There are days when I cannot believe just how entitled people are...and then I remember that entirely too many people treat customer service drones like garbage.
Recently I had a caller get angry because I told him that I could only credit back three months worth of a particular charge even though the charge goes back further than that. I explained to him that it is his responsibility to check his bills each month, especially after making any changes to his account. He started hollering that it is not his job to keep an eye on his bills and that he is too busy to do that every month. All this over him not realizing that he was being charged for something he apparently didn't want - I had explained to him that if he'd caught it way back when it first started appearing that we could have taken care of it right then. Cue him flying further off the handle and telling me that it is entirely MY fault that <big telecom> was losing a 30 year customer and he demanded to be transferred to retention. Where they gave him all the credits he wanted and then some...credits that I could never have applied, and he didn't deserve either. It's probably a good thing that I do not have the ability to cancel accounts when asshole like this guy say they're cancelling because I would do exactly that.
I had a caller yesterday get all pissed off with me because I had to get into his wireless account after he was transferred to me from internet tech support - the internet account is in his wife's name and while he is an authorized contact, I still had to get the information to even find his cellular account and then authenticate it. Well, you'd think I just cut him off in traffic or something because he started huffing like the spoiled child he clearly was. I explained to him why I needed to ask the information I did, and when he started insulting me he didn't take it very well when I told him to stop it or I was going to disconnect the call. He wanted a supervisor because apparently *I* was being rude to him for calling him out on his behaviour and trying to ensure that I followed correct procedure. Oh, he got a supervisor - I transferred him out of our center completely. And got shut down by whoever got him on the supervisor line. Good.
Today I had a guy call in demanding that I credit him his early hardware upgrade fees because, and I quote, "I'm a long time customer and it's only the nice thing to do." Early hardware upgrade fees are incurred when there is a remaining device balance on your old device and you decide you want a new one (devices get subsidized over a 24 month period via your price plan), and we generally do not give credits for these at my level as we make sure the customer is well aware that they will see this amount on their next bill. I explained to the customer that I was not able to give him a credit for this because he should have been aware of the remaining device balances and that it was listed out in the paperwork he signed when he did the upgrades in the first place. "But I never read the paperwork! I never have time!" I told him that in the future it is wise to make that time and read everything before he signs off on it. At least this guy didn't threaten to cancel his account or ask for a supervisor.
And I am to the point with our store reps that I want to have them all get told off for the lies they constantly tell customers. "Oh! This tablet is my gift to you for being a loyal customer"...only for said customer to find out that he is being charged for the tablet and/or tablet line. "This phone is absolutely free!"...only for the customer to find out that he has a device balance when he tries to cancel the line or do a hardware upgrade. "Sure, we'll waive your connection fee!"...only for them not to do it, and if the customer asks them about it direct the customer to us although all we're allowed to do is direct you back to the store and ask to speak to the store manager. "Call in when you get your first bill and ask them to waive your connection fee because you're a loyal customer!"...only for us to tell the customer that we still can't waive the connection fee because it is a standard fee that EVERYBODY gets charged when the add a line/device, regardless of how long they've been a customer, and that it is store's way to try to get out of losing more money - but we've been tracking this and making sure corporate gets the store information any time we get a call like this. And so many more lies that the store reps tell in order to make the sale...only for the customers to call into us and demand that these lies be turned into truths. It also doesn't help that we can't see any notes that a store rep makes on an account because they use a different logging tool...not that we'd expect store reps to actually make note of all the promises they've made that they have no intention of honouring.
I've been doing call center work off and on for years, and I swear that callers are only getting worse and more entitled. I'm currently looking for another job and hopefully I have one lined up before I snap.
Recently I had a caller get angry because I told him that I could only credit back three months worth of a particular charge even though the charge goes back further than that. I explained to him that it is his responsibility to check his bills each month, especially after making any changes to his account. He started hollering that it is not his job to keep an eye on his bills and that he is too busy to do that every month. All this over him not realizing that he was being charged for something he apparently didn't want - I had explained to him that if he'd caught it way back when it first started appearing that we could have taken care of it right then. Cue him flying further off the handle and telling me that it is entirely MY fault that <big telecom> was losing a 30 year customer and he demanded to be transferred to retention. Where they gave him all the credits he wanted and then some...credits that I could never have applied, and he didn't deserve either. It's probably a good thing that I do not have the ability to cancel accounts when asshole like this guy say they're cancelling because I would do exactly that.
I had a caller yesterday get all pissed off with me because I had to get into his wireless account after he was transferred to me from internet tech support - the internet account is in his wife's name and while he is an authorized contact, I still had to get the information to even find his cellular account and then authenticate it. Well, you'd think I just cut him off in traffic or something because he started huffing like the spoiled child he clearly was. I explained to him why I needed to ask the information I did, and when he started insulting me he didn't take it very well when I told him to stop it or I was going to disconnect the call. He wanted a supervisor because apparently *I* was being rude to him for calling him out on his behaviour and trying to ensure that I followed correct procedure. Oh, he got a supervisor - I transferred him out of our center completely. And got shut down by whoever got him on the supervisor line. Good.
Today I had a guy call in demanding that I credit him his early hardware upgrade fees because, and I quote, "I'm a long time customer and it's only the nice thing to do." Early hardware upgrade fees are incurred when there is a remaining device balance on your old device and you decide you want a new one (devices get subsidized over a 24 month period via your price plan), and we generally do not give credits for these at my level as we make sure the customer is well aware that they will see this amount on their next bill. I explained to the customer that I was not able to give him a credit for this because he should have been aware of the remaining device balances and that it was listed out in the paperwork he signed when he did the upgrades in the first place. "But I never read the paperwork! I never have time!" I told him that in the future it is wise to make that time and read everything before he signs off on it. At least this guy didn't threaten to cancel his account or ask for a supervisor.
And I am to the point with our store reps that I want to have them all get told off for the lies they constantly tell customers. "Oh! This tablet is my gift to you for being a loyal customer"...only for said customer to find out that he is being charged for the tablet and/or tablet line. "This phone is absolutely free!"...only for the customer to find out that he has a device balance when he tries to cancel the line or do a hardware upgrade. "Sure, we'll waive your connection fee!"...only for them not to do it, and if the customer asks them about it direct the customer to us although all we're allowed to do is direct you back to the store and ask to speak to the store manager. "Call in when you get your first bill and ask them to waive your connection fee because you're a loyal customer!"...only for us to tell the customer that we still can't waive the connection fee because it is a standard fee that EVERYBODY gets charged when the add a line/device, regardless of how long they've been a customer, and that it is store's way to try to get out of losing more money - but we've been tracking this and making sure corporate gets the store information any time we get a call like this. And so many more lies that the store reps tell in order to make the sale...only for the customers to call into us and demand that these lies be turned into truths. It also doesn't help that we can't see any notes that a store rep makes on an account because they use a different logging tool...not that we'd expect store reps to actually make note of all the promises they've made that they have no intention of honouring.
I've been doing call center work off and on for years, and I swear that callers are only getting worse and more entitled. I'm currently looking for another job and hopefully I have one lined up before I snap.
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