I no longer fear hell...

[miralys]

...because I work in customer service! As most of you may know, I "work" for ATT Wireless in their business department. This means most of the calls I get are from decent people but there a few I get every day that could make me loony.

#1 Person has not paid their bill in forever. it is well over 500 dollars. They call in cursing me because apparently I personally turned off their phone. They do not want to pay but they need their phone right away.

#2 Mommy or Daddy is calling in because they gave a phone to their precious angel who porceeded to rack up hundreds of dollars in long distance or overage charges. Then I am supposed to just make the charges disappear. Sure!

#3 Person wants to change all three of their phones and is leaving tomorrow. I tell them I am sorry but they will need to wait or go to a store. Then I am informed they hate me and they will take their business somewhere else

#4 The worst call...person wants something illegal done and when I tell them I cannot help them suddenly I am personally trying to "screw them over"

Hello, I understand being on hold is aggravating but I spend over 25% of my work day on hold with other departments. And ATT Wireless is not responsible for your problems. The only thing responsible for causing them is your own stupidity!

Okay, I am done venting. It felt good to get that out and thanks if you did read. On my way to the gym to get some time with the punching bag.

[Technologist]

Uh, don't you mean you work for Cingular??? :)

J/K, I feel for any wireless CSR's...

[buttrfli]

Uh, don't you mean you work for Cingular??? :)



LOL!!!

I feel for ANY CSR! I could never do a job like that as I don't have the patience and my mouth rarely waits for my brain to catch up before it speaks :rolleyes: So I wouldn't last long at that job lol

[fatesfaery]

I used to be a CSR for UPS. There was never a shortage of calls to discuss/vent about at break time. I've been called every name imaginable, had my job threatened on a daily basis...had a lady once who was on he way to jail because she had lied about a theft claim...and it was all my fault that she was being taken away from her DH and kids. It was a real joy on Fridays when people were waiting on next day air pkgs that their shipper either didn't send out in time to be delivered or else shipped ground. I've had callers demand to speak to a man (we had a gay sup who had us transfer all those calls to him,he loved them). And then there was the man who screamed at me for over an hour because his live Maine lobsters that his SIL was sending were sitting somewhere and weren't going to be delivered for his wife's birthday party.....telling him that it is a violation of UPS terms of service to ship a live animal didn't impress him very much.

People wonder why they get such poor customer service.....it's because of the huge turnover. Not many poeople are going to stick with a job where they're screamed at at least 4-5 hours a day when they're forced to be polite to the ignorant jerk doing the screaming.

I have a friend who went from UPS to Cingular....she likes Cingular much better...but then it didn't take her long to be moved from CS to Tech. support.

CS can be a crappy job.....even worse at Christmas time.
Hope you feel better after your time with the punching bag.

[Tisky67]

Worked as a CSR for DishNetwork, now that was a joy (NOT)!!!!! People demanding to have their TV's turned back on, "Ok I will turn your service on for the full payment due"- they come back with NO NO NO - I will not pay until I have service-NO you won't have service til you pay. I want to talk to your supervisor- ok, let me transfer you to a billing supervisor.
Men demanding to talk to a man cause I didn't know what I was talking about, tje worst were the international customers who don't like women to begin with.

Favorite call one time was a guy who demanded a time without service credit for missing 15 mins of a movie on USA network, well when I told him the credit broke down to .02 cents he told me where to stick the 2 cents.

[DivineMsDi]

Another ex-customer service rep here. I worked for 2 years doing what I consider the worst job of my life. The last five months I was pregnant w/ds and finally snapped Dec. 1997 and told my DH I HAD to quit or I'd have a miscarriage from stress.

I worked for a major consumer electronics company. They make products that break ALL the time, so most of our calls were from people complaining about that. I was verbally abused every day. In the end, I just stopped caring...(all for less than $10.00 an hour, mind you...in the most expensive part of NY)..

fatesfaery is right...Turn over is tremendous. At one point I was the only original member of our customer service group...everyone else left or was fired...And, I was only there 2 years...

I told my dh I will NEVER do customer service again and I mean it. This is one job the Indians can take from America... :eek:

[buglebe]

One of my dd was a CSR for JCrew. She took orders until she moved to returns. She said she learned there that people return everything. Wear it until it is worn out and then send it back. I don't know how she did it but she just laughed off her bad calls. This child had an attitude anyway. The other dd once worked for BCBS and she couldn't take it. She lasted 8 months and had to quit. She would cry before she went to work. Actually she had the most interesting job. She had one woman who called complaining about something but she had fallen off the sink and broken her leg trying to look at her hemmorhoids in the mirror. True story. How would you deal with that problem while trying not to crack up!

[Jaidness]

ugh I feel for you, god bless cos i couldn't do it

[disneymom]

urgh, you poor girl...lol, I got out of retail becase of black friday lol. 2 cheers for you, I couldnt listen to people complain all day :)

[schsa]

I do support for pharmacies. People just get looney this time of year. I get my fair share as well. Except it's the same loonies all the time. I feel for everyone who works by answering the phone. You are just a thing to the people at the other end and they feel that they can abuse you because they don't know you.

[laughsalot]

Big huge hugs for you! Bless your heart! I know I would end up blowing up if I had to deal with those kind of issues over the phone especially when like you said it is their fault to beging with! YOu deserve a fat raise!:D

[Hollie1974]

CS....a job I could never do. I feel for all you CS people. When my husband calls somewhere (like wireless company, electric company, etc, etc) I always stand behind and poke at him hissing "hey they don't make the rules!" if he starts giving the CS a hard time. It always works. And that is something that people should think about. The people in CS do NOT make the rules.
Anyhoo, sorry you have to put up with this crap!

Hugs,
Hollie

[tljohn123]

I totally LOVE people who return things that are half used...umm scuse me! We can't sell paint that is half missing...or that you've put water in! And please don't pick out icky colors.....its not OUR fault! Or that lady that wanted me to cut certain sizes....and returned every one of them. Thank you for that! lol

[krystalbubbles]

Please don't hate me after I tell what type CS I did...........health insurance for a major insurance company........ Worst year of my life. I was hired to process claims, but the call center was overloaded and I ended up doing not only calls, but having to work overtime to keep up with my quota of claims as well. HORRIBLE! I had people calling me complaining because their claims were denied, then had to tell them that the reason was because it wasn't covered. I was cussed out sooo many times. I hated it. I would cry to work, cry during calls, and all the way home. I made light of most of it though because I did a major no no all the time. I actually told the consumers loop holes on how to get their claims processed and the non covered benefits would miraculously be covered all of a sudden! It helped them out in the long run, but after my boss over heard me one day telling the loopholes, she removed me from phones.

[Trishntx]

I have to give credit to the people who do work in the wireless cell phone industry, but one in particular is VERIZON!!
My hubby went out of state and we only had a state plan, not nationwide. WEll long story short, I had called to change the plan in time and there was a mis-communication of some sort and our normal bill of about $134.00 came out to be $1,200.00
I almost fell over, but I called and the lady at customer service and she worked on the bill for over a week and called me back, and said I only owed $134.00
I can't believe it worked out that way. We all know how cell phone service can be a pain sometimes. But, she was patient and kind, and was on the ball.

[buglebe]

Krystalbubbles. My oldest daughter worked for BCBS when she was first out of college and she cried all the time too, she finally just stayed in bed, wouldn't go to work , was majorly depressed. That was the end of that job but it took her 3 months to get back to feeling good again. It was a nightmare hearing horror stories everyday. She still lived at home at that time so the whole family felt like they were working for BCBS taking phone calls. Ugh.

[tammyk1967]

...because I work in customer service! As most of you may know, I "work" for ATT Wireless in their business department. This means most of the calls I get are from decent people but there a few I get every day that could make me loony.



I can definitely relate to you.I worked for 3 years in the Convergys call center in Clarksville processing warranty exchanges for ATT wireless phones.
People would get really upset when I would not exchange their phone.Alot of times after asking questions about the phone problems it turned out there was physical or liquid damage which was a no-no for an exchange.I had one lady call to exchange her phone and she stated she had been washing dishes and talking on the phone and dropped it into the sink of dishwater.I was sympathetic and apologized when I tolda her I could not process her exchange because the phone had liquid damage.She then proceeded to call me every name in the book and slammed the phone down in my ear.My fiance also worked in COFR(Change of Financial Responsibility) department in the same call center.He would also get calls from people that would get irate when he could not make the changes they were wanting on the account.

There were days I just did not want to even go into work and face the calls but I knew I had to in order to pay the bills.I made it for 3 years but got really burned out and decided on a job change.

Tammy

[TexasGal]

Please don't hate me after I tell what type CS I did...........health insurance for a major insurance company........ Worst year of my life. I was hired to process claims, but the call center was overloaded and I ended up doing not only calls, but having to work overtime to keep up with my quota of claims as well. HORRIBLE! I had people calling me complaining because their claims were denied, then had to tell them that the reason was because it wasn't covered. I was cussed out sooo many times. I hated it. I would cry to work, cry during calls, and all the way home. I made light of most of it though because I did a major no no all the time. I actually told the consumers loop holes on how to get their claims processed and the non covered benefits would miraculously be covered all of a sudden! It helped them out in the long run, but after my boss over heard me one day telling the loopholes, she removed me from phones.

:) LMBO:)

[krystalbubbles]

Well, to be honest if I would have known sooner that she would take me off the phones for blabbing it all..........I would have spoke LOUDER............lol

Seriously though, one CS position that really takes a lot of gruff are the ones we actually get to see. Think about it, can you imagine what the people at (ie) the walmart service center take? Or what about the receptionist at a doctors office who has to tell some people they can't do this or that without coming in?

And don't forget the people that work in an ER. If there are a lot of patients to be seen and a slow doc, it's those people up front you get angry with because they are the ones you see. I know that waiting in an ER for hours on end is frustrating, but keep in mind that the people you see usually have absolutely no control over anything that goes on in the actual ER. (Yup, worked in ER registration for two years)

The only thing we can really do is to make sure that we voice our concerns and complaints in an appropriate manner. By working in some sort of cs, we know what upset us the most. We aren't responsible for the actions of others, but we are responsible for our own. Just think of how you would have felt is someone called to complain but was nice about it!

Sorry, just had a rant about it. The holidays are stressful and if you end up being injured and in the ER, just please don't complain to the registrars about the wait, they have nothing to do with it.

[Tadbit]

I use to be a CS for the government, and answer questions for people on Medicare and Medicaide. To tell you how bad we were treated, we had to use alias names, so no one could look us up and kill us if they got mad. LOL Yes it's true, I couldn't believe it myself at first. And yes we had some irate people. I was blamed pesonally for charging high premiums to the elderly for thier medicare and not giving them enough benefits, as if I had any control over the matter. I had a lady ask me what planet I was from when I gave her an answer to her question. I wanted to tell most of them, that they needed to contact thier congressman or watch who they voted for as their president, but of course I had to read from a script, which I hated. Oh and I loved the people that just called because they were lonely. I had one lady that was mad at her Ex, and wanted to hire someone to kill him. She even asked me if I knew of anyone. I said "I can't discuss this type of conversation with you", but she continued on and on about how he took everything, yada, yada, yada. Yep being a CS is one of the worse jobs in the world. :rolleyes: