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It's been a long time since I had anything to post because these days I'm locked in an office far away from the public. No not for their protection or mine, I just scored a better job. But every so often the phone system directs a call to my office as a last resort if most other lines are busy. 99.9% of the time it will be a straightforward case of switching them to the correct department, or taking a message because the department is busy (which is why I got the call in the first place). Not dealing with customers very often is bliss, and sucky customers hardly ever arise. Except for today's scenario.
I answered the phone and it's a a man who was very angry, gruff and rude. He wanted the manager (who was on another call) so when I offered to take a message or let him hold, he decided to unload on me his complaint.
He had called a little while ago, trying to found out where his delivery of furniture was and had found out that our delivery driver had tried to deliver his goods to his old address. But this made him most upset because his old address was where he used to live before his wife died, and then he looked at his invoice and noticed it had his wife's name on there too which upset him even more because she had died etc. At this point I was feeling very sympathetic for this man and wanted to help him despite his rude aggressive tone, so I was quite apologetic, and I asked if I could get his current details so I could update our computer system. He then got even angrier, and told me it was all in our computer. So I managed to get enough details to look him up in the computer. I pulled up his customer record, and there was no hint of an address change being entered, no notes or anything. I confirmed that the address we did have was the wrong one, so I apologised and said it looks like the salesperson who took his latest order didn't update the address. Then it went weird.
Sc: "don't you dare bad mouth [salesperson] he did nothing wrong, he was most helpful, the problem is your computer system is faulty"
Me "well I'm glad to hear he was most helpful, maybe the computer system didn't save your new address properly. If you give me the details I can update them and double check they are in the computer properly"
Sc: "I'm not giving you those details, it's in the computer"
Ok so I thought maybe he had another customer record in our database, so I did a quick search but couldn't find anything.
Me: "Sir, I can't find any other records here for you, but if you give me your new address I can update it for you."
Sc "why should I have to give you my address, it's in the computer"
Me "sir, I can't find any other address details in here for you. Did you let [salesperson] know the new address, or did you let someone else know?"
Sc "no, I haven't told anyone there my new address, that's what you have computers for"
I finally worked out where he was coming from. He seemed to think the computer should just automatically know he had moved.
Me "sir, I'm sorry but the only way our computer gets customer information is when customers tell our staff, who enter it into the computer. It doesn't update from government agencies or anything. If you give me the new address I can update it for you"
Sc "well you tell your manager he needs to get a better computer. Your company is useless. Everyone is just useless these days, I had the same problem with Centrelink [government agency that handles social security payments] and Telstra [biggest phone company in the country]. Don't expect me to come back to your store again" *click*
So as it stands, we have his goods because the driver returned them to the store, we have his money, and we have absolutely no idea where he is or any way to get in contact with him because the phone number we have has been disconnected. I tried the online whitepages and couldn't find him, probably because he "had the same problem with Telstra". I imagine he'll contact us again looking for his refund at some time in the future. Hopefully that call will be picked up by someone else, because he was extremely rude - I'd hate to think what he'll be like for that call.
I answered the phone and it's a a man who was very angry, gruff and rude. He wanted the manager (who was on another call) so when I offered to take a message or let him hold, he decided to unload on me his complaint.
He had called a little while ago, trying to found out where his delivery of furniture was and had found out that our delivery driver had tried to deliver his goods to his old address. But this made him most upset because his old address was where he used to live before his wife died, and then he looked at his invoice and noticed it had his wife's name on there too which upset him even more because she had died etc. At this point I was feeling very sympathetic for this man and wanted to help him despite his rude aggressive tone, so I was quite apologetic, and I asked if I could get his current details so I could update our computer system. He then got even angrier, and told me it was all in our computer. So I managed to get enough details to look him up in the computer. I pulled up his customer record, and there was no hint of an address change being entered, no notes or anything. I confirmed that the address we did have was the wrong one, so I apologised and said it looks like the salesperson who took his latest order didn't update the address. Then it went weird.
Sc: "don't you dare bad mouth [salesperson] he did nothing wrong, he was most helpful, the problem is your computer system is faulty"
Me "well I'm glad to hear he was most helpful, maybe the computer system didn't save your new address properly. If you give me the details I can update them and double check they are in the computer properly"
Sc: "I'm not giving you those details, it's in the computer"
Ok so I thought maybe he had another customer record in our database, so I did a quick search but couldn't find anything.
Me: "Sir, I can't find any other records here for you, but if you give me your new address I can update it for you."
Sc "why should I have to give you my address, it's in the computer"
Me "sir, I can't find any other address details in here for you. Did you let [salesperson] know the new address, or did you let someone else know?"
Sc "no, I haven't told anyone there my new address, that's what you have computers for"
I finally worked out where he was coming from. He seemed to think the computer should just automatically know he had moved.
Me "sir, I'm sorry but the only way our computer gets customer information is when customers tell our staff, who enter it into the computer. It doesn't update from government agencies or anything. If you give me the new address I can update it for you"
Sc "well you tell your manager he needs to get a better computer. Your company is useless. Everyone is just useless these days, I had the same problem with Centrelink [government agency that handles social security payments] and Telstra [biggest phone company in the country]. Don't expect me to come back to your store again" *click*
So as it stands, we have his goods because the driver returned them to the store, we have his money, and we have absolutely no idea where he is or any way to get in contact with him because the phone number we have has been disconnected. I tried the online whitepages and couldn't find him, probably because he "had the same problem with Telstra". I imagine he'll contact us again looking for his refund at some time in the future. Hopefully that call will be picked up by someone else, because he was extremely rude - I'd hate to think what he'll be like for that call.
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