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I nearly blew a fuse on Friday at the call center. My first or second call during my shift was from someone who claimed we owed her money (surprise, surprise). I told her that I could see from the notes on her order that we did owe her more than she had already gotten, but that the total amount would be $900. She insisted that it was supposed to be $977, which was approximately 10% of her original order subtotal.
Now, when this woman first called in, she asked for someone in another call center and gave me this person's extension. I can't transfer directly to the other call centers because they're owned by High End Home Store and our call center is a 3rd party provider, so I put her on hold and called the other call center asking for Employee X. Employee Y, whom I talked to, said that apparently EX was no longer with the company as the extension went to someone else and neither of us could find EX on the company directory. So I went back to the customer and asked if I could help her, which was when she told me about the money we supposedly owe her.
I went through not one, but TWO team leads in my call center about the amount. Both said that the notes only showed that we owed her $900 in total, about $590 more than she'd already gotten, and that's all she was going to get. Here's the clincher: I have been told - repeatedly - that unless the customer SPECIFICALLY asks for a "supervisor" or "manager", I can't transfer her to one and ask them to take the call, I have to handle it myself. All fine and dandy if they just want to argue, I can just keep repeating "no" all day long. But the customer kept dancing around the supervisor issue, asking who she could talk to who could get her what she was owed.
This is where the blood vessels in my neck started to stick out. I knew damn well she wanted to talk to someone higher up but because she didn't say the magic word(s), I had to pretend like I didn't know what she was talking about. I finally managed to get around it by asking what capacity Employee X had been in when they talked a few months ago, and at that point I finally got her to say supervisor. But I still felt like I had coached her into saying it and that I was going to get in trouble for transferring the call. I also felt like a total douchewaffle for making this woman play this stupid game and getting her more and more escalated, not to mention making my own blood boil. Fortunately the team lead I got on the third try took the call...but I was absolutely livid. I couldn't even shake it off until at least lunchtime, though I didn't take it out on anyone else.
When the workday was over I ended up staying an hour late because my own direct supervisor had asked me to go over my graded calls for the week and then go to her if I had any questions. I had a long list, and I left this particular issue for last. My supervisor is awesome, so I knew she'd listen to me rant, and I did. I told her that I thought it was an assinine policy to have to get a specific word out of a person before I could transfer a call where the customer left no doubt that they wanted to speak with someone above my level. On the other hand I also didn't see why the customer didn't think to use one of those words or at least say she wanted to talk to someone above me...but there could be a lot of reasons for that. Fortunately, my supervisor saw my point and felt badly that I was so upset by the whole thing - she is going to bring it up in her next meeting with the other supervisors and our senior manager and ask how far the caller has to go before we can get them to someone who can actually either help them or (again) explain why we can't or won't do what they want. I don't really blame anyone I work with directly on this issue...it's obviously a corporate policy, either by the call center or by our client or both, but I think it's much too restrictive. My coworkers know me well enough to know that I don't try to pawn angry people off on them just because I don't want to deal with them myself.
I am going to start telling everyone I know to ask for a supervisor, or higher level manager, when talking to a customer service agent (anywhere!) who cannot help them with their issue. I don't want anybody to be rude, I just think it would save a lot of time. And of course, if the particular employee works for a place where the rules are different, he or she might not be able to get a supervisor involved anyway (since we all know some have no spines), but it's worth a shot. Sigh...
OK, I feel a little better now. Think I'll finish up some chores and then watch TV with the hubby while eating cookies.
Now, when this woman first called in, she asked for someone in another call center and gave me this person's extension. I can't transfer directly to the other call centers because they're owned by High End Home Store and our call center is a 3rd party provider, so I put her on hold and called the other call center asking for Employee X. Employee Y, whom I talked to, said that apparently EX was no longer with the company as the extension went to someone else and neither of us could find EX on the company directory. So I went back to the customer and asked if I could help her, which was when she told me about the money we supposedly owe her.
I went through not one, but TWO team leads in my call center about the amount. Both said that the notes only showed that we owed her $900 in total, about $590 more than she'd already gotten, and that's all she was going to get. Here's the clincher: I have been told - repeatedly - that unless the customer SPECIFICALLY asks for a "supervisor" or "manager", I can't transfer her to one and ask them to take the call, I have to handle it myself. All fine and dandy if they just want to argue, I can just keep repeating "no" all day long. But the customer kept dancing around the supervisor issue, asking who she could talk to who could get her what she was owed.
This is where the blood vessels in my neck started to stick out. I knew damn well she wanted to talk to someone higher up but because she didn't say the magic word(s), I had to pretend like I didn't know what she was talking about. I finally managed to get around it by asking what capacity Employee X had been in when they talked a few months ago, and at that point I finally got her to say supervisor. But I still felt like I had coached her into saying it and that I was going to get in trouble for transferring the call. I also felt like a total douchewaffle for making this woman play this stupid game and getting her more and more escalated, not to mention making my own blood boil. Fortunately the team lead I got on the third try took the call...but I was absolutely livid. I couldn't even shake it off until at least lunchtime, though I didn't take it out on anyone else.
When the workday was over I ended up staying an hour late because my own direct supervisor had asked me to go over my graded calls for the week and then go to her if I had any questions. I had a long list, and I left this particular issue for last. My supervisor is awesome, so I knew she'd listen to me rant, and I did. I told her that I thought it was an assinine policy to have to get a specific word out of a person before I could transfer a call where the customer left no doubt that they wanted to speak with someone above my level. On the other hand I also didn't see why the customer didn't think to use one of those words or at least say she wanted to talk to someone above me...but there could be a lot of reasons for that. Fortunately, my supervisor saw my point and felt badly that I was so upset by the whole thing - she is going to bring it up in her next meeting with the other supervisors and our senior manager and ask how far the caller has to go before we can get them to someone who can actually either help them or (again) explain why we can't or won't do what they want. I don't really blame anyone I work with directly on this issue...it's obviously a corporate policy, either by the call center or by our client or both, but I think it's much too restrictive. My coworkers know me well enough to know that I don't try to pawn angry people off on them just because I don't want to deal with them myself.
I am going to start telling everyone I know to ask for a supervisor, or higher level manager, when talking to a customer service agent (anywhere!) who cannot help them with their issue. I don't want anybody to be rude, I just think it would save a lot of time. And of course, if the particular employee works for a place where the rules are different, he or she might not be able to get a supervisor involved anyway (since we all know some have no spines), but it's worth a shot. Sigh...
OK, I feel a little better now. Think I'll finish up some chores and then watch TV with the hubby while eating cookies.
Since it's been a week, when I had my coaching session with my supervisor today I brought it up again and she had forgotten (then again, the senior manager has been out all week) and she called another one of the supervisors over. He said that if it's obvious they are asking for a supervisor but not using the word, and I have already discussed the issue with a team lead, I can say "WE cannot do this for you" and repeat as necessary. The term "we" might lead the person to then ask who "we" are or ask to speak to the other person...and he said he knows that the team leads we have will take a call if it's obvious the customer is asking for someone else and we ask that lead to take the call on that basis. We'll see if that's true or not...he did say it in the presence of most of the team leads so if they wouldn't do it before, they probably will now 
RE-diculous. or reDICKulous... 
I emphasized both for effect. Everyone knows it's said rɪˈdɪkyələs!
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