working in a call center....if you are calling for a fax number, phone number or any infomation like that, PLEASE have a pen, pencil, crayon...something to write with!! I can't tell you how many calls a day we get where the customer says they need the fax number then when I start giving it to them..."oh, wait...let me find a pen"!

Yelling and screaming at me will not get anything accomplished. I have actually taken off my headset, walked away from my computer, kicked a trashcan, took a deep breath and sat back down...and the customer was still yelling about a mistake that SHE made! She didn't even know I was gone. (my supervisor found this drama quite amusing!).

Oh, I could go on and on.....

I have a nice thing that happened after dealing with our cell service call center. They had some weird error and we got a notice that our contract was renewed even though we had not, and hadn't gotten new phones yet. Well, they fixed it. Sent us a "we're sorry" card. And when we renewed our contract, they gave us a 5% discount (which we were completely unaware of until we got our phones). So we were very happy.

I just had to say something nice about call centers.

I have worked in call centers, and I know how hard it is. We're usually pretty polite when we call, even if we're throwing a fit before we get on the phone.

Originally Posted by lookingglass

1. Be nice. I know I'm going to get heck for that one, but it works. The nicer you the more likely I am to do something for you.

2. Don't talk down to me. I know you think that this is a minimum wage job (it's not by the way I make over 30k a year), and that is no reason to treat me like I'm the dirt on your shoe.

3. If I say something you don't like ask for my supervisor, just know that he will most likely say the same thing that I do.

4. If there's a long hold time you have many options. A. You can leave a voice mail. We will get back to you. B. You can hang up and call again C. You can e-mail us. D. You can fax in your question. E. You can write in your question. F. You can ask your agent. Do NOT hold for 15 minutes and then complain about the hold time.

If anyone else has anything else to add please feel free!

Click to expand...

This pretty much sums it up for me! BIG HUGS to everyone else who works in a call center! It is by far the hardest job I have ever had.

You know, after working in a call center, I really don't know how some people function day to day. The majority of the callers are very nice, but some are just plain stupid.

For example....if you had to fill out a form, and it says "Are you married, even if separated from your spouse" and you and a yes and no box to check, would that confuse you? One person argued with me for 20 minutes saying that isn't clear. He kept saying he was divorced, and that wasn't an option to check!! Umm....what does "divorce" mean???

Ok, it's Friday night, and I'm already getting stressed out about Monday! I think I'm going to bed now.

I realize that out automated system suck, we are begging them to fix it.
There is a very specific recording about what you need to get service. Please do not call me, make an order, then tell me you do not have a credit card and since their credit is good, we should make an exception for them and thery would give the installr a check when they came to install their system. If enough people do this, it will drop my stats so low that the system will make me look like I am not doing my job, and I may not have a job the next day.
This also goes for "I was on hold for 30 seconds and since nobody took my call at customer service, I called sales." The only thing I can do is put you on hold and transfer you to the correct department, when if you had just waited a few more seconds, you would not have been going to the end of the line, and you would have nothing to complain about. Drop my stats again and time next time you may not get someone tht actually wants to help you. PLEASE DO NOT CALL THE SALES DEPARTMENT IF YOU ARE NOT A NEW CUSTOMER, WE CAN'T DO ANYTHING FOR YOU EXCEPT PUT YOPU ON HOLD AND THE NEXT TIME THE PERSON YOU GET MAY NOT EVEN SPEAK THE LANGUAGE!
Sorry, I got a little carried away. That kind of stuff brings out my soapbox.
Oh yeah, one more. If you want to watch the fight that comes on Pay-Per-View once a month regularly, don't be like everyone else that waits until 3 minutes before the fight to order it. PLEASE do it the day before. You know it is going to be on. We had so many calls the last time, our system crashed and our site was down for 48 hours we could not afford to lose.

Oh I have found more kindred spirits!!!!! Lookingglass I officially LOVE YOU for starting this thread!!!

I am a Team Leader for a service desk dealing with technical queries for credit card machines. My team are hardworking, patient and courteous, often under immense pressure from call volumes, and terrible verbal abuse, so it is SO refreshing to have points of view from folks standing up for them!!

I would add a couple of points -

a) Swearing at me (particularly "F"s, "C"s and "B"s) will not make me answer your query more quickly or give you an alternative answer - indeed it will generally result in termination of your call (which is recorded, if you choose to deny said verbal abuse!)

b) I cannot see down the phone line - saying "I pressed that button!" does not help - I am good, but I am not that good!!

c) If you give me a cell phone number to call you back on, I will do this, even though we are an inbound call centre and calling you will prevent me from answering another call. I do this as a courtesy to you, my customer. Please return the courtesy by switching the cell phone on, and by answering it!!

I must share with you this little gems, from my first week behind the desk:-

Caller:- It won't stop bleeping!! Its just won't stop!!!!
4BC:- Does it say anything on the screen?
Caller:- Yes - it says "Press 'ENTER'"
4BC:- Great - and have you tried pressing the 'ENTER' button?
Caller:- Erm.........okay then.......(there is a moments silence......then......)
MY GOD - That's amazing - it's stopped bleeping!!!!!!!!!

You gotta love 'em!!!!

I work at an Answering Service, which IMO is pretty much the WORST Call Center job around. I've learned just how RUDE people can be, and how badly they can treat person, when they aren't actually facing them.

I'll answer a line, and someone is yelling and screaming at me about something that I don't have anything to do with. I tell them I'm sorry, I'm the service, may I take a message, and they scream at me, because I didn't say so in the beginning. First of all, they didn't give me the chance to get a word in, and Second of all, I HAVE to answer the line the way the customer wants me to. Then they call me some 4 letter word, and then the phone is slammed down in my ear. I REALLY think you get to see the TRUE side a people when you work in a call center, and usually it isn't pretty.

I think everyone should be REQUIRED to spend a week working in a call center, and take the abuse we have to take. Then I'll bet they would think twice before treating that voice on the other end of the telephone like they're a piece of trash. Call center work is one of the most stressful, unappreciated jobs out there, and there is very little rewards to it as well, except the paycheck, which usually is nowhere near as big as one deserves for such an awful job.

Originally Posted by lunasmom

Being vague about the situation does not help. If you are having computer issues, please recite the error message it is giving you, do not just say "I have an error message".

Oh and anything I did not place on your computer I do not support. Our company pays me to support the business requirements...not iTunes. Apple supports that.

Click to expand...

oh but you forgot the classic, my computer wont do anything,
hmm can you define anything,

or the i hvae a error message
what does the error say,
i dont know,
well do it again, and tell me what it says
i cant, i am driving the car and on my cell phone.
d'oh

and yes i have been called to change passwords on itunes, newyork times, and many other websites.

and once, long time ago, i had a lawyer tell my boss i refused to help him,
lol the lawyer wanted me to come to his house, to fix his own computer. on my free time.

Originally Posted by katl8e

Do NOT scream and/or swear at the rep. Do NOT make threats of physical violence - this will result in you being reported to Federal authorities and you MAY find a Federal investigator at your door. At the least, repeated incidents will get you put on "written contact only" and representatives will refuse to take your call and hang up on you. You will be forced to communicate with the company via mail, fax or e-mail only.

Click to expand...

The "Please don't call in a bomb threat" one is a mystery to people. Don't they know we can trace their call and send the FBI after them. That's right the FBI. I can tell you the agent isn't going to be a nice as a local cop.

I know that some call center staff are rude and unprofessional if that happens please write the company. Get the name and as much information about the call as you can when you do it. Trust me, it will make it's way into that person's file.