Call from Hell (top this one)

[anode_probe]

So on my last day of work before stress leave, I got this super winner of a call. The guy had a prefessional wider format printer and none of his presets were saving. It was escalated to me because the agent who got the call could not gain agreement on what the issue was (always a bad sign.)

Anyway, when I got the call and finally got the issue out of him, it turnes out to be an issue with the printers driver interacting with a preference file in the OS. A standard step in troubleshooting is to figure out if the issue is system wide or if it is a user specific issue. Since the first agent hadn't done any troubleshooting, it was up to me to field the inevitable question "Why are we doing this?"

SC: (irritated) "Why are you waisting my time with this?"

Me: (calm) "Well, here at (company) we strive for total resolution of the issue. Since this is the case, we need to diagnose what the issue is, find the cause, then remove it."

SC: (still irritated): "Can't you just pull a file and see if it fixes it."

Me: (still calm): "Well that is not a very efficient way of troubleshooting, I assure you that if we take methodical steps towards diagnosing an issue, then the call will go a lot faster then if we just randomly pull files, do you see where I am coming from?"

SC: (angry now, wrong choice of words, I guess): "I've call hundreds of times on this problem, and the other people just pull a file and the printer works for a while, I don't have time to deal with the problem."

Me: (admittedly becoming a bit of a smart ass): "Well the fact that you have called hundreds of times says to me that you have not resolved the issue and it's time to take a different approach."

SC: "So you are telling me that I need to set up a new user just so that we can find out it's working there and pull a file and have it not work again?"

Me: I'm sorry, sir (you know as soon as tech support breaks out the "Sir" or "Ma'am" that your call isn't going anywhere, but that's a topic for another post), I have reviewed the case notes, and I don't see anywhere that you have actually created a new user, so lets just open up a new user and try it, ok?"

SC: "I don't think I like your tone."

Me: "I'm sorry if my tone upset you, could we please just creat a new user account so we can get on with troubleshooting?"

SC: "No. I want you to tell me what file to pull so that I can have my printer back."

Me: "Well that's the point, sir. I can't possible know what file to pull in order to fix the issue. This issue could lie in the core of the OS and then we would have to reinstall the OS."

SC: 'WHAT? I DON'T HAVE TIME FOR THAT! YOU A F***ING STUPID, YOU KNOW THAT? JUST PULL THE F***ING FILE!!!" (My sister was sitting next to me and can varify sonce she could hear him clearly.)

This is where I decie that the call has gotten to the point of no return. Time to have fun! :lol:

Me: (Office space style): "Sir, I'm going to have to ask you to go ahead and calm down so that we can get to work on this."

SC: "I'm not working on this with you, you are an arrogant a**hole, you don't know your a** from a hole in the ground. You need to get a f***ing life, all you do is f*** with peoples computers, don't you8 realize that the customers always right?"

Me: (getting louder, not really yelling though) "Sir, I have asked you to calm down, at this point you have made multiple personal attacks that have been loged in my case notes. If you wish to continue this call, then I suggest you settle down and create the user."

SC: "I want your manager."

Me: "I am the manager. the person who gives me my paycheck has no technical knowledge and is only in monday to friday 9 to 5. Futhermore, this call has been written down verbatim in my notes, minus the explitives, which are indicated by asterisks. If my manager was in at this point, he would no doubt have heard you himself. given the class act that you are being, I'm sure you would get nowhere with him."

SC: "You need to check your ego, sh**head."

Me: "I'm sorry, sir? What is that supposed to mean?"

SC: "It means you don't know everything, JUST...PULL...THE...F***ING...FILE!"

Me: "What file do you want me to pull? Maybe your Adobe activation file? Maybe the core system folder?"

SC: "You're a f***ing a**hole."

Me: Sir, did you call to do troubleshooting or just vomit explitives at some faceless tech support rep?"

SC: "I want the phone number for head office!"

Me: "Well there is no direct line, but if you feel strongly, I can give you their mailing address, you will have to reference the case number which does not look favorable to you."

SC: "Fine"

Me: *rhymes off the familliar address that I have to give evertime someone wants to complain about another agent*

SC: "You are an ego maniac. I hope your notes reflect that, a**hole."

Me: (makeing sure the customer can hear each individual key so he knows I am entering it in my notes) "Customer... states... colon... quote... You... are... an... ego... maniac... period... I... hope... your... notes... reflect... that... comma... a askerisk asterisk hole... period"

SC: "Take that last part out."

Me: "Nope."

SC: "Take it out!"

Me: "Umm, no."

SC: "DO IT, OR ELSE!"

Me: "Was that a personal threat, sir?"

SC: "Damned right it was a personal threat, take it out or I'm suing the company and I will see you burried alive!"

Me: "Sir, I regret to inform you that I am not (companies) legal councel. At this point since you have threatened legal action against the company, and made personal threats agains't myself, I will be forced to end this call. I will be calling the authorities in your area. If you wish to persue legal action against this corperation, I would suggest you have your legal councel contact our legal department. The address and phone number are readily available on our public website. Goodbye."

Release... Smoke Break.... email manager to call the SC's local police, with case notes attached.... Stress Leave.

[Cedophile]

whoaaaaaaa

This guy really, seriously needed to calm down.

Me: (makeing sure the customer can hear each individual key so he knows I am entering it in my notes) "Customer... states... colon... quote... You... are... an... ego... maniac... period... I... hope... your... notes... reflect... that... comma... a askerisk asterisk hole... period"

SC: "Take that last part out."

Me: "Nope."

SC: "Take it out!"

Me: "Umm, no."

SC: "DO IT, OR ELSE!"

Me: "Was that a personal threat, sir?"

That was poetic. It really was. I have a real respect for how you handled that call! :worship:

[ditchdj]

Too bad jerkoff never bothered the read all the points of the "Patriot Act". That would be enough probable cause to charged with a terrorist threat and get a good dose of detainment "Gitmo Style" with NO legal representation. :D

BTW I'm serious about that. If you're on this side of the Atlantic, dont run your mouth on the phone and certainly NOT on the internet without thinking.

[Irving Patrick Freleigh]

Not even going to try, anode probe. You win.

[IT Grunt]

SC: "You are an ego maniac. I hope your notes reflect that, a**hole."

Me: (makeing sure the customer can hear each individual key so he knows I am entering it in my notes) "Customer... states... colon... quote... You... are... an... ego... maniac... period... I... hope... your... notes... reflect... that... comma... a askerisk asterisk hole... period"

:rimshot: :roll:

A classic example of "Be careful what you wish for..." Bravo!

[Auto]

Beautiful.

Kepp us posted as to outcome.

[Strange Magic]

I'm impressed...That was a work of art...

[BlaqueKatt]

I really hope your call center records all incoming calls like mine does(we have to-lying to a rep is grounds for termination of service-aka "breach of Contract"and all early termination fees apply)


BlaqueKatt-loves being a professional, and courteous B***h-we're trained that way

[XCashier]

:eek: Yikes! Yeah, you had the Call From Hell, no question. I hope you have a relaxing, pleasant, wonderful Stress Leave, you definitely deserve it!

[sld72382]

Man that was a crap call.

One thing I use with know-it-all clients is the "prove 'em wrong approach." Basically, if the idiot believes that he is absolutely sure of the problem and refuses to accept your answer, then do it and when it doesn't work, he will feel an inch high and hopefully accept your solution.

[KamenRiderOsaka]

OMG, that sounds like a guy I had to talk to one day. He called in, and my rep did her dead air speech for like, 2 minutes (only need to do it for 20 seconds) so she went above and beyond waiting for this guy. He started yelling at her and demands a manager. I get on the phone, and he's nice for about...2 seconds. Then he starts yelling and then SCREAMING. Like, at the top of his lungs at me. The only thing I ever got out was my name, and "sir."
A manager came over and saw the rep on the verge of tears and I was just turning red with anger and amazement. Im pretty pale, and blush very easily. The guy was yelling so loud, the manager heard him at her desk about 6 feet away. She dialed into the call and listened for about a minute and then came over, put him on mute and said "You guys dont need to take this." and took over the call. She became my personal hero at that moment. She was such a b*tch to this guy, but it was so deserved. He escalated above her to an area manager, who he started talkin all buddy buddy with because that manager was a guy. I looked over his notes sine we were going to report him to our legal dept incase he got out of hand again, and come to find that he has escalated every time he talks to a female and dogs the hell out of them until he gets a guy.

Your guys sounds just as psycho as the one I talked to, maybe more with the personal threats!

[protege]

Basically, if the idiot believes that he is absolutely sure of the problem and refuses to accept your answer, then do it and when it doesn't work, he will feel an inch high and hopefully accept your solution.

Hehe I always do that to people. I may not be an expert, but I do know a great deal about things. Soooo I usually know how to fix things. Some people insist that I don't know what I'm talking about, and refuse to accept my solution. For them, I simply smile and nod, and leave them to their own devices. The solution is there, it's not my problem if they don't accept it and proceed to screw up their equipment.

[XCashier]

I looked over his notes sine we were going to report him to our legal dept incase he got out of hand again, and come to find that he has escalated every time he talks to a female and dogs the hell out of them until he gets a guy.
I don't understand that mindset (but then again, I'm not a sexist, moronic arsehat). You don't need to possess a Y chromosome to correct a problem.
Hey buddy, I've got your problem-solver right here: :salmon:

[greensinestro]

That's a hellish call, all right. I've dealt with my share of people like that. There's always a simple solution to a problem, yet you have people like this who refuse to make it easy on anyone including themselves.

Keep us posted! I'm sure this is not the last you will hear of that sorry bastard.

[SuperDan]

You let them verbally abuse you more than once? I know alot of call centers give one warning then disconnect you and log the reason.

Three words about that call:

WHAT

AN

ASSMONKEY!!!

[Spankmonkey]

Yeah, we have a guy that is one of the investors in our company who calls in with every little petty problem known to man. We repeat the exact same thing to him everytime, and yet he calls in for the same identical problem.

Honestly, I love the people who say "I'm friends with so and so, and I'm gonna get you fired " You gotta love how these self important dickweeds think so highly of themselves, and that they're so smart, but yet, they're calling you for something they can't figure out on their own.

Yet, I'm supposed to sit on the phone and let this guy tear me apart just so that the company's reputation isn't tarnished, but hey, who the F$$k cares about the me. I'm expendable, and obviously the company is going to listen to a investor who gives them thousands of dollars, compared to an employee that is actually a liability (paycheck) to them.

But yet, since he's contributing to company assets, it's quite fine for him to beat us with the verbal abuse stick... jamming it up our a**es, and all we're told to do by our supervisors is just smile and say "Thank you for calling, have a wonderful day"

[Crazyredhead]

Oh, I remember a gentleman (very, very, very loose term) who called in once. The first thing out of his mouth was "Thank god, someone who speaks English!" I know when it starts out like that it isn't going to go well. Well, this idiot, would go off on anyone with an accent (most of our call centers are in India). He would cuss and curse them out and threaten there job is they didn't get an american speaking rep on the phone. The notes on his account were about a mile long.

Well, when I wouldn't get him a phone out that day, at the store, he called me a no-good bitch and that I had better get him a phone NOW or he will call the police and have me arrested and also call the channel whatever news and have me exposed for the bitch that I am. I apoligized for the inconvenience and thank him for that compliment.

Yes, I am a bitch, I worked hard for that title, so don't use it lightly. But I don't come across as one normally on the phone. I reserve that for the asshats and idiots.

Well, after he called me every name in the book, but my name, in one sentence, one of the sup came over and told me to transfer him to her quickly. She said that she will not have her reps spoken to like some dog. She currently tore him a new one.

That day alone, besides me, he escalated on 6 people, eventually wanting the president of the company to come to the phone NOW. Yeah....right, like the president has nothing better to do with his time than to hang out with a bunch of reps in a call center.

On my off time I found out that this man was severely abusive and very foul mouthed. He was at first a digital customer and cancelled. He went to GSM for another month and then cancelled and went back to digital. He was equally abusive on both sides. He claimed, according to the notes that the service was horrible on both sides. But, instead of cancelling, he decided to go back to GSM!? He was not better. He had more notes on his account than all of the Cingular customers put together.

The last time I checked, he has escalated on almost every call, cursed out almost every rep and threatened to sue everyone under the sun. There is no one there that will deal with him. I wonder why!!!!! His account was in the process of being cancelled by the company for abusive behavior, which if you read the contract, can be done, but it must be duly notated and have notes to back it up.

All of this happened in about 6-7 months time, and a note or two describing said abuse is dismissable but when you have a country full of reps and sups/managers saying the same thing about someone, it can make you go HMMMMMMMM!!!!

Sorry for the hijack, I just couldn't resist.

[Cedophile]

Sorry for the hijack, I just couldn't resist.

The topic said "(top this one)" and you made a valiant effort at that.

JEEZ is his account canceled yet? I mean, really.

[Crazyredhead]

I don't know, I left there before anything happened, but I hope so. It really is irritating that a company will allow customers who treat there reps this way. I should have cancelled it myself since I worked in care and learned how. But then he would have just called in and got a credit and the next rep would have suffered because of me.

[anode_probe]

Well, I am back off stress leave (first day back was xmas day, yay! I have to get another job!) and have yet to speak to my manager. Unfortunately, I also do not have a case number to see if he has been escalated again, I have plans to get that from my manager as well.

I was reading through these war stories, and it looks like we share the same pain. It's almost theraputic to see that we are all in the same boat.... theraputic yet sad.

Hope everyones holidays were decent.

[SnapAddict218]

Its asshats like these that I so wish I could see face to face, so they could see me giving them the biggest WTF look ever. I wonder do they greet their wives after work with a kiss or pick their kids up at ballet when they are done abusing the scum of the earth (us)? Do they even REMEMBER their behavior 2 weeks later?

Seriously, I want to see how these people act in real life. Surley they CANT act like that all the time, right? I mean, to use Red's story as the example here, if you berated and abused the female checker at the Sun Mart everytime untill a male came to bag your groceries, you'd be banned from the store or spend time in jail or both! (I know there are people that do this, but I'm talking about ALL THE TIME like EVERY call they make).

I just cant help but beam at how proud their mothers and fathers must be of them

[yahurd]

SC: "You are an ego maniac. I hope your notes reflect that, a**hole."
Me: (makeing sure the customer can hear each individual key so he knows I am entering it in my notes) "Customer... states... colon... quote... You... are... an... ego... maniac... period... I... hope... your... notes... reflect... that... comma... a askerisk asterisk hole... period"


A classic example of "Be careful what you wish for..." Bravo!
couldnt agree more :roll:

[lordlundar]

Nope. Can't top that one. Had a couple that were comparable, but nothing to beat it.:angel:

Apart from the fact that we're not even supposed to do tech support.

[Phone Jockey]

ANY UPDATES? Because that was beaauuuuuuuuuuuuutiful.