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less than three posted:Prepare for sob stories, angry people, and people who are generally not fun to talk to. And don't get involved. You're there to do one thing - secure some kind of payment. Deadbeats are often wonderful at weaving marvellous tales of woe as to why they couldn't pay their cable bill, but you have to be a hardass.
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Feb 10, 2011 20:27
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Loving Life Partner posted:
It amazes me how people will live on a financial knife-edge to maintain an appearance of wealth. When I worked in retail some of my colleagues would buy $200 shirts to wear out clubbing, despite having to work something like 2.5 days to pay for it. When I worked in a bank call centre I'd get calls from people like Loving Life Partner's post.  I have all these overdraft charges on my account, why did you do that? Looks like this transaction here put you overdrawn over your existing overdraft, and then you bought three more things when you were overdrawn, so you got charged each time. Well can you reverse the charges? This is bullshit! I'm afraid you've already had the maximum number of charges reversed this year. gently caress you, why are you taking my money? Because you bought things when you were overdrawn, meaning you were spending *our* money, not yours. So?And on and on. Then they'd try to apply for more credit, but they didn't meet requirements, or they'd apply for another credit card and get declined etc. My favourite part was reading out where transactions took place. They never seemed to click that wasting loads of money on pointless poo poo was what put them in the situation they were in.
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May 3, 2011 21:38
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they cost $4500
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greazeball posted:I apologize and say this with the utmost respect, but Glaswegian accents are loving brutal mate. Here yoo, hood'you run wi'? Ah need ma o'erdreft fur buckie, no? EDIT: Also, hoodjoo support? Cellickurrangers? Cuz I'll chib ye if ye go fur the rang wun.
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May 7, 2011 02:42
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RICHUNCLEPENNYBAGS posted:I'm amazed by how many people are just completely misinformed by other people when they call in though. You may find it's a mixture of people misinforming customers, but often it's a case of customers only hearing what they want to hear and ignoring anything they don't like. One tip is to make sure you put good notes in a customer's file. If your call centre has a culture of good call documentation it'll make your life a shitload easier.
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May 10, 2011 12:13
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Ghostnuke posted:You're working too hard. If you can take calls faster, they'll want you to do it all the time. Agreed. Some of your teammates probably could - or did - take as many calls as you, but they soon figured out that the extra hard work wasn't a benefit to them in any way. I was similar to you, my stats initially blew the rest of my team out of the water. Eventually an old-hand (worked there for a YEAR!) set me straight, and I soon slowed down to an acceptable level of mediocrity.
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May 14, 2011 03:54
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Loving Life Partner posted:How the hell do I increase my call time? Just draw things out and explain what you're doing to the caller.  Okay, so you want to to schedule a breast augmentation and transfer a billion dollars into your account, is that right? Yes. Alright, I'll set that up now.*Do whatever you need to do, the customer will hear you typing and shut up for 30 seconds.* Okay, that's scheduled, now I'll just set up the transfer.*Click, click, silence, la la la.* Okay, that's just about done. Just a couple more things I have to do.And so on. It's not that hard to draw calls out once you've done it for a while.
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May 14, 2011 03:57
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evobatman posted:Get it in writing. Get it in writing! There's an easy way to do this without coming across as "I don't trust verbal agreements made with you in a company like this." Simply write your supervisor an email clarifying the things you talked about. "Hi Supervisor, After our meeting the other day, I just want to clarify with you what we talked about so I can make sure my understanding is correct. We identified that my aux time was too high and we are going to take measure x, measure y and measure z to address it. etcetera." If you couch it in terms of making things clear for yourself, it comes across as less of a CYA measure than it is.
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May 15, 2011 21:22
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Revol posted:Tomorrow will be my first day on the phone doing tech support for a major computer manufacturer. This is after a month of training. I'm not really super nervous or anything, but I do feel like I'm not as prepared as I'd like to be. Not on stuff that I was training on, but.. just how to talk to the customer. I've never done call center before. The tech support poo poo I've got, and I more or less understand the basics of the systems I have to use on my end. There are 5741 Tech Rules here, but the most important thing you should remember is that users lie and that users are retarded. Think of yourself as 'good cop' in an interrogation scenario.
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May 31, 2011 10:14
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Loving Life Partner posted:If I dedicated myself to doing this every day, I could probably make a couple extra grand a year in built in performer bonuses. Is it sad that I can immediately think of at least three ways your employer could either stop you from doing that or let you do it but not reap the rewards? Call centres do not like people deviating from the norm. That kind of initiative is frowned upon!
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Jun 22, 2011 10:00
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Ygolonac posted:Topical: maybe it's just me, but does anyone else brighten up and smile when calling in to a call center? IE, trying to present some kind of non-rear end in a top hat mood for the poor schlub on the other end? I did that twice yesterday. I had to call my mobile phone telco because I wondered why my bill was higher than usual (it's on a cap plan so I pay the same amount every month). It turns out that my wife had actually gone over her allotted call minutes for the first time in two years. It's only an extra $17, so no biggie. The guy sounded a bit nonplussed when I said "Whoops, my mistake. Should have read the bill closer." Then again I called my mobile broadband ISP because they were supposed to send me a final bill after cancelling my service two weeks back, but I got billed for the full month anyway. As it was pointed out to me, the bill was issued BEFORE I cancelled, and the next bill would be my final bill. The confusion arose because it was erroneously sent to my PO Box and got to me a few days after I cancelled. Again, I thanked the dude and apologised for not reading it closer. I've really found that as long as I know my objective in making a call, am open to the fact that I might be mistaken, and keep calm, these calls go much better. I also like to think that the guy I'm calling got a real rear end in a top hat just before (or will get one after me).
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Jun 25, 2011 00:42
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RICHUNCLEPENNYBAGS posted:I am also really sick of hearing people explain to me that they are on a "fixed income." Literally everyone is on a "fixed income." I have never met anyone whose income was unlimited. I share your sickness! What they mean is "low income", but obviously are too proud to say it. Bit silly to have that kind of pride at the same time insisting that it's too complicated for them to stay within their overdraft limit.
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Jun 26, 2011 08:02
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Teletech used to mandate we be at our desks and logging in for a 9am start. We weren't paid for it, though, so towards the end of my time there I would show up at 8:55, turn my machine on at 9 on the dot, let the calls come in and bullshit with people until I was logged in and good to go. I told my boss "I'm paid from 9, I work from 9. If you want me to start at 8:45 you need to pay me from 8:45". By that time I was so loving jaded I honestly didn't give a gently caress if they fired me.
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Jul 4, 2011 21:27
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legsarerequired posted:Wonderful. Just like the time I had to explain to someone that April comes after February. Call centres really do expose you to the sheer depths of ignorance that exist in people out there. I encountered one person who professed an inability to read, so quite why he needed an internet connection is beyond me. When I worked retail, I would frequently have to explain what a minus sign meant. That never went well, and usually ended up with the customer at the service desk, going through their receipt with a calculator.
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Aug 30, 2011 21:20
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Fil5000 posted:AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH I KNOW YOU HAVE A FIXED INCOME PRACTICALLY EVERYONE DOES AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH. I'D FRANKLY RATHER HAVE A FIXED ONE THAN A VARIABLE ONE. Yeah! Just say "low income", you oversensitive pricks. When you're begging me not to cut off your $50 per month cable tv package and yet claiming paying your overdue bills will make you homeless, you've already shred any meager dignity you had.
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Oct 19, 2011 20:45
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Quest Jefferson posted:..handing in my resignation (though it was just a little form they had stacks of in the break room)... It really says something about a company when they have a pile of resignation forms readily available.
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Feb 29, 2012 08:57
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legsarerequired posted:I've called in a new ethics complaint about my company at an anonymous ethics line every single week. It's fun watching the managers squirm. One of them hasn't even come back to work since I called in something they did. That's brilliant and hilarious. What sort of things are you reporting?
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Jun 16, 2012 08:16
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Unpaid lunch breaks are pretty common, though. It sucks, of course, but it's nothing unusual.
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Oct 22, 2012 20:16
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My first call centre job came after I'd only ever worked retail. Sitting on your rear end on the phone beats the poo poo out of stocking shelves or slinging burgers. They will generally take anyone who isn't a complete mouthbreather. I worked for Teletech, and they were amazingly bad. On our first day of training they nonchalantly said, "By the way, we're paying you five thousand less than we initially said. Okay, see you tomorrow!". I started smoking after a month just so I could get off the phone. One time they dinged me for a no-call no-show because I left a voicemail on my manager's phone rather than speaking to her in person when I called in sick. poo poo got so bad that I quit with zero notice and nothing else lined up. But hey, you can use call centres as a springboard into a proper office job, so it's not all bad. Just try and leave with your lungs, liver and soul intact.
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Oct 15, 2014 10:58
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The best call centre antics I encountered was at Teletech, where one of my fellow prisoners was mere days away from escape and no longer gave a gently caress. It was glorious - he would make his sales calls in celebrity voices, and he was pretty good. It was amazing to see him try to convince people that yes, he really was David Beckham or whoever, and that he was working in a call centre for charity or something. Other times he would just be brutally honest. "Well sir, they told us to tell you that the policy is underwritten by Nat West, but we can't find anything proving that, and no-one we call at NatWest has any idea who we are." The way the QAs worked, he would be well and truly gone by the time the calls came up for review.
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Dec 4, 2014 11:11
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sbaldrick posted:Sadly if you could do this in a call centre is would make everyone on earth happier. Everyone get's real answers to their questions and employees don't want to kill themselves. That would be call centre utopia! It would also be an amazing selling point for your company if your customer service people were empowered to tell the truth. Sadly, the sort of companies who'd benefit most from that sort of approach are the ones with the shittest structure and products. Telcos, banks etc.
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Dec 5, 2014 11:15
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I once ended a call like this Alright, thanks for your time. Don't call me ever again!*CLICK* ... ... ... rear end in a top hat.*CLICK* And it got picked up for QA. Luckily my QA guy had just found out his wife was pregnant and was in a good mood, so he let it slide.
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Dec 8, 2014 20:50
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| # ¿ May 8, 2024 16:51 |
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Call centres generally frown upon you using your initiative. I once worked in outbound sales for Alico health insurance (via a third-party call center). One of our selling points was that the policy was underwritten by a large, reputable bank called [redacted]. I literally had a guy on the phone tell me that if I could provide him any sort of evidence that we were underwritten by [redacted], he'd sign up. So I made a call to the underwriters, and after about five minutes my manager came storming over and hung up my phone to abuse me. Apparently no-one had ever had the audacity to make an unsolicited outbound call before, how dare I. Frankly I think we were just lying about the bank and they didn't want us making that fact known. Anyway, gently caress that place.
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May 3, 2016 11:36
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