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Holyshoot
May 6, 2010

Whiskey A Go Go! posted:

I rather not say anything unless I get the new job. My company is paranoid about what it is said about them by employees.

Edit: I just got the job offer! Only 2 weeks left!

Now you have to tell us what poo poo hole company this is!

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sbaldrick
Jul 19, 2006
Driven by Hate

Whiskey A Go Go! posted:

I rather not say anything unless I get the new job. My company is paranoid about what it is said about them by employees.

Edit: I just got the job offer! Only 2 weeks left!

Then it's for sure the company I think it is.

TacticalHoodie
May 7, 2007

It's Xplornet Communications. Knowing I will out of there in 2 weeks and into a position where I can use my education with better pay is making it more excited that I should be.

you ate my cat
Jul 1, 2007

I've decided to move to be closer to my girlfriend, hopefully this fall, and in the process will be quitting. I intend to never work in another call center again in my life. I've spent 8 of the last 10 years in ISP tech support, and I am incredibly tired of it.

I'm doing it, guys, I'm getting out. I swear it's real this time.

TacticalHoodie
May 7, 2007

Well my call center officially got weird since I gave them my resignation. My Team Manager and Project Manager were happy to see me get a position in my field and have been superstars trying to help me get my project handed off. Others have been kinda dick-ish. Most of my co-workers are slowly finding out and some are congratulating me for getting out of the call center industry. Some are being really petty and are not talking to me because I will not be part of the company in the near future.

The worst treatment is from upper management. They are panicking because they did not except me to leave nor did they think that I was going to leave before December when our web hosting migration was going to take place. They feel like people in projects have a sense of fealty with the company for all the things they are doing for them as it results in time not taking phone calls. HR originally offered me 50 cents a hour more for the same job, which I declined. They then wanted me to show them a copy of my offer which I also declined and asked them to respect my privacy in the fact that I am going to a position that in my field that uses my university education in business administration HR then got me to fill out a exit interview, which I took my time doing because it was the end of the day and I didn't want to go on the phones when we were having another outage.

Then I got called into a meeting by the Vice President of Customer Care yesterday. It was the most awkward 30 minutes of my working life. I was greeted by the VP like I was her friend and she was giving me coffee and protein bars the whole time. She gave me a speech about how Xplornet values employees like family and wanted to make sure I would stay in this family to make it better. She then offered me a dollar raise and as much time off the phones as I wanted with more project work. I asked if the work was going to be related to my field of study and be useful for the career goals I was trying to pursuit. She couldn't give me a straight answer but she told me that I am too important in my tech skills to be given full time positions off the phone. I now know that they have no interest to retaining me for any other role than Front Line Tech Support.

If anything, the meetings pretty much confirmed my decision to leave as being right. I am having my first long weekend in 3 years and I am enjoying the gently caress out of it until Tuesday when the last week countdown begins.

sbaldrick
Jul 19, 2006
Driven by Hate

Whiskey A Go Go! posted:

Well my call center officially got weird since I gave them my resignation. My Team Manager and Project Manager were happy to see me get a position in my field and have been superstars trying to help me get my project handed off. Others have been kinda dick-ish. Most of my co-workers are slowly finding out and some are congratulating me for getting out of the call center industry. Some are being really petty and are not talking to me because I will not be part of the company in the near future.

The worst treatment is from upper management. They are panicking because they did not except me to leave nor did they think that I was going to leave before December when our web hosting migration was going to take place. They feel like people in projects have a sense of fealty with the company for all the things they are doing for them as it results in time not taking phone calls. HR originally offered me 50 cents a hour more for the same job, which I declined. They then wanted me to show them a copy of my offer which I also declined and asked them to respect my privacy in the fact that I am going to a position that in my field that uses my university education in business administration HR then got me to fill out a exit interview, which I took my time doing because it was the end of the day and I didn't want to go on the phones when we were having another outage.

Then I got called into a meeting by the Vice President of Customer Care yesterday. It was the most awkward 30 minutes of my working life. I was greeted by the VP like I was her friend and she was giving me coffee and protein bars the whole time. She gave me a speech about how Xplornet values employees like family and wanted to make sure I would stay in this family to make it better. She then offered me a dollar raise and as much time off the phones as I wanted with more project work. I asked if the work was going to be related to my field of study and be useful for the career goals I was trying to pursuit. She couldn't give me a straight answer but she told me that I am too important in my tech skills to be given full time positions off the phone. I now know that they have no interest to retaining me for any other role than Front Line Tech Support.

If anything, the meetings pretty much confirmed my decision to leave as being right. I am having my first long weekend in 3 years and I am enjoying the gently caress out of it until Tuesday when the last week countdown begins.

So your HR department violated Canadian law, good job idiots.

moonsour
Feb 13, 2007

Ortowned
Hi call center thread!

I actually enjoy call center work! As long as it's exclusively inbound.

If I'm ever asked to move from support to collections I'm outta here.

TacticalHoodie
May 7, 2007

Loving how my old employer is still not getting back to me about the 48 hours of vacations that they still owe. 2 weeks of calls and they have not even responded to me. =/

Holyshoot
May 6, 2010

Whiskey A Go Go! posted:

Loving how my old employer is still not getting back to me about the 48 hours of vacations that they still owe. 2 weeks of calls and they have not even responded to me. =/

Threaten legal action maybe?

sbaldrick
Jul 19, 2006
Driven by Hate

Holyshoot posted:

Threaten legal action maybe?

Depending on where you live they have a limited amount of time to pay that out, the legal action works.

Volmarias
Dec 31, 2002

EMAIL... THE INTERNET... SEARCH ENGINES...
Your state's labor board should be the place to call, they'll call your former employer and a check will magically appear in your mailbox the next day.

They're betting on you not knowing your rights and pocketing the cash.

moonsour
Feb 13, 2007

Ortowned
I just had the wonderful privilege of sitting across the aisle from a rep who took a 20 min call from a guy who's already called twice before and was told a supervisor would call him back. Over $.21.

Some choice quotes since I'm sure everyone with call center experience can fill in the blanks. I'm amazed she didn't snap further.

"My manager is unavailable at this time but like we already told you, he will call you as soon as he is available and has information to provide you in regards to a resolution."

"No sir. I'm sorry, sir."

"I understand, sir, but my manager is unable to speak with you at this time."

"I am not trying to get you to hang up sir, I'm trying to put you on hold so I can further assist you."

"I spoke with a second manager and she is unable to assist you at this time over the phone but she is also working to resolve your account."

"What am I lying to you about??????"

"I'm sorry sir I'm sorry sir I'm sorry sir I'm sorry sir"

"No we do not hang up on customers sir." [mute]I'm about to hang up on this guy right now...[/mute]

"We do not hang up on customers. I don't know what happened to the call but we did not disconnect."

Volmarias
Dec 31, 2002

EMAIL... THE INTERNET... SEARCH ENGINES...
To be fair, I wouldn't believe "my manager isn't available right now, but will call you back later" either.

moonsour
Feb 13, 2007

Ortowned

Volmarias posted:

To be fair, I wouldn't believe "my manager isn't available right now, but will call you back later" either.

Would you believe it the 3rd time when a 3rd person gave you the same supervisor name and identical information?

Like I get that we're a loan company, but we have REALLY REALLY REALLY REALLY good customer service reviews everywhere you look. The only negative reviews I've seen are from people who don't understand how contracts and interest rates work.

That's rare as hell for a financial institution!

Volmarias
Dec 31, 2002

EMAIL... THE INTERNET... SEARCH ENGINES...

moonsour posted:

Would you believe it the 3rd time when a 3rd person gave you the same supervisor name and identical information?

Like I get that we're a loan company, but we have REALLY REALLY REALLY REALLY good customer service reviews everywhere you look. The only negative reviews I've seen are from people who don't understand how contracts and interest rates work.

That's rare as hell for a financial institution!

I'd believe it every time until a manager actually got on the phone.

moonsour
Feb 13, 2007

Ortowned
I guess it's just me, but I wouldn't repeatedly call somewhere to speak to a manager once I've been told the manager is busy. Maybe call in an hour or two, but not continuously.


Aaaaanyway, I've had a few customers get upset with me when I read our grace period disclaimer. Specifically the part where I say, "...nor will we report this payment as late to the credit agencies as a result of this change."

"YOU CAN'T REPORT IT ANYWAY UNLESS IT'S 30 DAYS LATE"

So I looked up the actual laws they're referencing. Doesn't apply to installment loans! If we wanted to be dicks we could legally report a late payment the moment it hits midnight. But we're not dicks and don't do that, which is why we have that statement in the disclaimer.

But as a lowly peon I don't think I have the authority to actually tell a customer that. I referred someone to our compliance department for further elaboration but she refused their email address and demanded a supervisor anyway.

I admit I sounded unsure, since I didn't know that actual law that she was claiming, so I just kept saying, "if that is indeed the law then that is the policy we follow." So I don't blame her too much for asking to speak to someone who knows what they're talking about. But don't refuse the contact the info of the ones who know what they're talking about!

Another customer last night was pissed that I wouldn't accept a loan payoff with a credit card. Said he was completely satisfied with our service so why did we have to make it impossible to pay off his loan??? The part that most got on my nerves was when he said he was positive he could speak to anyone else there and they would take the payment with a credit card.

No. They wouldn't. Because it's company policy and we like to keep getting paid.

Then he paid it off with the bank account on file.

He asked for my last name, I refused to give it to him (per policy!) And said I had no employee ID, but I'm the only one with my name there at that time, so feel free to send us an email in regards to the service I have provided you today!

He ALSO refused the compliance email address when I said they could further elaborate on the credit card policy for him.

People are dumb

Holyshoot
May 6, 2010
Always loved when someone asked for our agent id or last name and we didn't have one nor had to provide our last name. I think I once told someone "We aren't robots" when they asked for my agent id and I said we didn't have one.

blackmet
Aug 5, 2006

I believe there is a universal Truth to the process of doing things right (Not that I have any idea what that actually means).
My company has "Intelligent Routing." Meaning that it you've been in an account recently, and you're on the phone in available status, it'll route the person back to you.

Which lead to a fun escalation...client was mad that they couldn't fax in a request to have a check sent out via bill pay. Why they didn't just mail a check, seeing as they had no computer, is anyone's guess.

Asked to speak to my manager, who was on another call. I took her number and told her my manager would call her back. She hung up. Then called back 4 times, each time reaching me.

Each call ended with "Ma'am...you're just going to have to wait." Finally they told me just to sit in unavailable for a few minutes until my manager could call her back.

Intelligent Routing sorta' blows sometimes.

vanity slug
Jul 20, 2010

w

blackmet posted:

My company has "Intelligent Routing." Meaning that it you've been in an account recently, and you're on the phone in available status, it'll route the person back to you.

Which lead to a fun escalation...client was mad that they couldn't fax in a request to have a check sent out via bill pay. Why they didn't just mail a check, seeing as they had no computer, is anyone's guess.

Asked to speak to my manager, who was on another call. I took her number and told her my manager would call her back. She hung up. Then called back 4 times, each time reaching me.

Each call ended with "Ma'am...you're just going to have to wait." Finally they told me just to sit in unavailable for a few minutes until my manager could call her back.

Intelligent Routing sorta' blows sometimes.

It's great when they call you back and said that your colleague said something totally different which just happens to support their request. Uh, yeah, that was me.

Holyshoot
May 6, 2010
Call center work has made me realize why we have the presidential candidates we do and why our country is so hosed up. We are all loving morons.

Pope Guilty
Nov 6, 2006

The human animal is a beautiful and terrible creature, capable of limitless compassion and unfathomable cruelty.

blackmet posted:

My company has "Intelligent Routing." Meaning that it you've been in an account recently, and you're on the phone in available status, it'll route the person back to you.

Which lead to a fun escalation...client was mad that they couldn't fax in a request to have a check sent out via bill pay. Why they didn't just mail a check, seeing as they had no computer, is anyone's guess.

Asked to speak to my manager, who was on another call. I took her number and told her my manager would call her back. She hung up. Then called back 4 times, each time reaching me.

Each call ended with "Ma'am...you're just going to have to wait." Finally they told me just to sit in unavailable for a few minutes until my manager could call her back.

Intelligent Routing sorta' blows sometimes.

When I worked tech support we used to call this mommy-and-daddying and place bets on how many times they'd call back.

Our record was five.

Fil5000
Jun 23, 2003

HOLD ON GUYS I'M POSTING ABOUT INTERNET ROBOTS
We had a woman that owed a significant amount on an overdraft. Every month or so she would call in, tell us she would pay it off during that month and then browbeat the agent into giving her a refund on the overdraft charges. One of my team got the call one month and had me take a look at the account. I denied a refund and refused any further extension of the agreement to pay the overdraft off and she hung up, called back, got someone else, complained, got the refund and the extension. I cancelled both the extension and the refund, called the customer back (she hung up on me) then wrote a letter detailing all the times she had promised to pay, all the times she had failed to pay and all the refunds she'd had. I worked out she'd actually had more refunds than she'd had charges because she was so unerringly aggressive that people just caved rather than deal with her poo poo. The account got plastered with notes to say not to refund her or accept anything other than immediate and full repayment and I checked it daily for a while (because I was a stubborn fucker). In the remaining five years that I worked there she never paid a penny.

Octopus Darling
Nov 26, 2007

The inverse of this is wonderful.
So I just started working for another online video game company, not as big as the one I used to be at. Fairly small actually. At the first one I provided phone, web chat, and email support for all the games, tech issues, payments and billing, fraud, terms of service violations, and account restoration. The training was comprehensive and there were a lot of rules, but generally it was a great place to work, aside from the hours. I gained a lot of experience working for a company with a good business model and effective operations. I ended up landing in the hospital for a couple weeks, came back to work for 2 days, then had to go into surgery and was out again for a while. Needless to say I don't work there anymore, I needed time to recover. I'm eligible for rehire, and was waiting for the next opening for recruitment for a while until I found this new opportunity. This place is fuckin' rad. I have a ton more freedom to get things done the way I want them to, the tools are easy to use and don't crash every 10 minutes, and there are so few of us working together at all times, it's easier for us all to be on the same page. No phones, no webchats, they just use zendesk for tickets via email response. No insane metrics or productivity goals like I used to have to hit at the old place, etc. etc. I'm fairly optimistic it's going to be a good experience, but if I were still at the old place and heard how this new place operates, I probably would have trash talked them for being ineffective and bad at support. I guess what I'm getting at is I have a lot of skills and experience from this old place that made it so much easier to transition over to the new one. The way I see my co-workers struggling with things that I've been doing for a while now makes me sad though, esp. because I picked up the new system and new tools/db in 2 days. If you have any questions about this side of the gaming industry, feel free to ask!

Holyshoot
May 6, 2010
How much of your tickets would you say are invalid?

moonsour
Feb 13, 2007

Ortowned
In today's racist caller news, someone's on the phone right now with a gentleman who won't stop calling him Jerome.

There are no letters or sounds in common with his real name.

moonsour
Feb 13, 2007

Ortowned
"The earliest we can schedule this payment is tomorrow since ACH payments take 1 business day."

"I shouldn't owe one more day of interest! I'm paying today! How much more am I paying?"

"$3.15."

"That's my $3. I'll pay it but this isn't legal. You're getting my money today, not tomorrow!"

"Your account is being debited tomorrow."

"But I'm paying today!"

I get where she's coming from, but that isn't how ACH works.

--

Had a mystery to send over to compliance. A caller with no applications or loans in our system, but we have her info and we've emailed her an application decline letter 2 years ago as well as a "would you like to refinance your current loan?" email a couple months ago...

Che Delilas
Nov 23, 2009
FREE TIBET WEED

moonsour posted:

I get where she's coming from, but that isn't how ACH works.

I don't blame her for being upset, the fact that it takes more than a whole second to transfer money DIGITALLY in this country is a goddamn joke. There was some discussion of this in the SH/SC threads just the other day, in fact, about how much human intervention is still required. It's insane.

moonsour
Feb 13, 2007

Ortowned

Che Delilas posted:

I don't blame her for being upset, the fact that it takes more than a whole second to transfer money DIGITALLY in this country is a goddamn joke. There was some discussion of this in the SH/SC threads just the other day, in fact, about how much human intervention is still required. It's insane.

Especially since a debit payment from the same account CAN be done for the same day, but it's company policy that we can't accept card payments for a payoff unless the account is past due, so....

But it's only lovely, not illegal! When I'm 72 I hope I have something better to worry about than $3.

therobit
Aug 19, 2008

I've been tryin' to speak with you for a long time
Most financial institutions won't take a card for payment due to risk of charge backs and also the interchange fees. They are within thier rights to require check or ach.

moonsour
Feb 13, 2007

Ortowned
Bad news: We're outsourcing some of our calls soon.

Good news: Just found out management can't tell when we hang up a call vs a disconnect!

CaptainJuan
Oct 15, 2008

Thick. Juicy. Tender.

Imagine cutting into a Barry White Song.
I'm pissed because our second biggest client has decided that everyone needs to use their brand new total garbage poorly written scripting for all calls from their customers. The one thing I really liked about this job was the autonomy and lack of scripting in general - this is the first time, literally ever, that we've had more scripting than a single-line liability disclaimer. Along with the sudden introduction of stupid "contests" I think the company is finally getting out of its startup phase and turning into a normal bullshit call center so I'm probably gonna bail soonish.

Then again maybe I'm just being a baby because I get maybe one or two scripted calls a week. But still! gently caress scripts!

Thrifting Day!
Nov 25, 2006

moonsour posted:

Bad news: We're outsourcing some of our calls soon.

Good news: Just found out management can't tell when we hang up a call vs a disconnect!

If your company uses Avaya Centre Vu, they definatley can

moonsour
Feb 13, 2007

Ortowned

reformed bad troll posted:

If your company uses Avaya Centre Vu, they definatley can

I have no idea what we use. I just overhead a manager telling an irate customer who said I hung up on him say, "I can't see if you were hung up on, sir. I can only when a call is disconnected."

On another note:

It's really slow today. (I'm the 1. Everyone else was moved out of that queue...)

SiGmA_X
May 3, 2004
SiGmA_X

moonsour posted:

I have no idea what we use. I just overhead a manager telling an irate customer who said I hung up on him say, "I can't see if you were hung up on, sir. I can only when a call is disconnected."
That's a common deflection/deescalation line used by managers. At Netflix, managers sure as poo poo could see disconnects and I heard that line used a ton. Depending, it was followed up by stiff conversations - a friend got fired over it even.

Fil5000
Jun 23, 2003

HOLD ON GUYS I'M POSTING ABOUT INTERNET ROBOTS
Pretty much every call centre kit records everything the agent does. Whether or not your team leads have the training or permissions to get at that detail is another matter entirely.

Holyshoot
May 6, 2010
Ya way easier to say they can't see it instead of telling them you did or they'll look into it. Then they have to call the customer back and admit they hired a terrible employee and that looks bad on the company. And then the customer tweets it. Better to just play dumb and handle it internally.

By the way gently caress twitter and the power it gives dumb rear end customers.

Tojai
Aug 31, 2008

No, You're Wrong
Does anyone do call center work from home?

After a year in a call center I took a job with a different company doing pretty much the same thing but in a face to face environment. Now the new company is closing the office and offering a transition to work at home (again same job) but it's going to be over the phone instead. They'll set me up with a home office and we do have monthly team meetings in person but everything else is remote.

I'm hoping it won't be as bad as being on the phones before, the old company was way worse but I'm not stoked about going back to it either.

Fluffdaddy
Jan 3, 2009

I work from home for a call center and I love it. I keep my stats good and I can mill about my home and hug my dog while I wait for calls.

Tojai
Aug 31, 2008

No, You're Wrong

Fluffdaddy posted:

I work from home for a call center and I love it. I keep my stats good and I can mill about my home and hug my dog while I wait for calls.

Yeah I was most concerned about our stats. Just looked a few things over and it doesn't look too bad - there's not a lot of quotes we really need to meet. The only hard number I see is that our available time (not aux/after call work/etc) is supposed to be at least 85% but that seems pretty doable, especially since I already know the job and the systems.

Do you have a separate office area you use just for work? I would love to chill with my dogs but I don't know how much down time we'll be seeing between calls.

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Holyshoot
May 6, 2010
If I was working from home I'd have a computer game or my console up on another monitor in between calls.

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