I'm Only Trying To Help...[EPIC LENGTH FIRST POST]

[Redhead]

So....hey! I'm new...ish. I just registered, but I've been stalk...er....lurking on the forums here for.....oh God it's been a while now. I actually found this site before I got my current job. Only seems fitting then that I was hired as a Customer Service Rep for a Cell Phone Company then, yeah? Cuz that's what happened

So....TL;DR I was hired back in May but I only really hit the floor in mid June after training and all that fun stuff. Now I work part time, weekends, on the night shift. Every night I'd come home thinking that that would be the night I'd finally sign up here and start sharing some of my ridiculous SCs, but I just never did. Well...tonight, I hit my limit. So here, for your enjoyment, are my two "favorite" stories of the night.


I'm Only Trying To Help
Players
Redhead = Your Friendly Call Center Agent, Taking Her First Call of the Day
Nice Woman = Bought a phone, from Sucky Neighbor, and had been making the payments on it
Sucky Neighbor = Phone is still in his name, account was actually pending voluntary disconnect due to previous call in earlier this same day


Redhead: [Opening Spiel]
Nice Woman: Hi, I've been making payments on this phone that I bought from my neighbor and now the phone is cut off..
Redhead: K no prob....whoops, no sorry, there is a problem. Looks like your name isn't listed on the account (Note: we can take a payment from anyone, but can't actually talk about what's going on with the account otherwise)...is the account holder available to speak to?
Nice Woman: Ok yeah that's Sucky Neighbor. We got in an argument and now he won't speak to me now but like I said he sold me the phone and...
Redhead: I understand ma'am but without his permission I can't speak to you about the account....
Nice Woman: Can't you just put the phone in my name since it's mine now?
Redhead: I'm sorry ma'am to do that I would still need to speak to him....
Nice Woman: Ok let me go over there and see if he'll talk to you because he won't talk to me....

I'll spare you the gory details at this point is because what followed was at least a 5-8 minute increasingly heated conversation of back and forth "just talk to Redhead!" "No! Get off my lawn. They don't need me!" "They need you to say it's ok to talk to me and get the phone in my name"....plus variations of SN threatening to call the police on NW for whatever had happened between them. Every few minutes she'd come back to me and say "Just one more minute, I think he's gonna come talk..." and they'd repeat the same line of conversation over again until finally....


Sucky Neighbor: *Some garbled, shouted words, apparently directed at me.*
Nice Woman: Did you hear that ma'am? He said it was ok to talk to me!
Redhead: I'm sorry, I didn't, but regardless I'll need him to come to the phone so I can verify his identity before any changes can be made.


Repeat above heated argument for another 5-8 minutes.

Nice Woman: Alright ma'am I'm giving the phone to him now
Sucky Neighbor: It's ok for you to talk to her .... *tries to give phone back*
Redhead: Sir! Sir! I'm sorry I need to ask you for your name
Sucky Neighbor: *gives name*
Redhead: And the last 4 of your social?
Sucky Neighbor: *gives incorrect digits*
Redhead: I'm sorry sir that's not what we have here
Sucky Neighbor: Oh I know, I just wanna make Nice Woman sweat a bit, baby
Redhead: Ok what are the last 4 of your social sir?
Sucky Neighbor: *gives correct digits*
Redhead: Thank you, and what's your birthday?
Sucky Neighbor: You should know, baby, you have it there.
Redhead: Yessir, I need you to verify it for me.
Sucky Neighbor: Why don't you tell me and I'll tell you if that's right.
Redhead: Afraid I can't do that sir, I need you to tell me so I can verify you.
Sucky Neighbor: *gives birthday*
Redhead: Alright, sir thank you now I understand you want to transfer ownership of this account....
Sucky Neighbor: That's what we're talkin' bout, aint it baby?
Redhead: Yup just needed to make sure we're on the same page here. So you want this line to go to Nice Woman?
Sucky Neighbor: Yup, don't want it no more.

It's at this point it's important to note again that the account is pending disconnect. Something only he could have done, earlier that day. So I mention it to him.

Sucky Neighbor: Oh yeah. I wanna cancel that disconnect and just get this line outta my name.
Redhead: Ok sir...

And that was the last I heard from him because apparently at that point he decided I was no longer entertaining because Nice Woman came back on the line. Fine, SN is verified and I know what he wants to do.

Unfortunately, this is where my tale ends, because due to the disconnect, I couldn't touch the account. Had to be transferred over to one of our "Account Specialists"..yeah, CS3, to my CS2. So I let NW know that I'd transfer her, filled in the next agent on the saga...and got back on the line to bid goodbye to NW...and...nothing. She was still on the line, but not responding. So the CS3 took over so as to not ruin my stats.

But seriously, SN? I WAS ONLY TRYING TO HELP *YOU*. Flat out refusing to talk to me, and then subsequently giving me false information? Being a serves zero purpose. Pretty sure you just didn't wanna fess up to NW you disconnected the account. Grow up, man.


Okay, so that was EPIC LENGTH. Sorry about that. I get wordy I had another story to type...but I work again in 12 hours and I need some SLEEP. If y'all even wanna hear from me again, I'll be back tomorrow!

[Pixilated]

Ye gods and little fishes ... if NW has any brains, she will pretend SN is no longer on this planet once the phone is taken care of, and she certainly won't buy anything off him anymore! Sounds to me as if definitely the wrong person was being called "baby" there ...

Oh, and welcome to the site!

[MoonCat]

Oh, god yes, don't you love trying to verify something with someone who won't talk to you!

Welcome to CS! I have booze, help yourself...

[Redhead]

Did somebody say booze? I knew I'd like it around here! Seriously though...thanks for the welcome, guys ^^ Without further ado...the story I was too tired to post last night....plus two from today, because it was just that kinda day!


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Help, I'm Sinking!
So we have this $10 plan. xxx msgs/xxx minutes per month. Let's call it the Lifeboat Plan. You may have heard of it.
With the Lifeboat plan, you get a free phone. The only thing you're responsible for is that $10 per month. No $, No Service. We only look stupid So Sunday night I had this lovely conversation to close out my night...
(apologies for the caps, but this woman yelled EVERYTHING.)

Redhead: [opening spiel]
SC: HI I JUST GOT ONE OF THOSE LIFEBOAT PHONES AND I NEED TO ACTIVATE IT
Redhead: Ok, sure that's no problem! *gives activation steps*
SC: OK BUT IT'S ONE OF THOSE LIFEBOAT PHONES
Redhead: Yes, ma'am *repeats activation steps*
SC: WHAT DO I HAVE TO DIAL?
Redhead: *repeats activation steps*
SC: *repeats back wrong digits
Redhead: No, ma'am *repeats activation steps*

You get the picture, yes?...5 minutes later, as I'm watching my clock out time roll by...

SC: OK SO WHEN I ACTIVATE THE PHONE THEN WHAT?
Redhead: Well then you'll have to make a $10 payment to start service you can do that by...*starts to list payment methods*
SC: SO YOU'LL CUT MY PHONE ON?
Redhead: The phone will automatically work once it is activated and has a payment applied.
SC: SO YOU'LL CUT MY PHONE ON NOW?
Redhead: If you'd like to make that $10 payment today ma'am I certainly would
SC: NO I AINT GOT NO MONEY YOU NEED TO CUT MY PHONE ON THIS IS A LIFEBOAT PHONE ONE OF THEM FREE ONES
Redhead: Yes, the phone is free. The service is not.
SC: I HAD THIS SERVICE in [2 years ago, way before my time] AND BACK THEN Y'ALL JUST PUT THE MINUTES ON MY PHONE EVERY MONTH
Redhead: Ok I'm not familiar with how it worked before, but I can tell you for certain that now you would have to make that payment to have that phone work.
SC: NUHUH IT'S FREE
Redhead: No, ma'am, it's not
SC: CUT MY PHONE ON
Redhead: I cannot do that without a payment
SC: YES YOU CAN IT'S FREE
Redhead: No, ma'am, it's not.
SC: You're a -CLICK-

Alright ma'am, whatever you say, but I still slept juuuuust fine that night


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Finding Credit...Finding Credit...Sorry, No Credit To Be Found
So, this call started normally enough. SC calls in, her phone isn't letting her do anything. No calls no texts, nothing. K, let's see. Prepaid account. $x/day.
Woah, RED FLAG. Account balance in the negative for exactly $x. Hmm. Whaddya know about that. Easy fix! Take a payment, voila, phone back on!.....
Would I be telling this story if it was that easy?...

Redhead: Ok ma'am it looks like your account is in the negative for $x. All you'd have to do is make a payment today of at least $xy (the minimum amt we can take on the phones) and we can get your services restored today, no problem!
SC: I don't owe you anything. You can just cut my phone back on. I need it. I made a payment last week!
Redhead: Yup. You did. But at $x/day that ran out...yesterday.
SC: Can't you just give me a credit?
Redhead: One moment (Oh look, notes say she's not to be given any more credit. Yay!) No, sorry ma'am.
SC: Ok well I got this promotion thing in the mail from Phone Company. I won $20. Can you put that on my account?
Redhead: Sure! Can I have the code, please?
SC: *gives code*
Redhead: Ok I'm sorry it looks like that codes been redeemed already.
SC: I KNOW! I keep tellin' y'all, y'all added the $20 to my cousins account on Other Phone Company
Redhead: That's not possible. That code is Phone Company specific. (not to mention that fact that when you call the phone number to redeem it asks you to confirm your PH#....)
SC: Well that's what happened
Redhead: Nope, not possible.

Ad nauseum

SC: Y'know everytime I make my $x payment it only gives me xxy minutes, not xxx. Can't you give me a credit cuz y'alls system is screwed up??
Redhead: There's no way for me to currently see what your minute balance was when you made your last payment. If you find that next time you make a payment and you aren't credited your xxx, call us immediately and we'd be
able to see that and possibly give you a credit then.
SC: But it happens EVERY TIME!!!!1!!1!!!
Redhead: I apologize, but that should make it easier for us to catch it if it happens next time.

And then, when she realized I wasn't relenting, she came up with my favorite line of the whole conversation

SC: Phone Company is taking money from my bank account. They took out $ZZ dollars yesterday for no reason and my
bank is calling harassing me about it so what can you do for me?
Redhead: Well ma'am I'm looking at the payment history and the last payment we have processed from you is the one from last week for $xx
SC: But Phone Company took $ZZ yesterday!
Redhead: Ma'am I'm not showing that here. In addition, that last payment was made with a refill card. In fact it looks like every single payment made on your account was done with a refill card. We do not have a Debit Card, Credit Card, or Bank Account stored on file for you. In addition you do not have autopay set up on your account.
SC: But MA'AM... Phone Company TOOK $ZZ YESTERDAY!!!!!!!!!!
Redhead: Ma'am, I apologize, but I just don't see how that's possible given the lack of information we have for you.


And that was when the dear SC Sup'd :P And I sat there and listened while my supervisor went through ALL of that ^^^^ again. Fun times.

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Is This What You Do All Day, Really?
I wasn't going to bother writing up this story. I got this call Sunday, but it just so happened on Monday, I recognized her name when it popped up on my phone
SC called in, stated she was charged for 5 downloads (games/apps/ringtones/whatever, I didn't ask) but she never downloaded them. Like, never. She doesn't even DO that on her phone, y'know. Really, she only wanted one thing, of course: credit for those "wrong downloads" except, they weren't. Charges were totally valid.

I knew this would be a fun one when I looked at the notes. I was -at least- the 20th agent she had spoken to THAT DAY. Everysingle one of them had said the exact same thing. Charges are valid. So of course, as soon as one agent said something she didn't like, she hung up and tried again!

Persistent. I'll give her that. The agent she had spoken to just before me offered to open a charge investigation (pointless, but hey maybe the investigators need a laugh :P). So I just started there. Of course the first thing out of her mouth was "Will I get my money back?" Well, no, I can't garantuee that...they may find that those download charges are valid and........*CLICK* oh good. Hung up on me, too! Yay, I'm part of the club!

I mentioned I got her again today, but un/fortunately, the call dropped before I could get anything more than her issue out of her: "Yeah I have a download block on my line that I wanna get removed." LOVELY. So I didn't open the account, but I can only imagine she spoke with an agent yesterday and the conversation went something
like this:

Sunday night
Agent: Ok ma'am those charges appear to be valid, but so you won't have any issues in the future with downloading, we can put a block on that line.
SC: Oh, ok!


Monday morning
SC: Oh, why can't I download Angry Birds?!?! I'M CALLING PHONE COMPANY!!!


So, I feel bad for whoever inevitably got her on the line next....but at least it wasn't me! :P

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Woo. That was fun rehashing those. But now my work week is officially OVER. No more SCs again til Friday!

[XCashier]

Being a serves zero purpose.

Everybody knows that, and I'm pretty sure the SCs know that too, yet they still insist upon being assholes. I guess they think it make them look like big shots. What it really does is make other people want to

[sms001]

that was when the dear SC Sup'd

Cool! New jargon.

Sounds like quite a week Redhead. Looking forward to many more, as I KNOW cell phones customers never run out of suck. Worse thing about story one is I suspect SN wasn't even really flirting (badly) with you - he was probably trying to get a rise out of NW. And knowing about the disconnect makes him a triple-decker douche.

[Redhead]

Cool! New jargon.

-snip!-

Worse thing about story one is I suspect SN wasn't even really flirting (badly) with you - he was probably trying to get a rise out of NW.

Heh whoops that jargon slipped in there. I did that when I was talking to my friend, too, and she just gave me this look like...whaaa? I'm glad it's infinitely more clear in writing

Oh, SN was definitely NOT flirting with me (and on top of that, his voice alone gave me the creeps.) he was definitely just looking for the reaction from NW. Sad, he got it, too. NW was pretty hysterical...the crying kind, not the laughing at kind. I just happened to be in the middle of it.