Tweet
I'm still with the feds for my full-time job, but my side gig now involves 2nd level customer service for a small airline (in other words, 90% of my job is assisting front-line CSRs with customer calls, 10% of my job is taking escalations and actually talking to passengers).
All us call centre leads dread taking escalations, but it's part of the job, and most of them aren't awful.
The lady I had to deal with at the end of my shift the other night, however, was the kind we all hate. The kind who has a mission, and she is not going to be dissuaded from that mission by anyone or anything. As background, she had purchased a flight for her son, in our cheapest, most restrictive fare (basically no changes, no cancellation, no baggage, no nothing - it's a fare designed for in-and-out business travelers who travel light and are usually out and back the same day). To add to the extra-restrictive nature of the fare, she purchased it through one of those travel clearinghouse sites (Expedia, FlightHub, CheapO Air, that type of thing). Which means we can't even touch it to change it. Mom wants to move her son to an earlier flight on the same day - which IS actually permitted - but ONLY at the airport itself, and there's a pretty significant fee to do so.
Mom doesn't want to pay the fee. Too bad, so sad, not up to us. Sonny boy will have to ask the counter agents at the airport if they're willing to waive the fee - they won't be... those fees are only waived for exceptional circumstances. "I don't want to pay it" is not an exceptional circumstance.
After arguing with the agent for a good 20 minutes, she finally gets punted up to me. Claims we're all lying to her, she KNOWS we can just click a button and *poof* the fee goes away. I tried explaining to her that when you purchase through a 3rd party, we have far less flexibility as to being able to offer customer service gestures. Lather, rinse, repeat, for over 40 minutes. At one point, I kind of let impulse take over and asked her if she could show me this magic button she claimed we had that would fix everything, because in my three years with the company, I had never seen it, and would LOVE to improve my knowledge. (Not my finest moment)
She even brought up a flight from several years ago, which she had booked for her grandchildren, which had experienced a delay due to weather conditions, and claimed I should "make it right" by waiving the fee. I was gobsmacked. Ma'am, are you trying to tell me we should waive the fee because two people WHO ARE NOT YOU OR THE CURRENT PASSENGER were inconvenienced back in 2019? Yes, folks, that is exactly what she was telling me. I decided to visit metaphor land (always a mistake with the less intellectually gifted among our customers). I asked her if she bought a Kitchenaid mixer at Goodwill, and it was defective, would she try returning it to Kitchenaid? It missed the mark. Entirely. She started SCREAMING at me that of COURSE Goodwill would refund her money if they sold her a defective product (like I said, the point passed so far over her head, it was likely at a higher altitude than our planes). Ok, metaphors won't work. Got it.
I eventually ended up hanging up on her, after threats of her calling back all night long because she had nothing better to do (clearly). There was no getting through to her. Not a chance. As it was now at least 40 minutes past the end of my shift, I was rapidly losing patience and just pulled the plug. Call back. Go ahead. You'll get the same answer each time. The kicker? SONNY BOY IS A 42-YEAR-OLD MAN. WHY ON EARTH AM I DEALING WITH HIS MOMMY??????
She did end up calling back, only once. The agent, having been prepared for this possibility, immediately told her she'd be HAPPY to transfer her back to me, so we could resume our conversation (yes, I had logged out, but we figured this might just do the trick) and put the lady on hold. Mommy dearest hung up, and never called back! Sonny boy flew on his originally scheduled flight, and all was well with the world.
All us call centre leads dread taking escalations, but it's part of the job, and most of them aren't awful.
The lady I had to deal with at the end of my shift the other night, however, was the kind we all hate. The kind who has a mission, and she is not going to be dissuaded from that mission by anyone or anything. As background, she had purchased a flight for her son, in our cheapest, most restrictive fare (basically no changes, no cancellation, no baggage, no nothing - it's a fare designed for in-and-out business travelers who travel light and are usually out and back the same day). To add to the extra-restrictive nature of the fare, she purchased it through one of those travel clearinghouse sites (Expedia, FlightHub, CheapO Air, that type of thing). Which means we can't even touch it to change it. Mom wants to move her son to an earlier flight on the same day - which IS actually permitted - but ONLY at the airport itself, and there's a pretty significant fee to do so.
Mom doesn't want to pay the fee. Too bad, so sad, not up to us. Sonny boy will have to ask the counter agents at the airport if they're willing to waive the fee - they won't be... those fees are only waived for exceptional circumstances. "I don't want to pay it" is not an exceptional circumstance.
After arguing with the agent for a good 20 minutes, she finally gets punted up to me. Claims we're all lying to her, she KNOWS we can just click a button and *poof* the fee goes away. I tried explaining to her that when you purchase through a 3rd party, we have far less flexibility as to being able to offer customer service gestures. Lather, rinse, repeat, for over 40 minutes. At one point, I kind of let impulse take over and asked her if she could show me this magic button she claimed we had that would fix everything, because in my three years with the company, I had never seen it, and would LOVE to improve my knowledge. (Not my finest moment)
She even brought up a flight from several years ago, which she had booked for her grandchildren, which had experienced a delay due to weather conditions, and claimed I should "make it right" by waiving the fee. I was gobsmacked. Ma'am, are you trying to tell me we should waive the fee because two people WHO ARE NOT YOU OR THE CURRENT PASSENGER were inconvenienced back in 2019? Yes, folks, that is exactly what she was telling me. I decided to visit metaphor land (always a mistake with the less intellectually gifted among our customers). I asked her if she bought a Kitchenaid mixer at Goodwill, and it was defective, would she try returning it to Kitchenaid? It missed the mark. Entirely. She started SCREAMING at me that of COURSE Goodwill would refund her money if they sold her a defective product (like I said, the point passed so far over her head, it was likely at a higher altitude than our planes). Ok, metaphors won't work. Got it.
I eventually ended up hanging up on her, after threats of her calling back all night long because she had nothing better to do (clearly). There was no getting through to her. Not a chance. As it was now at least 40 minutes past the end of my shift, I was rapidly losing patience and just pulled the plug. Call back. Go ahead. You'll get the same answer each time. The kicker? SONNY BOY IS A 42-YEAR-OLD MAN. WHY ON EARTH AM I DEALING WITH HIS MOMMY??????
She did end up calling back, only once. The agent, having been prepared for this possibility, immediately told her she'd be HAPPY to transfer her back to me, so we could resume our conversation (yes, I had logged out, but we figured this might just do the trick) and put the lady on hold. Mommy dearest hung up, and never called back! Sonny boy flew on his originally scheduled flight, and all was well with the world.
Comment