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Stop this unhappy carousel; I want to get off.

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  • Stop this unhappy carousel; I want to get off.

    So this is sort of an MiM, sucky coworker, and sightings thing all rolled into one, I guess. I just need to sort out my thoughts.

    I'm not sure I can take this anymore. Let me start by saying that my boss' reactions to things are beyond frustrating to me but that she is a very nice person and genuinely trying to help me. It's just that the way things come out I get offended by something she didn't even mean. She will be the very first to apologize to e for something she said that offended me even thought it wasn't even meant that way. I was so humbled by that today. I feel awful.

    This call happened because supposedly someone else in billing was to call her back and didn't. I knew there was a 90% chance that was a mis-perception. It's not that we never call a customer but it's rare. We're inbound. She gives me a ticket number and it's closed already but I see it's an early cancellation request on contract A. They sent her an email letting her know how to request this in writing so she could get a lump sum quote to end the contract. She didn't know what I was referring to. On top of it, I tried to pull up contract A itself and nothing, no copy, no invoicing, nothing in the ledger. Meanwhile she doesn't have any real information for me and she's so upset that she's not sure what's going on.

    At this point she keeps bringing up a request to get one of her contracts to bill separately. She gives me an account number which pulls up...nothing. Turns out it's a ticket number and I do find it. Yeah, they completed that. In the process it's gotten a new contract number. She's really upset about that because she didn't request that. Folks, it's the same terms and only the number changes. Then she's upset because it's under Facility X and it shouldn't be. She wants to know why and I have no idea. I don't open nor close nor tie together nor untie contracts. I didn't request it and I wasn't there when it happened. I did find out later there was a request for a name change from Facility Y to X and that affected that contract in question. But I didn't know on the call because, and here is the thing..

    I was trying to get a higher-up to take the call at customer's request. I was trying to listen to my custy vent while navigating between a bunch of programs and contracts while trying to type in the information needed to get that person to take the call. She had to come to me and I had to try to explain this mess and it seemed like she didn't want to take it because honestly, we can't do anything at all anyway. Finally I threw my hands up in the air and said forget it while my actual boss walked by.

    Let me add that also this customer wanted another boss and I can't just hand people over to her. She's not mine and she helped this lady a year ago but she can't close a contract either. She has a team to run and she doesn't take calls. I try to redirect this several times but my own people won't take it either. They do tell me she should talk to Retention and ask specifically for a supervisor which is what I end up telling her. She asks "Can you tell me why the supervisor can't talk to me?" and I truthfully can say "No, I can't." I'm not allowed to tell her that no one, including sup from a year ago, is going to talk to her and I can't force them. Quality would have a field day with me "making the company look bad."

    She got off the phone angry and Boss Lady wanted to know what happened. I tried to explain and there were all kinds of questions that sounded accusatory to me. "What you're telling me doesn't match what you told Second-In-Command in the messaging." I said I had no idea what I put in there. I was trying to listen to the customer and write the story required to even get anyone to talk to this lady. I was researching too. That was met with "That sounds personal..." to which I exclaimed was she now insulting my skills??? I realize now she was trying to say that we all know I have an overabundance of empathy which makes it hard for me to mulit-task because I feel what the customer is feeling. If you're in pain I might cry. I'm that person. There was a lot of back and forth but we researched together to figure out what else we could do and then I found out later that they were pulling calls and going deeper because, as Boss put it, "There's a lot more going on here." For one thing, the first level person just transferred her Stateside because they didn't want to deal with her. Second, customer was not promised a callback. (Yeah, we could've figured.) Third, this type of escalated situation with this customer is not new.

    I didn't know any of that on the phone and I just wanted to help. Cancellations are horrible and I wish we didn't make people call, get transferred, and then have to write us after all that waiting on hold. I knew she was calling on her day off to get this done. I felt for her and the people around me couldn't help and I ended up blowing up at my coworker. That's the thing I feel the worst about. Boss asked me if I saw the pattern wherein everything is fine and then something happens and I'm just DONE. [I sent her a message that I'm done asking sups to take calls and I mean that. They're all going to be unavailable forever, as far as I'm concerned. I have to fight them every time and I really am done with that.] Well, YES, I do notice the pattern. It's why I want to quit but a) I can't afford it and b) I'm actually really good with customers. I'm good at research, too, normally--not when I have an upset customer in my ear.

    Yeah, I could've put the customer on hold but I didn't want to because she'd been dumped into the queue already and when I muted her a couple of times she thought she'd lost me. She didn't trust us, I didn't blame her, and I didn't want to add to her stress. Her boss is on her butt. But I added to my stress.
    Last edited by Food Lady; 05-31-2018, 03:06 AM.
    "Is it hot in here to you? It's very warm, isn't it?"--Nero, probably

  • #2
    Sounds like an abusive system to me -- you get upset customers dumped on you, when you have neither the ability to help them, nor the ability to send them to someone who can help them.

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    • #3
      Quoth Mental_Mouse View Post
      Sounds like an abusive system to me....you have neither the ability to help them, nor the ability to send them to someone who can help them.
      More than that: Sounds like a set up to fail to me.
      I'm trying to see things from your point of view, but I can't get my head that far up my keister!

      Who is John Galt?
      -Ayn Rand, Atlas Shrugged

      Comment


      • #4
        Yes, I agree that the main problem here is BAD BUSINESS PRACTICES. What are you supposed to do when (a) nothing you CAN tell the customer will solve their problem, (b) you can't transfer a customer to a supervisor or manager, and (c) you can't even explain to the customer WHY they can't be transferred?

        Their idiotic practices are tying your hands. I don't care if a manager has a team to run; they're supposed to be there to SUPPORT YOU, and if that means talking to a customer, then sometimes they have to talk to the customer. Either that, or give you the means to solve the customer's problem.

        I hear ya on trying to do ten things at once. That's never helpful to someone in a support position. If they think there is a better way to handle things like this - a way that would actually help solve the customer's problem - then why don't they explain it to you? And I don't mean being vague or outright lying to the customer; I know you've said before that some of their advice or their rules seem deceptive to you.

        I'm sorry I don't have better advice for you. At least the weekend is coming!
        When you start at zero, everything's progress.

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        • #5
          Quoth MoonCat View Post
          I don't care if a manager has a team to run; they're supposed to be there to SUPPORT YOU
          Agreed, as YOU are presumably on the team.
          I'm trying to see things from your point of view, but I can't get my head that far up my keister!

          Who is John Galt?
          -Ayn Rand, Atlas Shrugged

          Comment


          • #6
            Quoth taxguykarl View Post
            Agreed, as YOU are presumably on the team.
            Well no, the supervisor wanted isn't mine so she isn't beholden to me. I find that this has opened a can of worms. There's actually ongoing investigation with calls being pulled and other employees being talked to. Apparently I caught the tail end of people not doing their jobs.
            "Is it hot in here to you? It's very warm, isn't it?"--Nero, probably

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