Tuesday, October 22, 2024

Customer Service. Again.

 I started out the day with a call to the bank to sort that happy horse poop out. The woman was very nice, very helpful, and it worked out just fine. 

One box ticked, although it did take two phone calls, two phone calls which miraculously connected me to the same person. She was working at home. I could hear her toddler in the background. I think that is so great that parents have this option! 

I would have loved to work customer service at home instead of in a call center. Everybody complained about the customers. I really was okay with the customers. It was the supervisors. They listened in on your calls and they picked you apart. I took a huge ding once, because I had a very angry customer who was yelling his head off at me. I mean, he was hot and the yelling went on for a while. I finally said, "Listen. I know that you're mad, but this is not helpful. I make you this promise. I will listen, and by the end of the phone call, we will reach a satisfactory resolution to all of this."

He stopped short. He apologized. I accepted his apology, we discussed the issue. We reached a resolution. At the end of the phone call, I said, "So, is this worked out to your satisfaction?" He said that it was. I thanked him, he thanked me and the phone call was done.

I was immediately called into the supervisor conference room. I failed that call. Why? Because I had interrupted him at the beginning of the phone call to tell him that while I understood his anger, it wasn't getting the problem solved. I said, "But...I resolved the situation. He hung up the phone satisfied with the service." It didn't matter. That was the kind of stuff that made the job so difficult. 

I didn't mind customers. Even the mad ones. The only one that I ever transferred was a southern man that, for whatever reason, decided I was black. He was a racist. I refused to verify my race, and he got increasingly foul. I put him on hold, called the supervisor, and told him that I couldn't handle him. She handled his situation, whatever it was, and she came over to tell me that he had been perfectly nice. (Of course.) He couldn't understand why I had been so short with him. Just shockingly rude. 

I'm sure that incident got recorded in their little book of my sins as well. They kept them on all of us. 

But I digress. This bank woman handled my problem quickly and efficiently, both times, and her little baby cooed in the back ground. It was a happy call.

I wrapped Christmas presents today. I needed a break, and it was a wonderful one. 

I helped Tim with the porch on the new house. 

I played with the kittens. I feed them canned cat food from a spoon, as part of the taming process. Sigh is the boldest, and will take food from my fingers, eat from a spoon, and climb over my legs. I petted him several times today. The other kittens watch him closely as he interacts, and then they get brave too. Except for Minnie. She eats from my hand, but still bolts if I move suddenly. 

Then it was discovered, coming home, that Tim's browser did not work on his phone. Every time that I tried to look something up, a message popped up. They needed to verify my Verizon account. I don't HAVE a Verizon account. We use Straight Talk. I died a little inside, because I knew that I was going to sit down with customer service again. 

Have I not suffered enough???? (Evidently the answer to that was no.)

So I sat down with Tim's phone, and before it was over, I was using my phone to talk to customer service while they tried to sort out his. We went through two procedures which did not work, and I got a sinking feeling. But god love her, the girl persevered and I kept patient and followed what seemed like an endless series of steps. Finally, she said, "Okay. Shut the phone off." I did. After a few minutes she told me to try to search for a youtube video, which I did. It worked. The funny part was, when it worked, she squealed like she'd won the lottery. "I'm so happy!" she said, and several times she repeated that. I think she was afraid. Maybe she had supervisors grading her phone calls too. In case they were, I said, "You did a great job, and I thank you for your patience with me." She said, "I'm just so happy!" in her thick Indian accent. 

And half way across the world, I was happy too.

Furthermore, I got access to Tim's facebook account which he hasn't had since his phone died. We have two step verification and they were sending the code to his dead phone. I submitted the new information to access his account. It took two days to get their link to work. But that's done. 

I also got his e-mail set up on his phone. 

He's well and truly impressed with me right now. Me? I believe I can fly. I believe I can touch the sky....





36 comments:

  1. I believe you can fly, too! Oh my gosh what patience you have. And we already know you're a cat whisperer. Fingers crossed this is the last day for awhile you have to go through all that. I think new pics of the house would be nice.... hint.....

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    1. We haven't really done a lot with the new house. We're in the process of paying property taxes. This has been a rough financial year for us, and we are being very frugal. We've been working on a renovation. The materials that we are using for that were bought sometime back. That project was put on hold when Tim had his issues, and then, on top of everything, very suddenly, the stars aligned, and we were building a new house.

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  2. Gosh you are a super technology person!! I love the bank story. During our covid lockdowns I was dealing with medical insurance. Several times I was connected with agents working from home who apologized for child noise in the background. It didn't bother me at all. The agents all did a great job and if I had to be put on hold a moment, the world did not come to an end.
    Great job on straightening out the bank account and super super great job with the phone! I find being kind to people on the phone helps them be kind to me. But I will say technology baffles me completely.

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    1. I like that. Being kind to others helps them to be kind to me.

      And technology? It baffles me completely as well.

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  3. It's a good feeling and relief when you sort out some of these techie things which are beyond us.

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    1. I sorted out nothing. I was one of those trained chimpanzees who simply follow instructions. Luckily, I had knowledgeable customer service. If they hadn't know what they were doing, all would have been lost.

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  4. I don't know what either Verizon or Straight Talk are. Perhaps I need to get out more. Anyway, problems solved. The two factor authentication catches out many people when they are overseas and are using a different SIM card and have a different phone number.

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    1. Urgh yes..I got caught out by that when in the UK recently visiting my sister. Tried to pay for a meal out but the credit card authentication code was sent to my home landline number. Very frustrating.

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    2. Oh dear. Now THAT had not even occurred to me.

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    3. I am glad that my bank uses a little widget instead of email or text..far easier..and safer

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  5. Wish me luck with a) trying to verify my new bank card on my banking app, when I haven't a clue where to search for the heading I need to find to verify it!! and b) getting my printer to accept that I have changed the ink cartridges (though they aren't the specific expensive ones for the printer, but a substitute. It is having a hissy fit. Sometimes (no, rewrite that, ALL the time) I hate technology.

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    1. Oh Jennie! How I understand that! I tend to hang on to my old electronics forever, just because I don't want to be bothered learning new. Right now, I cannot scan something to my computer, but I can print off something from the computer. I don't get it. The computer talks to the printer, but the printer will not speak to the computer.

      I could probably call customer service and figure it out.

      Or I could just deal with it.

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  6. It's very irritating when it takes so long to sort out something that should be straightforward.
    You have the patience of a saint.

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    1. I don't have the patience of a saint. It's more like I have self control. I cannot abide people who 'lose their s**t' in public settings. There's just no need to act like a fool.

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  7. Gosh, what a palaver! I am keeping my fingers crossed that nothing along those lines goes wrong for you for a l-o-n-g time!

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    1. I have another phone call to customer service in the next day or two. It should be pretty straight forward.

      Bless my foolish optimism.

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  8. Good for you for having that kind of patience. I'm sure it was a relief to the customer service folks that helped you!

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    1. Oh, Jennifer. The thing is that I'm not a patient person. I just remember what it was like to be on the receiving end of impatience. I really struggle against my own nature when dealing with nonsense like this. When I get off the phone, I feel just awful, mentally exhausted.

      I've been wondering about your and your poor ankles. And about your home renovation. Good to see you.

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  9. My Hubs was in customer service for the electric company for years, and man, did that ever train him to deal with people! He can handle anyone, anywhere. No matter if they're rude or impatient, hurting or not helpful, he can remain calm. Supervisors would listen in on them, too, and critique their calls, and not always kindly, and at times, they made for a hostile workplace. The employees had their own little devious ways of dealing with those supervisors, that were hilarious!

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    1. I would have been thrilled to have some little devious ways to deal with those supervisors. Oy. These were women, exclusively. It was a place where advancement was something based not on your merits but your friendships. Most of these women were people who would not have qualified for their positions in any other company. They were very conscious of their power and they really were ruthless. The best way to deal with them was simply to not react. I remembered that during one 'evaluation' (which determined your merit raise), I got a score of like 80-something. One part of that evaluation dealt with attendence, specificially. I heard that I had 100% attendance, that I regularly worked overtime if needed, and that I did not waste time at work. Yet, on that section, I'd scored in the 80s. I said that I didn't understand that, receiving a less than perfect score on an area that according to the criteria, I'd met all their expectations. Their response? 'If we give you a hundred percent, what would be your motivation for the next performance period?' I said, "If you are a conscientious person, you strive to maintain excellence." I don't even think they knew what to do with that answer. Craziness. I decided early on that this was not a place that was going to make sense. I simply went to work and ignored them as best I could.

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    2. Oh Lord, for SURE I couldn't have made it through that job, my mouth would have eventually shot open and my truth spill out!

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  10. Well kudos to you for your patience and perseverance! I agree it must be SO much nicer for customer service reps to work from home rather than in a call center. I've had the same experience here, talking to magazine circulation people who work at home. Better job satisfaction, surely -- but I bet someone's still listening in on the call!

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    1. Oh, I'm sure but honestly, knowing that they were in their little room listening made it stressful. They also seemed to take pleasure in wielding their judgements and power. It was not a good job.

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  11. As a graduate of Dale Carnegie Leadership training, I am a firm believer in using "honey" to catch flies versus "vinegar". So much more can be accomplished by keeping an even tone and sounding agreeable versus shouting and demands. But I will admit, that I've had to work to maintain that with a few help lines over the years as they read the predictable scripts of steps off their computer without really listening to what I had told them to start with.

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    1. This phone call started out with 'dead space'. I could hear the sound of the call center, all the voices, even the sound of shouting. A woman was shouting. A man was shouting, and honest to god, I think I heard a slap. Finally, a woman came on the line, and she said, "Okay, I think we have a solution," just like that. I said, "Um. You don't even know who I am or what my problem is." She said, "Yes, you want a discount." Me. "I don't, though. That's not why I'm calling at all." I said, "I think your last caller either hung up, or you hung up on her, but that last call got disconnected. I'm a new call." She was so very flustered. I had a bad feeling about this call right from the start, but she was a persistent little thing, and she got it done. She was so triumphant that it really made a sweet moment.

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  12. Just the difference in the kittens reaffirms my belief in the lack of true free will. We are born and raised the way that we are, and we can't help ourselves. But society must function as though we can.

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    1. I do believe that we have free will. However, I do think that something who has had a rough time develops 'defenses' if you will. These kittens were born wild and without these defenses would not live long. So they are extraordinarily wary. If I was there to spend more time with them, they'd tame faster, but they are at the new house. When we are there, we are working. For the past couple weeks, we've been working on a renovation and not the new house, so Tim feeds them when he goes up at night to hunt. I can bet the farm that he doesn't talk to them or try to interact with them. Someday, I am convinced that I will be able to take a picture of them being petted. I will post it here, with you in mind.

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    2. Most people believe in FW bc that is how we live. The key question becomes if we could have actually made a different choice in that particular instance at that particular time. IIRC that is called contra-causal freewill, and . . well . .. you know what I think. 😊

      Believe me, I fought long and hard against the concept, but it is all that makes sense to me now.

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  13. Tim needs to pick you up a tiara on his way home from the hardware store today.

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    1. LOL. Believe it or not, Tim made that call to customer service all by himself this morning.

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  14. Well, hooray for you getting those issues solved! I would hate to be a customer service person as they are usually stuck talking to frustrated, angry customers. I always try to be patient and kind and thank them very much when we get success together. You have had a LOT to test your patience this week and you did it! Yay!

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  15. When you worked customer service, did they make you say the customer's name repeatedly. When I get off-shore call centers, they seem to start every sentence with my name. I've started asking them to stop doing it because it drives me crazy.

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  16. That was not a 'thing' with the company that I worked for, but I have noticed that for overseas call centers, it seems to be a big deal along with "I apologize " a bazillion times. When you're passed to your third representative, you really don't want to hear how sorry they are "that you are having this problem." Just can we focus on FIXING said problem?

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  17. I accumulated several hours with customer service with the clinic recently. It culminated in losing my temper and yelling at someone a world away to please listen to me instead of insisting on setting up a payment plan for an erroneous bill. I began writing a letter to the originating doctor but too upset to finish. The next day I had an email from "billing" stating the procedure had been coded wrong and expect the invoice to disappear. It did, a day later. I wonder if someone listened to that conversation.

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  18. Oh I definitely think you can fly, Debby! I would love to see what your house will look like when it's done. I just can't believe you guys are doing this on your own.

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I'm glad you're here!

The Old Fellas

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