I must stop reading the comments...
When ever i stumble upon an article on customer service, no matter how much i like the page i always try to avoid reading the comments.
They frustrate me and generally make me loose what little remaining faith in i have in humanity in general retaining general principles like empathy and respect.They make me want to rant and rave not at the customer in the story who was rude / silly / ignorant / just plain mean and moronic but at the people leaving comments.
Comments like
"It is typical of someone who is at the bottom rungs of the societal ladder to strike out against those who have more. It is unfortunate that customer service personnel ARE the bottom rungs of the societal ladder and therefore consistently take pleasure in providing no relief to the very customer they were hired to serve. Of course the customer was foul with you, they only call in once they are fed up. Congratulations call center employee #654379, you have added a wealth of joy and brotherhood to this world."
In this particular example the person in question received a call from this customer three times to arrange a service call time after she canceled it. On the third call he made up some bull about the flux capacitor being broken so the earliest they can correct their clocks and send someone out was the original stated time.
Dont misunderstand me, i have worked in call centers for 4 years now and customer service my entire life and this kind of this is not to be standard behavior, but i, probably very much like this person have a three time rule. And there are many people in call centers who are there as it was the easiest job for them re 2nd job, Uni, lack of options etc who are incompetent. I used to tell people that most of my day was spent fixing other peoples mistakes. And for the few of us that could work well and multi task life was always busy. oh until it came to bonus time.
Swear at me after i have asked you not to three times i will terminate your call
Ask for a supervisor three times even tho i have told you i have spoken with them and the situation is not changing and i will get one
upset me three times and have to earn your trust / friendship back etc
Its the attitude that just because they work in customer service, and on a phone so you dont have to see this person that the customer is allowed to be rude? That because they are frustrated usually with their own lack of ability and hate asking for help that we are allowed to be treated as personal verbal punching bags.
If you call someone, you are usually after something, and even if it is because of a problem or previous bad service does not mean the person you have now is genuinely trying to help. I have been able to lodge complaints and get work done without the need for bad behavior's. And here is a tip, if your nice to the person you speak with they will usually go out of there way to find any loop hopes to get your work done faster. or in my case maybe 1/2 your fee refunded.
Call center staff do become bitter and occasionally passive aggressive but only ever when provoked and not the the extreams they receive it. Not striking out at at the world. It was handing a little back under provoked situations. Good on them - its bad to bottle that up. Trust me I KNOW
So in summery my rant is about the lack of support for what seems to be viewed as a monkey job. Just because someone works in customer care and especially in a call center does not mean that we are sub par people. If someone did this type of behavior at your office to your face i dare say you would have something to say about it to.
I could keep going as it is a subject close to my heart but i think i will go to bed like by body has been telling me to for hours
SO.............
No more reading comments, its a mantra
/me sing it with me now
Incidentally i love reading http://notalwaysright.com/
They frustrate me and generally make me loose what little remaining faith in i have in humanity in general retaining general principles like empathy and respect.They make me want to rant and rave not at the customer in the story who was rude / silly / ignorant / just plain mean and moronic but at the people leaving comments.
Comments like
"It is typical of someone who is at the bottom rungs of the societal ladder to strike out against those who have more. It is unfortunate that customer service personnel ARE the bottom rungs of the societal ladder and therefore consistently take pleasure in providing no relief to the very customer they were hired to serve. Of course the customer was foul with you, they only call in once they are fed up. Congratulations call center employee #654379, you have added a wealth of joy and brotherhood to this world."
In this particular example the person in question received a call from this customer three times to arrange a service call time after she canceled it. On the third call he made up some bull about the flux capacitor being broken so the earliest they can correct their clocks and send someone out was the original stated time.
Dont misunderstand me, i have worked in call centers for 4 years now and customer service my entire life and this kind of this is not to be standard behavior, but i, probably very much like this person have a three time rule. And there are many people in call centers who are there as it was the easiest job for them re 2nd job, Uni, lack of options etc who are incompetent. I used to tell people that most of my day was spent fixing other peoples mistakes. And for the few of us that could work well and multi task life was always busy. oh until it came to bonus time.
Swear at me after i have asked you not to three times i will terminate your call
Ask for a supervisor three times even tho i have told you i have spoken with them and the situation is not changing and i will get one
upset me three times and have to earn your trust / friendship back etc
Its the attitude that just because they work in customer service, and on a phone so you dont have to see this person that the customer is allowed to be rude? That because they are frustrated usually with their own lack of ability and hate asking for help that we are allowed to be treated as personal verbal punching bags.
If you call someone, you are usually after something, and even if it is because of a problem or previous bad service does not mean the person you have now is genuinely trying to help. I have been able to lodge complaints and get work done without the need for bad behavior's. And here is a tip, if your nice to the person you speak with they will usually go out of there way to find any loop hopes to get your work done faster. or in my case maybe 1/2 your fee refunded.
Call center staff do become bitter and occasionally passive aggressive but only ever when provoked and not the the extreams they receive it. Not striking out at at the world. It was handing a little back under provoked situations. Good on them - its bad to bottle that up. Trust me I KNOW
So in summery my rant is about the lack of support for what seems to be viewed as a monkey job. Just because someone works in customer care and especially in a call center does not mean that we are sub par people. If someone did this type of behavior at your office to your face i dare say you would have something to say about it to.
I could keep going as it is a subject close to my heart but i think i will go to bed like by body has been telling me to for hours
SO.............
No more reading comments, its a mantra
/me sing it with me now
Incidentally i love reading http://notalwaysright.com/