I've been having this problem for hours and hours now!

[greensinestro]

Why is it when a customer calls in to a call center, they always exaggerate the amount of time that their problems or issues have been occuring? I had a guy the other day who called up and stated he was not finding any e-mails on his Outlook server. The time he called in was 9am, which was about a half hour after I arrived. He told me "I have been unable to see any new e-mails now and have been trying to do so for hours and hours." So, as a way of helping him, I first of all saved the best question for last and instead set up the e-mail on our server to verify if any e-mails were on the account. None were there, so I sent this man some test e-mails as well as sent them from his account to mine. Lo and behold, they all went through fine.

I then asked him the million dollar question. "Sir, about what time did you start checking your e-mail?" to which he replied, "Oh, since about 845.". It was 9am when he called me, meaning he had only tried this for fifteen minutes! Also, it turned out he had cleaned out his e-mails at around 8am, one hour before he called me!

I'll leave everyone else out there to draw their own conclusions as to whether or not a fifteen minute interval is the same thing as "hours and hours".

[BookstoreEscapee]

So in other words, he cleaned out his mailbox and he has no friends to send him more?

[greensinestro]

So in other words, he cleaned out his mailbox and he has no friends to send him more?

Nope. Another one of those that does not use his brain. When he has a minor issue like this, he calls his internet provider to solve his "problem". He must stare at his computer all day and obsess about his e-mails.

[Jester]

This kind of thing goes on in restaurants all the time. If someone has been waiting a minute, it's ten. If they've been waiting five, it's twenty. Ten? At LEAST an hour. SC time has nothing to do with reality whatsoever.

Gee, like THAT'S news!

[myswtghst]

Same thing happens at the call center I work at. Customers don't seem to realize we can see the queue. We rarely if ever have a caller on hold for more than 5 minutes, and we know this, and monitor it. Heck, if someone is on hold for 5 minutes, someone on their lunch or a manager will log in to take the call.

I know how long you've been waiting, and I'm not, for one minute, going to believe you were on hold for 20 minutes when I know it's been no longer than 4 min and 34 sec.

[greensinestro]

Same thing happens at the call center I work at. Customers don't seem to realize we can see the queue. We rarely if ever have a caller on hold for more than 5 minutes, and we know this, and monitor it. Heck, if someone is on hold for 5 minutes, someone on their lunch or a manager will log in to take the call.

I know how long you've been waiting, and I'm not, for one minute, going to believe you were on hold for 20 minutes when I know it's been no longer than 4 min and 34 sec.

I love that as well. In my call center, we always have that customer who will say that, and that's at times when we go five minutes without any calls in our que.

[dizzy_starshine]

My dad acts like that over emails. He seriously thinks that just because my computer is using the same wifi live box his emails are coming to my computer and not his. I asked him who exactly would send him emails as he doesn't know anyone and he went off in a huff lol.

He also thinks you have to go back to your home page between visiting different websites -_-

[Arcade Man D]

I get this at the arcade a few times. I actually call the SCs on it.

"I've been waiting for an hour!"

"I don't see how, as when I left the counter to go get food it was only 15 minutes ago, and there was no one there."

((The mall was kinda packed that day.))

[SCSlave]

When I worked in the cursed cable call center, the queue was always ALWAYS long. We had a button on our phone that showed how many people were waiting, and how long the actual wait time is. I loved it when people would call in and immediately start screaming bloody murder about waiting for "an hour and a half!!!"

I always pressed the button and said "Hmm...says here you've waited 13 minutes 12 seconds..??" And...if they HAVE, indeed, tried for an hour and a half...it was because they kept hanging up when they hear there is a wait time...and, invariably, calling right back. Which put them in the back of the line each time. As if they're going to irritate the automated system enough to make it put their call first in line.

[uthdentroll]

got a guest ordered 36 bottles of Corona, and lime, and 24 bottles of Heiniken.... thats alot of booz for one room. anyway. she expected the booz be up to her room in 5 minutes, and she kept calling and calling and calling first it was 5 mins, then she said shes been waiting for 30 minutes.
but the computer logged her calls at every 2 minutes. and she said us calling her a liar..... we told her........ we didnt call you a liar..... the computer log did......

[AZangel]

This kind of thing goes on in restaurants all the time. If someone has been waiting a minute, it's ten. If they've been waiting five, it's twenty. Ten? At LEAST an hour. SC time has nothing to do with reality whatsoever.

Gee, like THAT'S news!

Ain't that the truth! If I've left the counter where I work for only three minutes, they've had to wait five times as long when I've returned.


"but the computer logged her calls at every 2 minutes. and she said us calling her a liar..... we told her........ we didnt call you a liar..... the computer log did......"


Did she argue that the computer screwed up? Cuz we all know that computers screw up all the time

[greensinestro]

When I worked in the cursed cable call center, the queue was always ALWAYS long. We had a button on our phone that showed how many people were waiting, and how long the actual wait time is. I loved it when people would call in and immediately start screaming bloody murder about waiting for "an hour and a half!!!"

I always pressed the button and said "Hmm...says here you've waited 13 minutes 12 seconds..??" And...if they HAVE, indeed, tried for an hour and a half...it was because they kept hanging up when they hear there is a wait time...and, invariably, calling right back. Which put them in the back of the line each time. As if they're going to irritate the automated system enough to make it put their call first in line.

I also worked for a cable company, the crooked no-good Adelphia! Ah, yes, that was a "wonderful" time, particularly after Hurricane Wilma blew through. And what was really irritating with the "I've been holding forever" customers was they were holding maybe 15 minutes or so, although it was longer because they kept hanging up and calling back in. Then, after I got one of these people, they demanded a supervisor after being told they would not have their cable TV for a month or so due to hurricane damage. After this tidbit of info, these customers would demand a supervisor (being they have a magic wand and can fix the problems faster than the outside technicians can), and sometimes the wait for a supervisor was an hour or so, being the supervisors were already busy with the other unreasonable customers demanding miracles be performed. It would tie up my line from being able to get any incoming calls (being supervisors do not allow you to just dump calls on to them without being announced), and the customer was by this time fuming purple with rage. And, after all of that, these people still did not have their service back for a month or so. I hope the time was worth it to them.

[Sientara]

I'll leave everyone else out there to draw their own conclusions as to whether or not a fifteen minute interval is the same thing as "hours and hours".

I tend to get more of the "It's been down since this weekend" when they are calling on Friday. It has been down all week and now it is a priority?

My favorite is the time our outgoing fax server had been down for about 2 weeks before there were any complaints. The excuse for not complaining was "we thought you were closed for the holiday. "

Note 1: I work for a hospital. We don't close for holidays.
Note 2: The holiday was July 4. Who takes off *2* weeks for July 4?

[BookstoreEscapee]

I also worked for a cable company, the crooked no-good Adelphia! Ah, yes, that was a "wonderful" time, particularly after Hurricane Wilma blew through. And what was really irritating with the "I've been holding forever" customers was they were holding maybe 15 minutes or so, although it was longer because they kept hanging up and calling back in. Then, after I got one of these people, they demanded a supervisor after being told they would not have their cable TV for a month or so due to hurricane damage. After this tidbit of info, these customers would demand a supervisor (being they have a magic wand and can fix the problems faster than the outside technicians can), and sometimes the wait for a supervisor was an hour or so, being the supervisors were already busy with the other unreasonable customers demanding miracles be performed. It would tie up my line from being able to get any incoming calls (being supervisors do not allow you to just dump calls on to them without being announced), and the customer was by this time fuming purple with rage. And, after all of that, these people still did not have their service back for a month or so. I hope the time was worth it to them.

jeez...read a book for god's sake...go to blockbuster and rent some movies...get an antennae and watch -gasp- network tv!!

Edited to add: When i lived in Philly i had the most basic cable package you could get. basically, the cable.... i had channels 2-13, and TVLand, Nick at Nite and Fox Family that snuck through for some reason. And I survived for a whole year!

[tollbaby]

Edited to add: When i lived in Philly i had the most basic cable package you could get. basically, the cable.... i had channels 2-13, and TVLand, Nick at Nite and Fox Family that snuck through for some reason. And I survived for a whole year!

Heck, I went for 3 years without even owning a tv (or computer! *ghasp*) when I first left home. Want to know how much I missed it? Since I moved out of the house I shared with my ex-husband (2 1/2 years), I think I've watched tv... three times? I only keep it for the kids, really.