who else hates?

Question

working in a call centre?
I'm startiing to get really upset..to everyone who calls and hurls abuse at us, just to remind you
WE ARE HUMAN
the things going wrong with whatever is your complaint are not our fault we are the just the middle guy the messenger.
pls stop shouting and swearing and telling us how incompetent we are. most of the time we have no knowledge of your partiuclar issue and we really are trying to help.
am at work now and am if one more person shouts at me i swear i'll go mad:

what are your experiences of call centres?

to she-ra, sorry hon I'm on a tea break so ur answers not really valid,
reiterating : im human, we do get tea breaks

to mike.. i'm not a sales person its all incoming calls here.

just a quick edition, i really love my job generally. i think its just been one of those mornings, either that or my wily collegues are pushing all the complaints though to me! ; )

as to not knowing about their complaint let me explain.i work for a courier company..
when i amswer a call.. i am not physic before shouting down the line, 'wheres my effing bike!!!!' i'd appreciate finding out who u actually are first!

for carrie 847: am studying to be a midwife at uni, this just pays the rent ; )

Answer 1

Frankly, I'm just relieved if I get to speak to an actual person, rather than an automated machine response and the person turns out to have some ability to speak English. I can't help myself when some bloke out in Pakistan, or wherever, tries to blag on that he is called John (which invariably cannot be pronounced by the bloke) and I tell them that I'm Imran Patel, then. This always goes totally over the bloke's head, who gets really confused because there isn't an Imran Patel listed under my account number.... you can see how this is going to go, can't you?

When I do get English speakers, I am always patient and polite. This is partly because I'm quite a nice bloke (when I hold back the sarcasm) and partly because I'm leading by example in the hope that the nobhead on the other end of the line might be able to up their game a little to attempt a satisfactory level of service. Unfortunately, it has often been my experience that people employed in this industry cannot cope with even the slightest deviation from the problem scenario on the training cards. For example, my car insurance this year. Firstly, I changed my car. I was insured on a car with a different number plate, so had to ring three times to get somebody to change the number plate on record. Quite what the other two were doing when they claimed to have changed it is beyond me. Then there was the whole pantomime around the tyres - my new car had slightly modified tyres because the original size had become obsolete - and being a good citizen I thought it best to inform the insurance company. Could I get them to understand a difference between tyres and wheels? Well, yes, I could, but only after about ten minutes and having to adopt a "learn with mother" tone of voice, describing a car, it's wheels and which bits the tyre were. Yes, the old sarcasm thing again...

I generally try to be patient and keep an even temper with whatever egit I have to deal with - mainly because I'm intelligent enough to have worked out that I am the one who requires help, and like it or not, the egit on the end of the phone is my only chance of getting that help and we have to work through the problem together.

On rare occasions, I speak to somebody who is both able to speak English and able to do their job. On such occasions, I am positively drooling with thanks. It's a bit pathetic really.

You see, I think we are both victims of the same circumstance. I firmly believe that the idiot quotient among the population has risen to such a point that nearly everybody you encounter during the day is a complete retard. That means most of the people who ring call centres and most of the people who work in them are going to be complete dolts. This is not a problem as long as you always get a pairing of like minded idiot, but causes distress when one of the participants in the conversation actually has a detectable IQ.

I suggest you employ emergency measure sarcasm on the legions of morons with whom you have to converse as standard procedure. If you get a really nasty one, just calmly and politely state that you have a right not to be abused and that the caller is welcome to call back once they've had a time out and calmed down a bit. They can't sack you for that - even if it's every other call.

Anyhow, I hope these little exerpts from my slightly odd perspectives on life have cheered you slightly - and remember, the callers can't see the hand gestures you're making.

Answer 2

I am now a 911 dispatcher and put up with a lot of people yelling, it's understandable. BUT I used to work in call centers as you speak of, and you know what?? The quality of the people that work at call centers has gone WAY down from what it used to be. Half the time you can't even understand what the person you are talking to is saying, either they have a horrible accent or a very bad command of the English language. I have nothing against either, just don't think that answering a phone is the best place for them. Also, a lot of times you call and the call taker has an attitude, can't help and shuffles you off to endless transferring, etc. You need to understand that the people calling you are human too, and they already have a problem to boot. I am not saying they are justified either, just giving you a different perspective from someone who's been there.

Answer 3

I have just left working in a call centre, as I couldnt speak to the 100's of morons that called every week. People are so rude, if I ever heard my son speak to someone on the phone like iv been spoken to he would be in big trouble!!! Then there is the stupidness, I swear on my life that most of the people in the uk have no brain, it is so frustrating. And to all the people saying that this person isnt paying attention to the person on the phone, when youve heard the same question 40 times a day, asked in different ways, then full attention isnt required.

Answer 4

My son worked in a call centre for 3 years. It was a love and hate relationship with the customers! What i mean is that most people were very kind, simply wanted to find a solution for their problems (Satellite TV) And!!! Realised that time spent waiting in a queue wasn't my son's fault! Others were pretty arrogant, shouting innsults, treated him worse than a lump of dirt! All that because they were angry, because they didn't have a signal (Even though all he could do was try send them one) See if they got them and if they didn't ... Refer them to another department, never mind those who didn't pay their bill on time expecting Satellite for free etc ... There were times when he felt totally disenchanted with his job, others when he felt good about it because someone had actually taken the time to thank him for the help he provided!

I'm afraid that i too get crabbit when calling a call centre at times ... But!!! Knowing what my son went through ... I keep my moaning to myself, knowing the person who finally picks up the phone ... Is not responsible for the time i've spent listening to some stupid music i dislike ... Thinking of all the things i could be doing instead of waiting on the phone ... I wouldn't treat anyone the way my son was treated! To me it amounts to verbal abuse! And yes you're right! You are all humans! So are we though LOL Hence we're not perfect and some people go too far!

Hope your next lot of customers make you feel good again!

Answer 5

If you work at a call in centre such as at a supplier or utility authority, you undoubtedly get a heck of a lot of flack. People are just plain rude.
When I trained people to handle rudeness on the phone, I would tell them that if someone were rude they could always think to them selves "I am glad I am not you, because I would hate to have to live you, being mean and unkind, and unhappy. Were you raised in a barn?"
What is really sad is that people working in call centres either in-call or out-call are simply attempting to earn a living, rather than collect idler's pay. And some are very good and professional. I attempt to always be kind because before I had "Dr" in front of my name, I worked some of those jobs.

Answer 6

While I accept that you are not responsible for the faults in the product or service, the classic 'I only work here guv' is not a valid answer.
By constantly abusing the staff and agents of a company that supplies poor quality goods or service, quality employees will leave and agents (including call centres) will refuse to act on behalf of these firms. This will ultimately lead to the failure of sub-standard firms thus improving the lives of the buying public.
My experience? The worst staff to deal with are those who are not allowed to deviate from their printed hymn sheet and answer all questions with a pre-set answer no matter how ridiculous or irrelevant.

Answer 7

Ah the call centre. Most people that work there don't want to, so the level of apathy you get when you have to deal with these folk usually sets the tone for the duration of the call. And then you find out they can't help you and you need to phone another number. Then you go on hold listening to Tori Amos or some other sh*t while you call is placed in a queue and you are constantly reminded how important your call is........really? The worst ones are where you call is redirected to a centre in Lahore and you speak to somone called "Janice" whose actual name is Parvinder. She has been trained before her shift as to what happened in Corrie or Eastenders the night before so she can converse easily with you during those awkward silences where she is just "checking the database".......language barriers/communication breakdowns lead to frayed tempers then either or both parties getting arsey followed by a bit of shouting and threats to end the call or a slam down so hard the other persons ear drum perforates (my favourite). The ones that phone your house just as you are about to tuck into your tea to try and sell you "Toucan Telecom" again pretending their names are suitably "Middle Britain", with English so bad you can't actually understand them properly but seem adamant to want to speak to "the homeowner"...........I just ask them what colour of knickers they are wearing and that particular company doesn't seem to call back.

Sorry to ramble on but you did ask what experiences we had of call centres. I would rather pluck my pubes out with a rusty set of tweezers than work in one. Anyway, you say you get upset when people call and you know nothing about that particular issue. Thats clearly a training issue and you should take it up with your employer. It is incompetence on their part.

Answer 8

AHHHHHH (venting)

I dont even work in call centre but have to answer phone.

Sick of rude people. I am always nice until you are rude then the niceness starts to slip. Yes everyone is human and we all have bad days but I speak clearly and take proper messages and I DO give them to my boss. But I cannot make him pick up the phone and call you back. Please dont shout at me when he hasnt returned your call (more venting)

Pleasantness has to work both ways. I start off nice but if you have a bad attitude its very hard to stay nice (though Im actually not doing a bad job of pretending to be nice) When everyone is nice then the conversation goes better and we can sort your problem out easier, if you shout at us then we are less motivated to do our best for you.

Thankyou for letting me vent about the most unpleasant part of my job-rude people.

Answer 9

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Answer 10

i used to work in a call centre for britains largest credit bookmakers and i loved it ,on the whole most people where fine but you did get some nasty ones but the management where really supportive of the staff as all the supervisors had been telephonists..i think generally,call centres have a high turnaround of staff because it can be stressful ,so people dont stick at it so there are not many experienced staff who can handle irate clients. more investment in training is needed..its a vicious circle..the next time you start to go off on one on the phone, just think, would you speak to someone like that face to face?..would you accept that sort of treatment in your workplace? i doubt it