Ridiculously turgid phone script

[Boozy]

I just got off the phone with a rep from one of my utility companies (name withheld to protect the innocent) and what should have been a one minute call ballooned into about ten minutes due to this absolutely ridiculously long phone script he had to get through. I know he HAS to say it, but good gord!

The opening greeting gave me about twenty pieces of information I didn't need, including recitation of the number I had JUST DIALLED.

He used the full corporate name of the company instead of the well-accepted shortened name. And not just the first time. EVERY time the name of the company was used, he used five words instead of one.

He thanked me for calling about five times, each expression of gratitude more hilariously flowery than the last.

He liberally peppered every sentence with my name, which creeped me out a bit.

The most annoying part? I was just trying to find out when their local office closed. You can't call the local office directly, you have to go through the provincial toll-free line. Every time I tried to politely interject, he asked me another question for "security purposes" for my "own protection". If the damn script had just provided me with an opening, I could have just asked my question. They don't need my mother's maiden name to tell me the office closes at 4 pm.

[tollbaby]

*snicker* sounds like Ontario Hydro LOL

[Emrld]

In situations like that - I will interupt them and say - hey I have a general question that doesn't actually effect my account - here it is and then I ask the question.
Nine times out of ten they will happily stop giving the script answer the question and wish you a happy day. The departments do keep track of how many calls are handeled and the speed at which they are delt with.
If they demand an answer to my questions- I just give my question as my answer.

I deal with the utility companies (as in electric, gas, water, sanitation etc) on a very regular basis. The two major ones have it set now where I get to send them an e-mail for a turn on or off so that I don't have to listen to the script that I could practically recite myself by this point.

[Boozy]

In retrospect I really should have been more assertive and interrupted. I don't like doing that...but it was a waste of his time too.

[CancelMyService]

I called in to make my car payment, and the rep had to read a ridiculously long paragraph of legalese that could have been summed up in 1/4th the time.

What annoyed me is I wanted the payment to come out 2 days from the day I called, and the way he was reading the script it made it sound like the payment was going to be taken out that day, which would have been bad. I kept trying to interrupt because I really wanted clarification on the date, but he continued to bulldoze through his script. Even after he was finished there was no effort to apologize or anything, I tried to make it clear that he really should have put the script on pause when it was obvious I was really concerned about something, but I was afraid of becoming material for a SC post.....

[Emrld]

tried to make it clear that he really should have put the script on pause when it was obvious I was really concerned about something, but I was afraid of becoming material for a SC post.....

Let me let you in on a little secret . . .not everyone is good at their job. So if the person isn't doing their job correctly - as in having their brain engaged while at work- then you may have to risk coming across as an SC - even though in reality you are not an SC

(Yes, I have my own form of logic and it works well for me )

[kzc]

He liberally peppered every sentence with my name, which creeped me out a bit.

This is one of those things that will cause me to break off business with a company. WTFingF, O? I know my own name; you don't need to keep saying it to me. And if you're using my given name you may as well close my account now - I'm not huge on formality, but there's no reason in the world for you to call me "k" when I don't even know you. If you're hoping to induce a false sense of closeness - "Wow, what a friendly company, to unilaterally put us on a first name basis!" - you've badly miscalculated.

[Banrion]

The call center I worked in, we were required to use the customer's name AT LEAST twice. I ususally worked it in once during the greeting, "Hello Mr./Ms. Soandso," and again either when I came back from hold if necessary "Thanks for holding Mr./Ms. Soandso," or if they didn't go on hold at the very end "Thank You for calling The Company, have a great day Mr./Ms. Soandso" I never had anyone complain about me using it in those instances, and I really don't think it came across as forced in those limited situations.

[MadMike]

My wife had to request a new credit card once, because her old one expired and she never receieved the new one. She thinks she might have accidently trashed it.

So she called the company to get it reissued, and several times thoughout the call, the rep tried to get her to enroll in some kind of insurance plan.

As the OP said, she didn't blame the rep, because he was undoubtedly only doing what he was told to do, but it's annoying for the customer, especially when they have to hear it more than once throughout the call. And in this case, it's not like you can just hang up on them, because then you won't get your problem resolved.

[powerboy]

When I had to call the bank for my account with them. They said the whole script. I had bout 15 minutes left of lunch, so I thought I would call and find out then. Nope, didn't happened. So I just went on down after work, and found out.