Customers with hearing problems calling the company

[MoonChild2007]

I know some people have hard of hearing and that's fine but why bother calling a us if they KNOW they are unable to hear us? Why can't some people have a guardian or a caretaker take the calls? I had one woman who could not hear me at all and frankly, she was pissing me off. I had to practically give the call over to my supervisor cause we were going nowhere. I also do not feel comfortable with
raising my voice especially if a person is right next to me and can't concentrate.

I know certain hearing impaired people have "relay" systems which is a BIG help for them. Why can't other people have that if they are unable to hear me?

[thehippie777]

Yeah, I had an old guy infront of me the other day. Had hearing aids, the kind one can see. I still had to basically scream at him so he could understand. He kept saying, "What? What?" Drove me a bit nuts.

So, I understand I guess.

[smileyeagle1021]

Yeah, I had an old guy infront of me the other day. Had hearing aids, the kind one can see. I still had to basically scream at him so he could understand. He kept saying, "What? What?" Drove me a bit nuts.

So, I understand I guess.

and let me guess... he was one of those people who would have been pissed if you had offered to write it down for him

I will say... there is only one time that I have been angry with a deaf person... when I worked for National we had a deaf customer returning his car... I wasn't upset about him being deaf or really having to write everything out... what bothered me was when I found out the passenger in the car had perfect hearing and knew sign language and the deaf guy not once asked him for help with the transaction... honestly people, if you have someone who can help you why don't you use it

[cinema guy]

My mum is deaf (and me and my brother). She lets my dad do important phone calls, but sometimes companies like banks insist on talking to the account holder, and she cannot hear. She gets very frustrated indeed, but doesn't take it out on the person on the other end of the phone.

[raw456]

When I was getting my first tattoo a few years ago, a deaf woman came in to get her tounge pierced. she was having difficulty communicating with the woman behind the counter and both were getting quite frustrated.

I know a small amount of sign language (having a friend who is mostly deaf) and this lady could talk, but was hard to understand. After some back and forth we managed to get it all sorted.

Customer was happy and the tattoo guy knocked $20 off my tat for helping them out.

Sorry you had to get one of the nasty ones.

[Fiyero]

I work in a call centre booking hospital appointments. This involves a lot of older people, and those with other hearing problems.
I pretty much refuse to raise my voice because I know how distracted I get when other people do and I have a loud voice anyway.

What is worse is when people want me to talk slowly, I am bad at it and sound rather condescending when I do it. (I guess that is my fault but it isn't something I can practice without looking VERY weird)

Argh

[crashhelmet]

I have tinnitus and as a result, my ears "ring" CONSTANTLY and drowns out a lot of what people say if they speak in quiet tones or whispers. It's very annoying, but it's no where near as annoying and frustrating as when I ask someone to speak up because I can't hear them and still talk as quiet, if not quieter.

CH

[malmalthekiller]

My boyfriend is partially deaf, and I can see it sometimes interferes with his interactions with people.

When we're waiting in line somewhere, he doesn't always here people say "next", unless he's paying attention, and I'm usually distracting him.

Or if it's a noisy place, he can't hear what they're asking me, but luckily I usually step in and there are no problems.

I can understand the frustration in not being able to understand customers, sometimes when people come in and can't speak english, it's extremely frustrating to me.