“Cartoons by Randy Glasbergen, used with special permission.”As I mentioned in a previous post, I work in a call center. Every now and then it amazes me just how stupid people can be. Last night the rep who sits next to me got a strange call. He picked up the phone and greeted the customer in his usual way, Thank you for calling XYZTel, my name is Joe Cool, how may I help you? He was greeted by a woman accusing him of calling her daughter and harassing her. He politely responded, ma'am, I think you may have made a mistake here, you have reached an inbound calling center. The woman angrily retorted, there is no mistake here and I will call the police if necessary to make you stop harassing my daughter. Joe Cool tried not to laugh, but again explained that she had reached XYZtel and was speaking to a representative of an inbound calling center. The woman became nearly hysterical accusing the man of harassing her daughter. He for a third time told the woman that she had reached a calling center and offered to let her speak to his supervisor, the woman then got quiet. Joe Cool prompted the woman, 'have I addressed all of your concerns this evening?' The woman again got quiet (at least to the rep) and then calmly said, either you are lying or my daughter is. Joe Cool said nothing. He again asked if he had addressed all of the woman's concerns, she got quiet and he finally politely closed the call. Now my question is this, if this call was for real. What kind of woman calls a call center and presses several buttons to get into a certain department, then accuses a random employee of harassing her daughter. The experience of getting into the center alone should tell her that there is not some guy there calling out for grins and giggles. If the call was a prank, is that all some people have to do with their time?
Another rep got a call where a customer had not paid a bill on time. In fact, they had not paid for several weeks and the service to their phone was discontinued. The customer was calling to dispute their bill. They had called in and paid the service and the reconnect fee to get their service re activated. They had also been charged security deposits because they had such a bad reputation for payment. The customer was trying to dispute that their bill was unreasonably high because of these charges and they wanted them removed. (The charges were already paid by the customer, they were disputing the itemized statement that they received for their transaction.) The customer then tried to claim that they had no knowledge of being charged security deposits to continue their service and that they also had no idea that they would be charged a reconnect fee. Both of which were clearly explained in the notes on the account and both of which the customer had referenced earlier in the call. But the best part came when the agent explained that the company would not yield on these charges and would not give any of the money back. The customer then demanded his full payment back, including the money he had paid to resolve his past due bills claiming that he would have never paid the past due portion if he had known that other charges applied. Why do people like this even waste our time. The customer knew he was way past due, he knew that he would have to pay the bill or it would go into collections, he was informed when he called in to make the payment that he would be charged an additional security deposit and exactly what that charge would be and he was also informed that he would have to pay a reconnect fee to restore his service. This loser was just another weasel trying to get out of making his payment and thinking that if he just bullies some poor agent long enough and hard enough, he would get his way. UGH!
But like Forrest Gump's mother said, 'Stupid is as Stupid does.'
Another rep got a call where a customer had not paid a bill on time. In fact, they had not paid for several weeks and the service to their phone was discontinued. The customer was calling to dispute their bill. They had called in and paid the service and the reconnect fee to get their service re activated. They had also been charged security deposits because they had such a bad reputation for payment. The customer was trying to dispute that their bill was unreasonably high because of these charges and they wanted them removed. (The charges were already paid by the customer, they were disputing the itemized statement that they received for their transaction.) The customer then tried to claim that they had no knowledge of being charged security deposits to continue their service and that they also had no idea that they would be charged a reconnect fee. Both of which were clearly explained in the notes on the account and both of which the customer had referenced earlier in the call. But the best part came when the agent explained that the company would not yield on these charges and would not give any of the money back. The customer then demanded his full payment back, including the money he had paid to resolve his past due bills claiming that he would have never paid the past due portion if he had known that other charges applied. Why do people like this even waste our time. The customer knew he was way past due, he knew that he would have to pay the bill or it would go into collections, he was informed when he called in to make the payment that he would be charged an additional security deposit and exactly what that charge would be and he was also informed that he would have to pay a reconnect fee to restore his service. This loser was just another weasel trying to get out of making his payment and thinking that if he just bullies some poor agent long enough and hard enough, he would get his way. UGH!
But like Forrest Gump's mother said, 'Stupid is as Stupid does.'
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