Calling all call centre workers - advice needed!

scaredofdebt

Depends on the bank really, some are good, some are bad.

I worked in a bank call centre for a couple of years and then got promoted.

I have a background in IT, qualifications but no experience - got promoted into their technical support department.

I was then promoted into their IT department as a Systems Developer another 4 years later.

Worked in that department getting promoted another 3 times over the course of 7 years. I was grossing £45k (in a good year including bonus) and doing less than 40 hours a week. The job was pretty dull but for what they were paying I wasn't complaining, too much!

I obviously got promoted above my level of competence at some stage as they then outsourced the job to India and I was made redundant, but the package was nice.

So yes, if you're working for the right company there is potential.

Lec123_2

I did inbound for an insurance company for 2.5 years, then outbound at an energy company for a few months, which was the worst of the worst. As above the management were also pretty bad and the staff turnover was very high there.

People seem to develop a rudeness on the phone that far surpasses how they would probably be face to face. Hearing a timid, withered voice pick up the phone that would then turn in to a confident, rude, almost threatening tone once you said who you were was the type of call that used to rile me up the most.

Give it a few months to settle in. If people are rude try being overly polite. After being sworn at repeatedly in one call I told the bloke to have a fantastic night, which seemed to send him in to a rage. Was very satisfying. :-D

sosheadset

scaredofdebt wrote: »

Depends on the bank really, some are good, some are bad.

I worked in a bank call centre for a couple of years and then got promoted.

I have a background in IT, qualifications but no experience - got promoted into their technical support department.

I was then promoted into their IT department as a Systems Developer another 4 years later.

Worked in that department getting promoted another 3 times over the course of 7 years. I was grossing £45k (in a good year including bonus) and doing less than 40 hours a week. The job was pretty dull but for what they were paying I wasn't complaining, too much!

I obviously got promoted above my level of competence at some stage as they then outsourced the job to India and I was made redundant, but the package was nice.

So yes, if you're working for the right company there is potential.

Wow, that sounds amazing. And that's kinda the direction I'd love to go in. As long as I'm progressing, then I'd be happy. I believe there is potential for the company I work for. If nothing else, I'm certain about that. They've been so welcoming and supportive and I honestly feel like I'm with the right people and in the right place to begin my career.

If I can just get used to these calls and fall into a 'rhythm' I think I could be happy and make it work. I just hate this period where I'm trying to get used to things. I just hope I can get used to things pretty quickly. Like I said, I think I'm in a good place so I really don't want to give them job up or leave the company.

Thank you x

sosheadset

Lec123 wrote: »

I did inbound for an insurance company for 2.5 years, then outbound at an energy company for a few months, which was the worst of the worst. As above the management were also pretty bad and the staff turnover was very high there.

People seem to develop a rudeness on the phone that far surpasses how they would probably be face to face. Hearing a timid, withered voice pick up the phone that would then turn in to a confident, rude, almost threatening tone once you said who you were was the type of call that used to rile me up the most.

Give it a few months to settle in. If people are rude try being overly polite. After being sworn at repeatedly in one call I told the bloke to have a fantastic night, which seemed to send him in to a rage. Was very satisfying. :-D

This post is showing me how bad things can be at other call centres and it makes me appreciate where I am and it also makes me feel a little ungrateful for complaining in the first place.

I think my being polite would be no problem. I'm pretty easy going and find it difficult to be rude (even when people deserve it!) My problem is, I'm just a little too sensitive and some calls do upset me. I just need to develop a thick skin and try and not let it bother me.

Haha, I can't what that man must have been thinking! I can see how satisfying it would be for you and probably a lot of others as well but I personally wouldn't have the nerve to say something like that! But yes, I'll be polite as I possibly can and hope that it calms the customer down.

Thank you x

scaredofdebt

You do develop a thick skin and the quicker you get over a bad call and pick up the phone the easier it gets.

Concentrate on hitting your targets and especially what they prioritise as most important and you'll be fine.

A lot of people cannot hack or don't want to hack the type of job, it can easily be too demanding so stick at it. Attrition rates are typically 30% or more for call centres so they do value people who stick it out.

dacouch

I'm guessing you work for Santander

work_to_live

ive worked in a call centre for a bank for the last 5 years and in my experience it just gets worse as you become more and more frustrated and angry at customers. they never change. if anything customers have got worse over the years and there is a massive blame culture now and very few people take responsibility for their own actions. see my recent post about wanting out of this job. in my honest opinion, you should get out as quick as you can before you end up with depression and anxiety problems like me

whitewing

See if you can listen in to a colleague's calls for half a day. They won't be able to control who comes through to them so if they aren't in tears it is because they are handling things differently. You will learn a lot from a good colleague.

I usually take 6 weeks to get used to a new role.

EndlessStruggle

I used to work in inbound sales/customer service for a catalogue company and had a woman scream abuse hysterically at me because I couldn't work out what the "pink thing on the page here" was. Wouldn't give me a code, a page number, just the pink thing and there were pink things on practically every page... You have to take the good with the bad in any call centre, some calls will make you want to cry, some will make you laugh and smile. It's the nature of the business. You'll soon forget about the bad calls and work out your own way of dealing with them out of the work environment

scaredofdebt

work_to_live wrote: »

ive worked in a call centre for a bank for the last 5 years and in my experience it just gets worse as you become more and more frustrated and angry at customers. they never change. if anything customers have got worse over the years and there is a massive blame culture now and very few people take responsibility for their own actions. see my recent post about wanting out of this job. in my honest opinion, you should get out as quick as you can before you end up with depression and anxiety problems like me

In my experience it gets easier as you gain confidence. After all, what's the worst they can do? Shout and make empty threats?

:T

It was worse when I worked in retail as a store manager and got threats of abuse from Neanderthals stood right in front of me.

But everyone deals with things differently of course.