"What do we do now"

[SnapAddict218]

The GMA thread about haggling reminded me of this.

Ooog. Ok, don't know if there are any Keith and The Girl listeners here, but Chemda, The Girl, talks about using the phrase "What do we do now" to get what's needed from customer service folk when you get to a dead end.

Now, I gotta admit, I'm not a fan of this, but it does work-just like haggling works at times. You just have to know when to use it.

I used it the other day actually, trying to pay a bill over the phone. I forget the details, because I have the dumb, but it was one of those cases where I wasn't using the words the operator wanted me to use, so she was messing with me. Something along the lines of oh, asking to make a 'payment' via phone when the term she was looking for was 'debit' (de-bited, ha ha, who posted that story anyway? He he, DE-bited). Anyway, we both knew what the eff I was trying to do, she was just having one of those days and I ended up busting out "What do we do now?" Which got her to allow me to make a payment..blah blah blah.

That's the exception tho.

Problem IS that the only people that know WHEN to use the phrase....already work in customer service, so they know how to avoid hitting a wall.

So, anyone encountered the "What do we do now?" How does everyone feel about it? It's a LAST ass resort for me, since I SHOULD know my way around CS better than that.

[JustADude]

So, anyone encountered the "What do we do now?" How does everyone feel about it?

I have, and I generally want to reach through the phone and smash the person's face into a table repeatedly when I hear it. It is, universally, used on me by people who are pissy because we're not going to put their needs ahead of the other people paying us for food the same as they are.

Also, people who use "What are you going to do about it?" when the issue is beyond my control, and most definitely not my fault make me want to commit violence... to the point I was seriously considering getting up, driving to their house, and beating the crap out of one that was less than a mile from the call-center. Of course, that one time I hadn't eaten since the night before and was running on 4 hours sleep, so I was already pretty frayed.

[powerboy]

I encountered that a few times a month. Well it is more like "What are YOU going to do about it?

[Arm]

Generally when I use that phrase it's because of some sort of fuckup or situation that is out of my control, and to the best of my knowledge, also outside of the control of the person I'm talking to.

I could ask for a manager... or I could ask for a supervisor... but that may not accomplish whatever I want to do, because those individuals may not be able to do anything either. So I'm looking to hear the employee's response. If there's another department that handles this sort of thing, then talking to a boss in *this* department wouldn't accomplish jack.

Or it could be just because I'm morbidly curious to see if they even CAN suggest anything. I had some go-rounds with Sprint* that left me unsure that their employees could pass a turing test, so generally if I asked them that it was less 'present me with a possible course of action that I should follow' and more 'reassure me that you are functioning at a mental level sufficient to feed yourself, so that I know that if I have to tear a strip off of you in a few minutes, it won't be wasted effort'

Either way though, I'm genuinely interested in hearing their response, because it will help direct my next actions. I operate on the assumption that the employee knows their company better than I do- and especially so when I'm dealing with call centers. The person I'm talking to could be hundreds of miles away from the person I have my issue with, working for a different company. Unless I know how to ask, and politely, I'm never going to get through to them.

*(Sprint decided to stop sending me my bill. For a solid year. I never signed up for their bills online or anything, they just stopped sending it. Every month, then, I was late paying because I didn't know what the billing period was and when it was due, how much was due, etc. So every month, once I had made my payment, I would speak to a -possible- person in their customer service and get them to make sure that the bill was being sent, that they had my address, that there was no indication it shouldn't be sent, etc. I was well-on towards irate around month thirteen, when I finally got in touch with someone with a brain, who told me, "oh, there's an option ticked here that says not to send out a paper copy. I'll just un-check that." ...and I've gotten my bill mailed to me ever since.)