What to say to calm down angry users?

[JEDI]

Besides "I know how u feel, but lets work together to solve the problem?"

THX

 

[Red Dawn]

"Some people shouldn't own Computers and I think you are one of them"

 

[Geekbabe]

tell em if they don't simmer down you're gonna escalate their issue to Level II Tech support and they'll have to talk to FFMcolbalt

 

[gopunk]

Originally posted by: baffled2
tell em if they don't simmer down you're gonna escalate their issue to Level II Tech support and they'll have to talk to FFMcolbalt

damn you took mine... "SIMMER DOWN NOW!"

 

[yakko]

I just keep telling them to calm down until they are so mad that they hang up on me.

 

[Rallispec]

format c:/

 

[gopunk]

btw i usually just say "hold on" and do a blind transfer to god knows where

 

[StattlichPassat]

Originally posted by: yakko
I just keep telling them to calm down until they are so mad that they hang up on me.

That's probably what I'd end up doing- I don't have the heart to honestly say what Red Dawn mentioned, or 'STFU!'.

 

[Mucman]

I get very technical with them

There are times where I just love talking to pissed off customers. It's because I am always calm on the phone. I once had a guy tell me he is losing his house because of the downtime! I found out it was because his domain name had expired and the admin/tech/billing contact were all the same (@home.com address) I started explaining DNS and SMTP to him to explain why he never got the notification That was a riot!

 

[Frosty3799]

Originally posted by: gopunk
btw i usually just say "hold on" and do a blind transfer to god knows where

That... is ... AWESOME

 

[gopunk]

Originally posted by: NightFlyerGTI

Originally posted by: yakko
I just keep telling them to calm down until they are so mad that they hang up on me.

That's probably what I'd end up doing- I don't have the heart to honestly say what Red Dawn mentioned, or 'STFU!'.

do you do any tech support? i guarantee you'll be tempted....

 

[amdskip]

Shut up or I'm not gonna help you and no, customers are not always right no matter what management tells us!

 

[Rallispec]

it is extremely frustrating at time, especially over the phone. thats hwy i could never do phone tech support. on site, i can handle. becuase then you can just kcik the user out of the room

 

[Skyclad1uhm1]

"I'd look up your problem in our database, sir, but we're using it as Battlefield 1942 server at the moment."

 

[gopunk]

another good one is to put them on speakerphone. that's always a riot.

 

[Chaotic42]

Tell them you'll have the problem fixed by tomorrow. Then go to their offices that night, take out all of the computers, replace them with typewriters, and leave a note saying "You shouldn't have anymore computer problems".

Then blame it on a lackey or if you are one, a co-worker.

 

[Moonbeam]

Tell them there's something wierd with your phone and if they speak loud no sound comes out and you can't hear them. Then just keep saying, "I can't hear you. Talk softly if you're still there." And everytime they lose it repeat the message.

You also need to know that people flip out because they feel bad about themselves and computers tell them so. Not only will a computer tell what illegal action you tired to take and where the error occurred, but you won't have the faintest idea, armed with all that data, what it's talking about. Then they have to get on the phone and dial their priest and confess they screwed up whereupon, after uttering their third and forth 'huh?' they will be treated like low grade morons and directed to move the mouse cursor tto the X and push the left button on the mouse etc etc etc.

So don't take it personally. It's not about you.

You can practice here on ATOT by reminding everybody that Gore won.

 

[Keego]

back in the day.. damn I miss Winfax tech support... I just used to be very firm with them, cutting them off with.. Well let's get this problem solved. Then I would solve it, and they would worship me.



Really, it works great if you can solve their problem.

 

[gopunk]

Originally posted by: Kyguy
back in the day.. damn I miss Winfax tech support... I just used to be very firm with them, cutting them off with.. Well let's get this problem solved. Then I would solve it, and they would worship me.



Really, it works great if you can solve their problem.

and if you can't, you DROP THEIR ASS! ahahaha. eh? am i right? am i right? show todd some love...

 

[ggavinmoss]

Some of my users (the ones I develop apps for) are mutual fund / trust managers who oversee hundreds of millions, if not billions of dollars in assets.

They get their way.

-geoff

 

[Keego]

Originally posted by: gopunk

Originally posted by: Kyguy
back in the day.. damn I miss Winfax tech support... I just used to be very firm with them, cutting them off with.. Well let's get this problem solved. Then I would solve it, and they would worship me.



Really, it works great if you can solve their problem.

and if you can't, you DROP THEIR ASS! ahahaha. eh? am i right? am i right? show todd some love...

:Q If I had to have them hang up or something and they called back and didn't get me, I felt sorry for them.. some of my co-workers were really bad... oh well.

 

[JEDI]

come on..how about some polite answers that wont get me fired?

 

[CPA]

Originally posted by: Moonbeam
Tell them there's something wierd with your phone and if they speak loud no sound comes out and you can't hear them. Then just keep saying, "I can't hear you. Talk softly if you're still there." And everytime they lose it repeat the message.

You also need to know that people flip out because they feel bad about themselves and computers tell them so. Not only will a computer tell what illegal action you tired to take and where the error occurred, but you won't have the faintest idea, armed with all that data, what it's talking about. Then they have to get on the phone and dial their priest and confess they screwed up whereupon, after uttering their third and forth 'huh?' they will be treated like low grade morons and directed to move the mouse cursor tto the X and push the left button on the mouse etc etc etc.

So don't take it personally. It's not about you.

You can practice here on ATOT by reminding everybody that Gore won.

Once again, Moonbeam, you ruin an entirely good post with your last statement(s).

*edit - I know you were providing a personal example, I just wish it would have/could have been different.

 

[Stark]

Originally posted by: gopunk
btw i usually just say "hold on" and do a blind transfer to god knows where

LOL

 

[GasX]

I'll tell you what the verizon person says tome when I finally get off hold...

(it's been over 90 minutes - thank god for speakerphone...)

:|