Are people generally stupid without realising it?

plumduff-2

woohoo_postingid wrote:

I think everybody should be made to work in retail or a call centre for a year to experience the stupidity of the general public.

My experience of dealing with idiots is when discussing things with people in 'proffessional' jobs...

The bloke from British Gas telling me USwitch are entirely funded by Scottish Power

The bailiffs telling me that they are entitled to make a levy through a window

The bailiffs telling me they can levy on a financed car

British Gas charging for periods when a house has sat vacant and they tell me that they are allowed to do this

Call Centre staff at any DCA not having a clue about any legalities or the OFT Guidelines when debt collecting and making outrageous remarks that have no basis in law - oh, on a daily basis...

If you think the general public is thick, its probably because they have been listening to half baked idiots on the phone telling them one thing one day and another thing the next... Phone companies being the worse...

gyzmo

The problem with call centres are that:

They pick any old fool with an IQ above 10 (
They provide totally inadequate training (most insurers spend 1 out of 4 weeks teaching insurance, the rest is customer service or systems training)
So many targets are introduced but someone forgot to include "do the job properly" (staff could quite easily do nothing yet pass the call audit and look good on paper)
Staff are promoted according to how brown their noses are
Companies tell customer how wonderful the company is and how good their staff are (see any ad for a company you have dealt with, then compare to experience)
customers believe it, or at least expect it (see above)
Customers get fed up and angry at all of above (see yourself)
Staff get fed up at all of above and realise the job advert was a pack of lies (ditto).

moonrakerz

I put on another thread about how useless the NHBC were trying to resolve problems with my house.

During this saga I had a letter from them saying:

Dear Sir,
please find enclosed a copy of our booklet,"What to do if your builder goes bust" (He hand't and I didn't tell the NHBC that he had)
Yours faithfully,
etc

You might think this a little strange BUT - hand written across the bottom of the letter was:

PS: this book is out of stock

11 out of 10 for stupidity !!!

plumduff-2

classic...!

plumduff-2

Just remember my personal favorite...

British Gas I think... disputing the amount of money being stuffed in a meter every week...

"well how often is the heating on for..?" [her]
"an hour in the morning and two hours of an evening" [me]
"oh, well thats why she is using so much gas, she needs to leave it on all day - its cheaper...!"

D'oh....!

andyrules

plumduff, I was told that by BG a few years back! Must be a favourite of theirs.

Morglin

I had NTL years ago for my phone..........it started to make weird noises whenever it rang, and I phoned the NTL "helpline" to find out why.

Forty minutes, four menus, being cut off twice and finally through to a human being later..........they told me they had also allocated my phone number to a shipping firm as their fax number, and the noises was people trying to send me faxes.:mad:

When I told them to kindly remove the shipping firm from my line, the guy on the other end of the phone started yelling at me that I was lucky to have ANY phone, the fax noises were something I should live with, and where he came from they didn't even have running water.

Eh???:eek:

I thought NTL were based in Catford, London at that time.:eek: :eek:

The next day I switched back to BT.

They may be crap, but at least I don't have to try and solve the third world at the same time.:j

Lin

earthmother

Here's one - World Books - first order after the cheap parcel at that (not boding well for me is it )

I receive the parcel - two books enclosed - one's in good condition, the other looks like it's been on Salisbury Plain during manouvres.

I ring them up and tell them I need an item replacing because it arrived damaged - give them all the numbers, and a parcel arrives on my doorstep today.

"Great!", I think, "that was quick", until I opened the parcel to find it's another of the 'good condition' books, and the paperwork has no mention of the damaged item.

So I go online, thinking maybe putting it in writing will get through better (it's definitely cheaper - has no-one found a geographic number for BCA yet?), only to find not only have they managed to reorder the wrong item, but they've also managed to increase my bill by some strange and totally 'plucked from the air' amount (hey, maybe I'm being charged for that phone call again )


I await the 'you have mail' ping with anticipation (or is that dread?)

illuminate

Honeydog wrote:

Yeah we're a funny bunch........ comes from starting at 9.00 and finishing at 3.30 And other urban myths.

Mind you the holidays are great!!!

Has jealousy made you bitter illuminate?

Nah not jealous..... you couldn't pay me enough to spend all day with a classroom full of kids.... can't handle the 2 nephews for more than a few hours !

We do have staff here with the qualifications to fulfill teaching roles. Its a myth that all call centre staff are brainless numpties. Many are taking career breaks (but still have a mortgage to pay) and others have just found themselves unemployed from jobs they have had for years and consequently lack the skills to look elsewhere.

The most comman problem is people calling up after very specific information, but getting shirty when you ask for more than just their name.

lesinge2k

ooo000ooo wrote:

LOL i used to love those calls, Usually dealt with by saying "well now that you've got here how can i help you?" or by asking for their details so you can log their complaint about the call steering, rattling a few buttons on the keyboard so it sounds like you're doing something then thanking them for their call and ending the call before they've realised they've forgotten what they originally called for

That brings up an interesting point. When speaking to call centre staff (UK ones), they often promise to do something after dealing with my current request. They are often so eager to end the call that I have to remind them of the thing they promised me a few minutes ago. This has happened so often now. I haven't found that problem with Indian call centres though, who remember everything they promise.