Good Advice for Customers

[catcul]

I was poking around on the internet and found these articles written for AARP. If you're wondering, I'm too young for AARP right now.

7 Things You Should Always Say to Customer Service
7 Things You Should Never Say to Customer Service

[Lyse]

LOL. The AARP have been sending me membership information since I was 31. I think they somehow got ahold of a list from a veterans organization and made some assumptions.

[Chanlin]

As a former phone jockey I can say both articles offer decent advice, especially the what not to say.

3 things that were guaranteed to end your call in every call center I worked for: Threatening Legal Action, Personal Insults, Threats of Harm - every one of these actions authorized me to hang up the call in almost every center I worked at. Though most frowned on the personal insult hang up. Most supervisors I worked with were cool enough to let it slide.

Same thing with the things to say article. If you knew what you wanted and had a very reasonable tone and reasonable request you're call was done and handled as quickly as possible with very little fuss from me. It also tended to add to your karma bank, eg if things went wrong in the future I'd be a little more willing to bend the rules for the folks who were nice about it.

[Cobrabubbles]

I will say number one on the "things to say" list always rubs me wrong. If I don't know your name don't use mine. Nothing gets my ire up faster then a random customer that I have never seen before coming up to me, " how are you cobrabubbles?" On the flip side though I will bend every rule in the book if you treat me nicely and humanely!

[Lace Neil Singer]

Back when I used to work in the pizza place... anyone who started threatening harm, shouting abuse or being rude and insulting, got hung up on. Anyone who constantly acted that way over the phone risked being blacklisted. As the boss used to say, we weren't being paid enough to act as some pathetic person's punchbag.

[PepperElf]

ah... i see now. yeah using a first name can be a great way to remember it - and i understand using it to prove that you've spoken with an employee. but how it's asked for may make the difference. if they make it sound like pleasant conversation that's one thing, but if it's used like an interrogation that's something else.

oh and 3 - "I know we can find a satisfactory solution".... that sounds a bit condescending.

really, when i've worked with customers the way to motivate me to go above and beyond was to be polite and sweet.


and update: I reset my router & modem so now my connection isn't slow as crap. so ...
for the "what not to do"... I wish that was mandatory reading for PFB. How often have we seen those used in complaints?

especially this part:

If you’re so angry that only a personal confrontation will satisfy you, then you’re taking the whole thing much too seriously. You either need a therapist or a lawyer—maybe both.

Cos how many times have we seen EWs who demand this? A full "public" apology? Fire the employee and make them write an apology? Wanting to know exactly what the punishment was etc?