Out of Normal Hours Suckage

[TelephoneAngel]

Like many companies who deal with customer problems round the clock, we have an "out-of-normal-hours" telephone service, they do everything that is done within normal opening hours, but to save every office being open late at night or other nonoffice hours, they run with a smaller number of staff from just one office.

I have on occassion worked a Sunday in outofhours, and there is no difference at all in customer service.

For some reason, when it gets to the end of the day and the "normal" telephones are about to shut down, so there is no way a call can be taken and the problem resolved in the time left, and people are told that the call will be transferred to our outofhours phone lines, people get very sucky.

"they don't know what they're doing, not like you people who are here all the time"

erm, they are there all the time, just on different shift patterns.Plus some of them are the same people you talk to here, doing some overtime.

[Mytical]

Alas poor Logic, I knew it well. Bested again by the SC's. I think this is more of a "But if you transfer me I will have to explain everything to somebody else, and I don wanna wait! *bawl*" (because obviously there is no chance of any notes being taken or anything)

[ApolloSZ]

TA - Sounds like a good setup for the after hours team tho.
My old job they moved after hours to another country. People would call just before the switch over time and ask
User - "Are you New Zealand or [Other country]"
Me - "New Zealand"
User - "Oh thank god"
Me - *thinks* - bwaahahaha thats funny cos its true!

[MoonCat]

Beware answering that last call that sneaks in just under the deadline. That's always the one that will take an hour and 45 minutes to resolve, and will involve calling a manager, running to other floors, rummaging through a co-workers's desk or having the computer go down just as you bring up the customer's information. And of course it will be an OMG EMERGENCY!!11!