OK, it was a long day, so I feel this is warranted: Please take a few tips on some do's and don't when you call CS. 1. Yelling and cursing at us does not help. It only makes things worse. If you are asking for help and cursing/yelling/throwing a tantrum/calling us names, it does not enlist sympathy for your cause. 2. Do some of your OWN research. 99% of calls involving bills that "must be wrong because they are too high" are correct, the person just never reviewed the bill to see the charges. In fact, if you haven't yet received or went online and looked at the bill, don't call at all and say it's wrong. I get that all day long and it drive me crazy. 3. Accept responsibility for the situation. If the bill is wrong we'll fix it. If it's not don't try to weasel out of it. I hear so many "I thought thats" and "I was under the impression of" statements that it makes me sick. You thought wrong. You had the wrong impression. 4. Stop asking for supervisors when you don't get your way. Supervisors don't have any access that a regular rep has. They may explain the same thing to you in a different manner, but 99.9% of the time they are going to offer you the exact same thing the CS Rep offered you. If we need a supervisor during the call, WE'LL talk to them. I speak with my sups all day long regarding calls and know when they need to get invovled. 5. Listen to the phone menus. 90% of the transfers I have to do are because the caller did not bother to LISTEN to the options and just pressed anything to get out of them, or just started hitting "0" immediately and repeatedly until the finally got transferred to CS by default. The menus are there for a reason. They will direct you to the right group over 95% of the time if you just slow down, listen to each menu ENTIRELY, THEN make your choice. This not only reduces call volumes, but cuts down on your waiting time. Why wait 10 minutes to talk to CS for a post dated payment, only to have to be transferred to Financial Service for another 5 minute wait, when if you listened to the menu you could have been in the correct line to start with? 6. Treat CS like a person and be polite. We will likely respond the same. OK, I'm done ranting. You get the idea though.
Well said Bryan. Your points work for any customer service situation, no matter who or what it is. Having worked CS in the past, your points are exactly why I WILL NEVER do it again. I worked for a cable company eons ago, so I sympathize. I couldn't believe the stuff I would hear. I have since learned to deal with CS much like you stated, as I understand how difficult the job is.
It's been a bad WEEK. Courtesy goes a long way too. If you want to be treated with courtesy you need to BE courteous, and it seems lately that society is forgetting that. After today, I'd another item to my list: Let me finish talking. Don't constantly interrupt me. I'm supposed to hear you out, but you need to repay that by hearing me out. Communication won't work if you won't let me finish my sentence. Also, don't hang up on me in the middle of a sentence. That's just plain rude. Every time that happens I so want to call the person right back and finish my sentence.
Oh, one more (this is a pet peeve of mine): You do not have the RIGHT to talk to a supervisor. I hate it when I'm told that. You can 'request' to speak with one but we do not HAVE to put one on the phone. Many times supervisors won't get on the line regardless.
Today's lesson: 1. When setting a password to use when you call in, make sure you make it something you can remember and also remember it has NOTHING to do with your online My Account password. I got screamed and yelled at no less than four times today because the callers can not remember the password they told us to use. If you forget it NOBODY can talk to you over the phone. 2. If you set up a business account, make sure you specifically designate Authorized Users at that time. If you call in and all that the account shows is the business name, I can't talk to you. I don't care if the caller ID name on a line has your name on it, that doesn't matter. Again, no less than three people screamed at me today abou that. Why do people yell and curse? At best it makes me unsympathetic to your cause; at worst it give me a reason to hang up on you and, if you continue to do it, a reason for you to be termnated for Customer Abuse.
STOP immediately demanding to speak to a Supervisor! Geeze this gets me angry. As soon as I get a call a caller demands to speak to a supervisor. That is NOT the way to speak to a supervisor. NO rep will just hand the call off. Reps need to find out the problem and help you deal with it.; if a Supv needs to be involved WE will involve them. Today I got immediate demands, three times, for a supervisor as soon as I came on the line. The result: 1) Customer would not say why. If you won't tell me why, you won't speak with a Supervisor. PERIOD. End of story. 2) A person was angry at the treatment they received at a Sales Office. Why do you think complaining to a CS Supervisor will help? They don't know or have any control over sales reps in retail locations. They can't help you improve service in stores. Deal with the STORE manager and stop calling CS. 3) Last one was a caller upset over a settlement offer on their bill. They went over on minutes. It was CLEAR AS DAY they did it and knew it. They wanted the overages just removed as they were a "long time customer" (a whopping 14 months, mind you, that they had been with Alltel). They were offered a rerate to a higher plan to help with the overages instead, which is the best we can do. What do you think a supervisor will do in that case? Offer you the rerate. There is no bargaining with that, and any CS REP can do that. So think before you call, people. STOP asking for supervisors. If we need them we will get them.
