Customer Service stories anyone?

[madd74]

I like to do troubleshooting. I also enjoy money and benefits. A lot deals with being able to distance myself from my callers, for in doing so, I am able to take about any insult they could throw, and discard it. I think the reason most people at this job eventually "lose" it and break down is because they are not able to deal with a lot of the same things over and over again, another thing that I seem to be rather good at. I can do the same thing over and over, and also use logic to realize that I am extremely over paid for what I actually do. That logic makes it also easy for me to do my job.

[ditzwill]

I love call center work. After I learned to not take any of the negativity personally, I realized I had found my calling. I have talked to some of the most interesting people ever and had some of the best converstations with crazy people that would never have been possible otherwise. In my current job there aren't as many as there have been in the past, but there are still some crazies. My current favorites are the people who don't want to be held to a contract because they shouldn't be expected to read it. "What? You're going to keep X% of the money that I paid in just because I need it now instead of in 7 years??" "Yes, that's why it's called an investment, not a bank account."

[Mair]

How 'bout this?
A guy received a call from "India or wherever". He wasn't interested in what they were trying to sell him. he hung up and they called back 2 more times. After the 3rd call, his phone quit working. So, he plugged in a different one, and it works fine. So he wanted us to document that these people called and made his phone quit working. Uh sure.
So then he thanked us for his line so that people can call him and break his phone. I told him we can't prohibit people from calling him. He reminded me that he pays us for the line. To which I replied "Exactly. And a phone line is set up to call out and receive calls. If you don't want to be able to receive calls, disconnect your phone."
"Oh no. I need my phone."
"Sorry, Sir. You have to take the bad with the good." (That's not actually what I said)

Then I hung up and called him an idiot...like I do most of the time.

[Mair]

We shut her service off because she didn't pay the bill. So, she's going to report us to the federal government because she has a birthday party tomorrow.

[ditzwill]

We shut her service off because she didn't pay the bill. So, she's going to report us to the federal government because she has a birthday party tomorrow.

LOL!!!

[madd74]

One time a co-worker was attempting to take care of a repair ticket. The person in question submitted some form of trouble (forgot), and he went to monitor the line to determine why the line was testing busy... and it was because someone was getting busy. Two teens (assumed age) were talking dirty to each other, to the point of having phone sex. What really killed me about it, was how the girl seemed to be "playing along". My flipping word that call so killed me...

[madd74]

So yesterday, I spent around 12 minutes on a call. It started how the lady was unable to reach her husband, who was about a block or so away from her location. She noted when she called her number (implication of the house humber the husband was at), she would get a recording on line that stated she was unable to make the call because she was calling the number she was from. Now, she was not able to quote me the exact recording, but it took me a while to figure out what was going on. I asked for the address of the number she was calling, and it was not the address on record. I tested the line and found it registered "busy - speech". I listened to the line and heard it as empty air. On a hunch, I asked the lady to count to 5 after putting her on hold. Sure enough, when I switched over, I heard her. One would think with this established that this call would end quickly from there... well... it did not. I was told, "Look, I really need your help. I left my husband three weeks ago... blah blah big mistake... blah blah this and that. It is really important I get ahold of him before I go over there." "Okay ma'am, but the issue is, you are on the number you are attempting to dial." I said this multiple times, the fact she cannot get through to the number she was calling, because she was on it. It varied in responses, such as not understanding what I was talking about, and how important it was she got through to this number. She said she was calling from the neigbor's house, yet the name on the account was indeed the husband she was attempting to reach. Then she wanted me, a few times, to figure out the number he was at. I was to just come up with the number, since the address was something she also had an issue with. The issue was she gave it to me once, and I did not get all of it, and after asking again what it was, she got confused and could not remember it... the address she had just given to me.

This was my second to last call yesterday. Fun for Madd.

[madd74]

So today, I get a customer who keeps telling me about the trouble he is having with his "pone" service (p-o-n-e). Over and over I was told the trouble he had with trouble with his "pone" service, to the point where I had asked him, what his number was, and my reply was, "I was not ready for you to ask me that," and that is how the rest of the call went. So, over and over, he wanted help, but could not tell me the number he had issues with, despite me stating, "in order to help you, I have to know what number you are havnig trouble with," and multiple times getting the reply that, "he was not expecting me to ask him that," That was his story and he was sticking to it. I wonder if he was related to another customer I had not too long ago...

[ditzwill]

Those are awesome stories. I almost miss doing customer service in an industry where those customers pop up. LOL!!!

[Mair]

Those are awesome stories. I almost miss doing customer service in an industry where those customers pop up. LOL!!!

Once I leave this place...I will NEVER miss it!

[madd74]

So a customer calls up, and wants to know what these "4 beeps" are. I tell her it is her message waiting indicator for voice mail. She goes off on how complicated these features are, and thinks it is silly we have these booklets out because the features are just too complicated. Keep in mind, this person calling in was a business customer, female, age 40-50, maybe older. So she wants to know who to complain in regards to how complicated the features are. Why in the hell did you get the feature then, if it was so difficult for you? Oh, she likes caller ID because nothing is required to make that work. She probably also likes flashing lights and buzzing sounds.

I am glad I do not run a business like you think, or I would be out of business before I could start.