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I read this thread and realize that apparently I'm in, like, the nicest call center environment that could possibly exist. No horrible overbearing managers, no rough quotas or awful upselling, and in between calls we're basically allowed to do whatever we want within the boundaries of common sense. Even the calls themselves don't suck most of the time because it's not a situation where people are calling to scream about bad services like Internet providers' centers get.
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Jul 19, 2017 04:21
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Ugh. They moved my group (combination basic risk analysis and hotline) to all day all the time on the phones 2 months ago. It used to be 4 hours a day processing, 4 hours a day in the hotline. Service levels collapsed since we went from 500 calls a day to 800-1100 due to the volume of new accounts coming through. So, they stick everyone on the phones all the time, hoping we'd have 10 minutes or so between calls for processing. That hasn't happened. Service levels are at 50-60%. Goal is near 80. One team that does specialized processing has basically stopped taking calls. I don't blame them...they have work for 12 people, and 6 on staff. The others either run like mad to meet their minimum talk/available time each day then just stop; or the reps either go "take one call, process risk analysis on an account or two, take another call, who gives a poo poo, this is how I get by..." Worse yet...I'm a group of the latter reps temporary manager. It sucks. I know how fried they are. And having been in their position, I'm amazed they do as well as they do. All of them that are eligible are looking to leave. Good news! We're hiring! Which means, as primary trainer when I get done with the FauxManager gig, guess what I get to do! Train and QA every-single-item analyzed by 3-4 reps for 5-6 weeks! I enjoy this part of my job, but it just sounds overwhelming to me right now. Today I listened to a VP who doesn't know poo poo about poo poo bitch about us not meeting service levels. What we're being asked to do is impossible. How about a thank you for making something vaguely resembling impossible happen each day? A friend of mine is looking for a job. In good conscience, I couldn't refer her even though she'd be great at the job. Why would I? "So, you take 40-50 calls a day averaging 8 minutes why also reviewing 100 new accounts for possible fraud..." gently caress. I don't want to drag her into that misery. Pure call center is better at this point...at least there it's just "handle what's in front of you." I referred her for account transfers instead. I get a month off between August 4th and Labor Day. Sabbatical due to time of service. When I get back, I'm looking for something else, either within or outside the company. I'm tired. A year or two silently typing stuff and never answering a phone in our anti-money laundering group sounds great! And, yes, I'm drunk as I type this. Sick of the politics. Sick of the unreasonable demands. And if they ever ask me to play fake team manager again, (though I've learned a few cool things) I'm telling them to get bent. That felt good. Time to take a couple Advil and go to bed.
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Jul 19, 2017 04:32
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For the record, alcohol and NSAIDs are a terrible combination. Real good way to give yourself an ulcer or GI tract bleeding.
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Jul 19, 2017 06:00
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"Call Centre rant thread: For the record, alcohol and NSAIDs are a terrible combination"
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Jul 19, 2017 06:13
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they want someone to work 10 hours of over time a week to process forms. not in a million loving years.
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Jul 20, 2017 16:59
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PenguinKnight posted:they want someone to work 10 hours of over time a week to process forms. not in a million loving years. Holy gently caress, this industry really does need a union. But it doesn't solve everything, of course... We're having an insane Friday at the unionized, state tech support call center. Someone at another state agency changed the way the clients of their most used application log into the system, requiring them to enter the domain name before their user name. WE ARE SWAMPED as a result, with absolutely no one having been informed of the change-- of course not their users. No, we can't change our hold message apparently (I asked). No, we can't put a message on the Microsoft-created login page. No, there is no way to inform the thousands of users of this public utility but to let them sit on hold for a half an hour to talk to one of our ten reps. This is definitely dumb as gently caress. I need to move to a better state...
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Jul 21, 2017 17:48
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The call center I used to work at tried to unionize, but they have really good lawyers and all three attempts were quashed.  Yaaaaaaay Texas...
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Jul 21, 2017 23:03
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Anybody ever experience depersonalization as a result of this work? My brain feels funny, today... Not much I can do but sit down and take... More calls...
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Jul 24, 2017 16:21
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Pure Trance posted:Anybody ever experience depersonalization as a result of this work? My brain feels funny, today... yes. this and browsing the internet are the only ways i can make it through the day e: this is going to be helpful today, because the loving call tracking program has shat the bed on a Monday, our busiest day of the week PenguinKnight fucked around with this message at 17:18 on Jul 24, 2017 |
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Jul 24, 2017 16:39
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Just had a sheriff threaten to use his connections with the Ohio State Prosecutor to have our financial institution investigated over a matter of $33 because he was upset the interest being assessed on his credit card (resulting from an oversight on the sheriff's part that I was about to offer to reverse but he cut me off). He asked if I was really willing to subject "my" company to the fill scrutiny of the Department of Justice over $33. I wanted to ask if he was really willing to waste the time and resources of the Department of Justice over the matter of $33. Of course, I thought better of it and offered to reverse it as soon as I could get a word in edgewise. It bothered me because I didn't want him thinking that he got what he wanted because he intimidated me into giving it to him. But then again, it was lunchtime and it really doesn't loving matter.
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Jul 24, 2017 18:53
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Time_pants posted:Just had a sheriff threaten to use his connections with the Ohio State Prosecutor to have our financial institution investigated over a matter of $33 because he was upset the interest being assessed on his credit card (resulting from an oversight on the sheriff's part that I was about to offer to reverse but he cut me off). He asked if I was really willing to subject "my" company to the fill scrutiny of the Department of Justice over $33. I wanted to ask if he was really willing to waste the time and resources of the Department of Justice over the matter of $33. Of course, I thought better of it and offered to reverse it as soon as I could get a word in edgewise. It bothered me because I didn't want him thinking that he got what he wanted because he intimidated me into giving it to him. gently caress that. As soon as he started in with that, I would've been doubling down and digging trenches.
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Jul 24, 2017 18:55
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Ghostnuke posted:gently caress that. As soon as he started in with that, I would've been doubling down and digging trenches. I definitely swallowed refunds that were on the tip of my tongue when people went off on me
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Jul 24, 2017 19:02
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As much as he honestly deserved it, confrontation is my absolute least favorite part of a job I completely and thoroughly hate. I'm in the wrong line of work. I genuinely wish I had the ability to go to war with the assholes who call in because I don't want to encourage or reward that behavior, but if I can't win by reason, I would rather just move on. By 9AM or so, our queue is usually 200-300 deep or something close to it. I certainly understand the value in pushing back when someone starts trying to douche their way into getting a freebie when they were moments away from getting one just for keeping their mouth shut, but I'd rather just get back to helping decent people who actually appreciate it since they're the ones that make the job even remotely bearable.
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Jul 25, 2017 01:30
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I have a carefully crafted ability to get people stark-raving angry without doing a single thing wrong. Using that skill was one of the few things I liked about call center work.
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Jul 25, 2017 01:50
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Time_pants posted:As much as he honestly deserved it, confrontation is my absolute least favorite part of a job I completely and thoroughly hate. Eh, it's not worth it. You know they'll just escalate and escalate until they get what they want anyway. If it's within your gift then gently caress it, give them the refund. It's not worth the stress.
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Jul 25, 2017 07:32
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God, I am going to HATE it when I finally get trained in Membership Services along with my regular calls. I am so happy being able to pawn those folks off on other people. Also our northern California branch has the worst hold music of all time and they keep me on hold for 30 minutes at a time EVERY SINGLE TIME I call them. I've missed entire lunch breaks because of NorCal. I have had concerned people come to my desk asking if my phone was broken because of NorCal. I was asked by my supervisor during our 1-1 coaching why my hold times were so high and all I had to do was say "NorCal" to get her to change the subject. Hire more loving people, NorCal! UZworm fucked around with this message at 06:43 on Jul 27, 2017 |
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Jul 27, 2017 06:40
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I really don't enjoy getting into fights with consumers about information. Told a consumer that a card isn't working because it was closed 4 years ago. "Your account with us had been closed all the way back in 2013" "That can't be right. Was it a request done by the employer or by the system" "It was done with a form that was sent back in October of 13." "Signed by me?" "Yes" "That can't be right!"  e: there's been so many goddamn false-positive OFAC failures it is insane e2: Had to grill a person to make absolutely sure they were on the right log in page. Turns out after 4 times asking, they were on the wrong website! of course it's still our fault PenguinKnight fucked around with this message at 19:49 on Aug 1, 2017 |
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Jul 31, 2017 23:11
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That reminds me of a funny one. We had one agent whose extension was somehow linked to AT&T's call center system. He'd get calls that were transferred to him from AT&T, which confused the hell out of everyone involved. We had no way of fixing it, so he just had to deal with it until he got a new extension in a different department.
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Aug 2, 2017 20:01
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I am so loving sick of the fraud calls. We tried warning our supervisors that some group got a whole bunch of credit data and have been making fraudulent charges. We get told that it's not our loving business to report that stuff. 2-3 weeks later, everyone calls in pissed at us because we didn't do anything or even notifying them. This could have been way less bad and people would have had way less stolen if the supervisors loving listened to us.
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Aug 4, 2017 00:39
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Go to the media, say you knew fraud was coming. Try to blow the whistle at the same time internally somehow. Get fired immediately ofc, lawyer up, high six figures probably? Best possible call center career end game.
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Aug 4, 2017 18:19
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Pryor on Fire posted:Go to the media, say you knew fraud was coming. Try to blow the whistle at the same time internally somehow. Get fired immediately ofc, lawyer up, high six figures probably? Best possible call center career end game. Do this, snowden the gently caress out of em.  To add to the callcentre rant thread, i was making some schedules for a outbound shift type deal a couple of days ago, random supervisor bitches me out because it "isn't part of your job description". I've been doing that and other project tasks for over a year and my team in it has a customer appreciation of like a 9.5 compared to the regular dudes who are hovering at a 6 at best. Time to the gently caress out of there.
AzMiLion fucked around with this message at 13:17 on Aug 5, 2017 |
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Aug 5, 2017 13:14
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Aaaaaaaaaand that's the last straw. I've been putting in to get promoted in like 20 different positions that I'm highly qualified for and the farthest I've gotten was a second interview. I've had two phone interviews with people who never called back despite saying they'd let me know by the end of the week. Everything else has been outright rejection or total silence. I've had enough. gently caress this job. gently caress this place. gently caress everything and everyone in it. I'm out. Applying anywhere else but a call center starting today.
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Aug 7, 2017 20:43
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I'm free! I got a job working for a charity and I handed in my notice yesterday. Just 17 days of work left! 
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Aug 9, 2017 06:52
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Time_pants posted:Aaaaaaaaaand that's the last straw. I've been putting in to get promoted in like 20 different positions that I'm highly qualified for and the farthest I've gotten was a second interview. I've had two phone interviews with people who never called back despite saying they'd let me know by the end of the week. Everything else has been outright rejection or total silence. You and I are >>>here<<<; I have experienced the same thing during my job search, and I am burned all the way out. It's a dangerous place for me to be mentally, and I just hope we find something soon. Friday is easily the worst day to be here, aside from all the other days. Something is always getting hosed up that results in massive call volume. The idea that some people have casual Friday is such a joke.
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Aug 11, 2017 16:11
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Pope Guilty posted:Why the gently caress does the customer know your co-worker's last name? I use my first and last name while on the phones, nobody's doxxed me yet.
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Aug 12, 2017 20:56
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"Can I have your membership number please?" "OH MY GOD HOLY loving poo poo IS IT THE TWENTY TRILLION DIGIT MONSTROSITY ON THIS CARD? WHY WOULD YOU DO THIS TO ME LET ME JUST SET ASIDE SIX HOURS OF MY TIME TO READ THIS TO YOU JESUS CHRIST I'M SO TIRED NOW I'M GETTING THE VAPORS FROM EVEN LOOKING AT THIS NUMBER THAT YOU HAVE THRUST UPON ME" Our membership numbers are 16 digits long. (And it's worth noting that if 90% of these idiots knew how our company worked they'd only have to read us 10 of them.) UZworm fucked around with this message at 06:01 on Aug 13, 2017 |
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Aug 13, 2017 05:53
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So I had the weirdest caller yesterday. He called in very pleasant, and when I asked his name he just started spouting spoilers for game of thrones for about 2 minutes. I don't watch that show, so I have no idea what the hell he was talking about. Then he said thank you and said there was nothing else I could do for him and hung up. I looked at the account for a bit afterwards. He had already called something like 7 times that day and the notes showed that he wasn't calling with any specific problem so I assume he was doing the same to them. It was a very polite way to get revenge on our "evil" company (Comcast) tho. Much prefer that to the swearing and being called a loving idiot.
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Aug 13, 2017 20:05
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TokenTrevor posted:Much prefer that to the swearing and being called a loving idiot. Disagree, I don't mind that. Game of Thrones spoilers, tho...
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Aug 13, 2017 20:15
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RIP Paul Walker posted:Disagree, I don't mind that. Game of Thrones spoilers, tho... I was so lost at first I didn't understand what they were, never seen a single episode, until I talked to a coworker and they were like "Wait what? Nonono shut up" Was an amusing call if nothing else.
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Aug 13, 2017 20:18
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We've gone from 25 people, to 15 people to 8. They keep pulling people off the phones to work claims because they're short-staffed and goddamn this place is stupid
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Aug 23, 2017 19:43
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Getting moved off the phones! I'm still on the call center floor but I'm basically auditing applications so no phone calls. Someone messed up? Undo it, notate, and send it back! 
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Aug 23, 2017 23:44
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moonsour posted:Getting moved off the phones! I'm still on the call center floor but I'm basically auditing applications so no phone calls. Someone messed up? Undo it, notate, and send it back! Hey, moonsour, we're getting a big spike in calls, can you just jump on for a while? Also make sure you still get all that paperwork done.
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Aug 24, 2017 22:28
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Fil5000 posted:Hey, moonsour, we're getting a big spike in calls, can you just jump on for a while? Also make sure you still get all that paperwork done. A higher volume of applications means a higher volume of work for my position as well. We offered up that exact scenario to the department managers and they confirmed the only time we would be working the phones is if it's SO slow that there's literally no applications that need to be reviewed. This is supported by that fact that my company is outsourcing everything they can without tanking customer satisfaction and error rates too much. Customer service and loan originations are about 75% outsourced to the Philippines (we found their company on GlassDoor and they make $350USD/mo) while loan decisions/issuance and payments/collections are staying completely in-house. The outsourced team screws up really often since you get what you pay for and some days I already go under my required 6 apps/hr processing because I have to re-review everything that was submitted by the customer, correct the math, etc. This position change essentially makes THAT my job, so I don't have to do the follow up, and I only get stuff when they mostly have everything they need already. It gives me manager access to credit reports and back end processes without any of the managerial responsibilities. <3
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Aug 25, 2017 01:53
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Do you work for a mortgage servicer that recently rebranded by any chance? E: reading your post history you do not work at my old company but it's amazing how similar it all is! SpartanIvy fucked around with this message at 21:31 on Aug 25, 2017 |
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Aug 25, 2017 21:28
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SpartanIV posted:Do you work for a mortgage servicer that recently rebranded by any chance? Our customers swear they didn't need as much documentation to apply for their mortgage!
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Aug 26, 2017 09:31
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moonsour posted:Our customers swear they didn't need as much documentation to apply for their mortgage! If it was a pre- Dodd-Frank loan, they probably didn't. Liar loans were way loving easier to do from start to finish.
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Aug 28, 2017 01:11
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Ugh, my therapist is starting to ask about job stress. I don't know where to start. Maybe I should just blurt it all out in a huge story problem, like one of my callers!
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Aug 28, 2017 23:49
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moonsour posted:Our customers swear they didn't need as much documentation to apply for their mortgage! They only think that because they didn't read any of it and they just bent over while "their" realtor hosed them.
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Aug 29, 2017 01:59
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Anyone here work from home? I'm interested in how you got started and where I could look for job postings.
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Aug 30, 2017 17:36
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If there's one thing I loving hate than the repetitive password reset calls, it's the ones that are the impossible calls were you have to do a whole bunch of bs like getting emails typed up and information gathered. There's no time because there's barely anyone here and we can't get time away to to it because surprise, it's busy because everyone's either left the call center or quit!
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Aug 30, 2017 21:05
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