Tweet
It's another long one...
Today I had a lady who, at the time, upset me and irritated me. Later in the day I was laughing about it, but at the time I wanted to crawl through the phone and throttle her.
A little background: According to the customer's salescheck, she had had a piece of furniture inspected in Feb. 2006. At the time, she was declined for an exchange, but told she could have another for a 2nd opinion. She apparently never called back for said 2nd opinion until today. A year later. I don't know how the conversation went, but according to the supervisor's notes, this lady was a royal pain. She "kept twisting my [the supervisor] words" and thought the fact that "it took her a year to call in to get a 2nd opinion" had no bearing on the situation at all. The supervisor would not let a 2nd tech go out now, as the chair was no longer covered by warranty. The supervisor said she could not help the customer, but she could talk to her manager instead. Said manager was in a meeting, but supervisor would pass on the call back notice to him. Now, I come into the picture.
Me: Well, guess who.
SC: Yeah, you know it.
Me: Thank you for calling FBCS, this is Kim, how may I help you?
SC: [aggravated tone] I need to speak to Manager's Name.
Me: Is this a store manager, or a call center manager? (we always get store calls for some reason)
SC: No, he's one of your managers, wherever you are.
Me: (explains that there was no mgr by that name at MY location, but maybe I can find out who she needs to speak to) Ok, well, if you have your salescheck, I can look at the notes and see if there's information on who you need to talk to...(I look up salescheck, see wonderful note left by previous supervisor, find out where they're from, etc. tell customer I will look up ext on my directory. Put customer on hold, come back with ext.)
Me: Alright, Manager's Name's extension is 34567, and I can transfer you whenever you're ready.
SC: And can I get your name?
Me: Kim.
SC: And your last name?
Me: I don't give out my last name for professional reasons, but my extension is 12345.
SC: You are refusing to give me your last name?
Me: Yes ma'am. I do not give out my last name, and my extension is the best way to identify me as an employee.
SC: Is this call being recorded? Because I am going to tell Manager's Name that you are withholding information.
Me: All our calls are recorded for quality purposes, and I am not required to give out my last name. I can transfer you whenever you're ready.
SC: Fine, go ahead.
So, I transfer the customer to what, to the best of my knowledge, was this manager's ext. Not 1 minute later, my phone rings, and it's another CSR with this same lady on the phone who wants to talk to me. Transfers the call back to me. Apparently, the ext I gave her brings her to some other female supervisor's voicemail. I apologize, tell her I will try to find the correct number, but the number I gave her is the ext for this manager according to the directory I have (I am seriously beginning to feel like 411). So I put her on hold and go to my supervisor. We both try other supervisors' ext in that location, and no one is answering. Finally she goes to one of our managers who has the extension for a different manager there. My super calls him. Finds out the manager we have been trying to reach is aware of this customer, and told the supervisor she originally dealt with that he would be in a meeting and that he would call her back when he was done. The customer was aware of this. So, we get the correct ext and I go back to the customer.
The customer was, unfortunately, on hold for a while while we were trying to get the correct ext for this guy. I can only apologize and explain what took so long. As I am trying to explain why it took so long, customer keeps trying to stop me and ask for every single person's name and extension who was involved in this conversation. Finally, for whatever reason (this woman confused the hell out of me and I can't quite figure out how the conversation got from point A to Z), the customer suddenly demanded to speak to my immediate supervisor. Unfortunately, my supervisor has gotten on the "supervisor line" and was busy taking calls from other associates. I advise the customer that if she'd rather speak to her instead, I can leave a message, but she is unavailable at the moment. She says, "You're refusing to let me speak to your supervisor?? I want you know that I am quoting you word for word, and when I get to blah, blah..." I tell her she is more than welcome to do that, as I already told her that all our calls are recorded. She whines and moans for a bit more, and FINALLY allows me to transfer her to the manager she was originally trying to reach.
Oh my goodness. I had to get up and take a lap around the office after that call. I wrote about 2 paragraphs of notes on her salescheck, stating among other things, that I refused to give the customer my last name. I later asked my supervisor about that, and she said, "The woman must be crazy. You don't have to give your last name to anyone." That made me feel a bit better.
Later on I checked the notes again, to satisfy my morbid curiosity, and lo and behold, the customer had called back AGAIN and bitched out another CSR, who also wrote a paragraph of notes about her. ("customer was very rude and nasty").
This lady was the first customer I've ever had that seriously made me "panic" while at this call center. It was a brief panic, but panic nonetheless. And it was the last name thing that did it. It's my damn name. It doesn't mean shit when I am employee # 678 out of 6,078. She doesn't need it. And she acted so arrogant, like she was going to get my ass fired for refusing her information.
BLARGH! I need to go to be. I just had to share this because it made my day totally blah.
Today I had a lady who, at the time, upset me and irritated me. Later in the day I was laughing about it, but at the time I wanted to crawl through the phone and throttle her.
A little background: According to the customer's salescheck, she had had a piece of furniture inspected in Feb. 2006. At the time, she was declined for an exchange, but told she could have another for a 2nd opinion. She apparently never called back for said 2nd opinion until today. A year later. I don't know how the conversation went, but according to the supervisor's notes, this lady was a royal pain. She "kept twisting my [the supervisor] words" and thought the fact that "it took her a year to call in to get a 2nd opinion" had no bearing on the situation at all. The supervisor would not let a 2nd tech go out now, as the chair was no longer covered by warranty. The supervisor said she could not help the customer, but she could talk to her manager instead. Said manager was in a meeting, but supervisor would pass on the call back notice to him. Now, I come into the picture.
Me: Well, guess who.
SC: Yeah, you know it.
Me: Thank you for calling FBCS, this is Kim, how may I help you?
SC: [aggravated tone] I need to speak to Manager's Name.
Me: Is this a store manager, or a call center manager? (we always get store calls for some reason)
SC: No, he's one of your managers, wherever you are.
Me: (explains that there was no mgr by that name at MY location, but maybe I can find out who she needs to speak to) Ok, well, if you have your salescheck, I can look at the notes and see if there's information on who you need to talk to...(I look up salescheck, see wonderful note left by previous supervisor, find out where they're from, etc. tell customer I will look up ext on my directory. Put customer on hold, come back with ext.)
Me: Alright, Manager's Name's extension is 34567, and I can transfer you whenever you're ready.
SC: And can I get your name?
Me: Kim.
SC: And your last name?
Me: I don't give out my last name for professional reasons, but my extension is 12345.
SC: You are refusing to give me your last name?
Me: Yes ma'am. I do not give out my last name, and my extension is the best way to identify me as an employee.
SC: Is this call being recorded? Because I am going to tell Manager's Name that you are withholding information.
Me: All our calls are recorded for quality purposes, and I am not required to give out my last name. I can transfer you whenever you're ready.
SC: Fine, go ahead.
So, I transfer the customer to what, to the best of my knowledge, was this manager's ext. Not 1 minute later, my phone rings, and it's another CSR with this same lady on the phone who wants to talk to me. Transfers the call back to me. Apparently, the ext I gave her brings her to some other female supervisor's voicemail. I apologize, tell her I will try to find the correct number, but the number I gave her is the ext for this manager according to the directory I have (I am seriously beginning to feel like 411). So I put her on hold and go to my supervisor. We both try other supervisors' ext in that location, and no one is answering. Finally she goes to one of our managers who has the extension for a different manager there. My super calls him. Finds out the manager we have been trying to reach is aware of this customer, and told the supervisor she originally dealt with that he would be in a meeting and that he would call her back when he was done. The customer was aware of this. So, we get the correct ext and I go back to the customer.
The customer was, unfortunately, on hold for a while while we were trying to get the correct ext for this guy. I can only apologize and explain what took so long. As I am trying to explain why it took so long, customer keeps trying to stop me and ask for every single person's name and extension who was involved in this conversation. Finally, for whatever reason (this woman confused the hell out of me and I can't quite figure out how the conversation got from point A to Z), the customer suddenly demanded to speak to my immediate supervisor. Unfortunately, my supervisor has gotten on the "supervisor line" and was busy taking calls from other associates. I advise the customer that if she'd rather speak to her instead, I can leave a message, but she is unavailable at the moment. She says, "You're refusing to let me speak to your supervisor?? I want you know that I am quoting you word for word, and when I get to blah, blah..." I tell her she is more than welcome to do that, as I already told her that all our calls are recorded. She whines and moans for a bit more, and FINALLY allows me to transfer her to the manager she was originally trying to reach.
Oh my goodness. I had to get up and take a lap around the office after that call. I wrote about 2 paragraphs of notes on her salescheck, stating among other things, that I refused to give the customer my last name. I later asked my supervisor about that, and she said, "The woman must be crazy. You don't have to give your last name to anyone." That made me feel a bit better.
Later on I checked the notes again, to satisfy my morbid curiosity, and lo and behold, the customer had called back AGAIN and bitched out another CSR, who also wrote a paragraph of notes about her. ("customer was very rude and nasty").
This lady was the first customer I've ever had that seriously made me "panic" while at this call center. It was a brief panic, but panic nonetheless. And it was the last name thing that did it. It's my damn name. It doesn't mean shit when I am employee # 678 out of 6,078. She doesn't need it. And she acted so arrogant, like she was going to get my ass fired for refusing her information.
BLARGH! I need to go to be. I just had to share this because it made my day totally blah.
Comment