Be careful, a unknown millionaire may come in one day, and you mistreat them. Trust me, the company policy is not going to save you! It’s not the company policy that makes a difference. It’s your Stinky attitude!

Grow up! If you don’t like your job, then do all the customers a favor! Quit!!!!!!!

if you are SINCERE, you’ll get help. Many customer reps think a lot of the policies are bullshit so if they can help you, they will try. We are human too and we know how annoying it is if something doesn’t work and people run rings around you, but remember we are just the drones, POWERLESS!

1. When they answer with their name refer back to them with their name; same thing in person…if you see their name on a name badge refer to them in name.

2. Be cheerful. The customer service person did not cause your problem and they have a real life

ALWAYS play the nice guy whether you want to or not. Chewing out the CS person just because they’re they unlucky person who answered the phone will get you NO WHERE. I nearly always get my way. :-)

What behavioural scientists might not have taken into account is that the rep’s have heard every trick and played every game a hundred times before.

Oh – I’ve said hello nicely and you want to send me a medal – but wait – you’d like me to bend the rules a bit in your favour, well how about I go get my supervisor now before we move on so you can tell them how good I am, then we’ll deal with the impractical demand you’ve got for me now you’re in my goodbooks.

If you cut the games and just be nice, reasonable and patient, you will get whatever it is you need doing sorted out a lot quicker.

We must stop living in such an anonymous society. We are ALL responsible.

Here is a simple low level version that is safe to experiment with – begin interactions by offering the other party a piece of gum or candy. Even if they don’t take it, the psychological effect comes into play as quid pro quo seems almost hard-wired or strongly conditioned into us at a base level. While trying this on others also carefully monitor your own behaviour and when you go beyond basic pleasantness for someone check to see if they at any point made one of these types of moves (offerings). This was how it was first exposed to me many years ago and I found it very enlightening per how others acted and my own actions.

And you have no idea how frustrating the myth of the Stubborn CSR is.

I “push back” because I am told to, and I do whatever I am told because I need a paycheck to pay my mortgage. My job is to follow orders, and not ask questions. You know how they say “This call may be recorded for quality and traning purposes”? They do, and they are. Calls are audited and if your scores are low, it results in disciplinary action and often termination.

You know what is effective? Understanding. Believe me, I know your frustrated and grumpy because you’re having problems, which is why you’re calling me. If I ask for info, it’s to help assess the issue, not for my own health. Perhaps write down an error message or jot down your account number. There is nothing worse than some caller saying “I didn’t do anything, it’s just not working. Fix it NOW!” Ok, that helps me, thanks. At the same time, if you don’t know an answer, just tell me, I can smell bullshit a mile away. Also, even if you think I am an automaton, treating me like one will get you nowhere. You will get my bare minimum. Just because you’ve told your story 4 times doesn’t change the fact that I am just now hearing it for the first time, sorry.

However, treating me like a sentient being, will however make me want to buy a plane ticket and run over to your house and help you. It takes very little for me to want to help, I’m on the phones because I enjoy helping people, otherwise I could just as easily work some job that isn’t so thankless and doesn’t face the public.

Working the phones is like waiting tables, you have no idea what it’s like until you’re on the other side. What i find funny is that service involves you putting yourself in the shoes of the customer, but the customer never feels like they should treat the person serving them like a human. Cows in India get more respect, swear to God.

In closing, my best call ever is when I was helping this guy who was so pissed off that he voice was shaking. He was Livid. I took him through some pretty standard trouble shooting of his run of the mill issue. The call ended with him laughing and amazed, saying that he’d “been dealing with his issue for over 2 years”, and he said he thought I “was lying to him for most of my call”, and I said “It’s OK I’m used to it.” without thinking.

Whenever I need to cheer up, I go to techcomedy

As one poster said, there tends to be some gray area, and if you want to help, you probably can. Combine what you know you *can* do with what you’d want if you were the caller.

The person calling doesn’t know you – if they’re mad, it’s at their situation or with the product you represent. Quit expecting everyone in the world to talk to you the way you want – let them be themselves – let them vent for a moment, then tell them you’d like to help them get things resolved. You’ll find that people turn around very quickly and will usually even apologize for venting at you.

I agree that everyone should do some customer service – but do it well. If you suck as a customer service rep, you deserve horrible service every time you call support. Regardless of what you’re getting paid, your just is support. Take it seriously and do it well.

Then again, I last did tech support 10 yrs ago. Now I’m a CTO. Now in hiring, customer service matters much more to me than skill – skill can be taught usually a lot easier than good customer service.

And what do we really get? Customers who yell and scream because they don’t get their way because they can’t follow policy or think we’re trying to rip THEM off because we won’t give them full price back on something when the receipt shows they bought it on sale. Complaints about products that were faulty that we’re obviously at fault for because everyone knows WE were the ones who made it right there at the desk and not in some manufacturer’s outside company.

Customers are vicious when it comes to talking to people in customer service. Most of us just want a person that is CIVIL.

I never react well to the attitude that I need to be schmoozed into doing my job, and unless I actually am doing something more clever or difficult than usual, I will get suspicious of unwarranted compliments.

I try to be professional and help people regardless, and I don’t like the implication that most service people are lazy or unwilling to help. Mostly, I find that people who are upset are upset about things that have nothing to do with the actual service. For example:

Lines. It’s not a service person’s fault if their company is too stingy to hire/schedule enough people to help customers in a timely manner. If you’ve been on hold/ in line for a long time, it probably means they’re having a busy, exhausting day. Be quick and clear (even more important than nice) about what you need. Then write a letter to the COMPANY to pressure them to create more jobs.

Policy. It should be self-explanatory, but it’s not. Although there’s some gray area, there’s not much. The first person you talk to almost never has much authority. If you’re really determined, ask for a supervisor.

Prices. Do you really think the person you’re talking to has ANY say in this? Seriously.

Laws of Government. You would not believe how many people want me to break state law just to save them a minor inconvenience.

Laws of Nature. I don’t have a magic wand. If, for example you order something and it hasn’t arrived yet, I can check to make sure nothing’s wrong, but stuff just takes time.

Various other facts of existence. I once knew a hairdresser who had a regular client who insisted on being served by her, even though he apparently hated her and constantly reduced her to tears by cruelty. Turns out, she looked like his ex-wife (no, he didn’t mistake her for his ex, he just delighted in making her miserable because of their similar appearance). Even though 90 percent of the customers in the world are nothing like this, most service people have to deal with nuts like this periodically. So try to cut them some slack and remember —- most service people buy things and spend time on your side of the counter too.

@Esther Mofet and Bcsizemo: We’ve had people fired and companies put out of business when we’ve been confronted with that sort of attitude. Whatever one’s company policy is, it is not an excuse to be impolite.

That said, there are few occasions when we’ve found that being pleasant, friendly, and understanding doesn’t result in the best outcomes that can be expected given the circumstances. When representatives can’t solve our problems, it’s hardly ever their fault, and is generally a sign that we need to find some other method of solving the problem, rather than pointlessly arguing.

Everybody likes to be appreciated. We’re people, too. :)

Whenever a customer sends one, a supervisor rings a gong, everyone claps, and I seethe with envy, not to mention a little bit of rage at all the callers who compliment me on my skills, but don’t follow up with an e-mail.

I used to work for a major UK bank’s credit card division, who were housed in Manchester before moving overseas, as a Customer Account Manager. Without giving away all the trade secrets, let me tell you this much: there are goals and targets you have to meet, including call time (2 min 15 sec in this case) and refund refusal & retention. 3R was essentially the policy of 45% of all refund requests for late fees, over the limit fees, and interest charges may be refunded in a given week (which is not Sun-Sat or Mon-Sun, btw.) Any more than that, and you begin the magic ladder of discipline which starts with verbal warning, then goes through to termination of employment. You had to retain at least 40% of refused refund customers.

I saw someone not make it through 4 weeks of live phone training because they always refunded fees to nice people.

I, on the other hand, was the Manchester branch’s golden child. I had a refund rate of 30% and a refused and retained rate of 60%. I got raises, better hours, and bonuses you wouldn’t believe simply because I told the nicest, sweetest people in all of Britain “No”.

That is what you’re up against.

So be nice, be sweet, pour on the honey, but at the end of the week, if your CSR has given out their 45% already and it’s the end of their shift, you’re not getting a refund because it’s 30GBP for you or their job, and you’re not worth their job.

BTW, FWIW, being a dick is just going to make things worse. There are, naturally, notes on your account, and if you swear during a call, it’s recorded. For this particular bank, your TOS includes a clause that says using abusive language on more than two calls to customer service will result in the termination of your account. If you’re carrying a balance, such termination goes directly to their credit collection bureau. And yes, when you put in your card number, we see the account, but the notes the CSRs put in pop up as well. Whether or not we would act on it depends on what kind of day we were having. Call the last CSR an asshole and call the next a cnt, and you could be on your way to collections.

Be prepared to have something resembling a reasonable argument to the CS rep, present it rationally and politely, expect to get turned down the first few times, work your way up through management, and be a bit of a pest if you need to. I know its paradoxical, but being a polite pest is the right way to do it.

If you don’t get what you want, and think you have a valid argument, write a few letters to consumer service agencies, send a registered copy to the customer service department of the company you’re dealing with, and keep up the heat in a polite way. Chances are, if you’ve got anything resembling a real complaint, you’ll get what you want just to shut you up. If that fails, write senior execs in the company. They may well tell CS to give you what you want just to shut you up.

What happens? FedEx overnight of the original order is what happens.

* = art.com

You know who made those policies? The owner of the company and person who ultimately pays me. I frankly didn’t care what you wanted, who you were, ect.. If what you asked didn’t work with the policy, tough (it’s not like we hid them from people, they were posted in the store, on your recipt and we told people them when they bought things). Because, frankly you don’t pay my mortgage…

I know that sounds cold and callus, but when you deal with other people’s problems all day every day you pretty much numb it out. It should be MANDATORY for everyone to work a retail type of job like this. That way you will know how NOT to act, like a douche….

Any advice?

My whole perception of customer service — well, anyone who has to deal with the public in general — changed dramatically after I spent about two weeks working in a help desk.

I’m sorry you’re frustrated and that I’m the only person who answers the phone. You have to understand that I either

- don’t have access to what you want (or permission to touch it)

- might have the ability to do what you want but ability does not equal permission nor authority

- or am so put off by your screaming and complaining and generally acting like a five year old that I’m simply not going to go out of my way to help you

Want my name? Okay, but you’re not getting my last name. Company policy says it’s my choice whether I give that out or not.

Want my supervisor’s name? That’s fine, too, but you’re not getting his or her last name. Why? Company policy. Policy also says I’m not required to transfer you to a supervisor just because you don’t want to talk to me after I’ve told you you can’t have what you want.

Threaten legal action or my job? Let me introduce you to Mr. Click and Mr. Dialtone. Company policy.

Next you’re going to tell me leaving a decent sized tip makes bartenders nicer to you.

Or petting a puppy makes it wag it’s tail.