Actually, I think that you’re the one who is reading too much into the OP, probably because you’ve been on the phone with these sorts of customers.
That may be what he meant, but it’s not what he SAID. I’m going by what he said. And by my reading, she wasn’t screaming at that point.
When you remove the clause in between the commas, I said, “And that… is a bunch of shit.” Which referred to the quote about 1. the lack of a higher management team, and 2. that he was REQUIRED to sell her a new plan to fix it. I was mostly talking about the former. I’d bet you that all the upper management team would do is the same thing, just invisibly, because that’s almost always the easiest solution. But it’s certainly not impossible, and if he actually said that to her, a very poor choice of words.
Sure, entirely likely. But that’s not what he SAID in his OP. And I would certainly be pissed if I was told that I needed a new account instead of fixing my old one - only I would be sane enough to listen to the explanation instead of flying off the handle.
I am absolutely not excusing the behavior of the customer! Or think that he should have pushed the call further up once she started acting like that. But have you even read the title of this thread, or some of his other responses? He’s a gatekeeper, yes. But he’s not the final authority - or at least, he shouldn’t be. If he is, it’s a company failure. And in that case, it’s certainly not something to gloat about.
:dubious: Now you’re just projecting again. Some people in this thread are piling on, but a lot of us are just pointing out that he’s not acting entirely sympathetically here.
That’s 'cause you have your panties in a twist and a chip on your shoulder.
If it’s the companies mistake the words, ‘I can’t fix that’, shouldn’t ever leave the reps mouth. And if you have experience with this you should be able to admit as much.
To follow up with ‘I will sell’ you something else, is too stupid to need explanation.
This is not good customer service, and will set off a, righteously angry, customer. Giving a petty tyrant the opportunity to wield his power. Such that, they may not hear you as you back pedal away about, “well, actually, we could just do this”. Which he admitted he could do only when challenged. And has yet to clarify whether what he was proposing to sell her was more expensive or not. That’s a little telling, don’t you think, especially when he’s been asked repeatedly?
Good customer service is about nuance, and not inflaming the situation. None of that was demonstrated here.
No one has the right to scream at someone, we are all agreed. But this was still shit customer service not matter how you try and wrap it up.
Reps like this are the reason they tape the calls, so they don’t have to take their word for it. Yes, the customer did scream at you, no you don’t have to take that, but you’re not here to bait them into it, you’re here to calm them and solve their problems.
Sure . I’ve acknowledged that choice of words is important which is why that kind of loose policy is correct. Having made such a minor slip , even though it’s completely factual, the next step is to tell them the positives of what you can do and how the problem will be resolved. It’s a ridiculous extreme to now pile on Chimera because the customer freaked out at a minor negative.
I took it that Chimera looked at the refund to see if it could in fact be canceled since that was the customer’s request. since it had been a week the solution was to re sell the policy at no cost to her using the money from the original cancellation that she wanted. As I suggested, that type of transaction is relatively simple but requires the approval of the customer.
If when you try to explain she takes off on an irrational rant and refuses to listen that limits the choices of the CS rep.
It’s not more money, it’s the same money. Granted I can understand how the customer might misunderstand but you can only offer her the solutions that reality permits.
Yes we mistakenly canceled and refunded plan X. I can’t undue that transaction but I can resell you that plan at the same cost and cancel and refund the one you wanted canceled"
“WTF you made a mistake and now you want to sell me something else.? I want to speak to your supervisor”
Ma’am I’m trying to explain how we can solve this problem and it won’t cost you anything extra"
" I SAID I WANT TO SPEAK TO YOUR SUPERVISOR!!!"
“Ma’am I’m able to correct the problem if you’ll …”
“GET YOUR SUPERVISOR ON THE LINE RIGHT NOW”
and that’s without obscenities.
Had she listened she would have understood that she’d get what she originally wanted and it wouldn’t cost her a dime extra.
An entirely reasonable and helpful customer service conversation. Which you have absolutely no evidence of that he said.
ETA: And before you (reasonably) point it out, there’s absolutely no evidence that he DIDN’T say that, either. But he certainly doesn’t leave that impression with his commentary.
Actually, look at my edit above. But yes, there’s no evidence either way. Just attitude from both sides. But frankly, a hell of a lot more from yours and on his part.
I’m not “excoriating” the OP, though others are. Either way, the customer was wrong to scream and he was right to hang up. But if he’s a good CSA, his word choice on this thread is unfortunately terrible to build his case.
I’m not reading too much into it. I’m simply understanding it because of my experience. Those of you without this experience seem eager to dump on the OP.
That’s because he was explaining to us, not her, what his job description is and that he has the ability to solve the problem.
read it again
He looked at it to try and do what she wanted and when he saw it couldn’t be done exactly that way. He then attempted to explain that to her and offer a solution that would get her what she wanted. She launched into her tirade and refused to listen.
He doesn’t mention pixie dust until after the call has been terminated. He tried to calmly and rationally explain the solution to her even after and through her carrying on. When that didn’t work and she started swearing he hung up.
You don’t get to talk to the CEO simply because you’re pissed off and demand it. That’s especially true if the person you’re talking to can and will solve the problem if you’ll only listen.
So your complaint is now that he did his job as he is instructed to do it. As he said and I’ve reiterated, when you have the ability to solve the problem and an incoherent and unreasonable customer refuses to listen to a reasonable solution then sending the call somewhere else is not a solution. He pretty much said just what you said. Even if he did forward the call, which he is instructed not to do, they would only have to tell her what he was already trying to explain.
I’m not sure what your point is about REQUIRED. If she still wanted the plan that was accidentally canceled {and I’m sure she had the option of taking all her business elsewhere} he could not undo the refund that was a week old. What he could do to accomplish the same ends is to re sell her that plan. The result? She has the plan she wanted and had to pay the amount of the refund THAT SHE DIDN’T WANT TO BEGIN WITH. It’s a wash.
Which IMHO is the entire point of the OP. It was his companies mistake and as a CS rep you expect to deal with frustration and anger. My personal policy is to allow an angry customer some understandable venting without taking it personally. However, if what they want is an actual solution then they have to listen to what is being proposed rather than continue to rant and rail. She didn’t do that and that’s exactly how it’s described.
He’s not gloating , he’s venting, which is one purpose of the pit. I’ve vented here about asshole customers myself. Anyone who deals with them on a regular basis can understand that.
Yeah I read the thread title and having dealt with customers I totally get it.
Hey I bought this TV here on clearance 3 months ago and now it isn’t working. I want another of this exact model.
Sorry sir, it was on clearance because it was discontinued. They don’t make them anymore and none of our locations have any. I have other excellent models you can pick from.
You’re not listening to me or giving me what I want and I’m getting very upset. I demand that you get me this exact same model because it’s the one I bought and the one I like and I demand it.
If you’re implying that your {and others} projections and assumptions about Chimera are reality I strongly disagree.
Oh you’re doing more than that.
I’m not sure why you would expect him to be sympathetic in this case. He came here to vent and although his company did indeed make a mistake his venting doesn’t deny or excuse that. Life happens and everyone makes mistakes. His venting is about someone going needlessly ballistic over something relatively minor when a perfectly reasonable solution is within their grasp.
When a customer goes off the deep end over some mistake that we are willing to correct and becomes abusive they don’t really deserve a lot of sympathy.
That’s exactly the impression I got reading his OP which I just re-posted for you to read.
My point has been that you and others seemed to eagerly assume the negative about Chimera his responses and motives even after perfectly reasonable explanations.
Having a lot of experience in CS I read it a little differently.
He was willing and able to solve the problem for this customer which would give her essentially what she wanted but because he couldn’t do it in exactly the way she demanded {cancel the cancellation} she went off the deep end. That was the reality he couldn’t change and no amount of ranting and screaming on her end was going to change that. Transferring her to someone else wasn’t going to change that. She was being an unreasonable bitch plain and simple. That’s really all the OP said but that wasn’t enough for some of you.
I don’t think so if you read it with an understanding of the rare situation he’s venting about. I see far too many false assumptions about what his motives and misreadings of his words including your posts.
Look at what you said in post 113
except that is what he said in the OP and I can’t understand how you missed it.
also in 113
except that’s not what he said. That’s one more false assumption you and others made because you didn’t read with comprehension.
I have never worked in a call centre, but the transcript cosmosdan suggested matched completely with the impression I took from the OP.
Its obviously a culture thing. With a certain level of self-entitlement, it is no longer enough to have problems fixed, there also has to be heads rolling and lawsuits filed.
except Chimera never told the customer that. Instead he was willing and able to solve the problem and the customer refused to listen to that solution because it wasn’t exactly 100% what she wanted and how she wanted it done.
Unless the customer has already expressed a desire to have the thing that was mistakenly canceled and that’s what you’re offering to sell.
What’s telling is the continued false assumptions and the need to pile on without actually reading with comprehension. There was no back pedaling.
he said in the OP
he acknowledges there is a solution and his willingness to explain it to her and help her with it.
What galls me is the assumption that Chimera could have and should have diffused the situation, or should be expected to know the exact correct words to say to every customer. That’s bullshit. When an irate customer stops listening and you patiently try to explain that you actually have a solution and they still refuse to listen and instead escalate to obscenities then cutting them off is the correct and professional choice.
what a load of crap, false assumptions and misrepresentations. Congratulations on not being able to admit your mistakes
I tend to see business as an exchange between two parties, a.k.a. people. I expect to give respect and fair consideration and I expect to get it from customers as well.
To throw out two random opinions of mine; one of them attached to a long ass story:
Believe it or not, sometimes things really are impossible. No matter what. Meaning, the CEO is aware of this particular situation, he has been faced with it enough times that he has set down SPECIFIC ORDERS that this is one situation where he is not to be contacted or escalated to on this topic, and that doing so will not result in ‘the customer getting his way.’
Once, I worked for a pc company. Many customers bought extended warranties from us. We took a percentage of the extended warranties and sold them to a third party company…let’s call them XYZ Warranties. Well, all was well and good, and most customers didn’t even know their warranties were sold! Until XYZ Warranties went out of business. When they did, and a cu called in to have his pc fixed, they were told by us, the company from which they bought their pc and their extended warranty, that they had no warranty with us. They needed to contact XYZ. When they did that, they found out that XYZ was completely out of business and had no way at all of taking any customer calls. Eventually, we on the front lines were able to convince our bosses that the least we could do was be straight forward with the customers. They agreed, so we were at least able to say straight out, don’t bother calling XYZ, they no longer exist, this is the end of the road, if you want support on your pc, we will be happy to help you but we will CHARGE YOU!!! Of course this was all said as diplomatically as possible, as we were actually more in sales than cu. serv., and we really wanted the sale. But imagine our nerve, with this. Imagine.
Anyhow, the bosses were very serious about not being escalated to on this issue. Times when the big bosses and CEOs were reached ended in customers being very upset that they were not getting thier pcs fixed for free, so they would threaten to go to the interenet with it, and boy did they! We used to find all kinds of angry stuff about us on line. But the truth is, you can google just about any company and find angry customers from the school of The Customer Is Always Right, so it isn’t as scary to us as customers think when they threaten to ‘tell the internet’ on us.
My point is, I know it is satisfying to keep repeating, “I will ask till I get what I want and I WILL get it” but the truth is, sometimes, you really won’t. If you keep calling over and over after we let you know that, then we will have to do like one poster in this thread said and ‘fire the customer’. We would just notate that the particular cu was a nusance and we weren’t to entertain his calls at all. “Mr. Shodan, I see that you have called on this issue several times. We have explained to you that we can not offer the assistance you are requesting. I apologize for the inconvenience. Have a great day and thanks for calling ABC”
I don’t buy the whole, “don’t take it out on me, I’m just the phone rep” thing. My job is to represent my company. That is what I am paid to do. If my company fucks up, I am the one ‘ambassador’, as Vinyl Turnip puts it, and it is on me to ‘take’ the fallout that the customer offers. Now, that doesn’t mean I have to accept a lot of abuse (I do, though. I get called a nigger quite often, and most times, am still able to resolve the issue, placate the customer and sometimes even get a sale out of the call) but it does mean that I have to truly be willing to ‘rep’ my company, since I am the company rep.
What I don’t understand is why Chimera felt compelled to tell the customer “I can’t do it that way, I have to do it this way.” If he can fix the problem at no cost to the customer or the company, just say that: “OK, I can fix that for you; it’s going to take three steps, and you need to authorize them, so I’ll take it one step at a time, OK? First, I’ll cancel the contract you don’t want; that will show up as a refund on your credit card. Next, I’ll restore your original contract. Finally, we’ve already refunded that money, and your credit card company has already processed it, so I have to enter it as a new transaction, but it’s just reversing the refund that we got wrong, OK? So this will show up on your statement as two refunds and a charge; yes, it’s going to show up as a new charge, BankCardCorp won’t let us just take your money without a new authorization. If it doesn’t come out right, you call and let us know, OK? OK, here we go…”
If necessary, and if permitted by the company, this can be sweetened further by offering to restart the term of the contract – “two extra months at no additional charge!”
No need for the words “can’t” or “sale.” That’s internal stuff the customer does not want or need to hear.
I think everyone agrees that the customer was unreasonable; but people are stupid, panicky animals, and you really need to anticipate what’s going to confuse or panic them. In this case, that really doesn’t sound that hard.
Thanks for the explanation. If I understand you correctly it does surprise me a little that your company could sell warranties that customers bought from you without their knowledge or approval and then refuse to give them the service they actually originally purchased from you. That’s an error in the law IMHO. But, for this thread I understand the point you are making about upper management.
I know I am willing to let the customer vent their frustrations to a certain extent and on some days the degree varies but I’ve also done what the OP did and tried to explain to a customer, “I have a solution and I’m trying to explain it to you” i’ll let the occasional “You morons, you idiots, how incompetent are you” slip by but at some point enough is enough and adults have to be called to the carpet for terrible behavior. You don’t get to do or say whatever you want and make any demand you want to because a mistake was made and you were hassled.
Uh, probably convincing a customer who is already waiting to be jacked around that you’re not running some scam on behalf of management.
I’d think you would have to be a social engineer senior-grade, gold-braided, to put that over. It might not even be possible, given people’s common assumptions about phone reps.
That’s assuming by rephrasing it a bit this customer would have behaved differently. We can’t know that.
The customer insists you do something in a particular way that you cannot do. You can start by saying "I can solve this problem for you and here’s how we can do it, but at some point you have to explain the reality that you can’t cancel the refund and you have to resell the original coverage. Let’s also note that even an experienced and professional CS rep cannot always anticipate this type of bullshit and choose the exact correct phrase for every customer 100% of the time. Any reasonable human being would have at some point ,listened to the proposed solution even if you’re pissed and loud and that would have encouraged Chimera to continue to explain carefully and slowly. When you’re screaming and swearing and obviously not listening the proper procedure is to shut it down. She had another chance when she called back and the same thing happened.
Let’s put the responsibility where it belongs. An adult behaving horribly.
yep. You have to overcome some customers suspicion that you’re really out to screw them rather than help them. That’s why you try to use a slow measured tone and patiently explain it several times if that’s required. You can tell them you understand their suspicion and their anger. For that to happen they have to be listening.
I believe it has already been established that “nothing can be done” was not true. To put it as bluntly as possible, Chimera claimed that she was just about to “bend over backwards” to assist the customer, and would have done so, if the customer had reacted politely to being lied to and brushed off.
This is not one of those times. The company screwed it up, and therefore they can un-screw it.
This is fraud, morally if not legally. And I find it difficult to imagine anyone with the gall to think I would buy something from a company that “diplomatically” told me that they had ripped me off and weren’t going to do anything about it.
“Sorry, Ms. Bill Collector, but I assigned the duty of paying for the $2000 of equipment and software I bought from you to my brother-in-law, and he skipped town, so I don’t have to pay for any of it. But I am interested in buying a printer. Let’s do business, since I am sure you really want the sale.”