Do you get worse service if firms think you're a pain in the a^&%?

Shouldn't it work the other way?

In my field, valid complainers (and sometimes even invalid ones) were marked out as requiring careful treatment.

Complaints cost money, and any company worth its salt wants to avoid the costs involved by avoiding future complaints if at all possible.

But then there's npower............ :rotfl:

When I worked in a call centre we wouldn't treat the serial complainers any different, but we would put a note on their file if they got abusive. Nobody wants to help somebody screaming at them!

I have worked for many years in technical support, which is closely related to customer service. Although the theory is that the squeaky wheel gets the grease, and that does hold to some extent, there is a limit to how far that works. It's also a consideration that the kind of squeak the wheel makes has an important impact. Let me explain:

Customer A has a tech problem which is causing them a major headache. They call tech support, and angrilly explain the problem, explain the impact of the problem. They express the opinion that the software isn't fit for purpose, and explain firmly, but politely, that they need it fixed quickly. They do not make threats and they are not abusive towards the company or the technician, but they are angry and quite possibly raise their voice. The tech does his or her thing, but (inevitably) gets held up by having to deal with other customers' problems. Customer A calls back half an hour later to see how things are going, he or she is probably still angry but remains respectful with the tech. Customer A expresses their disappointment that the problem isn't any closer to being fixed and might even put a monetary figure on what it's costing their company for every minute that the system is down. They ask to speak to a manager. Customer A gets treated well, their problem gets fixed as quickly as possible because the manager makes sure that the tech can be taken off other work to focus on this customer's problem.

Customer B has a similarly headachey problem. He or she calls tech support and Fs and blinds about how buggy the software is, how difficult it is to get through to speak to someone on the phone and how they're gonna call the CEO directly if this problem isn't fixed within an hour. The tech will likely bend over backwards to get this customer off their case and will probably fix the problem quickly, but they're driven by stress, not concern for the customer. The tech will also talk in the lunch room, coffee shop and pub for days or weeks to come recanting the story of what a nasty piece of work this customer is, naming the customer and the customer's organisation. Heaven forbid that Customer B caused the problem him- or herself, perhaps by not knowing how to use the software properly, worse that the information the customer was missing is documented somewhere, because this customer now becomes not only nasty but stupid in the tech's story. The whole tech team, now believe that customer to be someone to be fearful of because they get aggressive and throw blame around when the problem is "always" down to the customer not having the first clue about how to use the software. Each time this customer calls, whether the tech wrote anything on the call record at all (which if they're smart, they won't just in case Customer B somehow gets to see that call record one day), whichever tech answers the call, they're going to have heard of Customer B, even if they weren't working for the company when Customer B first called and kicked up a stink because Customer B has gone down in tech oral history as someone who causes trouble, doesn't know what they're doing and is unplesant to work with. The result will be that the tech will do everything they can to end the call as quickly as possible and will likely be curt and/or patronising in the process. Customer B gets below-par customer service because they have alienated the whole team by attacking one of their colleagues.

I have dealt with several Customer Bs in my time. At least one of them had their support contract with the company revoked because they were so abusive to staff. I've also dealt with several Customer As. Yes, my heart tended to sink when I heard their name, but my desire to do a good job and try to turn around their opinion of the software and/or company kicked in and I would do everything in my power to get their problems fixed as soon as possible.

Of course, if Customer A made a habit of calling up like this, every week or two, and if it became clear that Customer A was exaggerating (for example if other people from Customer A's organisation called and said that the problems were not really that big a deal) then Customer A's reputation would soon become as tarnished as Customer B. As a result people's willingness to help Customer A promptly and give them good service would be adversely affected.

I used to work at Vodafone in the "High Value" tier of customers. That was for them who spent around £80 - £100 per month and most likely had more than 1 device with us.

We were able to put notes on the systems that could be removed or changed so that you could warn the next agent what the customer was like, and we did, anyone who screamed or swore got 1 warning, after that warning, that's it, you're gone, I'm not sitting here to have my ears damaged and I'm sure as hell not paid enough to deal with that either. Either you calmly tell me what's wrong and I'll fix it, or you can screech all you want and you'll be hung up on all the time.

This no longer applies of course. Vodafone outsourced all of their customer services to India around 4 years ago, regardless of your account value, it's cheaper to lose some high value customers through poor service than it is to give them anything they want. The UK call centre advisors were able to credit up to £100, send out new phones, arrange out of warranty repairs and pretty much do anything so long as they could justify it, however, it then changed, to authorise anything the first question you'd have to ask was "How much is this customer worth?" and only if they were worth it would they get what they wanted, which was usually a new phone.

I went on sick leave in 2010 and never went back, Vodafone used up all the patience I was given for a lifetime, I would never go back into that kind of job, to make things worse, the few UK customer staff they have now deal solely with complaints, (text removed by MSE Forum Team) they've written to the ombudsman, that really is the only way to get anything dealt with at Vodafone these days.

Having worked in a financial Call Centre some time ago my experience was very much the same as others posting, unless people were abusive you were usually dealt with in exactly the same way.

However there are a couple of suggestions to ensure your complaint gets listened to carefully & that they spend the appropriate length of time dealing with it, especially if as most do - the calls are recorded.
1. Always ask the Customer Adviser's full name.
2. Say in their hearing that you are noting the exact time of the call & of course the date. Even though you have probably been advised by the pre-call tape, ask 'Are the calls recorded?'

Most call centre workers are under pressure to complete so many calls per hour, so may not want to spoil their precious call ratio by dealing effectively with a complaint, which will almost certainly take longer than the advised average per call. If the call centre rep knows that you have got their details and know the exact times it will be very easy to trace the call at a later date if it hasn't been dealt with properly.

So by just following the above, you will ensure that whoever you are speaking to has your full attention and will allot a reasonable time to deal with it. I lost count of the people ringing up to complain about the service they had received from another operator, to be told it was lady and they think the call might have been Monday or Tuesday in the morning or afternoon. I then had to explain that without further details we would have no chance of tracing the call!

Obviously no matter how angry you are it costs nothing to be polite, its highly unlikely that the person at the other end of the phone is personally responsible.

My major gripe is with Call Centres which are located abroad usually in Asia or India. The staff are instructed to follow a set sheet of instructions when dealing with calls and are unable to diversify or use normal 'common sense'. I must have told at least a dozen call workers that they would be unable to call me back on my mobile phone as living in a rural area I don't have any reception, to be advised repeatedly that they need my mobile phone number in order to test my landline phone, I firmly asking to speak to a team leader who manages to do the test without having to call my mobile! It was one of the reasons I moved from TalkTalk to Plusnet.