What part of "our system CANNOT do that" do you not understand??

[CrazedClerkthe2nd]

Throughout my time at the call center I heard many variations on this:

SC: I want my old plan back! (this after being on a new plan for 6 months)
Me: I am sorry sir, but we do not offer the old plans anymore, they've been removed from the system.
SC: Well find someway to get them back!
Me: Sir the plans are gone, they cannot be restored.
SC: If you can't get me my plan back, get me a damned manager who can!
Me: Managers use the same system I do but I will be happy to get one for you.

Manager gets on call, explains to SC again that our system cannot do what he asks for, followed by "I'm going to cancel!" threats.

Or...

SC: I don't like this new protection program you offer, I want the old one back.
Me: I'm sorry ma'am the only program we offer now is the current one, the old one is discontinued and no longer honored.
SC: I never authorized that change!
Me: You didn't have to, we sent a mailed notice of the program change letting you know that unless you wanted to opt out at the time, you would automatically be placed on the new program.
SC: To hell with that! I want the old program back.
Me: We only have ONE program now ma'am, the system will not allow me to give you your old one back.
SC: If you can't help me, get me someone who can, someone who can do more in the system.
Me: Everyone here uses the same system.
SC: I asked to speak to someone else, someone with more authority than you, get some manager or something on the phone!
Me: Very well, it will be a brief wait for a manager.

Same result as above, manager says there is nothing we can do, SC threatens to cancel, blah blah blah.

SC: You changed my bill! Why has my bill changed???
Me: We've recently switched to a new billing system and as part of that have redesigned our bills.
SC: I used to use [feature of old bill] all the time and it's gone, I want my old bill back!
Me: The billing is hardwired into the system sir, it cannot be changed. Even if I moved you back into the older system, it would only delay the inevitable as all accounts will eventually be moved into the new system with the new bill.
SC: That's bullshit! Give me my old bill back!
Me: The system will not allow me to do that sir, the new billing is not a choice, it's what you get under the new system.
SC: How come you didn't tell me this would happen?
Me: We sent you notice of the changes on your previous 3 bills sir.
SC: *grumble* Well I don't care about that! Are you going to fix this damned bill for me or not?!
Me: I CAN'T sir, the system will not physically allow me to change it.
SC: Well then get someone on the phone who can change it, a supervisor or something.
Me: We all use the same systems here, they won't be able to do any more than I can.
SC: I SAID GET ME A MANAGER ON THE PHONE!
Me: Very well.

Manager reiterates what I said, customer decides he's going to cancel because he can't get his precious old bill back.

Come on people! There are some things that our system SIMPLY CANNOT DO!! How hard is this to understand???? I know it sucks, I know it's sometimes not fair and I know change is not always received well, but that's life! Suck it up and quit complaining. (yeah like that's going to happen).

[smileyeagle1021]

I get that too... there are some reservations that can ONLY be made by a manager or on a rooming list (ie the group coordinator must make the reservation for you) and I don't care how much you complain or yell I'm not the group coordinator or the manager you want to talk to and my computer just will not let me do it sense my login says "smileyeagle, peon employee" not "group coordinator, person who can make this reservation"... and it's 10pm at the hotel you are calling so no that person isn't available at this time, call back at a decent hour...
oh and no, we're not making it hard for you to spend your money, your group reservaton is done at cost at best, we only give you that low of a rate because we know your group will be spending money on the convention space... and yes we want to be damned sure we are not giving that rate to people who aren't going to that convention...
sorry for the halfway threadjack

[HawaiianShirts]

Change is hard. Some people make it harder than it needs to be.

A few months ago, my cable provider moved Spike to another channel. I watch Spike frequently (my wife and I are Star Trek nerds, and they play Voyager on weekday afternoons). It took me all of three days to get used to punching two different numbers on the remote. My downstairs neighbor is still whining that ESPN got moved (same time as Spike), and he has to get used to the new placement. Apparently, for him, it's like being blind and having someone rearrange his furniture every day. At least, that's the analogy he used...

I get the same thing with computer customers at work. I understand why some people are grumbling about Vista (just a comment--this shouldn't turn into a thread about operating systems), but I still have customers whining that nobody makes computers any more with Windows 95 or 98! Some guy tried to argue with me about it earlier this week. Nothing I can do about it, but still I must be at least partly at fault.

Grumble.

But then, if people suddenly changed and were reasonable with us all the time, we'd have to start complaining that we didn't have any more material to keep this site entertaining.

[Soetkin]

When we switched to the euro some years back, the points in our rewards programs were recalculated also (divided by 40). Ofcourse, our partners did the same thing, so the customers would still be able to use their points at pretty much the same value. This major change was announced every month for about a year on their statements.

We actually had to hire temps to deal with the deluge in phonecalls. Up to a year later, we'd still get SC's complaining about "What happened to my points!! You deleted my points and I want them back!" No amount of explaining helped. It was new, it was different, they hated it.


Then again, I have a great-aunt who bitches every time one of her favourite brands changes the packaging of the product, because "it's just not the saaaaaame."