rude call centre customers!

ruiner99

The call centre i work in gets calls 24 hours a day and some of them have absolutly NOTHING to do with us and i can't stress nothing enough. we have 0870 numbers but still the calls come in because they think that we are supposed to be able to tell them anything even though there is no connection between their question and the company they are calling. then when we tell them that we can't help them they go nuts, scream why not, and then demand to speak to a manager so they can complain about you for not helping them.

also after midnight we get more drunks and nutters than ever believed existed. i mean who calls any company sober just because they think their tv is giving them the runs (honestly that is a true call). i appreciate all the callers who are calm, have a point and put it across without repeating it 5 times because they think you are too stupid to understand it (have been told that several times) .

manners are a learned discipline and some people are just too ignorant to learn anything.

end of my rant.

Mark7799

I also wonder if saynoto0870.com has caused any increase in traffic to 'wrong' numbers. If so, well done to saynoto0870!

SAP_Saver

I think that there is no longer such a thing as good old customer service. I recently obtained a AMEX Plat. card and was dealt with by American Call Centre staff and was SHOCKED by how polite and back to baiscs they were, please, thank you, sorry we kept you (10 seconds)... , how has your day been, enjoy your weekend... I can go on with the kind attitude of the staff. I HATE calling UK call centres normally because I get indian staff who can not understand my request or peopole who just don't care!!! bring back the good olds days of Ps and Qs and not slave driven targets and £5 p/hour sweat shops!

hollydays

I am interested to know what training you are given.,cos i foolishly believed that the customer was supposed to be kept happy.What i find the most frustrating with call centres is having to repeat your problem every time you ring up,even if its been the 10th call on the same subject. This is bound to make customers annoyed.Also i would like them to own up to it when they have messed up,rather than just talk to me in monotone,giving the impression they are not the slightest bit interested.

grex9101

nenya wrote:

i see all the points but if you would like verging on the rediculous - i work in call centre and all our cust no's are 0800 so anyway someone called us and demanded to be us to help them because they wouldn't phone BGas because we have free phone numbers and BGas don't. Now that is taking the mickey really don't you think.

I'd be surprised if they'd be able to understand you if you talk like you type....

jamescredmond

ooooh. steady. probably typo errors. be nice! (Or would you like me to use capitals at the start of every sentance?).

fudgeukraine

Agree with some other call centre workers here. I work in one when on holiday from Uni and feel so frustrated at the attitude of some of the public. Demanding things that we can't do, solely cause they are too lazy/stubborn to dial the correct number. I used to work on the freephone sales number, as opposed to the 0870 billing number I'm now on, and every 2nd call on the 0800 number was people going mental at me for not being able to help or transfer the call.

I wish people would deal with us with manners, I'm happy to deal with peoples problems - IF it's within my remit (and no, refusing to call technical because "they're indian" does not bode any water with me. Shouting at me and getting a supervisor will only result in 30 mins of both our time wasted and an eventual outcome of having to call technical anyway. If I could help you with tech probs, I would happily, but I can't, so I'm not going to pretend I can or cannot!)

People say the 0870 call costs them money/makes us money - get real. an 0870 call costs something like 7ppm, of which the company might get something like 2p (and offpeak of 3.5ppm, it'll be 0.5p). So even if I took calls solidly for 60 minutes, which never happens (it's more like about 45m or so) then it's be £1.20 for the company. Now, I'll tell you we don't work for £1.20 so this kind of puts that idea out the frame!

I'm sure almost everyone in they're walk of life has worked in a crap job at some time, I'm young and at uni, therefore I can't establish a career and therefore have to take low-paid menial jobs no-one else wants to do. This does NOT give you the right to treat me like something on the sole of your shoe, solely because you earn more than me (hey, being older and having worked longer than me, I'd expect that!) I don't treat people in customer service like dirt as they have no right to be treated like that so why should I? because of a simple error that they personally didn't do but have to take a bollocking for? there's no need for shouting at me, calling me scum, asking how I sleep at night, solely because we cut you off for not paying your bill for 4 months, or you refuse to call the right department, or that you claim to have never called 'the mint' 200 times in a month and that there is no-way your children could possibly have done this :rolleyes:

Nice long rant for a first post, but I had to get it out!

Contains_Mild_Peril

I know what you mean, fudgeukraine. My sister used to work in a call centre for a major electricity and gas supplier, and she got all sorts of abusive calls, and customers trying to guilt-trip her if they'd run out of powercards etc., and expecting her to be able to fix their problems instantly.

hollydays wrote:

I am interested to know what training you are given.,cos i foolishly believed that the customer was supposed to be kept happy.What i find the most frustrating with call centres is having to repeat your problem every time you ring up,even if its been the 10th call on the same subject. This is bound to make customers annoyed.Also i would like them to own up to it when they have messed up,rather than just talk to me in monotone,giving the impression they are not the slightest bit interested.

Yes, indeed. My husband and I had a long-running dispute with Homecall, and they didn't seem to keep any record of our previous communications for the poor so-and-so on the end of the phone to refer to, so we had to repeat the same story and give the same details (dates, amounts etc) to many different members of staff, and sometimes it seemed like banging our heads off a brick wall.
The ones I feel really sorry for are those who work for the tax credits helpline. I'm sure that not all of them are personally responsible for the IR's incompetence, and they're probably undertrained and only able to provide or act upon the data on the computer in front of them, but they must have to deal with so much frustration, anger and desperation from callers whose cases have been messed up.

ruiner99 wrote:

also after midnight we get more drunks and nutters than ever believed existed. i mean who calls any company sober just because they think their tv is giving them the runs (honestly that is a true call).

:rotfl: Classic!

hollydays

Ha ha,Homecall!Yes thats exactly who I was referring too as well-therein lies madnesss.Very Polite-but totally disorganized and incompetant.Edit-no i never once was rude or lost my temper with them,cos i dont believe it gets you anywhere.And guess what,-being polite got me nowhere either-good ole Homecall.

steve_cov

I'm afraid I have no sympathy for anyone in a call centre, since they generally take the view that their presence is doing the customer a favour, rather than the customer doing their company the favour.

TO ALL COMPANIES: Don't deny responsibility for services you provide or which you charge me for using.

Worst call centres recently: Alliance & Leicester (Vicky in Leeds, you have been named and shamed); Orange (ignorant pair in the north-east); Npower (took awful offence when I corrected her dreadful grammar for the third time, although it was tremendous fun).