Customers who use their personal problems to excuse their behavior

[MoonChild2007]

I know customers have shitty things going in their lives and that sometimes a big
event can stall them from making payments but why must they always use that as an excuse?

I also have problems but that doesn't mean that I am going to call up a company and state "I haven't been making payments because i am having family problems"
That's not really our business what happens in your life.

I had one woman basically treat me like crap just because her mother died and that she had to wait 30 minutes to disconnect her mother services. Please, there will be a high call volume whether or not your mother died or not. She lost major sympathy points from me with her verbally abusing me just because I could not do anything. It is disconnections job not mine. She even threatened to get an attorney just because I could not get a manager or supervisor to do it. She even blames me for the fact she has been on this phone for 45 minutes. I love customers who pull that shit with me. THEY are the ones who keep refuting everything we say and dragging this longer than it should be.

I know its horrible to have somebody close to you pass away but its not another to treat OTHER people like dirt.

[tropicsgoddess]

I can understand the fact that it's hard having somebody close to you pass on, but it's just not fair to take it out on somebody just because you can. Why is it that SC's think that being rude and nasty will make the CSR more willing to help?!!

[MoonChild2007]

And especially if its something out of our control.

[candyshopgirl]

you know I have a lot of money problems right now. Hell my hubby needs new glasses,new clothes(hes lost 85 pounds the last two years,he needs everything),MY dogs/cat need their shots,my car needs everything fixed,and we are trying to look for a small car(something less gas drinking).But never once have I EVER thought it entitles me to be a bitch. I believe in karma and I feel like if I'm a bitch to other people then my money problems will get worse.

[Shards]

The why I see it everyone has loved ones who will eventually pass on. For all I know, my grandfather, who is my favorite person in the world, will die while I'm on a tour of duty, and I won't be able to get back stateside to be at his funeral, but that doesn't mean that if it happens I'll be taking it out on anyone else, and it damn well doesn't give you the right to treat me like shit because you were at your aunt's side when she died yesterday.

[disneyfav4ever]

I had a lady once get mad at me like that because she didn't have a lot of money, and she wanted to use coupons. Now I'm all for saving money and using coupons, but she wanted to use coupons for stuff she wasn't buying, and was mad that I wouldn't take them off, because "most people don't actually check."

[JLRodgers]

I can say that at times of death -- the grieving people sometimes have to put up with tons of crap from other companies (and they call all the companies the same basic day), so it's not always the one place but another.

My mom had things happen when her mom died:
She'd call to cancel something. They wanted proof. She faxed the death certificate, power of attorney and estate papers (since all the things were in an estate, and she was listed in it).... then they'd still not do it as they had no proof she was who she said she was. After a few months, she was finally able to get things cancelled or switched. Some reps even claimed she was lieing and she wasn't really dead and my mom was just trying to scam them... One place demanded she go in person to their offices (on the other side of the country) to proove she was who she said she was (later a supervisor [took forever and many, many calls] said "I'm sorry -- they should've never done that. The account's closed.").

Just saying... sometimes when you deal with a death, the reps (whether it be their fault, or the companies themselves) get the people in really, really bad moods -- then when they call another company the fuse is even shorter. Some people would be surprised.... but it took us 5 years to get everything taken care of to finally close the estate things.

[MoonChild2007]

sometimes when you deal with a death, the reps (whether it be their fault, or the companies themselves) get the people in really, really bad moods

Oh right cause its always the reps fault. Sometimes there is nothing that we reps can do. Death sucks but don't take that crap out on me. I don't care if you are in a bad mood or not. Would the customers be happy if the rep gave them attitude, no they wouldn't. so why do customers have the right to treat us reps like crap just because of something that is WAY out our control?

[Lace Neil Singer]

Agreed. If you're starting to get in a bad mood cuz of having to deal with a death and everything that goes with it, get off the phone, take a couple of deep breaths, and take a break before getting back to it. When you're shrieking profanities at a rep or cashier who is only doing their job, then you are being a bitch, end of. It doesn't matter how many relatives you've lost, you are not special; everyone has lost at least one loved one in their life and not gone on to act like a bitch cuz of it.

Just for the record, I had to go into work the days after both my granny's and my friend's funerals, and altho I had a few occasions when tears happened, on neither time did I use my bereavements as an excuse to make everyone elses' lives hell. My parents had to deal with a load of crap when my granny died; they never yelled at reps or bitched at anyone. It's not difficult to treat people like human beings, you know, and being bereaved is no excuse for not doing so.

[Ree]

A reminder that we do not call each other out on this board and bicker. If you have a problem with a comment, report it.
How can one demand to be treated with respect from strangers on a phone when they, themselves, treat fellow members so snarkily in a forum when they don't agree with what they said?

Having just come through this, and still going through it, I can say I hope I haven't treated anyone badly during the numerous calls I have made.

As JLRodgers mentioned, it does get really frustrating, and it's pretty darn hard not to go on the defensive in preparation for all the red tape that we know we'll probably have to deal with.

The first night I stayed in the house after my husband died, I got a phone call from Canadian Blood Services. They had already left a voice message that I had to listen to. They were having a blood donor clinic and they wanted my husband to donate. (He was Type O.) I could have gone all shitty on them, but I knew they had no way of knowing the situation, so I very politely told them that he had died. She apologized and said she would take his name off the list right away so I wouldn't get any more calls.
If I do end up getting another call, I can't guarantee I will be pleasant.

Another example of when I really wanted to scream was with the phone services. Last Christmas, my husband got me a cell phone. It was actually a family plan, so he got one, too. The company was the very same one with whom we have our phone, internet and satellite dish.

I had to call about the cellphone for some problem or another, and while I was talking, I asked if the bill could be put in my name. I explained that my husband had passed and I preferred to have things in my name. (It's hard to see the bills coming in with his name on them.)
Within seconds I had been transferred to someone who took care of it immediately.

I then asked about the other services and was told it was a different department, so I would have to call a different number.
I did that, only to be told I had to go in person to my local store, (which is NOT local, actually, but in another town, and I don't drive), and take a copy of the death certificate and our marriage certificate to prove he was dead and that I had the right to handle all of the business.
So, one department from the same company had no problem with my request, but I had to go through hoops for all the others. Then the rep asked me why I was bothering. She said her Mom was still getting bills in her Dad's name after over 15 years. Well bully for her.
Yeah, I was upset, but I didn't take it out on her.

Some days, you are just so filled with pain and anger, and while it's not fair to take it out on someone just doing their job, when one is grieving, it's hard to turn it on and off. As I said, I think I did my best not to take it out on the reps I dealt with, but I know there were times when the frustration level was pretty darned high.

When one is grieving, one is not really thinking rationally.
I like to think, though, if a person is normally respectful of others, then politeness is just second nature, regardless of what personal issues they may be dealing with. Perhaps that was why I was able to remain reasonably pleasant, even after I had been told for the umpteenth time that I was going to have to send a copy of his birth certificate, a death certificate and a marriage certificate, and that the certification of death form that I got from the funeral home was not good enough, yet I couldn't get an actual death certificate for at least 8 weeks after death, and I still have not received a copy of his birth certificate, which I was forced to order online as a replacement since I have no idea where he put his.

Again, those are really frustrating things for me to deal with, but it's not the poor rep's fault.

[LadyAndreca]

My mother once went SC on a collection company that wouldn't accept "my father-in-law died, please call the estate lawyer at this number to settle accounts" for an answer and was calling us daily 6 weeks after first being told that. (Go figure, we gave them the same answer every time they called...you'd think they'd at least have TRIED calling the number we gave them.) She did a whole sobbing 'why are you still bothering me, I told you what you needed' thing and afterwards said she felt bad for the rep and shouldn't have done it, but it felt good. They didn't call us again after that.

[Mordecai]

Just saying... sometimes when you deal with a death, the reps (whether it be their fault, or the companies themselves) get the people in really, really bad moods -- then when they call another company the fuse is even shorter.

Just out of curiosity, Would you be as understanding if, say, you went to a movie and the person in concession freaked out on you because they had a passing in their family?

[rerant]

I used a personal problem as an excuse once. However I was not rude in the least. In fact I was as nice as I could possibly be.
When I lost my job I called my CC companies to ask if my monthly payments could be lowered because at the moment I couldn't afford them and wouldn't be able to pay my bills otherwise.

Both companies lowered my interest rates by 5%.

[AdminAssistant]

A friend was killed in a car wreck (he was 19) about...3 years ago. I called in the day after it happened (mostly due to getting no sleep and the fact that I was shadowing someone), then came to work the next day, still feeling like utter hell. What's worse is that I did an interview with the local news about it (the crash was really horrific). I really didn't want to, but they were really being obnoxious about getting someone who knew the victim, and I was afraid they were harrassing the family.

So all day at work I got, "Hey, I saw you on the news last night!" Yeah, because a friend DIED you asswipe. Would you like some salt and lemon to rub in that wound?

When there's been something like a death in the family, people aren't going to be on their best behavior, as much as they may try. Especially in matters like death and sickness, which leads to wrangling with insurance companies and doctors and random family members constantly calling and it's just a PAIN added to individual pain and suffering.

So, no, that shouldn't be an excuse to lash out at a rep - but it's somewhat understandable.

[Gingernut]

I was once slightly taken aback to hear a colleague finish a phone call with a cheery 'and I hope you enjoy your funeral!'.

She had taken an inbound sales call, with a customer enquiring about our concession for low income families. The customer did not qualify, and was nowhere near a grey area we might want to bend the rules for. She was rich. On being tactfully told this, she angrily replied 'I don't need this today. I'm about to go to my best friend's funeral!'.

Now if we had been making an outbound call we would have apologised profusely for disturbing her and ended the call. But she had rung us, and now she was trying to guilt us into giving her a service reserved for people in financial distress!

I do really feel for the customers who genuinely need to talk about their personal problems though, so I always try to be sympathetic. There isn't usually much I can do to help, but if it gives them any kind of boost at all to have someone listen for two minutes, it's not going to kill me.

(The above call had actually ended before the colleague made her comment).