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The iphone SCs Part 2: Now with more Mafia!

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  • The iphone SCs Part 2: Now with more Mafia!

    Wait? What do you mean wait?

    SC: Yeah I just preordered an iphone 6 plus and I see here I might not get it until November? What's going on here?
    Me: I'm not sure of the exact reasons but you can blame Apple. They make the phones, they set the shipping timeframes. Unfortunately we aren't expecting many of the pluses to be delivered for at least another month and half.
    SC: What about a regular iphone 6? Those are out next week right?
    Me: The release date is next week, but we are currently estimating delivery on those to be around the first or second week of October.
    SC: What? That's ludicrous! That's false advertising! It's supposed to come out on the 19th.
    Me: It DOES sir but you see there's only so many phones that will be available on the 19th and the have all been claimed on earlier preorders.
    SC: So what can I do to get an iPhone on the 19th?
    Me: Short of camping out at a <red checkmark> store or Best Buy, not much I'm afraid.
    SC: Unacceptable! I tell you what, I'll pay $100 more for it and you can bump someone out of the line so I can get it on the 19th.
    Me: I can't do that sir. I could lose my job if I did.
    SC: I don't care! You need to find a way to get me that phone on the 19th.
    Me: I'm afraid there isn't one.
    SC: You know what? I'm done. Done wasting my time with a useless rep like you. I'll call back later and get someone who KNOWS what they're doing! *click*

    What do you mean wait? 2 - Now with extra entitlement!

    SC: It is my understanding that the iphone plus I preordered won't be delivered until November.
    Me: I'm afraid so. It's an Apple supply issue. Not much we can do about it.
    SC: Well you see, one of my phones stopped working last week and I wanted to get the iphone 6 to replace it. I was hoping that since the phone comes out on the 19th I'd only be without one for a few days but now it seems like it will be a lot longer.
    Me: I apologize sir, but there's nothing we can do about that.
    SC: Well actually there is. I refuse to pay for time I don't have a working phone and I would like you to credit my account $300 to cover my services between now and November.
    (record scratch)
    Me: I'm sorry, I'm not sure I understood. Could you repeat that?
    SC: *sigh* I said I refuse to pay for services I cannot use and since I won't be able to use them between now and November I would like a credit for that time. Based on my calculations it comes out to around $312.44 but I will settle for $300.
    Me: We can't give you any credit sir. It's not our fault your phone broke and it's also not our fault that you have to wait for the iphone. We are not Apple, we are not responsible for the shipping arrangements.
    SC: As far as I'm concerned you sold me a defective phone in the first place. I had problems with it almost from the beginning. Apple might make the phone but I don't pay $200 a month to Apple, I pay it to you people and I will not pay for service I don't have.
    Me: Actually you do have it.
    SC: Excuse me?
    Me: Your services are working fine at the moment you just don't have a phone that can use them.
    (I almost swear I can here gritting teeth on the other end of the line)
    SC: I cannot use them because you sent me a malfunctioning phone.
    Me: I'd be happy to help get your phone working.
    SC: I already told you, it stopped working last week, there's nothing that can be done with it. The only thing I need from you is to get me my $300 credit and if you can't do it, stop wasting my time and get me someone who can.
    Me: Give a moment to bring a supervisor on the line.

    Not sure you can tell from it being in written form, but this guy was seriously snooty.

    Waste Management

    SC: So I just finished my iphone preorder and I see that not only is my monthly rate going up, I also have to pay a $36 upgrade fee?
    Me: Does this line have a contract on it right now?
    SC: No.
    Me: But it will after you upgrade?
    SC: Yes, of course.
    Me: In that case yes, your monthly rate will increase due to you going under a contract and you will be charged a standard fee in addition to that. If you don't want to pay the fee, you can use our SHARP installment program to get the phone.
    SC: No, I'm not going to be doing that, but I'm sure as hell not paying this fee. I want it waived and I want it waived now.
    Me: Unless the fee was caused by a <red checkmark error>, we cannot waive it.
    SC: Unacceptable, waive the fee!
    Me: I can't.
    SC: Either you waive that fee or I cancel this order and your commission walks out the door!
    Me: This is not about my commission sir. The upgrade fee is not up for negotiation, I could be fired if I did so. (Note: that statement is true. Back in the day we used to give activation fees out like candy, now the company is VERY strict about them being waived in any circumstance)
    SC: Unreal. This is wrong, this is completely wrong. How can you do this? What kind of criminal operation do you have going over there? How can you get away with charging me through the nose for a damned phone? You think I'm just going to roll over and pay all these damned fees! F*** <red checkmark> and F*** you, you're not getting one penny out of me!

    Note: Immediately after this call I dispatched <red checkmark> thugs Antonio "Apple-sauce" Palazzo and Vinny "4G" Bartolli to "deal" with the situation.

    I also wanted to respond to something from my previous thread:

    Quoth Shyla View Post
    You mentioned cussing. I have a question. So I was talking with a rep from an evil corporation recently. This was the 6th phone call in two days with multiple missed service appointments. They had completely screwed up and admitted it. I even had a rep quoting non-existent laws to get me off his back. This call was a total of about 90 minutes. I was on the phone with a supervisor and I used the word hell. Not over and over just in a sentence. All of a sudden I'm being scolded and told she can't help me if I treat her that way. What is with that? Is that a power trip they let reps go on? It was not directed at her. More like What the hell is going on that we got this screwup. Why do they let reps be so high and mighty about a swear word but it's ok if they refuse to help? I personally think the swear thing is to give them an out if the rep can't help.
    The three call centers I've worked at have all had a "3 strikes" rule. Simply put, if you call in cursing up a storm and refuse to calm down and let us try and help you, we give you two stern warnings. The third infraction, depending on the policy at the time, will either get you a disconnect or sent straight to manager (who will most likely then disconnect you).

    Me personally? I understand people cuss when they get frustrated. I've had people drop F-bombs on the line with me before. If it's just a few words and I can tell they are visibly upset and trying to work with me I let it go. Rarely do I get the super abusive SC who just wants to swear non-stop.

    Your final point is spot on. Disconnecting a caller who swears is an easy out for reps who both don't like to deal with angry callers and are trying to maintain a low average handle time.
    Last edited by CrazedClerkthe2nd; 09-15-2014, 05:20 AM.
    "If we refund your money, give you a free replacement and shoot the manager, then will you be happy?" - sign seen in a restaurant

  • #2
    Quoth CrazedClerkthe2nd View Post
    SC: I don't care! You need to find a way to get me that phone on the 19th.
    Me: I'm afraid there isn't one.
    Actually, there IS a way. If it's anything like previous Apple launches (or any consumer product in short supply on launch day), some of the early buyers are looking to "flip" it on eBay to make a profit. SC can go there and pay through the nose if he wants his phone sooner than he can get it through you guys.

    Added fun if the eBay flipper is a scammer who, after selling the phone, tries to get his money back through the insurance by reporting it stolen (resulting in eBay buyer winding up with a "bricked" phone).
    Any fool can piss on the floor. It takes a talented SC to shit on the ceiling.

    Comment


    • #3
      Quoth CrazedClerkthe2nd View Post
      SC: Yeah I just preordered an iphone 6 plus and I see here I might not get it until November? What's going on here?
      Believe it or not, you are not the only person in the world who wants this phone. Supplies are not infinite, and other people ordered it before you did. Now you wait.

      Quoth CrazedClerkthe2nd View Post
      SC: I already told you, it stopped working last week, there's nothing that can be done with it.
      Five bucks says he's already destroyed or sold the "broken" phone.

      Quoth CrazedClerkthe2nd View Post
      Me personally? I understand people cuss when they get frustrated. I've had people drop F-bombs on the line with me before. If it's just a few words and I can tell they are visibly upset and trying to work with me I let it go. Rarely do I get the super abusive SC who just wants to swear non-stop.
      Same here. In at least four of my jobs, I've had to try to help some angry customers. Most of the time, they were angry with the situation or with some inanimate object, not with me, and it was rare that their anger was truly directed at me rather than just being vented in my general direction. (I've posted plenty of exceptions here, though.) Conversations with these customers have often included phrases like "what the am I supposed to do now" and "this pile of won't work," followed immediately by an apology: "Excuse my language, but I'm mad about this."

      My response? "As long as you're not swearing at or about me, I don't care." Sometimes the customer would chuckle at that; always they'd relax a little. And then we move on to try to resolve the problem.
      I suspect that... inside every adult (sometimes not very far inside) is a bratty kid who wants everything his own way.
      - Bill Watterson

      My co-workers: They're there when they need me.
      - IPF

      Comment


      • #4
        Gotta love how these people think they're SO IMPORTANT that they can just DEMAND things like waiving a fee, or bumping someone else's order. How would that idiot like it if someone bumped HIM so they could get their phone sooner?

        As for swearing, I don't put up with much of it from customers. I don't mind an occasional "shit", "hell" or "damn", but once the F-word comes out, I'm done. I swear at my computer all the time at work but I NEVER use that language to a customer. If I can't do it, neither can they!
        When you start at zero, everything's progress.

        Comment


        • #5
          Quoth MoonCat View Post
          Gotta love how these people think they're SO IMPORTANT that they can just DEMAND things like waiving a fee, or bumping someone else's order. How would that idiot like it if someone bumped HIM so they could get their phone sooner?
          The media perpetuates the idea that if you just say the right thing, or threaten, that companies will cave. There are constant "how to lower your cable bill" and "how the phone company is ripping you off" articles. They make sucky customers worse, because it reinforces what they already believe, and create new ones who now think they can pay a fraction of their current bill.

          I mean, I know of plenty of legitimate ways to lower bills or whatever, but they generally include downgrading or cancelling. Not calling and making random demands.
          Replace anger management with stupidity management.

          Comment


          • #6
            Quoth HawaiianShirts View Post
            My response? "As long as you're not swearing at or about me, I don't care." Sometimes the customer would chuckle at that; always they'd relax a little. And then we move on to try to resolve the problem.
            I do the same and have the same attitude.
            How ever do they manage to breathe for themselves without having to call tech support? - Argabarga

            Comment


            • #7
              Quoth HawaiianShirts View Post
              Five bucks says he's already destroyed or sold the "broken" phone.
              Five bucks says the phone is still working, and the suckstomer just said that to try and generate sympathy with Clerk. No one that dependent on their cell phone goes without one for over a week.

              Quoth MoonCat View Post
              As for swearing, I don't put up with much of it from customers. I don't mind an occasional "shit", "hell" or "damn", but once the F-word comes out, I'm done. I swear at my computer all the time at work but I NEVER use that language to a customer. If I can't do it, neither can they!
              Oh, I've dropped the F bomb . . . usually to a collections agent trying to push me into paying a debt I don't owe. I realize it's just a job to them, but I don't have money to throw away and if some scammer calls me I let them have it, all barrels.

              I'm also very unpleasant if I'm called outside of legal calling hours.

              I do try to keep my cool if I'm the one initiating the call, even if I am upset. I'll apologize if I lose it during the call.
              They say that God only gives us what we can handle. Apparently, God thinks I'm a bad ass.

              Comment


              • #8
                Thanks for the reply on swearing. I haven't been to customerssuck for a few days. I don't know if supervisors have call time statistics. Between the rep and the sup, I was on the phone about 90 minutes. I refused to accept a call back since we had been promised three callbacks in two days and gotten none of them.

                Comment


                • #9
                  Quoth Sapphire Silk View Post
                  Five bucks says the phone is still working, and the suckstomer just said that to try and generate sympathy with Clerk. No one that dependent on their cell phone goes without one for over a week.
                  Could you pull up a call history and check the IMEI of the handset being used? I used to do that all the time. "Your phone seems okay as you made a call from it just three hours ago. Oh, what's that? You want to use the camera? Or Facetime? Sorry that's not a service we support on the network."

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    I have a friend that works at a big-box store here which I will refer to as the big yellow box, they have had similar situations where people with common sense have actually gone and pre-ordered weeks, if not months in advance, yet some self-absorbed self-important [redacted] will come in and DEMAND that they bump someone from the preorder cue to cater to their demands, because ya'know, they are "the uber-important rich customer' and you are their pitiful little CS peon.

                    He took to saying "Certainly, sir, but as long as you realise that doing such a thing will result in YOU getting bumped when someone else comes in and demands the same thing of me in what will likely be less than 24 hours." A lot of the time it quickly puts them in their place and they put down a PROPER pre-order for the next shipment.
                    Violets are blue,
                    Roses are red,
                    I bequeath to thee...
                    A boot to the head >_>

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      I thought of this thread, and all our friends who work for the wireless carriers today when I had to call my carrier on an unrelated topic. As we got off the phone, I thanked the rep for helping me and wished her luck with today's launch. She laughed and said they were already slammed, and imagined it would only get worse.
                      At the conclusion of an Irish wedding, the priest said "Everybody please hug the person who has made your life worth living. The bartender was nearly crushed to death.

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