Your fixing it today? Get me a supv!

[XXDarrienX]

We were just in our normal work chat complaining about idiot customers that call us. When a supv in the channel said that she took a sup call for a customer that was unhappy which is understandable but he had a technician schedule for 4-7pm. Wth is wrong with some people how? According to the supv the sub had a party at 6:30 and wanted us to send a tech out within the hour and not even the CEO would get that.

I do not get people these days.

[gunsage]

I had a tier 2 agent try to pass me a call from a customer that was already set up with a trouble call involving the SAME ISSUE for the next day. Granted, our tier 2 department is contracted, so they don't have the same info we do at times (kind of a right hand not knowing what the left hand is doing), but the REALLY annoying part?

T2: "Oh! So they already have a trouble call set up?"
Me: "Yeah...weird. In any case, if they already have a trouble call set up, chances are there's nothing that can be done and they'll have to wait for the technician."
T2: "So...do you want to take the call?"

I love it. No really, I love it. Tier 2 tries to dick me, knowing the call is most likely being recorded, by trying to insinuate it's my responsibility to tell the customer "the bad news," which the customer likely already knows, but was thinking the person that set up the trouble call was either full of crap or not really understanding in general (typically number two). How do I respond? WITH A SPINE.

Me: "That won't be necessary. There's nothing further I can do for this customer if he already has a trouble call set up."
T2: "So..."
Me: "Is there something else?"
T2: "Are you refusing to take the call?"
Me: "As I explained, it is not necessary for me to take the call as there is nothing further I would be able to do."
T2: "So..."
Me: "Yes, I am refusing to take the call. Goodbye."

This irritated me for a number of reasons. The agent knew what he was doing. He wanted me to sound like a lazy bastard. The agent ALSO knew he could very easily go back to the customer and DO HIS JOB. Lastly, the customer knew he had a trouble call set up, but was still insistent on getting support for an issue that was technically "in the works" as far as resolution.

Lovely.

[otakuneko]

Kyahh.. I hate when people get upset over dispatch times. Most times though they're upset because they can't get a same-day dispatch. I was always tempted to say, "Look [lady/man] I'm getting you a dispatch for *tomorrow* and you're upset? Try getting that from the cable company! You'd be lucky to get *next week!*"

Dude from the original post should've scheduled his dispatch better in the first place.

[myswtghst]

gunsage - I am so totally with you on that. We get calls in my call center all the time, from other groups asking us to give bad news that they can see themselves in the case notes. No, I do not want to do your job for you.

[gunsage]

My deal is if you don't want to deal with the customer, what makes you think I want to? That and for the most part, our department CAN handle most call types that come through, but we're not specialized in certain areas. In fact, if I had to tally up the areas our agents are not skilled in/we just don't do, it would probably be...

- Cable issues (television)
- General sales (yes, we can make a commission, but we're not expected to sell)
- Installing our free security package
- Disconnects

That's about it. However, we're tier 3. That means a customer is NOT SUPPOSED TO COME TO US FIRST. We don't have a whole lot of people here and while we know how to do most everyone else's job, we aren't babysitters. Thus, I'm deeply perturbed when I get cold transfers (I'll most likely add a definition for that later) that go like this...

Me: "Blah blah level 3, this is Gun Sage speaking."
(Pause, click, pause)
Me: "Sigh...Blah blah level 3, this is Gun Sage speaking."
Cust: "...H-hello?"
Me: "Yes, this is Gun Sage."
Cust: "Uh, hi...my Internet connection isn't working."

At this point you might be wondering what the problem is. Two things. One, COLD TRANSFER. That is completely against policy, but so many people get away with it, it's ridiculous. Two, most likely, that came from tier 1. TIER 1 IS SUPPOSED TO TRANSFER TO TIER 2 UNLESS...

- It's a security issue
- It's a BLATANT wireless issue
- It's a digital phone issue AND they've checked a couple of BASIC things AND made us a ticket
- They have an open tier 3 ticket
- They simply DEMAND to speak with tier 3 (not a supervisor, or their ass is mine)

This is PARAMOUNT. Tier 1 has several call centers, tier 2 is CONTRACTED, so they have MANY call centers...but tier 3? Central office per division. THAT'S IT. If it's clearly my job, hey, no problem! That's what they pay me for! And you know what? If you get on the line and do something along the lines of "Hi, Gun Sage! Hey, I have a problem I want you to take a look at"...NO PROBLEM!

I am more than willing to HELP. What people need to understand is that I (well actually, more like the department in general) am very willing to help. But come on...you're going to cold transfer a customer over or better yet, flat out LIE TO ME to push off a customer because YOU'RE A SPINELESS MORON?! Be glad I don't have a callback function.

Better yet, be glad I don't have a button that stabs you in the face. I think it'd be broken by now!

[AriRashkae]

From the customer's side, sometimes it's not even a transfer!

My mom just upgraded to TW's "All the Best". Great. Except the phones wouldn't work, (Thank gods for cell phones) and the modem wouldn't activate.

Somehow, calling the # that appeared on my computer, saying "Call this to activate your modem" I got Business Tier 3! So I just kept pressing "0" until I got a person who could transfer me to residential.

It ended up being a bad modem out of the box, and because it was no dial tone we had a TW tech there in 3 hours. So no complaints there.

But the phone support never could figure out how I got there either. And when I called back after the new modem (same #) I got residential.

[gunsage]

That's, ah...mighty special. What I love is...

T2: "Yeah, I guess their modem is offline or something."
Me: "Uh, actually it's in an auto-provisioned state, meaning it hasn't received any data yet."
T2: "Oh! So you can handle that, right?"
Me: ...
T2: "...Hello?"
Me: "Hmm? Oh, yes. There you go."
T2: "There...what goes?"
Me: "I sent activation hits. It will be up momentarily."

And thus typically leads back to "ya gonna take im" "no" "rly" "ya rly." I love it. Those are some of the quickest calls, but you'd be surprised what an impatient agent is capable of.

[kwdy]

Ok I think I might work for the same company if not the same regional area. I admit that I have blind transferedcusts to the tier 3 dept. The customers have been lately getting transfered to us (Phones) which can't help them. The problem is we have some long hold times with our tier 3 and if there are calls in que somebody is gonna shout about not takin calls...

I didn't say I like it but I'm kinda between a rock and hard place. Having someone sent to my dept for something I can't handle and having calls in que to handle.

[gunsage]

See, that's just it, though. If there's ANY queue, I don't care. I used to work tier 2, so I understand how hard that whip can crack for low call times and high monitorings. That's perfectly understandable. What bugs me is when we have NO queue (in fact, I pick up VERY quick when my phone rings) and the first thing I hear on the line is a deliberate transfer. It's as if the agent didn't even TRY to see if there was a queue.

When I worked as a tier 2 agent, typically the hold music would give us an approximation on wait time. If it said anything over 5 minutes, click back over to customer, "Okay sir you're now in the X queue, have a good day," transfer. However, if there wasn't a specification made, we were expected to wait for at least 2 minutes, THEN transfer. I know there's a similar policy in our company, which is exactly why I get so peeved.

[kwdy]

Maybe I was a bit unclear, if I hear a rep pick up in tier 3. I will give them any and all info I have and ask to transfer if its beyond my scope for the call. I was saying that we have had a few customers blind transfered to our que for internet issues. I won't blind transfer if someone picks up but if there is a que I put the customer in que. This is per our leads/supvisors

Being in a very specialized dept has its perks and its downsides. (Phones) Sorry I'll shut up now

[gunsage]

No no, you're right. If there's a queue, you're supposed to drop the customer in. 'sall good.