Mmm, Lucy Lawless.
If the English choices are at the front of the menu, I will never have that opportunity, right? I will make my selection long before I get to "Para un menú en español, prensa 9. "
So what? There are probably cases on record where customers were stalked by call centre employees. In fact, this is more likely. When I get through to a call centre, I haven’t a clue where it is, where you (the employee) are or where you live. Even if I have your surname, this by itself isn’t going to make it all that easy for me to ‘stalk’ you. You could be in another state or another country for all I know. The call centre employee, on the other hand, has access to my full name, my full address. my phone numbers and Zeus knows what other information.
“It’s a security issue”. Not so. It’s a “We don’t want to be held accountable and we don’t care what you think anyway because you’re only a customer” issue.
If you expect me to give my first and last name, you should be willing to do likewise. This is useful to me, as the caller and as a customer who contributes to your wages, so that (a) if you do something you shouldn’t do, you can be held accountable, and (b) if I’ve explained the problem to you, I can get back to you when I call again rather than having to explain it all from square one to someone new. A first name on its own uslaly isn’t enough, because it goes like this: “Who did you speak to last time?”, “He said his name was Andy”, “Sorry, we’ve got lots of people with that name here”. And giving out your extension number? In many places, people don’t necessarily use the same extension number day after day.
Professionally trained? He’s answering a phone and retrieving some simple information. For me, or for anyone else who calls.You think he’s actually in a position authorized to handle complex problems? You could get a bonobo to do this job, only they have too much self-respect. This guy’s getting all high-and-mighty over a job any schlub can do.
He’s in Madison, Wisconsin.
What ianzin said. And more.
I was once put on a blacklist by British Telecom for using their dial-up service too frequently. The name of the service was BT Anytime. They wouldn’t admit to the blacklist but there was one.
Calling to query this practice and being put on hold followed by a line disconnection three times in a row is not funny. Even less hilarious is the refusal to give a full name by call centre personnel. What takes the proverbial biscuit however is the call centre response to my request for the name and address of the Chief Executive. I was told that such information was not given to customers.
This was shortly after 9/11, in the aftermath of which I was able to discover the names of the head of the CIA, FBI, and MI6 just by reading the newspaper. I also knew the name and address of the Prime Minister, the Home Secretary and the Archbishop of Fucking Canterbury. But I was not allowed to know the name and address of the head of the company who was taking me for a ride.
In my considerable experience call centre staff tell you as little as possible. But they will be under orders to do so. So it’s not their fault.
Yes, actually it very well can be a security issue. My life has been threatened by customers, we’ve had to call the police because someone showed up at our office and assaulted a staff member. I could give a bunch of personal examples from my life and my BF’s.
I’m not saying it always is a security thing, but to make a blanket statement like you did (as bolded above) is rather stupid and shows that you don’t know what you’re talking about.
No, he’s retrieving simple information only when people who don’t know how to push “1” twice call him. I imagine the problems he deals with the rest of the time are a bit more complex.
As a stand-alone general comment on voicemail systems – Otto, your thread title is gold. Love it.
With all due respect, you don’t have the first fucking clue about it.
You have no reasonable expectation as a customer to any more of my identifying information than is absolutely necessary for you to identify me to a supervisor in the event of a problem that requires supervisory intervention. None. My first name and dedicated extension are sufficient to that purpose. I on the other hand have every reasonable expectation that you will give me the information I need to do the job you need me to do.
So if there is no contribution by the customer to the paying of my wages it’s all right for me to withhold my last name?
Which can be done through my first name and extension
So if there’s no way for a customer to be transferred to me if you call back it’s all right for me to withhold my last name?
“He said his name was Andy Madeupname.” “Sorry, we don’t have anyone called Andy Madeupname here.” A last name doesn’t guarantee anything.
So if it’s a call center where reps have dedicated exrtensions, it’s OK to withhold my last name?
I’m authorized to deal with any situation that comes to me, jackass.
Fuck you, you rat bastard cuntwad motherfucker. So sorry that the job I do isn’t worthy of you.
Actually, I wasn’t getting high and mighty over anything, pisslick. I was blowing off steam about some annoying people who I deal with. Why you felt it was necessary to belittle me for doing a job which, while admittedly isn’t the most complex in the world yet nonetheless requires a certain level of skill and training, is beyond me. Asshole.
Holy fuck, I don’t think I’ve ever seen a whinier, more self centered post in my entire life! “Waah! I have to press an extra button! Why can’t everything be in EeeEEEeeenglish!” How the hell do you fit through doorways, with that enormous sense of entitlement? Here’s a big clue for ya, jackass: private companies set up their phone menus like that because money isn’t worth more if it comes from someone who only speaks English. If there are enough customers who want to do business in a language other than English, a smart company is going to accomodate them. If you don’t like that, don’t give that business your money. Instead, go find a company that has staked out the xenophobic retard market. I’m sure they’d love your business.
He said most of the callers want to check their balance. So probably it’d be more like (assuming we’re talking about a bank) “Press 1 for balance, press 2 to transfer funds, press 3 to pay a bill by phone, press 4 to order checks, press 5 to find out loan information, (blah blah blah), oh and if you haven’t hung up yet because you were confused by the flood of English, press 9 for Spanish.” But I guess you’re whining because maybe someone in Wisconsin is too fucking lazy to press a key on a telephone twice instead of once and gosh, better defend their right to be offended over stupid crap.
And no, I do not think that call center workers should have to give you a last name. (I don’t work in a call center. I work in a hospital and deal with patients directly.) A first name and unique identifier like employee number or extension is fine. With the number of irate callers who are pissed for good or bad reasons who might want to harass someone, I’d be afraid for my life at times if I were a call center worker.
Otto, the comments quoted by you below refer to the post by ianzin. I imagine he will return to this thread to give his response but, since I allied myself to his post, I am taking this opportunity to respond giving my own point of view.
You can’t speak for call centres other than those who have employed you. In my experience call centre employees are generally reluctant to fully identify themselves, presumably as a matter of company policy. This is unhelpful to the customer.
The customer should also be able to identify a particular call centre employee to everyone else at the call centre so that they can be put through to him/her on subsequent calls on the same subject. If this cannot be done the customer has to explain himself/herself to another employee all over again. This is also unhelpful to the customer and only understandable if the specified employee is absent.
Customers of your call centre are fortunate that you and your colleagues work from dedicated extensions. Not all call centres operate this way.
My understanding of business is that a company will try to make a profit from its activities through its various revenue streams. It uses some of those profits to pay its employees. Profits normally derive from customers. Hence the customer makes a contribution to employees salaries.
This again refers to the identification process. Not all call centres have dedicated extensions for employees.
I don’t understand the context of this statement.
A first name and a surname given to a customer should enable that customer to contact that employee on subsequent calls. If a first name and a surname does not guarantee this there is something wrong with the call centre system. Of course, the employee may be off shift or on holiday and thus unavailable, in which case the customer has no choice but to speak to another employee.
If the customer asks for an extension and the employee linked with that extension is not there then the customer has nowhere to go. All he can do is ask for the legendary Andy.
I conclude that, for call centres in general, a means of identifying employees by means other than the use of extension numbers is necessary. If surnames are seen as unacceptable then a unique work name or work number should be given to the customer.
Please note that this post is directed at company policy rather than their call centre employees.
What would be the opposite of a rock star? The intake form at the student services office where I work asks for first name and last name (last name first) and students frequently interpret this as just their last name.
I’m thinking “grad student”.
At my bank, I can call (up until 10 PM), and as soon as there is a click, I can say “representative” and I will be connected to the first available one. That person will identify themselves by first name. Then they get my name, and number, and then they ask me for my phone password, which no one else but me knows. Then, if I decide to speak to a different division of the Bank’s parent company, the representative will ask me to hold, and pass me to another person, by name, after verifying my identification to them.
Did I mention I love my bank/insurance/credit card/investment company? Oh, and I just finished doing their new free UPS one day mail in deposit, which I sent yesterday, and saw posted to my account today!
Tris
Because, clearly, the caller is supposed to guess whether you need their name for official purposes, can identify their file by their name or are just asking so you have something to call them besides ‘hey, you’. If you want their full name, ask for it.
As opposed to, perhaps, the number they’re calling from which might or might not actually be theirs, or the name by which they’re known which may or may not be their legal name (for relevence see above regarding official purposes vs. something to call them).
If your pre-scripted patter is so mechanistic and dull that people are confusing you with an answering machine, I’d say this is your problem, not theirs.
Yes, because, naturally, nobody ever has a problem that remains unresolved over a period of time longer than a single day.
You might do these things and have these conversations hundreds of times a week, but the likelihood is that this is the first time in several weeks, months or possibly years that this person has dealt with this particular customer service situation. They can’t be expected to guess which of the many possible different bits of information you might need or want and why you might need or want them. If there are specific reasons why you want to know specific things, your script should be clear about that.
One thing that drives me nuts - and this is nobody’s fault, it just annoys me - is the fact that I can never tell if they want my info because they are reading it off the screen and want to verify it’s me, or if they need to take down my info.
So I never know whether I should rattle it off quickly (“matt_mcl, 6969 rue Sainte-Tapette, Montreal, Quebec, B1G F4G, 514-555-1212, SIN number 314 159 265,” etc.) or say it very slowly and carefully (“m as in Mike, a as in Alpha…”)
**Chez Guevera
They do not fuck in Canterbury.
As I recall they tootle off and lay eggs on the M25
And you can’t speak for call centers except the ones you’ve called, and even then your knowledge is severely limited since you don’t actually work in them. Your statements about the way things ought to be are fine and dandy, but have little to nothing to do with the way things are.
Generally we’ll ask for the information we need, so let the rep take the lead.