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There are certain instances where the customer has every right to be angry. In most of those cases I understand their frustration and will go out of my way to help someone out even if I'm being cursed out in the process. The other day I got a customer that was the coolest guy ever. He set up the order to connect his electric a week before and was supposed to get a payment in and call back before the order could be sent. He did every single thing that he was supposed to do and called back twice to get his electricity actually turned on. Both times he spoke with one of our trainee noobs from the contracting firm they're using to replace us when we get fired. (it's cheaper for the company since they don't have to pay these people benefits since that money could go towards one of the multi million dollar bonuses our executives get but I'm not, like, bitter about that or anything.) So really this is the 4th call in a week this customer has had to make in order to just get his power back. But when he calls in he actually lets me finish my greeting and in the nicest way possible tells me exactly what has happened and why he's calling.
I review the account and he's absolutely right. The noobs he spoke with before didn't even check to see if the order to connect the meter was actually in the system and told him it would be back the next day. It was after our normal hours on a Sunday so technically I wasn't supposed to do anything but I felt horrible for this guy. So after some backflips and workarounds I managed to get the order sent and let the customer know exactly what had gone wrong and what I had done to send the order and apologized that he had to call so many times to get the problem resolved. The customer thanked me profusely and gave me a complement that I unfortunately hear all too often: "thanks bro, you're the only person that I've talked to that actually knows what's going on. Everyone else just blew off my call after about 45 seconds of looking into the account." He was such a cool guy that he offered me a job at his company which, since all of our calls are recorded, I had to politely decline. He put in a good word for me with my supervisor and everything. People like this are the reason I haven't lost my mind at that job. Yet.
I'm a pretty calm guy and I treat every CSR I interact with as kindly as possible even if I'm having loads of trouble with their company. I know what they do isn't easy because I do it too. But had I been in this guys shoes I at least would've been a little more frustrated than he was. I don't think I could have been as laid back as this guy. I wish every customer was like him.
I review the account and he's absolutely right. The noobs he spoke with before didn't even check to see if the order to connect the meter was actually in the system and told him it would be back the next day. It was after our normal hours on a Sunday so technically I wasn't supposed to do anything but I felt horrible for this guy. So after some backflips and workarounds I managed to get the order sent and let the customer know exactly what had gone wrong and what I had done to send the order and apologized that he had to call so many times to get the problem resolved. The customer thanked me profusely and gave me a complement that I unfortunately hear all too often: "thanks bro, you're the only person that I've talked to that actually knows what's going on. Everyone else just blew off my call after about 45 seconds of looking into the account." He was such a cool guy that he offered me a job at his company which, since all of our calls are recorded, I had to politely decline. He put in a good word for me with my supervisor and everything. People like this are the reason I haven't lost my mind at that job. Yet.
I'm a pretty calm guy and I treat every CSR I interact with as kindly as possible even if I'm having loads of trouble with their company. I know what they do isn't easy because I do it too. But had I been in this guys shoes I at least would've been a little more frustrated than he was. I don't think I could have been as laid back as this guy. I wish every customer was like him.