Call centre people...

[smileyeagle1021]

One nice thing about working for IHG when I was there, they had no scripts, they had no quality scores, they only cared about one thing, and that was your revenue numbers, if you made your revenue numbers, they didn't give a crap about how (as long as you weren't doing anything unethical).

As far as getting different departments, that is the one big complaint I have with my job... how many deaf people simply do not understand that companies don't have live operators anymore... if they ask for a live rep we have to just go to the first department in the automated menu then dick everyone around (including said caller who is stupid enough to think that live operators still exist) playing the transfer game to get to the person that they needed in the first place because they for reasons I can't comprehend they thought this was going to be quicker than just listening to the menu
That said, I hate the outsourced call centers that are so dependent on scripts that they can't even leave script long enough to understand what a fucking relay call is (because apparently there are no deaf people oversees where these call centers are located, because anyone even vaguely familiar with the concept of a deaf person should be able to understand what a relay interpreter is).

[KiaKat]

On an interesting note, I spoke with the same company's Business Tech Support today (posted a thread in GWC). All the people, from start to finish, were wonderful, and were able to skip over the usual "restart this, restart that, do this, cycle that" as soon as I opened with "I've power cycled the modem and computer, but I still have not internet." I was kicked straight to line tests, and to the Mac Support Team.

Bloody bizarre.

[Chromatix]

Actually, judging by the considerably reduced provision for physical disabilities I noticed in Seoul, I would guess that handicapped people are heavily marginalised there - in a way that is obsolete in the West, but not wholly unfamiliar.

Therefore it's entirely likely that your average Indian outsourced call-centre script-monkey won't ever have encountered a deaf person who is in a position to make phone calls independently, relay or otherwise.

[lobo94]

And talking about metrics...talk time. That, I think, is stupid. Not all customer's issues are quick and easy to fix.

[Kogarashi]

And talking about metrics...talk time. That, I think, is stupid. Not all customer's issues are quick and easy to fix.

Ugh, that was one of the many things that bothered me during my brief stint at a call center. Management wanted us to keep our calls-per-hour up, while still going through the whole script and listening to the occasional customer ramble on and on and on and on and on about issues related to a side service we were supposed to offer. I had someone talk my ear off for fifteen minutes straight, and then got to listen to a manager complain about how my numbers tanked that day.

[Wenchie]

Heh. If someone calls my office asking for Billing, 9/10 times they just need to know how to access the online payment thingy. They don't actually have to talk to Billing. And if we transfer the calls over to Billing, they either get transfered back to us or else they sit in someone's VM because Billing is understaffed usually.

So basically, if someone calls my line and asks for Billing, I always ask for their name & agent id (and explain that I have to log every call that comes in, even if it's a direct transfer) and then I say, "Well, this might be something that I can assist you with..." and go from there. If they insist on speaking with Billing, I transfer. If they start telling me the problem and it's something specific about their bill, I transfer. But most of the time... yeah, it's "I need to make a payment."