Name reason(s) why people in general don't not like dealing with call centres and CSRs?

[PeeluckyDuckee]

Give me a reason or your reason why you think people don't like dealing with call centres and CSRs in general.

And reverse the role and think from business' standpoint why call centres (or contact centres as they like to call it now) are the way to go and how it benefits consumers or *cough*themselves*cough* and helps create a positive experience for them.


I'll start.....

Why not?
- friggin stupid automated systems, punch this, punch that, blah
- less personal that dealing with someone face-to-face

Why?
- centralized operation, less overhead

 

[CrackRabbit]

The only reason i generaly dont like dealing with them is that most have some sort of scripted response to questions and if they dont have a scripted response they dont know what to do....


CrackRabbit

 

[helpme]

LACK OF ENGLISH SPEAKING SKILLS

 

[PoPPeR]

majority of them don't speak clearly, they usually sound bored or irritated, and I usually know more then they know about the topic at hand. I understand they have guidelines and rules to follow, but NO I DON'T WANT TO SIT HERE WAITING FOR YOU TO RUN ANOTHER 30 MINUTES OF TESTING ON MY FVCKING SPRINT PHONE WHEN I'VE ALREADY DONE IT EVERYDAY FOR THE PAST WEEK.

 

[Abhi]

LACK of INTELLIGENCE.

For Example: I am an Indian, living in India. For some reason i had to call Dell tech support, USA. (Thats international calling rates for me!! ) So i call up, and after holding for 15 mins, i get routed to Bangalore!! Great. Indian female picked up. I could understand her completely, and vica versa. Still she still took over 20 mins to understand the problem and in the end cudnt solve it!

I call again. 15 mins later, I get someone with an american accent. She has trouble understanding my accent at first, but my problem gets solved in 5 mins flat, and i hang up. 10 mins after that i have a confirmation in my inbox.

Moral: Most of the indians dell employs are simply incompetent. Language is the LEAST of their problems.

 

[PeeluckyDuckee]

Almost whenever I hear about CSRs and call centres in general, I'm hearing about bad experiences of poor customer service. Any positive experiences?

At what point of the call do you make the determination or assumption that the person you're speaking with knows how to count his beans and worth your time on the phone with? What little things help you differentiate between poor and excellent customer service? Obviously attitude and tone of voice play a big role. Sounding confident. Thinking out of the box. Providing alternate options. Less scirpted BS talk. LISTENING. Sounding professional and at the same time human.

Seems like companies have a hard time shaking off the negativity that consumers have against call centres. Some refer to themselves as contact centres in an attempt to lose that negativity.

Another issue I see is because every call you get different agents, the accuracy of information provided, the consistency or level of service may vary greatly. And if you do happen to find someone you enjoy speaking with, chances are very odd you'll get ahold of the same individual the next time you call in.

What do you as a consumer want to see changed?

 

[kermalou]

INDIA

 

[Thegonagle]

Wading through 6 talking menus to find an option to talk to a person, and then, waiting on hold. . .

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Only to have them tell me that I've called the "wrong" department. :|

What the hell!!! I'm a customer, I called customer (no) service, why can't they just answer my question and take care of my problem?

I've got 5 words for companies who think it's a good idea to "save" money on customer service by: A) Making it as difficult as possible to talk to a real person; B) "Specializing" logically related customer services into different "departments" such as billing questions, service questions, service changes, repair orders, rate quotes, reservations, new service, address changes, cancellation, and any number of other things that a busy person would rather have taken care of in ONE phone call; C) Not staffing the phones adequately and making me wait on hold for 45 minutes.

Yep, 5 words: I'll take my business elsewhere.

If I want to talk to a person because the touch-tone "help" system isn't working for me, I should be able to press 0 and immediately be able to talk to someone. (I tell ya, there ought to be a law. . .)

There should be two departments to choose from: Technical support, and everything else. (How hard is it to train one person to change billing information, add a feature to my account, and put in an order for repair. At least the people won't be so damn bored at work having nearly the exact same conversation every single phone call.)

They should have enough people to answer every line on the first ring on any average day. (If the average hold time in the queue is 20 minutes today, that's not great, that's not good, that's not mediocre. It's still bad, even if it was 40 minutes yesterday, and an hour the day before. It's not impressing ANYONE! They need to hire another person or two.)

Penny-wise and pound-foolish, some of these companies are. Sure, they might think they're saving money, but they sure aren't saving customers.

Oh, one more thing to say to these fools making 600 times more than the people representing them to their customers who call: Copy everything from Verizon Wireless. They're the only large business that I regularly deal with that seems to have their telephone customer service s--t together (95% of the time, anyway).

 

[Thegonagle]

Originally posted by: PeeluckyDuckee
- centralized operation, less overhead

I heard that Southwest Airlines has a lot of "contact center" employees who actually work out of their homes. And why not? Train 'em in, hook 'em up with a DSL and a phone line or two, give 'em a computer terminal, and never worry about 'em showing up late. Sounds like a great deal for the employer (how's that for less overhead?) and the employee. (They can oversleep and still be early for work, they can wait to take a shower until lunch break if they want to, and wow, talk about an easy commute!)

 

[PoPPeR]

yes I've had my fair share of pleasant experiences. Some of them geniunely know what they're talking about or do the best they can to help you. I still go into it with a negative mindset though

 

[Ronstang]

Originally posted by: CrackRabbit
The only reason i generaly dont like dealing with them is that most have some sort of scripted response to questions and if they dont have a scripted response they dont know what to do....


CrackRabbit

BINGO, if the flowchart they read from on the computer screen doesn't lead to an answer they don't have a clue what to do.

 

[Kelemvor]

Because most automated systems suck and then when yo uget to a person, they are usually copmletely incompetent and just read from their script anyway so it's useless.

 

[StageLeft]

Most automated systems are just a waste of time. If I can I always go to the customer service rep immediately. If my problem falls under one listed in their main menu chances are I don't actually have a problem in the first place. Automated answers/help never, ever help me sufficiently.

 

[propellerhead]

I've found many CSR Centers to be inconsistent. If you don't like the answer you get, hang up and call again. The odds are in your favor of getting a different CSR who will give you a different answer. This has worked for me on many occasions with American Airlines, Delta Airlines, SouthwesternBell, TimeWarner Cable, etc.

 

[dullard]

My complaints:
1) Hold times are too long if you need to talk to someone. My favorite example was the 2 hour holds I had every day for a full week just to finally talk to someone at the phone company. Yep the phone company couldn't even answer their own phones. And I was looking to sign up (ie give them money) and they couldn't even answer the call. If it weren't a monopoly, the phone company would have lost a customer. Companies point of view: screw the customers we can save money by hiring fewer people to answer calls. Conclusion: it is their right to hire far too few operators, but they aren't getting my business ever again (thus in the long run it isn't a wise financial decision of the company).

2) Endless menus that don't actually have anything related to my question. Companies point of view: we can't think of everything. Conclusion: should have at least one person on staff who will answer if you dial 0 and tell you where to go.

3) 100% different responses each time I call and ask the same question. Companies point of view: we can save money by not really training the operators. Conclusion: as a customer, I get frustrated and I'm much more likely to try your competition next time (thus this is not a wise decision in the long run for a company).

Biggest complaint of all: it means the company feels it can ignore other forms of customer service. I often have urgent needs to contact a company when (A) I cannot reach a phone or (B) I must get a written response as proof of what the company is saying. However, most companies with a call center (1) refuse to answer mail and (2) refuse to answer email. Companies point of view: it is cheaper just to have employees answer phones. Conclusion: if I cannot call you and I MUST use another form of communication, how the hell am I to ask my question? I'm NEVER giving you business again.

Solution: spend a slight bit more to hire another operator or two. Spend a bit more to train your operators well. Yes some will leave and you are out that training money, but deal with it, every buisness has that problem. Spend a bit more to allow your operators to answer other forms of questions - they'll likely be less bored (ie better employees). I'm not talking double your budget, I'm talking 20-25% more for the budget. Just a bit more money can go a long way to get and retain my business. In the long run, you are financially better off spending a bit more on customer service.

 

[StageLeft]

Originally posted by: propellerhead
I've found many CSR Centers to be inconsistent. If you don't like the answer you get, hang up and call again. The odds are in your favor of getting a different CSR who will give you a different answer. This has worked for me on many occasions with American Airlines, Delta Airlines, SouthwesternBell, TimeWarner Cable, etc.

It goes without saying that when one is trying to discern the truth about anything important, the only way to actually arrive at the truth is by a statistical liklihood of what the truth is, determined by polling multiple CSRs from the same entity and tabulating their responses to the same questions. I arrived at no less than 4 distinctively different answers from 4 CSRs at Charter Cable regarding a fairly simple issue, and I've had similar experiences with the idiots at the social security administration. If CSRs knew their head from their ass, they'd have a better reputation.

 

[Shelly21]

This is how it works in my company.

Customers dislike the helpdesk people and vice versa. because some customers are dumb. and some helpdesk people think their poop doesn't stink.

2nd level desktop support looks down on the helpdesk people and don't like to deal with them at all. and they dislike talking to the customers even more. (by the time, the customer's problem move to 2nd level, they're usually pretty ticked off)

I work in the 3rd level server support when I'm not doing projects, And I'm glad I don't have to talk to most of the customers, and I act like a bitch to 2nd level desktop techs and 1st level helpdesk warm bodies because, frankly, I have this delusion that I'm better than them.

 

[Nanotech]

The...................................................................................................................wait................................................to speak with someone.