Tweet
Ok, the membership org I work for is very popular with a certain demographic, and our membership fees are VERY low. $20 for an idividual membership with benefits, discounts, full website acces, etc. $40 to register a group, which INCLUDES the $20 membership for the leader of that group. Dirt cheap, really, which is why none of us make much working there.
While most of our members gladly and cheerfully pay their dues, our call center of course gets the majority of those who complain. One of my favorite calls usually goes something like this (generic call: it happens at least once a week):
CC: Call Center Employee
SC: you know
CC: Thank you for calling _______, this is Call Center Employee, how can I help you?
SC: I want to renew my group's membership. I think it's due.
CC: Ok, let me pull that info up. (if she's lucky, yhe SC has her group number. But at least half the time they don't, and don't remember the name of their group either. fun convo on its own).
CC: Ok, I do see your group listed in our records, but it's been expired since July of last year.
SC: Ok, I want to renew it.
CC: You have a couple of options for renewal: if you want to keep the same group name and ID number, you'll need to pay the back dues, which is a total of $80, and will renew the group till July 09. Or, you can start it up as a brand-new group, but you would need to pick a different name and ID#.
SC: What?? What do you mean I have to pay for last year! It's already past, why would I pay for it?
CC: That's our policy, ma'am: you never called in to cancel your membership, so we assume your group was still meeting.
SC: That's ridiculous, I won't pay that.
CC: Well, you can start it up as a new chapter,, but you would need to give the chapter a new name.
SC: Well, I'm not about to do that: we already have our t-shirts printed up with the old name on them.
CC: *thinking: so you have the money to custom print t-shirts, but you couldn't afford the lousy $40 last year???* Then you'll need to pay the back dues in order to keep the chapter name.
SC: That's baloney, I'll just wait till July and renew then.
CC: The same thing will apply in July, ma'am. It's not the month, it's the year. In July you'll have the same options that I just gave you.
SC: Well, we won't renew then! We don't need you! We can keep meeting on our own!
CC: Actually, ma'am, it's illegal to present yourselves as part of our organization without being a member. We do have a legal department.
SC: *click*
Good grief! What's so hard about "You didn't pay us last year so you're a year behind"???
While most of our members gladly and cheerfully pay their dues, our call center of course gets the majority of those who complain. One of my favorite calls usually goes something like this (generic call: it happens at least once a week):
CC: Call Center Employee
SC: you know
CC: Thank you for calling _______, this is Call Center Employee, how can I help you?
SC: I want to renew my group's membership. I think it's due.
CC: Ok, let me pull that info up. (if she's lucky, yhe SC has her group number. But at least half the time they don't, and don't remember the name of their group either. fun convo on its own).
CC: Ok, I do see your group listed in our records, but it's been expired since July of last year.
SC: Ok, I want to renew it.
CC: You have a couple of options for renewal: if you want to keep the same group name and ID number, you'll need to pay the back dues, which is a total of $80, and will renew the group till July 09. Or, you can start it up as a brand-new group, but you would need to pick a different name and ID#.
SC: What?? What do you mean I have to pay for last year! It's already past, why would I pay for it?
CC: That's our policy, ma'am: you never called in to cancel your membership, so we assume your group was still meeting.
SC: That's ridiculous, I won't pay that.
CC: Well, you can start it up as a new chapter,, but you would need to give the chapter a new name.
SC: Well, I'm not about to do that: we already have our t-shirts printed up with the old name on them.
CC: *thinking: so you have the money to custom print t-shirts, but you couldn't afford the lousy $40 last year???* Then you'll need to pay the back dues in order to keep the chapter name.
SC: That's baloney, I'll just wait till July and renew then.
CC: The same thing will apply in July, ma'am. It's not the month, it's the year. In July you'll have the same options that I just gave you.
SC: Well, we won't renew then! We don't need you! We can keep meeting on our own!
CC: Actually, ma'am, it's illegal to present yourselves as part of our organization without being a member. We do have a legal department.
SC: *click*
Good grief! What's so hard about "You didn't pay us last year so you're a year behind"???
Comment