This is an SC story with a dose of CoC.
Back when I was working at the call center, we had almost a universal dislike for our company's retail sales reps. They got big commissions for activations so they would frequently promise all kinds of discounts and/or freebies to customers to get them to sign up but usually can't deliver on them because they don't have access to our billing system, leaving us to clean up the mess when the understandably upset customer calls us because they weren't getting their deals.
Occasionally we would get calls from the reps directly, which were usually interesting...
Me: Thank you for calling Horizon Wireless, how may I help you?
Rep (R): Yeah, I need you to fix something on a customer account here.
Me: Okay...(verify account and so forth). I have the account up, what's the problem?
R: She's not getting the discounts I guaranteed her. (Oh boy, here we go...)
Me: Ok, I see four lines on this account on our economy family share plan for $120/month, but I don't see any discounts. What kind of discount was this? (sidenote: We DO give legit discounts for various reasons, your employer for example, so it was possible there was actually a proper discount that was never added)
R: She's supposed to be getting 75 percent off every month.
Me: *spit take*
Wait...let me make sure I heard you correctly. Did you say SEVENTY FIVE percent??
R: Yes that's what I said, are you having trouble hearing me?
(Note: The LARGEST account discount we gave, usually for government accounts, was 30 percent. Nothing even close to 50 was ever offered, let alone 75)
Me: Um may I ask who authorized this discount?
R: I did. (impatiently) Check the notes.
I dig into the account history and sure enough I find:
STEVE @ STORE 2341 OFFERED CUST 75 PER CENT PLAN DISCOUNT (24 MOS) FOR 4 LINE ACTIVATION. CUST SERVICE REP, PLS HONOR!
Me: I see the note here about this discount.
R: Excellent, now can we go ahead and get that added for this customer please?
Me: No, we can't.
R: (pause) NO?? What do you mean No?
Me: I mean your customer cannot have this discount.
R: But you have to do it! It's IN THE NOTES!!
(note: There was, unfortunately, a mistaken belief among many sales reps that they could just tack on notes like this and we were required by some magical policy to honor them. We weren't.)
Me: We do not have to do it and we are not going to do it. Look, you work for us you should know that maximum discount we offer is usually 30 percent. Period.
I can't honor this discount.
R: Hang on a minute, the customer wants to talk to you.
SC: What's going on here? Why won't you give me my damned discount?!
Me: Because we don't offer those kinds of discounts.
R: This nice gentleman here TOLD me I could have this discount and he TOLD me you would have to honor it!
Me: I apologize ma'am, but he was wrong. We can't give it to you.
SC: This is bullshit! I want my discount! I want my GUARANTEED DISCOUNT!!
Me: The discount WAS promised to you, but unfortunately by someone who didn't have the authority to do that. I can't do it either.
SC: THEN FIND ME SOMEONE WHO CAN!!
Me: You're not understanding me, we never offer this kind of discount. Ever. No one here can do it for you.
SC: GET ME YOUR SUPERVISOR! NOW!!
Me: Hold one moment please.
Sup got on, went around a few times with the woman and eventually sent her on to cancellations who somewhat shockingly, did not cave either. This rep really pushed his luck offering that high a discount.
Also, my sup wrote the store number down from the notes, figured out which location it was, called that store and talked to R's manager about his conduct and the massive discount. Hopefully R didn't last long after that.
Back when I was working at the call center, we had almost a universal dislike for our company's retail sales reps. They got big commissions for activations so they would frequently promise all kinds of discounts and/or freebies to customers to get them to sign up but usually can't deliver on them because they don't have access to our billing system, leaving us to clean up the mess when the understandably upset customer calls us because they weren't getting their deals.
Occasionally we would get calls from the reps directly, which were usually interesting...
Me: Thank you for calling Horizon Wireless, how may I help you?
Rep (R): Yeah, I need you to fix something on a customer account here.
Me: Okay...(verify account and so forth). I have the account up, what's the problem?
R: She's not getting the discounts I guaranteed her. (Oh boy, here we go...)
Me: Ok, I see four lines on this account on our economy family share plan for $120/month, but I don't see any discounts. What kind of discount was this? (sidenote: We DO give legit discounts for various reasons, your employer for example, so it was possible there was actually a proper discount that was never added)
R: She's supposed to be getting 75 percent off every month.
Me: *spit take*
Wait...let me make sure I heard you correctly. Did you say SEVENTY FIVE percent??
R: Yes that's what I said, are you having trouble hearing me?
(Note: The LARGEST account discount we gave, usually for government accounts, was 30 percent. Nothing even close to 50 was ever offered, let alone 75)
Me: Um may I ask who authorized this discount?
R: I did. (impatiently) Check the notes.
I dig into the account history and sure enough I find:
STEVE @ STORE 2341 OFFERED CUST 75 PER CENT PLAN DISCOUNT (24 MOS) FOR 4 LINE ACTIVATION. CUST SERVICE REP, PLS HONOR!
Me: I see the note here about this discount.
R: Excellent, now can we go ahead and get that added for this customer please?
Me: No, we can't.
R: (pause) NO?? What do you mean No?
Me: I mean your customer cannot have this discount.
R: But you have to do it! It's IN THE NOTES!!
(note: There was, unfortunately, a mistaken belief among many sales reps that they could just tack on notes like this and we were required by some magical policy to honor them. We weren't.)
Me: We do not have to do it and we are not going to do it. Look, you work for us you should know that maximum discount we offer is usually 30 percent. Period.
I can't honor this discount.
R: Hang on a minute, the customer wants to talk to you.
SC: What's going on here? Why won't you give me my damned discount?!
Me: Because we don't offer those kinds of discounts.
R: This nice gentleman here TOLD me I could have this discount and he TOLD me you would have to honor it!
Me: I apologize ma'am, but he was wrong. We can't give it to you.
SC: This is bullshit! I want my discount! I want my GUARANTEED DISCOUNT!!
Me: The discount WAS promised to you, but unfortunately by someone who didn't have the authority to do that. I can't do it either.
SC: THEN FIND ME SOMEONE WHO CAN!!
Me: You're not understanding me, we never offer this kind of discount. Ever. No one here can do it for you.
SC: GET ME YOUR SUPERVISOR! NOW!!
Me: Hold one moment please.
Sup got on, went around a few times with the woman and eventually sent her on to cancellations who somewhat shockingly, did not cave either. This rep really pushed his luck offering that high a discount.
Also, my sup wrote the store number down from the notes, figured out which location it was, called that store and talked to R's manager about his conduct and the massive discount. Hopefully R didn't last long after that.
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