Customer insults me in front of a supervisor

[MoonChild2007]

I have never been so insulted especially when a supervisor took over a call for me. I was explaining a simple 5.00 FREAKING CHARGE and then he asked for a supervisor. Supervisor comes on explaing the same stuff I had explained to him. He then tells her "the rep (Me) needs some voice training, her voice is so dry"" right in front of the supervisor. The supervisor even laughed at his comment.

This jerk ruined my whole day, over stinking 5 dollars.

[Ree]

I'm sorry that happened to you.

Your supervisor sounds like a Grade A jerk to laugh at what the customer said about your voice.

I hate when people don't take your word for it and demand a supervisor, only to be told exactly the same thing you just finished telling them, and they accept that!

What, does it sound more official coming from a supervisor?

Just because he didn't like your voice, how did that change the fact that he still owed the 5.00 charge?

[Teskeria]

Is it possible the sup was laughing at the stupidity of the comment?

And yeah, some people just HAVE to hear it from a sup in order to believe it.

[Ree]

Is it possible the sup was laughing at the stupidity of the comment?

Hmmm...I didn't think about that.

What about it, MoonChild?

Is it possible that laugh was actually an "I can't believe you're this ignorant" type laugh?

Of course, not knowing your supervisor, it's hard to gauge. LOL.

[DGoddessChardonnay]

I have to admit, that's pretty sad to complain because you don't like the sound of someone's voice. . .

Even sadder when the supervisor appears to agree with him. What is this world coming to?

I'm sorry that you had to experience ignorance of a special level. Have a virtual cup of hot chocolate and think about something pleasant.

[MoonChild2007]

Is it possible the sup was laughing at the stupidity of the comment?

And yeah, some people just HAVE to hear it from a sup in order to believe it.

Good point, she isn't the type to talk crap about people. What makes this situation more interesting is that going through the notes, I had dealt with this jerk before about 5 months ago Back then his payment didn't go through and he even asked for a supervisor then.

I hate when people don't take your word for it and demand a supervisor, only to be told exactly the same thing you just finished telling them, and they accept that!

I agree and its worse when the supervisors say how I could have handled this differently and it is an unnecessary escalation.

[Ree]

I agree and its worse when the supervisors say how I could have handled this differently and it is an unnecessary escalation.

Oh, FFS!! If a customer demands a supervisor, there's not a lot you can do.

Some people will not accept anything less.

[tollbaby]

Actually, when I worked for Hydro, we weren't ALLOWED to pass the customer along to a supervisor until the SUPERVISOR judged that it was necessary (so I'd have to deal with a screaming temper tantrum for like an hour before my supervisor would consent to take the call, and even then he'd complain about it). The best calls were English ones - none of the supervisors spoke passable English *sigh*

Call centre complaints are *always* petty and ridiculous. I had three or four customers make actual written complaints simply because they didn't like the answer I gave them (which was the standard company answer). At the time, we didn't record our calls, so the sups always took the customer's word over the employee's. I was SO happy when they started recording calls - like a month before our entire call centre got shut down *sigh* But at least we finally had recourse against write-ups when customers made stupid complaints.

Unfortunately, it's the nature of the beast, and if you're going to survive in a call centre environment, you have to let that type of stupid comment run off your back. You know you did the right thing, your supervisor knows, so who cares what the guy at the other end of the phone line thinks?

[AccountingDrone]

I have never been so insulted especially when a supervisor took over a call for me. I was explaining a simple 5.00 FREAKING CHARGE and then he asked for a supervisor. Supervisor comes on explaing the same stuff I had explained to him. He then tells her "the rep (Me) needs some voice training, her voice is so dry"" right in front of the supervisor. The supervisor even laughed at his comment.

This jerk ruined my whole day, over stinking 5 dollars.

I have actually asked to speak to a supervisor about a phone CS workers voice and on call mannerisms before - sometimes complimentary if I thought they did an exceptional job though I have been known to mention that they needed a lot more work on presentation [the one thing that seriously bothers me, and to me shows someone did not get enough practice time in is raising the voice in question mode at the end of every single sentence. If it is not a question, the voice does not go up as if you are asking a question ... it sounds amazingly insecure, hesitant and untrained. Also the same person will frequently put in the uncertainty queues [ummm, errr, uhhh, like you know...]

I know that the trainers need to churn the training through fast, but tossing someone onto a phone when unprepared is cruel ... and I make the supers know that it is the trainer not doing their jobs, and not the trainees.

[Victoria J]

Call centre complaints are *always* petty and ridiculous.

I'd disagree. Normally petty and ridiculous but... I actually made one today - the worst call I have ever made to a customer service line personally or professionally. I'll post over at sightings later but I think any of the customer service reps posting here would jump off a building if they even once responded to calls as badly as this woman.

The people posting here do tend to take pride in doing their work well, and I don't get the impression that "anything goes" with call centre work. As such some workers do fall short and it seems reasonable to complain about them.

I can easily believe that for hard working and competent representatives every complaint they have personally had is petty and ridiculous. I've posted before that my experience with complaints is similar.

Slightly touchy on this subject today (because I do hate to complain about people).

Victoria J

[MoonChild2007]

I have actually asked to speak to a supervisor about a phone CS workers voice and on call mannerisms before - sometimes complimentary if I thought they did an exceptional job though I have been known to mention that they needed a lot more work on presentation [the one thing that seriously bothers me, and to me shows someone did not get enough practice time in is raising the voice in question mode at the end of every single sentence. If it is not a question, the voice does not go up as if you are asking a question ... it sounds amazingly insecure, hesitant and untrained. Also the same person will frequently put in the uncertainty queues [ummm, errr, uhhh, like you know...]

I know that the trainers need to churn the training through fast, but tossing someone onto a phone when unprepared is cruel ... and I make the supers know that it is the trainer not doing their jobs, and not the trainees.

I am all up for criticism on my performance, I get that all the time with my supervisor but the customer was rude from the get-go so that's why I got upset. The guy was a jerk and frankly, he should kept his opinion to himself.

[AccountingDrone]

I am all up for criticism on my performance, I get that all the time with my supervisor but the customer was rude from the get-go so that's why I got upset. The guy was a jerk and frankly, he should kept his opinion to himself.

since i have spent much of the past 18 years in some form of CS, I try to be as nice as possible, even when complaining ... I hate jackasses.