And people in hell want ice water too...

[calulu]

Haven't posted much because it's just been the usual assortment of assclowns whining about prices and there's not much amusement in that but lots of me hanging up on folks.

Had a demanding EW this very afternoon. Keep in mind we stop taking orders for same day delivery at 2pm so that the florist has a 3 hour delivery window for that day.

Me: Thank you for calling, blah blah blah, this is calulu and how may I help you?
EW: Your website is busted.
Me: *putting phone on mute so I can heave a big sigh. morons always think I can just magically telepathically fix the website when it goes down and see all their information* And what seems to be the problem, ma'am?
EW: When I clicked on delivery for today the calender said to pick another day because delivery today was not possible. The site must be broken because your ad promises same day delivery.
Me: What city and state were you wanting that delivery in?
EW: Crazy Cakes Village Florida
Me: There's nothing wrong with the website. Orders for Florida same day cut off at 2pm
EW: Why? Your ad says same day, I demand same day delivery.
Me: Because all florists close at 5 pm and we must allow them a minimum of a 3 hour delivery window. All time zones cut off same day orders at 2pm.
EW: *whining now* Buutttttt thatttttttttts NOoooottttttttttttt FAIIIIIIIIR!!! Your ad and website should list that 2pm cutoff.
Me: But ma'am, it's not always 2pm. If there is a holiday or a weekend then that cutoff time can vary and that's the reason it's not actually listed on the site.
EW: FALSE ADVERTISING! FALSE ADVERTISING! THAT IS MISLEADING YOU ARE RIPPING OFF PEOPLE!! 111Eleventy!
Me: I'm sorry you feel that way ma'am
EW: I WANT TO SPEAK TO YOUR SUPERVISOR RIGHT NOW!
Me: No ma'am, I'm not transferring you.
EW: YOU. WILL. TRANSFER. Me NOWWWWWWWWW! 11111ELEVENTYYYY!
Me: No ma'am, if you wish to lodge a complain about our company you can email management at yourproblem@flowersofsuck.com
EW: *lots and lots of unintelligable screaming and more 1111eleventy followed by dial tone*


I'm still asking myself how that escalated so fast. I was polite and firm throughout and explained company policy. What did she hope to accomplish by asking for a supervisor? Our management team does not allow you to transfer angry customers to supervisors, you are expected to handle the twatwafflery on your own.

[saranykm]

i can see where she would be pissed, not posting your cutoff would make me wonder whats up also.
last time i ordered flowers via the interwebz, it gave me a cutoff time.

[Dave1982]

I doubt it'd matter. Even if the cutoff time was posted she "wouldn't see it." And while there may not be a specific time listed, I'll bet there is a disclaimer about "same day delivery requires minimum 3 hours notice and is not available at all times of day" or something to that effect.

[bainsidhe]

The woman was sucky. But why can't you transfer upset customers to a sup? Say I was double-billed, or received less-than-stellar service/flowers/whatever. If I had a legitimate complaint and was getting upset, I'd be pretty angry if an associate brushed me off/couldn't help me and refused to escalate the call. I guess I'm just wondering if there are situations where escallation is allowed or if you, as the poor phone jockey, must always "deal with it" even if you aren't able to solve the problem. That seems pretty crummy from a customer standpoint and it isn't fair to you either.

[calulu]

The reason it's not allowed is that the poor phone jockey has as much authority as the supervisor to fix a problem or refund money, etc, etc. The supervisor would have just told her the same thing.

Just had another one upset that their flowers were delivered 20 minutes but this one is demanding a written apology letter and free flowers. Is it a full moon?

Yes, there are disclaimers all over the site stating that the florist does require a minimum of three hours and that days and times vary. It would be impossible to put hard and fast times up on the website due to circumstances like weather, availablity, etc impacting that time on different days.

[fireheart]

Hey uh...if that's the case, then that would mean that you'd be able to ull the "I AM the supervisor" card

[Dave1982]

Hey uh...if that's the case, then that would mean that you'd be able to ull the "I AM the supervisor" card

Only if they don't record or monitor calls.

[Jester]

I'm still asking myself how that escalated so fast

Simple. You did everything right, but you forgot to account for one glaring detail: she was a fucking idiot.

[The Last to Know]

Calulu - I really feel for you - some people's expectations make me just want to say "here's your sign", but they wouldn't get it. Really hope to meet you sometime this summer while visiting my best friend down there in rural virginny :-)

[friendofjimmyk]

Our management team does not allow you to transfer angry customers to supervisors, you are expected to handle the twatwafflery on your own.

OOOooooo! Really!?!?! I'd love handling the twatwafflery on my own...NO SC would EVER get their way by whining.....EVAH!!!!!!!!!!!!! muwahahahaha....

No, seriously, how great would that be?

The reason it's not allowed is that the poor phone jockey has as much authority as the supervisor to fix a problem or refund money, etc, etc. The supervisor would have just told her the same thing.

That doesn't happen in my company. I am SUPPOSED to have all the knowledge at my disposal of how to handle calls where the member wants something outside the scope of our policy. I am given this knowledge in extensive 4 weeks of training. Time and time again, I have stood by the company policy...only to have the call escalated to the supervisor and the SC get what they want. I used to get sooooo pissed about that...but the remedy for that was to state the policy once and if the SC demands to speak to a supervisor, I transfer. I stopped adamantly adhering to our policy because I learned that from management.

[calulu]

She didn't know that I could have bent that 2pm rule for her. But I tend not to do that for assclowns. It's more when someone calls up and says in apologetic voice that they know it's probably too late to get something out but they just found out their cousin died, etc.. For those people I will take the order, turn around and start phoning florists to get it filled.

I don't do it too often because it cuts into my pocketbook since I'm commission sales and taking the time to call around and get it filled takes about ten minutes of my sales time. I will do it for decent people with funeral orders.

People that call up and act ugly? Nope, not happening at all.

Friendofjimmyk, that is how it used to be where I work at too but someone finally realized it was much better to give us old hats the ability to solve complaints without the laborious multi step process we used to go through. The owner of the company encourages us to solve the problems directly and tell customers we're owners in the company, which we are, sort of. We all have stock options and 401Ks, so it sort of is like we're owners. I should have pulled out the 'I'm an owner of the company, ma'am' and see if that would solve it.

I'm just continually amazed at the people that go from nice and reasonable to insano demanding crazy in 2 seconds flat. I'm always calm, nice and apologetic to them but some of them it just seems to make more crazy.

[Bramblerose]

I gather this CS expected the driver to pull up to the intended's house and pull the flowers from his/her very ass like some sort of magician?

Rather like those folk who think I can ingest their dirty shirts and extrude them all clean and pressed from my tits in 15 minutes?