Call centre workers: spill the beans

vep

I work for an insurance company, I feel very lucky to be working for who I do because, I am allowed to converse with customers, have a chat take my time over a quote for insurance and just make the customer feel comfy on the phone, I have a script that I have to follow but it is mainly to make sure I give all the information that is required by law,
Many of my customers are older and I may be the only person they chat to that day, if any call with problems or enquiries I will give them as much as I can, but many times I have to pass them on, but we all treat our customers like we would older relatives,


I have been doing this job for 1 year and its the nicest call centre I worked in and for in 30 odd years.

podoman

I have always used the calm, purposeful approach, seeking help.


It's surprising how menacing politeness can be to someone not used to it. I was once told that by an operative

geerex

Claree__x wrote: »

I worked in call centres for around 3 years previously (on the phones & managing) and the attitude of some of the advisors posting on this thread is mental! I know it's not cool when people are rude to you on the phone but that doesn't mean that you should do the bare minimum for them - how is that meant to help with customer retention/service?

How does paying minimum wage or near minimum wage help encourage staff retention/service?
Sorry, but call centres are the worst jobs in the world, deigned by greedy companies and worked in by lazy people. I would rather be unemployed than set foot in one ever again.
I, for my part, am glad to have shown utter contempt to the companies that employed me, and their customers. Don't get me wrong, I was good at my job, and showed respect to those who deserved it. I just wasn't a mug who would put up with ranting idiots or ignorant foreigners.

Claree__x

geerex wrote: »

How does paying minimum wage or near minimum wage help encourage staff retention/service?
Sorry, but call centres are the worst jobs in the world, deigned by greedy companies and worked in by lazy people. I would rather be unemployed than set foot in one ever again.
I, for my part, am glad to have shown utter contempt to the companies that employed me, and their customers. Don't get me wrong, I was good at my job, and showed respect to those who deserved it. I just wasn't a mug who would put up with ranting idiots or ignorant foreigners.

I'm not sure why I'm even replying after your last line - but I will.

My first job was in retail - paying £3.38/hour (nmw was £3.30 at the time if I recall). I moved from that into a call centre paying £5/hour. Not a lot - obviously - but at 16 it felt like a fortune in comparison.
Any call centre I've worked in has been above minimum wage and generally above retail/supermarket wages. I'm not saying they're "good" wages but they're definitely not the worst paid.

warehouse

dotdash79 wrote: »

We will try and pass notes but they don't always read them or get them.

What do you mean try? Either you do or you don't, and if you do then why don't they get them or read them?

Then you wonder why the public get the hump!

daytona0

Claree__x wrote: »

I worked in call centres for around 3 years previously (on the phones & managing) and the attitude of some of the advisors posting on this thread is mental! I know it's not cool when people are rude to you on the phone but that doesn't mean that you should do the bare minimum for them - how is that meant to help with customer retention/service?

Unless you work on commission, tight targets or you are a manager then customer retention is not factoring as any sort of priority in many agents' lives. Especially when you get paid minimum wage to take abuse. I can understand why people would want to be a manager but in the place i worked they were fools.... 1 pound more an hour and a load of crap. Sod that! Why should an agent go out of their way for horrible people? Also, the bare minimum is surprisingly an acceptable way of approaching an agent role.... The problem is that if you are an agent who goes out of their way most if the time then managers will pick up on the times that you don't. It is therefore better to do minimal stuff for all customers

aileth

warehouse wrote: »

What do you mean try? Either you do or you don't, and if you do then why don't they get them or read them?

Then you wonder why the public get the hump!

I think what he means is that you'll pass the note, but whether the person you're passing it to cares or notices it is dependent on that person. You've fulfilled your responsibility by passing the note to the person it concerns.

I had it multiple times where I had either written something on a notebook piece of paper or on a sticky note, placed it in the middle of the person's keyboard and they've removed it without reading it, or in summer they've come back to their desk from lunch, turned the fan on and not noticed the bit of paper being blown to the floor (Yes, really).

worried_jim

Brilliant thread- very interesting. I manage the resource in call centers through out the world for a high street bank. I make sure that we have the appropriate resource available to take your call when you ring and keep waiting times to a minimum.

Of course there are some days and times when we will be busy all day so here are some tips-

-Many depts are open on Bank holidays- but nobody calls us- give it a try!

-4pm is probably the busiest time to call as is the advert break in a big England game or as soon as Coronation St has finished/ad break.

-If you are calling to make a payment the last Friday/day of the month will always be extremely busy from the start of day to the end of day as call volumes can be triple the average daily amount and we can't recruit staff just to work one day of the month.

When you call and you are waiting- I know, I am watching you in the queue and rest assured I will be doing everything I can to speed this service up for you.

I can be in the process of directing your call across different continents in an attempt to see your call get dealt with.

You are definitely not just a number to me, you are my everything, it's what I am paid to do, and my managers and directors review my performance daily.

If you are calling today after 1pm I may be looking after your call and the service you receive!

edit- nobody gets paid minimum wage either!

purpleweasel

As a customer i would much rather not be told that "your call is important to us" when i am in a long queue.

I also really hate it when i get an unsolicited sales call (yes i am on TPS but that doesn't stop them) and they start with smilingly false "hello and how are you today?". We know why you're calling, just say what your script says so i can tell you no and it will be much quicker all round.

I know the poor !!!!!!s on the end of the phone have no say in either of these things but someone out there must have the power to just cut the cr and get on with it

Doc_N

geerex wrote: »

When I used to work for BT, I used to hang up on anyone who sounded like the following: hard of hearing, foreign (poor English), people who were calling on behalf of someone who couldn't speak English (why not?), the drunk, the sweary, the stupid, those who had hoovers/blaring music/screaming children, and anyone else I thought would be hard work.
My call stats were woeful, im surprised that I lasted as long as I did. Horrible, horrible soul crushing work.

geerex wrote: »

How does paying minimum wage or near minimum wage help encourage staff retention/service?
Sorry, but call centres are the worst jobs in the world, deigned by greedy companies and worked in by lazy people. I would rather be unemployed than set foot in one ever again.
I, for my part, am glad to have shown utter contempt to the companies that employed me, and their customers. Don't get me wrong, I was good at my job, and showed respect to those who deserved it. I just wasn't a mug who would put up with ranting idiots or ignorant foreigners.

I do agree with you that call centre staff are often exploited by their employers. But you add: 'I was good at my job'? Really?

You talk in derogative terms about 'the hard of hearing', 'ignorant foreigners', 'ranting idiots', 'the stupid' and add that you used also to hang up on anyone you thought would be hard work. You add that you showed utter contempt for customers.

Is that being good at your job?

You seem to have an attitude problem considerably bigger than that of the hapless souls who had the misfortune to speak to you, though. Maybe you should seek some form of counselling to help you.

I'm assuming that BT sacked you for incompetence - if not, they certainly should have done. Very few employers would want somebody with your attitude in any capacity - and I don't just mean call centres. Attitudes like that are corrosive.

Are you a UKIP supporter, by the way?