He wanted help but wouldn't tell me the problem..

[Cyanocobalamin]

Me= She who does a good job at pretending to give a damn
MP = Man on phone

Me: Thanks for calling [my store] this is Cyan, how may I help you?
MP: Hi, I’d like to talk to a manager.
Me: Ok, and what is it regarding so I can transfer you to the appropriate person.
MP: Well……. I bought something yesterday, and….. I’d just like to speak with a manager.
Me: Maybe it’s something I can help you with? [Because most of the time I can solve the problem without resorting to calling a manager!]
MP: So I’m not gonna be able to get through to anyone?
Me: [sigh] Alright one moment please.

So I put him on hold and page for a manager, and of course he hangs up 30 seconds later. It's usually the other way around. I will get the documentary of the mini-series of the customer's issue when all I need is the abridged edition.

[Ljt09863]

usually, if i answer the phone and they want a manager, i have no problem passing them off to another person. the less people i have to deal with the better!

[zelper]

I think i side with the customer a little here. Sometimes a customer knows that only the manager can help with something they want and that it's just wasting everyone's time to spend lots of time with customer service people.

For example, my bank once made a mistake on my account. One of their managers called and asked a few questions to clarify what should have happened then assured me he would fix it. That's the simplified version lol. A couple of days later I wanted to transfer a large sum of money and for whatever reason it wasn't showing as being in my account. I knew that the manager would happily transfer the money because he knew about the error they had made and knew that there was money in the account - but explaining a highly complex situation to the phone adviser wasn't going to get me anywhere. So when I called the national helpline I asked to be put through to the relevant branch. Usually this is no problem if you explain that you have been dealing with a particular employee (my bank is VERY hot on customer service) but the adviser kept trying to avoid putting me through. Eventually she complied and I got put through and asked to speak to the manager (by name). Again with the rigmarole and the person on the other end refusing to put me through because they insisted that they personally could help. Eventually I got fed up and just started explaining the problem from the start. With all the 'huh?'s and confused noises it took about ten minutes. At which point she decided she couldn't help me and she'd transfer me to a manager. Really, REALLY annoying!

Generally I find that if a customer doesn't want something from you* then it's just easier all round to let them speak to the manager!



*And don't let me get started on staff asking three times if I want their rip-off store cards!!!! Grrrrr.

[friendofjimmyk]

Well, in most jobs I have held, the manager wants to know what the caller wants BEFORE taking the call. Even if someone insisted on speaking to a manager, I have always been required to ask what it was in regards to - this gave the manager time to prepare for the call. And most of the time, if I could help them, I would.

[TonyDonuts]

One of my people came running up to me once.

A caller was on the phone. And she HAD to speak to a MANAGER. RIGHT NOW!

No one else could help her with her problem. Only someone with the awesome power and knowledge of a MANAGER could help her.

I picked up the line and asked, "This is the manager, how can I help you?"

Her question? "Yes, I'm on I94 and I need directions to your store."

My head almost exploded.

[SuperDan]

Actually, part of our customer service training at my store was to not pass off to a manager until either they tell us what's going on and we know we need a manager for it, or until they've refused to talk to us three times. The reasoning behind this is that we the associates have been given the power to act in the company's best interest as we see it in customer service situations. An example of this would be a customer comes in for a sale item and we're out of it. We offer the customer a raincheck but the customer needs the item before their next opportunity to shop. Well, in this situation it is not only perfectly within our authority but actually encouraged to substitute an item of same or slightly better quality and quantity (of course as close to the substituting price as we can get it, but the store trusts us to do that). We'd rather lose a dollar or so on one or two items than have the customer get pissed and leave without buying the other $200 worth of stuff in their cart.

Customers aren't used to regular associates having any level of authority, and in our case we have been given (this a direct quote from our equivalent of a district manager) "the authority to do whatever is reasonable and neccessary to insure that the customer leaves happy." When we do hand off to a manager, our training indicates that we're supposed to wait with the customer and manager while the manager takes care of the problem. Then the manager is supposed to ask the customer if the associate offered to help, and explain to the customer that the associate (and all of the associates in the store) has the power to do anything necessary in providing good customer service, and if future issues arise they are encouraged to allow the associate the opportunity to do their REAL job, providing customer service.

It's pretty rare that I hand off anything to a manager anymore. I might make a quick phone call to one in the case of something like the customer wanting a discount on an already sale price because the last two cans of a particular flavor of soup in the store both have huge dents. Otherwise, I just handle it and in the case of a substitution I record it on the substitution log and notify a manager about it later. The only thing that requires direct customer-to-manager contact is a customer wishing to pass on praise of an employee, or an extremely irate customer (our training actually said of those situations: apologize immediately, then immediately pass off to a manager because "they get paid to deal with those people, you don't").

[TennesseePieman]

Actually, part of our customer service training at my store was to not pass off to a manager until either they tell us what's going on and we know we need a manager for it, or until they've refused to talk to us three times. The reasoning behind this is that we the associates have been given the power to act in the company's best interest as we see it in customer service situations.

Yah, everyone at our restaurant knows how to handle manager calls. These calls usually fall into a few broad categories, and will only have a handful of answers.

1. The customer complaint call - if it's a complaint from a current order (i.e., happened sometime today), we can offer a refund, a remake, or a credit towards a future order. If it's regarding an order that occurred two weeks ago and you didn't ask for a credit, so sorry about your luck, you should have called, um, two weeks ago.

2. The big party call - the customer is having a big party and either a) needs to host it in our dining room, or b) needs to know what kinds of discounts we offer for large orders. If it's A, we'll take their information and reserve space for their party, except on Friday, when we do not accept reservations; or if it's B, we have a set discounted price schedule for orders of five large pizzas or more.

3. The bad check call - these calls come to me, not because I'm a manager, but just because the task has sort of fallen to me over the years and I know what I'm doing with it. Contact me to make arrangements before we contact you, you'll only have to pay face value plus what the bank charged us (usually about $5); drag it out until the day before I take the bad checks to court, and you'll owe us face value plus $25, no exceptions. You don't want me to take your check to court.

4. The random sales call - these calls ask for the "person in charge of your long distance service/office supply ordering/whatever." The person in charge of all these things is Emmett, but he's usually busy. Emmett is busy because, as a two-and-a-half foot tall countertop figurine of a chef, he has a most important task - to hold up a small chalkboard that announces our daily specials to our walk-in customers. Emmett doesn't talk on the phone much.

Needless to say, once you eliminate all these, there are very few calls the manager actually HAS to take.