Repeat customer

[Sarcastro]

The phone system at my job has this wonderful feature that attempts to route callers to the last rep they spoke with. In theory this is a great idea as since you're already familiar with the customer's situation it makes the call go by faster. But what this happens is that when a psycho decides to call every 10 minutes then the same rep deals with the same customer almost every time. I had the pleasure of dealing with one just now.

Call 1
Me: bla bla bla 24 hours bla bla bla I do apologize for the inconvenience bla bla bla please call back if anything.

SC: *cue rant about monopolies, her hatred of my company, we have a personal vendetta, we're just being lazy, then silence*. ...hello?

Me: I'm very sorry you feel that way. While the maximum is 24 hours we'll do our best to get that back on asap.

SC: I'm gonna call back every 5 minutes until my power's back.

Me: We'll be happy to provide you with updates if they're available when you call back. And again, I do apolog...

SC: F*%k you. *click*

Second call
Me: Thank you for the information. How may I help you tonight?

SC: They told me my power would be on by 8:30 and it's 8:45. I want to know why my power isn't on yet.

Me: ...Oh I apologize for the delay is this your second call to the company?

SC: Yeah, genius.

Me: I see, perhaps I wasn't clear the first time we spoke. 24 hours is the maximum timeframe. It may be less but I can't guarantee that much less such a specific timeframe.

SC: No, he told me 8:30.

Me: ma'am, you spoke with me last time and as you payment didn't post until 8:30 there isn't a way your power would be on by that time tonight. 24 hours would be 8:30 tomorrow night at the latest.

SC: That's NOT what he told me.

Me: *sigh* Mrs.SC, you were speaking with me and yes, that's what I advised.

SC: ...f#%k you *click*

Third call
Me: Thanks for calling...

SC: Are you stalking me!?

Me: Calls are automatically routed to me. I never know with whom I'll be speaking.

SC: Whatever. When's my power coming on?

Me: Within 24 hours.

SC: ...

Me: ...

SC: Yeah!?

Me: of the time you made the payment.

SC: You already told me that!

Me: Unfortunately the status hasn't changed. *wait for it...*

SC: f%#k you *click*

Fourth call
Me: thanks for calling...

SC: Jesus f%#king Christ are you the only person there?

Me: Feels that way tonight.

SC: Ok smartass just tell me when my power's coming on tonight.

Me: I did get an update but...

SC: F%#king finally.

Me: but the update is that the crews have stopped working in that area for tonight. At this point the earliest it would be on would be 7am unfortunately.

SC: ...

Me: *surprisingly genuine* I'm so sorry for the inconvenience of this.

SC: *cue second rant of the night I forget about what since by then I had already started writing this post and was in fact on the first call while she was ranting*. ...and they'll put you out of business for...ever.

Me: I'm sorry you feel that way but under the circumstances it's completely understandable.

SC: ...bet you know what I'm about to say now.

Me: *audible defeated sigh* I think I have a good idea...

SC: Goodnight, sweetie. *click*

Me:

Ok that at the end caught me off guard but it made me chuckle for some reason. She's still my SC of the day but I guess it could've ended worse. I was totally zen for some reason today.

[superhotelworker]

Me: "I have an idea.. but I'm not saying it.."

then cue the jaw drop.
Holy HELL dude. You get some random bitchy people! *hugs and shares chocolate chip cookies*

[ravevolution]

I don't understand why an apology is owed for an SC who doesn't pay their bills on time.

[Sarcastro]

Me: "I have an idea.. but I'm not saying it.."

then cue the jaw drop.
Holy HELL dude. You get some random bitchy people! *hugs and shares chocolate chip cookies*

People go a little nuts when they don't have electricity. I think maybe it's some sort of de-evolution. Like, humanity regresses to a barbaric, cave man-like state of monosyllabic grunts and crude gestures. But then again Florida's weird.

I don't understand why an apology is owed for an SC who doesn't pay their bills on time.

It's totally not owed but I do sometimes feel bad that it takes so long to get the power back. We're rolling out automated meters that can be connected and disconnected remotely but the infrastructure to turn them on and off remotely won't be active until 2012. I'll be long gone by then. Anyway, I was feeling good today for some reason and very little was actually bothering me. Otherwise it could've gotten ugly.

[ravevolution]

It's totally not owed but I do sometimes feel bad that it takes so long to get the power back. We're rolling out automated meters that can be connected and disconnected remotely but the infrastructure to turn them on and off remotely won't be active until 2012. I'll be long gone by then. Anyway, I was feeling good today for some reason and very little was actually bothering me. Otherwise it could've gotten ugly.

Yeah ijn my area they have those 'smart' meters in place. But I saw a news story about how some people were being overcharged on their bills cause the meters have been kinda wonky. Obviously the infrastructure still needs work.

[Darkforge]

eh, they are better than non smart meters mostly.

I know in England British Gas got screwed over by them a while back but since then they've made huge improvements.Now they're excellent (in the Uk at least).

Now they are really quite good, and being in the industry myself I've seen them help a lot, stops estimated bills and the like, that said they aren't worth the few hundred quid they charge you for them (good if you can get one for free though)

[Can I Help Your A$$?]

How much could these bills be? I wonder if I'm totally spoiled being on a cheap hydro system. My bill is between 22 and 50 dollars a month, depending on how cold it is.

[blas]

I was out of power for nearly 3 hours Sunday night, but I didn't make any calls. We all left it to Sheriff, the neighborhood nut. I did kinda feel bad for the techs/workers because he was just off his rocker running around all the buildings yelling "updates" to us, when it was really, why are you bugging them?

[MoonCat]

The phone system at my job has this wonderful feature that attempts to route callers to the last rep they spoke with.

My first reaction to that was

I shudder to think of the SC's that I would be forced to deal with over and over. Ewww.

[EricKei]

Well...there is one (basic) sort of customer who NEEDS to have power back on as quickly as possible -- those with medical needs. She mentioned nothing of the sort, from what I saw here ~_~

In those situations, many power companies will put you on the uber-high priority list, IF you provide them with proof of medical need for power. Ahead of time would be really nice, too...

[Sarcastro]

Well...there is one (basic) sort of customer who NEEDS to have power back on as quickly as possible -- those with medical needs. She mentioned nothing of the sort, from what I saw here ~_~

In those situations, many power companies will put you on the uber-high priority list, IF you provide them with proof of medical need for power. Ahead of time would be really nice, too...

In my company if you have a doctor fill out a form stating you have a machine that runs on electricity that you need for health reasons you don't get disconnected. Ever. You'll get final notices and they'll threaten you but never will they ever disconnect you. I've seen a lady that owes us at this point about $90,000 over the course of 40 years of service and she's never been disconnected. It would be nice to pay $10 a month for electric like she's been doing for the past 40 years.

[EricKei]

Yup. That's exactly what I was thinking of. It's just that, with our power company (they're all "legalized monopolies" here), they might "accidentally" turn you off anyway, but they WILL bust ass getting it back on afterwards.

Keep in mind that this was the company that charged people (including myeself) double rates or more for September 2005. Ya know, the month where nobody was allowed into the city...?