call centre scripts

[TelephoneAngel]

TA was carded for saying "Can I help you with any other question?"

I should have said "Is there any other service you require from Company x today?"

*SIGH*

[ShadowTiger]

Sometimes I wonder what would happen if massive amounts of people called in to complain that the call service reps sounded too robotic and scripted; that they don't sound like real people, and it's making <company x> look terrible.

[trailerparkmedic]

Is it me or does there seem to be a push to script every customer service position? I went to Outback and when I was being shown to my table, they said I was guaranteed to get great customer service. When I was in a Sprint store, the manager asked if there was any way he had not provided excellent customer service today. I think it makes people sound fake, especially when you were having a perfectly normal conversation with them up until that line.

[Andara Bledin]

I think people everywhere should start a massive letter-writing campaign (email & snail mail) to corporations that use scripts about how much they take away from the customer experience.

^-.-^

[CrazedClerkthe2nd]

Is it me or does there seem to be a push to script every customer service position? I went to Outback and when I was being shown to my table, they said I was guaranteed to get great customer service. When I was in a Sprint store, the manager asked if there was any way he had not provided excellent customer service today. I think it makes people sound fake, especially when you were having a perfectly normal conversation with them up until that line.

Yes, having worked retail and call centers over the past five or so years, I've had to put up with some level of scripting in every area.

What pisses me off is that most of the scripts are apparently written by corporate suits who have NO CLUE how people actually talk or how stupid employees sound when saying the stuff.

I prefer a company to tell me "make sure to ask each customer if there's anything else they need" and letting me use my own words and approaches to doing so rather than feeding me a line and demanding I say it word for word every time.

I wish I still had some of the scripts from the cell center I worked at, they were hilarious.

[Midorikawa]

Is it me or does there seem to be a push to script every customer service position? I went to Outback and when I was being shown to my table, they said I was guaranteed to get great customer service. When I was in a Sprint store, the manager asked if there was any way he had not provided excellent customer service today.

In my opinion, scripting everything caters to people who know nothing about tech support, nothing about troubleshooting, and nothing about tech in general taking jobs in tech support. Sure, they can fix basic issues with their handy dandy script, but so can I, and without any script. And of course, punishes those who don't need a script to do their job, like TelephoneAngel.

Case in point: A telco/ISP that by name, and nature, seems to insinuate some form of epic...quest...to find out why service dropped...yet again...scripts everything. I *HATE* calling them because first, it's all outsourced to an English as a secondary or more language country in which I can't quite identify the accent. Worse yet, I've called before, and I usually for simplicity ignore the router, the ps3, 360, and 4 linux boxes of varying distros and pretend it's just my mac going straight to the modem (those with linux boxes know if you tell them you use linux, you'll either get a "well there's your problem", or a "nope! I can't support you! *hangs up*"), only to be told to go to the start menu, or to ask what windows version my mac runs. This is after explaining where I'm seeing latency in a traceroute, and explaining that the issue isn't on my end.

Fortunately, here in Utah, this telco allows other ISPs to use their physical lines, so I only have to call them if it's a line issue. If it's an ISP issue, I call the local ISP and see what's up. They script nothing, outsource nothing, and all are competent.

[telecom_goddess]

I'm grateful that I don't have to use scripts in my telecom job. I don't deal with customers except on test calls I make to make sure telephone numbers are working like they should. I get calls from field techs and people at other telcos.

[fireheart]

Is it me or does there seem to be a push to script every customer service position? I went to Outback and when I was being shown to my table, they said I was guaranteed to get great customer service. When I was in a Sprint store, the manager asked if there was any way he had not provided excellent customer service today. I think it makes people sound fake, especially when you were having a perfectly normal conversation with them up until that line.

Thankfully not down in Ausland TOO much. call centres I think do have a script.

In our case, as long as we're polite in general, we can flex away from any form of "script" too much. Mine's along the lines of:

Hi, how are you? (today/evening)
(scan pack groceries, script deviates here if I need assistance)
That's <amount> do you have your loyalty card?
Enjoy your day.

[arminius58]

I'm sure some of you may figure out where I work from this, but when we had the "You Got 30" campaign for the pizza store. Were were supposed to say "you got 30, and you may get more" at the end of each order, I told my manager that my tongue doesn't allow me to use such horrible grammar, and my head doesn't allow me to sound that stupid.