So my current job has me working as a phone CSR for a medium-sized company that administers standardized tests to high school students.
The way it works is that a student pays for his test, which includes the ability to send reports to up to 4 different colleges (or scholarships, senators, etc) at no charge. The kicker is that the reports are free up until a certain deadline, after which the student has to pay for those reports even if they hadn't previously used 'em.
As you might expect, we get a lot of calls from folks who either didn't pay attention and missed the deadline or who don't understand why they have to pay for the reports after the deadline. [To be fair, I can sympathize with these people; it just happens to be that this system is the most cost-effective one for us.]
Anyway, I had a call yesterday about this policy and it was one of "those" calls. You know the type: customer is pissed from the get-go and their call isn't so much about resolving their problem as it is about taking out their frustrations on someone. In this case it was a parent who had a problem with the policy and wanted to fight about it.
So for the first 15-20 minutes I was the good CSR, being polite and trying to answer questions, all the while ignoring the patronizing tone, condescending questions, hugely exaggerated sighs and muttered comments. At some point I think this finally got to the woman, because she sort of cracked. We had been "discussing" various points of policy when she brought it back to the original reason for the call - the free reports:
Crazy Phone Lady: And this is why I think those reports are a rip-off!!
Me: I'm sorry about that ma'am but there are some limitations to the free repo...
CPL: They're NOT FREE!! *rabble rabble rabble rabble*
Me: Yes Ma'am I understand your concerns about the free re...
CPL: They're NOT FREE!!! *rabble rabble rabble rabble*
Me: Ma'am I'm sorry but with the free repo...
CPL: They're NOT FREE!!!!!!! *rabble rabble rabble* Now I want to speak with supervisor!
Now I'll admit it - I knew that saying things the way I did would probably tweak this SC - and you could very well say I was a bit sucky here - but frankly, I didn't really care. By the time we got to that part of our conversation I was tired of being insulted, yelled at and patronized and was going to send the call up to a supervisor anyway.
So I'm curious: anyone else ever take the chance to tweak an SC?
The way it works is that a student pays for his test, which includes the ability to send reports to up to 4 different colleges (or scholarships, senators, etc) at no charge. The kicker is that the reports are free up until a certain deadline, after which the student has to pay for those reports even if they hadn't previously used 'em.
As you might expect, we get a lot of calls from folks who either didn't pay attention and missed the deadline or who don't understand why they have to pay for the reports after the deadline. [To be fair, I can sympathize with these people; it just happens to be that this system is the most cost-effective one for us.]
Anyway, I had a call yesterday about this policy and it was one of "those" calls. You know the type: customer is pissed from the get-go and their call isn't so much about resolving their problem as it is about taking out their frustrations on someone. In this case it was a parent who had a problem with the policy and wanted to fight about it.
So for the first 15-20 minutes I was the good CSR, being polite and trying to answer questions, all the while ignoring the patronizing tone, condescending questions, hugely exaggerated sighs and muttered comments. At some point I think this finally got to the woman, because she sort of cracked. We had been "discussing" various points of policy when she brought it back to the original reason for the call - the free reports:
Crazy Phone Lady: And this is why I think those reports are a rip-off!!
Me: I'm sorry about that ma'am but there are some limitations to the free repo...
CPL: They're NOT FREE!! *rabble rabble rabble rabble*
Me: Yes Ma'am I understand your concerns about the free re...
CPL: They're NOT FREE!!! *rabble rabble rabble rabble*
Me: Ma'am I'm sorry but with the free repo...
CPL: They're NOT FREE!!!!!!! *rabble rabble rabble* Now I want to speak with supervisor!
Now I'll admit it - I knew that saying things the way I did would probably tweak this SC - and you could very well say I was a bit sucky here - but frankly, I didn't really care. By the time we got to that part of our conversation I was tired of being insulted, yelled at and patronized and was going to send the call up to a supervisor anyway.
So I'm curious: anyone else ever take the chance to tweak an SC?
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