Any Old Account Number Will Do

[TelephoneAngel]

I had a doozy of a phone call this morning, I was shaking when this finished.

me *greeting takes customer name address date of birth and account number and looks up customer account on system* In taking the account number i read back every two numbers taken for customer to confirm it is correct, customer confirmed every two sets of numbers, and thus the whole account number, were correct.

customer details do not match account number.I try by name and address, still the account number does not match.In order to proceed, I need to be sure this is the right customer with the right account, and if she does indeed have someone else's account number for some reason..

I apologise to customer and say I am not sure I have the right account number, and need to check it.

Customer starts shouting "its the same account number i've always had *rattles off account number so quickly I caught three numbers out of it*

me - I am sorry, I didn't catch that, could you repeat it slowly please?

customer shouting about me being stupid and it being the right account number.

me - if you would just let me check what I have, maybe I took it down wrong.

customer - "i just gave it to you"

me - is it 367.......

customer interrupts me "you know what i said"

I terminated the call.

[Exaspera]

I guess if it's really important, they'll call back and be more reasonable. Morons!

[Solumina]

Frickin' loon

[Jangles the Moon Monkey]

I'm sorry you had to deal with that. I had one customer who gave me their number which I confirmed. I then confirmed their name and address and made changes to their account. When they wanted a change to a magazine (I worked in a newspaper and magazine wholesalers) it wasn't showing on their account. Turns out they'd just replied yeah when I was confirming their address and account number and they had transposed two numbers. Took me fecking ages to amend everything on both accounts.

[TheComputerError]

I'm sorry you had to deal with that. I had one customer who gave me their number which I confirmed. I then confirmed their name and address and made changes to their account. When they wanted a change to a magazine (I worked in a newspaper and magazine wholesalers) it wasn't showing on their account. Turns out they'd just replied yeah when I was confirming their address and account number and they had transposed two numbers. Took me fecking ages to amend everything on both accounts.

And this is why I never lead the customer when trying to confirm an address. I ask them to provide me with an address which I can check against the information in my database. It's all too easy for someone to be paying little attention and just "yeah" their way to the wrong profile.