Have you ever worked in Customer Care?

Potential-Monke

I have, in a few different places, worked for O2 before they became crap (2003/2004), then went to Chorus before they were bought out, have worked for Vodafone (ugh) and now working in customer care for an IP based motion detection cctv. All of them were quite different, all of them were crap in the end.

The revolving door system in most call centres is to the detriment of its customers, so luckily the company I'm working for now actually value good employees, pay a decent wage for the work (some might say too much, not me) and are more intent on keeping employees than having a revolving door.

But, over all the call centres i've worked in, there is always something I'd love to do, and that is call customers out on their BS. Aside from not having correct procedures or lacking internal knowledge (my 2 biggest issues with call centres), uncooperative customers is the next pain.

Previously, i've had customers scream at me that their poor darlings can't watch Peppa and now they have nothing to do, other customers claiming the steps that definitely work to fix something doesn't work, and it's usually because they're incapable of carrying out simple instructions, like 'Unplug your router' (Americans really hate this one, it's like the router is some godlike product that you should never touch, and some of them haven't been rebooted in months!!).

Currently, I have customers who are blaming their own technical ineptitude on the company. Why by an IoT device that requires an App to run if you don't know how to use your own phone? That melts my buzz, customer care are expected to tell customers how to use their own phones. That's like buying a new Mustang and giving out to Ford because you can't drive it, and expecting Ford to make it drivable for them!

And I love the constant 'I'll go to every media outlet and blah blah blah'. Like the person you're chatting with cares?! And then they expect the agent to treat them like royalty even though they've cursed and roared at them for 10 minutes.

I think i'm done with customer care. I genuinely get a buzz from helping, but people these days get so high and mighty when they're not able to perform simple troubleshooting and try to put all the blame on the agent. It's no wonder it has a revolving door system, as most companies allow their staff to be treated this way with no penalty to the customer, who ends up just ringing back and shouting bloody murder to the next agent.

I've had to take calls off of other agents because of customers, and tell the agent to go off and have a smoke or a cuppa. Management gave out to me for it, saying they should have dealt with it. No, no one should have to deal with constant roaring and abuse.

Anyway, rant over while I'm still at work! Anyone else had the misfortune of working in a customer care environment? Any horror, funny or otherwise stories ye would like to share? I need something to keep me entertained for the next 70 minutes!

Trigger Happy

I don’t think many people last longer than 12 months in a call centre agent role before moving on. That’s what companies expect and why they pay so little. You have done 14 or something years!
Time for a move, you have done more than your fair share.

TheValeyard

OP hates his job and thinks he's done with customer care line of work. He has 70 minutes left and wants to be entertained.

Dravokivich

Yes. For over 11 years now. Never had much issues with customers and I had worked in complaints... to be honest, the services industry is based on someone needing something. The more they need something I or my teams can do, the better. I expect them not to know what we do. It's why we do it.

Under His Eye

Customer is never right. Remember that.

I worked in one place that had scripts that did not fix the problem. I knew how to fix the problem quickly but because it was off script that was not allowed. So frustrating.

Call centres. Everyone should be forced to do a year in one.

scamalert

Feel your pain OP, been in customer service and some people shouldn't be allowed to have any devices specially when you mention IT tech side.


Its amazing how many incompetent people are these days that dont know jack about simple tech they use. I know the feel when you work someone trough and explain why and how to fix issue and once its solved you get that nice feel.


That said you do need some nerves to work in such environment long term, have you thought about up-skilling, better cash and experience gets used properly, not a choice for most thou.


Thou i have to admit i have been on giving out end as well, once you know smth is wrong and and its not your end its massive overkill to listen to someone give you steps that you done inside out and know issue is on providers side, just to find few hours later.

Greyfox

Potential-Monke wrote: »

I think i'm done with customer care.

Sadly I'll never get to say that, I'm 14 years in customer care and I reckon when I'm 80 I'll still be working in customer care. I still have Muppets saying they'll go to Joe Duffy and a few stories in add later. Customers are eejits and I actually enjoy telling some of them about the €350 cancellation fee if they leave, sometimes a good argument is needed to break up the monoteny

Samsgirl

I also worked for O2 around 2007. I was in the Finance dept but we had a customer care team beside us. Really felt for them and the abuse and crap they had to put up with for daring to call people and ask them to pay their bill.
Definitely couldn't do it and hat off to anyone who can.

Trigger Happy

Someone I used to know used call utility companies when she was bored just to give out and entertain herself.

freshpopcorn

It's a little like anywhere people work and they come into contact with members of the public.
Sometimes they are right and sometimes the public are right.
Sometimes the customer is ignorant and sometimes the customer service agent is.

dartboardio

Yep. Dealt with customers since starting work she 16 four years ago. Jobs in hospitality now working in a call centre. Enjoy dealing with customers usually as long as they’re not ****heads. I find it easy to tackle the problem/anger and usually end up coming to a resolution. But obviously you do have the ones that just want to shout over the phone.

maork1

Worked in two call centres, lasted 2 months in the first one and 3 weeks in the other. It made me really dislike people so I quit. I've worked in hospitality and loved it but a call centre environment is definitely not for me.

Training was extremely inept in both.

Paddy Cow

I would rather clean the sewers with a toothbrush than work in a "customer care" role. I'm not exaggerating. My personality doesn't suit working with morons customers who think they are entitled to scream and shout at you because "they are a paying customer". I worked a lot of restaurant/hospitality jobs when I was younger and there is no way I could go back to that now. I just don't have the patience for it anymore.

Luckily I now have a manual job where "customer satisfaction" isn't a high priority. I'm not rude or thick with people but if they get argumentative with me, I know my boss will back me up. I've been there over a year and only had one person who said I had a bad attitude and he was going to report me :rolleyes: When I told my boss about it, all he said was "ya, I'll take their complaint really serious ". It makes a nice change from previous places where a sh!tty customer would complain to the manager and not only would the manager side with the customer, they would made me apologise, even though the customer was wrong :mad:

I've always wanted to say to people who think they are entitled to belittle and humiliate staff because they are paying money, that they should probably join an S&M club :pac:

Agricola

Worked in a call centre for 4 long years. I sometimes wake up in a cold sweat and for a moment still think I'm there!
Wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy.

r93kaey5p2izun

Worked on the customer service desk of a major retailer. It was grand. I wouldn't like to work in a call centre though.

BuboBubo

My brother worked in a notorious call centre in Wateford. He only lasted a few months, the abuse he got from "customers" on the phone would break anyone.

I couldn't do that job, wouldn't have the neck for it. If I need to call Vodafone for example, even if I'm annoyed I'll be calm and polite. I wish people would realise the impact their behaviour, even though "it's only on the phone, sure I don't know him..." actually has.

Costs nothing to be calm and polite.

Greyfox

From customers..
"Your car wash broke my car and I have pictures to prove it".. I reply with why are you calling a telecom company? They reply with "My solicitor is beside me listening to this call, now get me a manager".. again I explain we're a telecom company and don't deal with cars or car washes

"Yes I know I signed a piece of paper with all my info on it but he never told me it was a contract"

"You breached your contract when my modem was 1 day late"

"I didn't agree to anything", I send them a call recording and tell them they said yes to all the questions the verifier asked and they "but the man told me to say yes to everything"

And back when I worked for BT Ireland and there were bt phone boxes around. A woman gets in a bt phone box to escape a dog but the dog gets into the broken phone box and bits her .. and the woman calls with "get me the CEO now or your managers manager, I'm going to sue you's for millions"

freshpopcorn

BuboBubo wrote: »

.

Costs nothing to be calm and polite.

That's very true and the customer service person should do the same and be knowledgeable.

Wanderer78

BuboBubo wrote:

My brother worked in a notorious call centre in Wateford. He only lasted a few months, the abuse he got from "customers" on the phone would break anyone.

Oh name and shame, it's eishtec!

BuboBubo

Wanderer78 wrote: »

Oh name and shame, it's eishtec!

Shhhhh!

Agricola

Just on the irate customers issue, I remember an interesting discovery I made a few months into my time in the place.

We served a UK customer base and I quickly noticed that there was nice and not so nice parts of the United Kingdom. If I got a call from the 0191 area code, that would be the Newcastle / Sunderland region and almost without fail, the person calling would be nice, polite and a bit of a pushover tbh!
They could be calling about the most egregious case of customer neglect and they'd only make it to the third sentence before they'd begin to feel a bit self conscious about being angry on the phone to a nice Irish person and they'd be like putty in your hands!

The most not so nice part of the UK? A couple of hundred miles up the road from where I was sitting! If I saw an 028 call coming in, I knew I was in for a war with someone who fancied themselves as a bit of an Ian Paisley lite!

cantdecide

There's a Pareto rule for these places - you can do 80% of the work with 20% of the knowledge and management know that and that's why the 'training' leads agents like lambs to the slaughter. Give them a tiny 'average handling time' per call and little real support or authority and guess what you end up with? The remaining 20% of customers becoming unhappy, getting their time wasted by underauthorised, undertrained, underpaid people who are more concerned about their AHT and what their TL will say if they don't hit their targets than actually helping customers. In this whole scenario, the call centre and the client company wins while the two people sitting at either end of the actual phone call lose. I understand why customers get irate even and I understand why workers feel abused - it's because of modern day white collar work houses and the cocksuckery that underpins it all.

I worked in one of these places for two and a half long years doing backoffice work and I'm just glad I didn't have to work the phones. The targets were unreasonable, the scrutiny was intense, the training was pathetic and for the money, I would have been better off washing dishes where you would actually feel like you're doing something useful.

maork1

People really don't appreciate how their abuse can actually make the person working in the call centre feel like dirt. When I worked in a call centre I often woke up in the middle of the night after having nightmares about angry customers and there was a couple of times I even started crying while on the phone to customers and had to hide it.

The job really highlighted to me how many people are completely ignorant to others feelings and if anything it has made me feel like a good person because I'd never speak to anyone the way people spoke to me.

I always tried to justify it by thinking they might be having a bad day or something but the volume of nasty calls was way too high for that.

mohawk

There is a customer care element in my workplace.
I have learned a couple of things along the way. Some pretty crazy people out there.
People from a certain county have a reputation for being tight for a reason.
The angrier someone is the more likely they are telling lies.

Some of the crazy is enjoyable though. Like the lady who went mental at me when I told her if she wants to send a email to use our info email address. She went mental that her privacy would be violated as she doesn't know who could read it. Fun fact we get hundreds of emails a day so you are just a number to us.

Don't be a jerk when you are ringing a company up with a problem. The person you are speaking to isn't responsible for whatever issue you are having. In my company most people will do the bare minimum to help you if you are rude.

Atlantic Dawn

Did a spell some years back so to speak, was fairly mixed, chatted to some of the most c wurded scrotes on the face of the earth who seemed like they had mental health issues where their sole aim in life was to be a complete banker to people trying to help them, these were people who were possibly millionaires and people who were living on the scratch, money didn't matter as to their attitude. On the other end of the calls chatted to some people who were incredibly thankful for the help I gave them. You could have some calls where people called you all things under the sun and that basically ruined your day and possibly your week by actually threatening to kill you by means of stabbings and bombings, I think now that you would need to be on some class of disco biscuits to stay at the job for any long period of time as it's similar to a trip to hell.

fryup

and then we have another thread about people being reluctant taking up employment..is it any wonder with these nightmare jobs out there

Atlantic Dawn

fryup wrote: »

and then we have another thread about people being reluctant taking up employment..is it any wonder with these nightmare jobs out there

It's generally life, you normally start out at the bottom of the food chain, these jobs can be a very good stepping stone to so many others.

Captain Peanuts McDrummie

I had the misfortune of answering calls for the medical cards for about 2.5 years. Worst job I've ever worked by a long shot. I constantly had to listen to abuse from people threatening to go to the likes of Joe Duffy if they didn't get their way and end up with a medical card. This was if they weren't even entitled to a medical card to begin with.

It began to have an effect on my mental and physical health so I'm glad I no longer have to work in that call centre. To this day I still suffer with the health issues which arose while working in that call centre and it's looking like I could suffer from these effects for a long time to come. I'll never work in a call centre again after what I went through there.

Hector Bellend

Absolutely not.

I'd be up on assault and\or murder charges in no time.

I'm not a big fan of other people at the best of times. Its unwise to tempt fate.

The Legend Of Kira

I worked in customer care in a call centre years ago for a brief while I wouldn,t do it again. Some of the call centres may be different now in the context the way the person answering calls is allowed deal with an abusive caller on the other end of the phone. When I briefly worked in one two things 1/ You weren,t allowed hang up the phone when on call with a customer who would be abusive & 2/ You d have to try have the customers problem sorted within a certain timeframe which woulda been a brief few minutes before moving onto the next call.

The very fact you weren,t allowed hang up the phone on abusive customers calling I thought was a load of BS , there should be a policy where the customer care staff can give one warning to someone being abusive on the other end of the phone to say if you continue being abusive Im gonna end this call.

If someone went into a shop being abusive to the person behind the till or being abusive the person at customer service they d be allowed refuse to serve or deal with the abusive customer, it should be the same in call centre work if someone is being abusive you can refuse to deal with the person & end the call.

The Legend Of Kira

Captain Peanuts McDrummie wrote: »

I had the misfortune of answering calls for the medical cards for about 2.5 years. Worst job I've ever worked by a long shot. I constantly had to listen to abuse from people threatening to go to the likes of Joe Duffy if they didn't get their way and end up with a medical card. This was if they weren't even entitled to a medical card to begin with.

It began to have an effect on my mental and physical health so I'm glad I no longer have to work in that call centre. To this day I still suffer with the health issues which arose while working in that call centre and it's looking like I could suffer from these effects for a long time to come. I'll never work in a call centre again after what I went through there.

I know someone who worked there in that particular call centre department you refer to. One detail I heard was if a customer requested your name that you,d have to give your name under the company policy, hopefully that,s all changed with new recent data protection laws.

rainbow kirby

Did a year of tech support when I was taking a year out from college. Pure torture. Made me absolutely hate people.

Adyx

Imagine working in customer care but all your customers were drunk or American. Welcome to hospitality.

Same sense of self-importance, combined with alcohol.

mickoneill31

Agricola wrote: »

The most not so nice part of the UK? A couple of hundred miles up the road from where I was sitting! If I saw an 028 call coming in, I knew I was in for a war with someone who fancied themselves as a bit of an Ian Paisley lite!

Similar for me. I worked in Gateway tech support 25 years ago. We served the UK and Ireland. I remember our phones would identify the source country. When I saw Ireland I'd have to take a deep breath. So many people think they "know my rights" when they really don't.
If somebody was nice I'd help them out more. If they were a dick they got the minimum.

On the plus side it was reasonable training for dealing with customer service as a customer. I have an idea what authority they have and that losing the cool is worse on me than them.
My dad had an issue with Vodafone lasting weeks. He is one that'll be an idiot to call centre employees. He told me about the issue and I rang as him. Was sorted satisfactorily with one call.

And asking for a manager is useless. The manager used to frequently listen in on the call and they have to abide by the same policies as the first line.

Edgware

I have a friend in the UK that regularly e mails the sports departments of the media complaining about the nil coverage of pigeon racing. Many actually reply giving facts, figures and the technical difficulties it would encounter

fryup

^^^^^^^^

that would make a great monty python sketch

Mint Sauce

Yes, so when I do call a call centre now, I can appreciate how tricky it can be for the handler to deal with querys, targets, irrate customers, and having to up sale as well.

Two memorable calls I had was one, where the caller called me a Paki Bastard mid call. When I informed him that he had came through to an Irish call centre, he followed it up with calling me a Paddy Bastard. The call ended quite shortly after that.

Other memorable call, was a couple of days after Channel 4 aired a fly on the wall doc, about called centres. Caller mid call asked me if I was holding a help sign over my desk, something that featured on the show. It got a giggle and the caller went off the phone happy.

Grayson

The Legend Of Kira wrote: »

I know someone who worked there in that particular call centre department you refer to. One detail I heard was if a customer requested your name that you,d have to give your name under the company policy, hopefully that,s all changed with new recent data protection laws.

I worked i a call centre where we all had fake names. On your first day you were assigned a fake name and that was yours forever. So if someone went looking for you in real life they couldn't find you but if they called up looking for you as a follow up, someone could look up the name and transfer you.

No i couldn't cope with that at all especially as you can't tell them to cop on.

I'm always nice to them and they're nice to me and everyone is happy

Grayson

Mint Sauce wrote: »

Yes, so when I do call a call centre now, I can appreciate how tricky it can be for the handler to deal with querys, targets, irrate customers, and having to up sale as well.

Two memorable calls I had was one, where the caller called me a Paki Bastard mid call. When I informed him that he had came through to an Irish call centre, he followed it up with calling me a Paddy Bastard. The call ended quite shortly after that.

Other memorable call, was a couple of days after Channel 4 aired a fly on the wall doc, about called centres. Caller mid call asked me if I was holding a help sign over my desk, something that featured on the show. It got a giggle and the caller went off the phone happy.

I worked in one call centre for PC support where a guy called a girl a paddy bastard. She ended the call and told her supervisor. He left a note on the account saying if the guy called through again, put the guy through to him. The guy called back and was told by the supervisor that there was going to be no more support unless he apologized to the girl he'd been talking to.

Mint Sauce

Grayson wrote: »

I worked in one call centre for PC support where a guy called a girl a paddy bastard. She ended the call and told her supervisor. He left a note on the account saying if the guy called through again, put the guy through to him. The guy called back and was told by the supervisor that there was going to be no more support unless he apologized to the girl he'd been talking to.

Our company, and I would assume most companies, the handler was allowed to end the call if the customer continued abusive language after repeated warnings.

Have heard of companies though, that if abusive language was picked up on recordings or quality monitored calls more than a few times, and if the notes reflected it, the customer could get a call from a manager, advicing them on their tone, and warning of discontinuation of service or support.

Me, if someone gave the odd f bomb, talking in general, it would be brushed off or ignored, as it was their personality. If it was directed at me, or a colleague, then a warning on the call being discontinued would be given.

Iwouldinmesack

Under His Eye wrote: »

Customer is never right. Remember that.

I worked in one place that had scripts that did not fix the problem. I knew how to fix the problem quickly but because it was off script that was not allowed. So frustrating.

Call centres. Everyone should be forced to do a year in one.

Several friends and siblings worked in customer care during college etc. Told me i was lucky i couldnt work in a call centre and from their soul destroying stories id have to agree with them. Being Deaf ,even though we are treated like **** in this country regarding opportunities and employment, means ill never have to work in a call centre.

fryup

Grayson wrote: »

I worked i a call centre where we all had fake names. On your first day you were assigned a fake name and that was yours forever. So if someone went looking for you in real life they couldn't find you but if they called up looking for you as a follow up, someone could look up the name and transfer you.

it wouldn't come to that surely

Grayson

Mint Sauce wrote: »

Our company, and I would assume most companies, the handler was allowed to end the call if the customer continued abusive language after repeated warnings.

Have heard of companies though, that if abusive language was picked up on recordings or quality monitored calls more than a few times, and if the notes reflected it, the customer could get a call from a manager, advicing them on their tone, and warning of discontinuation of service or support.

Me, if someone gave the odd f bomb, talking in general, it would be brushed off or ignored, as it was their personality. If it was directed at me, or a colleague, then a warning on the call being discontinued would be given.

We had the three warning rule in the last place. Warn them 3 times and then they get disconnected. The problem was that they weren't refused. They could just call over and over again. I felt it was bad because it didn't show any support for the workers. Just sit there and take abuse, it's your job.

Grayson

Iwouldinmesack wrote: »

Several friends and siblings worked in customer care during college etc. Told me i was lucky i couldnt work in a call centre and from their soul destroying stories id have to agree with them. Being Deaf ,even though we are treated like **** in this country regarding opportunities and employment, means ill never have to work in a call centre.

Twice I had to talk to deaf people on calls. I'm sure you're aware of the process but for those that aren't...

The deaf person has a keyboard that they type stuff into. That goes to a separate centre where someone reads it out to me. I say something back and they type it in for the deaf person.

So I have to give very clear concise short sentences. And I have to wait each time for the reply.

One of the calls involved a guy who had a computer with the sound not working. He had a young child who could hear and the sound needed to be working for her. So I got him to do stuff to the computer and if it worked she would let him know there was noise.

Because of the length of time it took for the conversation the call went on ages. At one point my boss came over and said "You've been on that call a long time. Is everything ok" I said "I'm troubleshooting a soundcard with a deaf guy". He just looked at me for a second and said "Take all the time you need".

AndrewJRenko

Grayson wrote: »

Twice I had to talk to deaf people on calls. I'm sure you're aware of the process but for those that aren't...

The deaf person has a keyboard that they type stuff into. That goes to a separate centre where someone reads it out to me. I say something back and they type it in for the deaf person.

So I have to give very clear concise short sentences. And I have to wait each time for the reply.

One of the calls involved a guy who had a computer with the sound not working. He had a young child who could hear and the sound needed to be working for her. So I got him to do stuff to the computer and if it worked she would let him know there was noise.

Because of the length of time it took for the conversation the call went on ages. At one point my boss came over and said "You've been on that call a long time. Is everything ok" I said "I'm troubleshooting a soundcard with a deaf guy". He just looked at me for a second and said "Take all the time you need".

This is the service, now accessible on the web, so no special keyboard required now;


https://www.itrs.ie/

Captain Peanuts McDrummie

The Legend Of Kira wrote: »

I know someone who worked there in that particular call centre department you refer to. One detail I heard was if a customer requested your name that you,d have to give your name under the company policy, hopefully that,s all changed with new recent data protection laws.

Yeah, that was the case while I worked there. I don't know if that's changed since the new data protection laws have come in or not.

We also had to tell them we were based in Finglas where the applications get processed even though we weren't anywhere near there.

screamer

To be successful and remain long term in customer care requires a certain mindset and attitude. I've seen so many people come and go and mostly because they just didn't have the right attitude for the role. And, as we all know the customer is always right and if you don't know how to work with that then customer service is the wrong role.

The J Stands for Jay

fryup wrote: »

it wouldn't come to that surely

You'd be surprised. There's a very small minority who will try to find the call centre. They'll usually just show up at corporate headquarters and be treated very nicely.

bear1

I worked in a pretty big one in naas before the recession.
The amount of times you'd get a call where someone had been refused a credit card and they would literally take it out on you as if it were you that rejected their application.
Never got called any names but you needed 2 things in that job, cigarettes and coffee.
I last 6 months before I was let go but sweet jesus I'll never ever go into such a role again.

White_hills

Worked in one for two years during the height of the recession.

The modern day Victorian factory. I was never as depressed.