View Full Version : Why?
Graham F
06-01-2005, 14:26
Why do some people think that it is their GOD given right to be rude to call centre staff?
I have had 3 people on the phone today f'ing blinding at me then have they have the check to say that they think i am being rude to them :shrug:
Hopefully all 3 of them post here and they can apologise to me in here ;)
NUMPTY'S the lot of them :angel:
:ghugs: feeling better now :p:
Possibly - and I don't offer this as any kind of an excuse - because a lot of people call the call centre after something has gone wrong, and so are already in a foul mood. Then the poor sod who answers is seen not as a human individual but somehow as the company itself incarnate. They therefore have no problem telling the company exactly what they think about it.
What tends to get me annoyed when dealing with a call centre is the growing suspicion that I am being fed a script, with the response that appears to best match the last thing I said being offered in lieu of the CSR actually listening, thinking and responding appropriately. I know that in such cases the CSR is only doing what he's told, but I don't appreciate being treated like a moron, much less when after a couple of minutes of conversation it ought to be obvious that I'm not one. Well I hope so anyway ...
None of the above, by the way, is meant to imply that I think it's acceptable to be rude to people. Insistent and firm, perhaps, when things go pear shaped, but not rude.
Graham F
06-01-2005, 14:45
I do understand all the above points Chris, but to be swearing down the phone at me is not on regardless of whats gone on, then to say when they don't get their own way i'm being rude is outrageous!!!
they should speak to people they way they would face to face, very few people face to face would give the abuse you get over the phone. I have worked in retail and faced abuse face to face, but its a lot fewer and further between.
Why do some people think that it is their GOD given right to be rude to call centre staff?
I have had 3 people on the phone today f'ing blinding at me then have they have the check to say that they think i am being rude to them :shrug:
Hopefully all 3 of them post here and they can apologise to me in here ;)
NUMPTY'S the lot of them :angel:
My old man has a saying which I think fits: If you get people like that treat them like mushrooms - keep them in the dark and feed them s**t.
That said I have chroniclly nice to call centre staff, and it doesn't always get me where I need to go. My mum tends to be more firm n' fair and does better.
When I call HSBC and get through to some idiot in Bangalore who doesn't understand UK law, I get angry.
When I get put through to the wrong department, I get angry.
When I want to make a complaint to a supervisor and get told "it's HSBC policy for supervisors to not take calls directly from the public" I get angry.
When I finally speak to someone in authority and they try to fob me off so I ask for their superior's names and they say to me "you are not obliged to go any higher than me", I get angry.
Then I get through to the part-time junior YTS saturday boy who has only just started and hasn't got a clue.
It's often very difficult to stay calm with these people.
I do understand all the above points Chris, but to be swearing down the phone at me is not on regardless of whats gone on, then to say when they don't get their own way i'm being rude is outrageous!!!
they should speak to people they way they would face to face, very few people face to face would give the abuse you get over the phone. I have worked in retail and faced abuse face to face, but its a lot fewer and further between.
I can honestly say I have never been rude to anyone in a callcentre, although I have experienced very poor service, that cant be directed at the individual.
I am however more likely to get worked up face to face, I have done in a couple of situations where retail employees have been less than helpfull, and I have felt they have been damn rude. I prefer to deal with companies face to face because it is easier to get some action, a person in a call centre who has no concience can fob you off and put the phone down, and thats a very good reason for not being abusive to them.
I have had genuine customers be a little abusive to me, but they have usually settled down when I have had a chat and explained that I was there to have a look at the problem, sometimes it's difficult when half a dozen engineers have already been to the customer and failed to cure the fault.
On the other score, I will hold my hand up....I had a few abusive customers when I worked at ntl who would not give me a chance to sort out their problems, as a result they did not get sorted, most of these customers ended up disconnecting.
Graham F
06-01-2005, 16:11
When I call HSBC and get through to some idiot in Bangalore who doesn't understand UK law, I get angry.
When I get put through to the wrong department, I get angry.
When I want to make a complaint to a supervisor and get told "it's HSBC policy for supervisors to not take calls directly from the public" I get angry.
When I finally speak to someone in authority and they try to fob me off so I ask for their superior's names and they say to me "you are not obliged to go any higher than me", I get angry.
Then I get through to the part-time junior YTS saturday boy who has only just started and hasn't got a clue.
It's often very difficult to stay calm with these people.
sorry Russ, angry is fine, i don't have a problem with that!!
Being sworn at and talked to like a bit of s**t is not!!
I would not of thought you would be someone that does this?!?
Also what aspect of Law do you expect them to know?
I would not of thought you would be someone that does this?!?
Why not? I get angry like anyone else.
Also what aspect of Law do you expect them to know?
Theft.
When the idiots at Welcome Finance took money off my debit card without my consent I phoned my bank to report it as theft and fraudulent and spoke to some brain donor in Bangalore who told me he was unable to do so because he was not familiar with UK law.
etccarmageddon
06-01-2005, 16:20
Why do some people think that it is their GOD given right to be rude to call centre staff?
I have had 3 people on the phone today f'ing blinding at me then have they have the check to say that they think i am being rude to them :shrug:
Hopefully all 3 of them post here and they can apologise to me in here ;)
NUMPTY'S the lot of them :angel:
the last call centre I rang was Orange and the staff there have been honest in the past and told me they are kept in the dark/the last to know what's going on.
with regards to your apology - it reminded me of an often used term "we can only apologise for that sir" usually used by staff where there is a corporate policy which is resigned to failure and the belief that 'I can only apologise for that' is the standard pre-programmed phrase.
I find the best way for successfully dealing with a call centre is to be pleasant and appreciate the staff arent paid enough to endure cruel words.
Although if I get to a call centre overseas and experience the kind of laughable stuff Russ experiences then perhaps I would blow my top!
etccarmageddon
06-01-2005, 16:22
....and spoke to some brain donor in Bangalore...
:LOL:
Graham F
06-01-2005, 16:26
Why not? I get angry like anyone else.
Theft.
When the idiots at Welcome Finance took money off my debit card without my consent I phoned my bank to report it as theft and fraudulent and spoke to some brain donor in Bangalore who told me he was unable to do so because he was not familiar with UK law.
I would not expect anyone to swear on the phone to anyone. Simple as that really, whats the need to? what do you think you achieve by swearing at people?
As i said angry is fine, i don't have a problem with it, swearing and people talking over me i do have a problem with :)
I didn't say I swear at them, I just said I get angry.
When I used to do service calls, there would occasionally be comments on the work order such as ca meaning customer abusive.
In the majority of these cases when you actually knocked on the door the person answering was polite and friendly.
There are always exceptions though and I would agree with Chris that some people take their frustrations with a company out on the person in a call centre because they don't really perceive them as being "real" people but faceless minions.
In my experience the worst offenders tend to be either the more intellectually or socially challenged individuals.
I didn't say I swear at them, I just said I get angry.
And, in all fairness to Russ, Welcome Finance are enough to make the Pope swear!
Graham F
06-01-2005, 16:36
I didn't say I swear at them, I just said I get angry.
Sorry kinda got confused by your post :D
I was rude to someone in a call centre today ....
Them: Can I take your ADSL telephone number?
Me: XXXX XXXXXXX
Them: Can I take your name?
Me: XXXXXXXXXXXX
Them: Can I take your number again?
Me: XXXX XXXXXXX
Them: Sorry, can I take it again?
Me: XXXX XXXXXXX
Them: Sorry, my computer is slow, can I put you on hold?
Me: ok ...
Them (after 10 minutes): Sorry, I need to reboot my computer, would you like to hold or can I put you over to someone else to deal with you?
Me: Could you put me over to someone else?
Them: You'd like me to put you over to someone else?
Me: Yes please
Them: So you don't want to hold?
Me: No
Them: OK I'll put you over
Them (another 10 minutes later): Can I take your registered telephone number?
Me: *sigh* XXXX XXXXXXX
Them: And your name?
Me: XXXXXXXX
Them: Sorry, could I take your telephone number again?
Me: XXXX XXXXXXX ... write it down this time
Them: I'm sorry, we don't have a record of you having ADSL with us
Me: I can assure you I do
Them (after another 10 minutes faffing about): What seems to be the problem
I then describe the problem which takes at least half an hour because their grasp of English is at best poor. The main problem was not being able to FTP into any site's, use any secure site's and a severely degradated service...
Their answer ...
"Please change your homepage to www.onetel.co.uk"
I then spent another 10 minutes explaining to her why exactly that couldn't be the cause of the problem to which she told me BT would visit my house and fix my PC for me ....
I told her "They won't fix my PC"
she said, in a very loud and angry tone "WHAT ON EARTH DO YOU MEAN THEY WON'T FIX YOUR PC?"
At this point I lost my rag, told her that if she was completely incapable of understanding customer problems and had absolutely no grasp of fault finding that she should probably find herself another job .. and put the phone down.
I managed to resist the urge to use various expletives (which I'm still doing) but it just goes to show you, it's not always ignorant customers that swear at call centre staff, sometimes, just sometimes there are absolute and complete and utter idiots working in call centres that try people's patience SO much that they will lose their temper.
etccarmageddon
06-01-2005, 16:50
the only problem with you slamming the phone down is that they succeeded in getting rid of the call. the only way they'll learn is by you being on the phone for 2 hours as you go through the process of setting your home page to onetell! etc!
if BT had come out - would you have been charged for the obvious complete waste of their time?
the only problem with you slamming the phone down is that they succeeded in getting rid of the call. the only way they'll learn is by you being on the phone for 2 hours as you go through the process of setting your home page to onetell! etc!
if BT had come out - would you have been charged for the obvious complete waste of their time?
I was on the call nearly an hour ... I refused to spend any more money speaking to someone who was quite obviously a complete imbecile.
And, in all fairness to Russ, Welcome Finance are enough to make the Pope swear!
*visions of the pope saying "You want me to pay what? ******* ******** take your ******** popemobile back! I'l be ****** if I am going to pay that. ******** ****** ***** ****** ***** off.
Actually, on a serious note, I found a suspicious transaction on one of my mum's accounts (which was in the process of being transferred to my name) at the Abbey national a while back. I went to my local branch, and was told that because of the kind of account, the branches could not deal with it. I would have to phone the telephone banking service. I thought "Fair enough" and called.
I got through, gave my account number and explained the situation (that the account was being transferred to my name). I then asked about the suspicious transaction. The guy on the other end said "OK, give me a second, I'll look it up". About 5 minutes later he came back on the phone and said "Sorry, I cannot help you, this is not your account". I said "I know, I have explained that it was my Mother's account, she died, and the account is being transferred to my name". He than said "You'll have to go to to your branch. Goodbye" and hung up before I could say anything.
As it happens, there was a perfectly legitimate reason for the transaction. I had asked for a current statement for the account, but they printed a statement going back one year, and it didn't show the year. My mum had made the transaction a couple of months before she died.
I was still polite to the CSR on the other end, even though I consider him to have been extremely rude. I make an effort to always be polite (no matter how angry I am) as I find people to be all the more willing to help.
I can also be (or so I am told) quite threatening and still be polite. This can be handy in getting service from some companies as well.
When I used to do service calls, there would occasionally be comments on the work order such as ca meaning customer abusive.
In the majority of these cases when you actually knocked on the door the person answering was polite and friendly.
There are always exceptions though and I would agree with Chris that some people take their frustrations with a company out on the person in a call centre because they don't really perceive them as being "real" people but faceless minions.
In my experience the worst offenders tend to be either the more intellectually or socially challenged individuals.
I found the so-called abusive customers were generally OK as soon as they could phsically see someone had turnd up and was at least willing to listen to their problem, and attempt to sort it out.
When I used to do service calls, I got the most abuse from customers who were trying to get free service. If the customer wasn't happy ntl customer services would give them free service, I would end up being asked to go along because a few technicians had been and said there was no fault and the freebies should stop. When I conformed and told the customers that the free service would be stopped it would usually result in a lot of abuse!
One network tech was in an abusive customers house, and while he was bending down/lying on the floor in front of the TV, the premises was raided by the police. (Drugs I think)
bob_builder
06-01-2005, 17:27
When I call HSBC and get through to some idiot in Bangalore who doesn't understand UK law, I get angry.
When I get put through to the wrong department, I get angry.
When I want to make a complaint to a supervisor and get told "it's HSBC policy for supervisors to not take calls directly from the public" I get angry.
When I finally speak to someone in authority and they try to fob me off so I ask for their superior's names and they say to me "you are not obliged to go any higher than me", I get angry.
Then I get through to the part-time junior YTS saturday boy who has only just started and hasn't got a clue.
It's often very difficult to stay calm with these people.
Perhaps you should try another bank...
Oh I hear ya - once my loan is paid I'm off to Nationwide.
etccarmageddon
06-01-2005, 17:40
I take it there's redemption penalties so you cant pay it off early?
paulyoung666
06-01-2005, 17:58
Oh I hear ya - once my loan is paid I'm off to Nationwide.
just dont ever never ever deal with legal & general :disturbd: :disturbd: :disturbd: , they really are bad enough to make the pope swear :erm: :D :D :D
greencreeper
06-01-2005, 18:36
Most of the people I deal with, though completely thick, are either polite or friendly and chatty. One or two think it's great when I VNC to their PCs and fix things. Bless em :D I do get the odd difficult person, but I stand my ground and explain things clearly and they're usually alright.
Support isn't about providing quality support that results in long-term solutions to customer problems - it's about answering phones and closing tickets.
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