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TwiztedZero
Nine Zero Burp Nine Six
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join:2011-03-31
Toronto, ON

TwiztedZero

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Phone transcript from 'ell

I was reading along on Reddit and spotted this little run around transcript.

Two hours with 'ell Canada's online chat support. (/r/canada)
said by theraoulduke :

Just wanted my home phone reconnected. Got passed around the online support office like a whore for almost two hours, my family was diagnosed with mass memory-loss and, after all that, they decided they couldn't help me via chat and told me to call them back on my disconnected phone.


elwoodblues
Elwood Blues
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join:2006-08-30
Somewhere in

elwoodblues

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Holy shit, what a joke

nekkidtruth
YISMM
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Lol "LAN line".

None of what transpired surprises me. It always makes me laugh when someone says "Bell is better than Rogers!" or "Rogers is better than Bell!". *buzzer noise*

They're the same crap.

Guspaz
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Did Bell mess up there? Yeah. But rudeness on the part of the customer never helps.

nekkidtruth
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nekkidtruth

Premium Member

said by Guspaz:

Did Bell mess up there? Yeah. But rudeness on the part of the customer never helps.

Let's put it into perspective here. The customer was not rude up until the end (With good reason as far as I'm concerned). He was restrained.

Guspaz
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That's no excuse. It was inappropriate and uncalled for.

nekkidtruth
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nekkidtruth

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I disagree. All human beings have their limits as to how much B.S. they'll take. I don't think anything he said was "uncalled for". Had he been treated fairly, he wouldn't have gotten angry. Add to the fact that this was an error Bell caused while trying to point the finger elsewhere...

mikekay
Premium Member
join:2011-01-29
Kitchener, ON

mikekay

Premium Member

said by nekkidtruth:

I disagree. All human beings have their limits as to how much B.S. they'll take. I don't think anything he said was "uncalled for". Had he been treated fairly, he wouldn't have gotten angry. Add to the fact that this was an error Bell caused while trying to point the finger elsewhere...

+1

ekster
Hi there
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You can't blame the last person for what everyone else prior to them did. Human decency never hurt anyone, but it sure can make someone's day a lot better.

Guspaz
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It doesn't matter, such behaviour is NEVER justified when talking to customer service reps. It doesn't matter how frustrated you are, or how unfair you think the situation is. It's usually not even the fault of the person whose day you're making miserable, and it certainly wasn't the fault of the guy he started verbally assualting in this case.

When I get super angry at customer service people, I might get short with them, but I never resort to insults and name calling!

creed3020
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join:2006-04-26
Kitchener, ON

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WOW. That guy sure got the classic run around. Nobody should have to deal with that many agents to get an investigation logged and service re-instated. Behind the scenes there may be that many people but from a customer service perspective how could any person put up with 5 different people and having to explain themselves over and over....

nekkidtruth
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said by ekster:

You can't blame the last person for what everyone else prior to them did. Human decency never hurt anyone, but it sure can make someone's day a lot better.

The company is at fault. Unfortunately, the last person still works for the same company the first person who gave him the run around works for....and the second...and the third, OH and the fourth. Like I said, he was restrained. I wouldn't have been so nice. The incompetence shown by ALL of the reps was absolutely ridiculous. What's worse is the incredibly condescending "I'll fix it for you!" just before dropping the chat.
nekkidtruth

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said by Guspaz:

It doesn't matter, such behaviour is NEVER justified when talking to customer service reps. It doesn't matter how frustrated you are, or how unfair you think the situation is. It's usually not even the fault of the person whose day you're making miserable, and it certainly wasn't the fault of the guy he started verbally assualting in this case.

When I get super angry at customer service people, I might get short with them, but I never resort to insults and name calling!

Like I said, I disagree. We're not talking about simply becoming frustrated with someone because of some tiny little mistake. We're talking about infuriating punting over an issue that Bell caused.

Anyway, doesn't matter what I say because you and I won't see eye to eye regardless. What happened to this guy was completely unacceptable and he bit his tongue for nearly 2 hours while he was mentally/emotionally abused by the reps and their false promises to resolve his issue, only to find that they couldn't resolve his issue to begin with.

They got off easy.
vincom
join:2009-03-06
Bolton, ON

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the reps are scripted in what to say so they sound empathic and using the word "excellent" to convince you that they are giving you the best service ever, they do not really care as to your problems as no one took control of your disconnect.
they get paid bt the hour, scripted to say things in certain situations and then transfer you to another clueless rep, i would of said'/typed alot more nasty sh*t if i was giving that kind of runaround.
thank god all my cords are cut, the more people that do cut the cord the more bell and rogers will smarten up, but here in canada people love paying for crappy service and over inflated prices for the illusion the big companies are more reliable and trustworthy then the alternatives, but watch out as the next generation of users as they wont be beholden to rogers or bell, hell they dont even know what a landline means or even watch cable tv

Wootles
@209.141.143.x

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Wootles

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There is never a situation where its OK to verbally (or text) abuse people. Why do some think otherwise?

Guess I was raised differently. No matter the situation we were taught to always be respectful. Treat others as you wish to be treated. Things seem to have really changed, a lot of people have zero self control and think its OK to degrade others.

While his situation was frustrating, I actually feel sorry for the customer service reps that had to deal with him later in the transcript.

I worked a lot of years in customer service early on, sometimes you get people who literally call just to scream and swear at someone. Its not OK.

nekkidtruth
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nekkidtruth

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You're speaking as if the customer should accept being treated such as he was.

I don't believe anyone who says they wouldn't take out their frustrations out on any given rep were the tables reversed. Their phone number was ported out to someone else, the original rep tried to pass it off as the fault of him or one of his family members, then he's bumped from agent to agent having to repeat himself...multiple times. If you don't get frustrated and lose it at some point during that whole ordeal, you're either lying or....

Edit: This coming from someone who has worked in customer service for over 15 years. I've dealt with every type of person you can imagine. Sometimes it was warranted, other times it wasn't. Fact remains, Bell is in the wrong here and their behaviour was unacceptable.
HeadSpinning
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I'm really surprised the number got ported out in error. When Bell receives the port out request, they validate it against the subscriber information provided on the order automatically. The recipient provider could have been contacted and released the number back to Bell the same day in the case of a dispute such as this.
vincom
join:2009-03-06
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said by Wootles :

There is never a situation where its OK to verbally (or text) abuse people. Why do some think otherwise?

Guess I was raised differently. No matter the situation we were taught to always be respectful. Treat others as you wish to be treated. Things seem to have really changed, a lot of people have zero self control and think its OK to degrade others.

While his situation was frustrating, I actually feel sorry for the customer service reps that had to deal with him later in the transcript.

I worked a lot of years in customer service early on, sometimes you get people who literally call just to scream and swear at someone. Its not OK.

ive worked in the service industry for 35 yrs, to me the customer is always right......until theyre wrong of course, lol.
treat the customers w/respect, bells reps did not, they use scripted dialogue and then try to pass the buck and after 2 hrs they pass the buck to the customer to say that he has to phone in for help, if the bell reps cant handle the heat they should get out of the kitchen

spock8
join:2012-07-08

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said by Guspaz:

It doesn't matter, such behaviour is NEVER justified when talking to customer service reps. It doesn't matter how frustrated you are, or how unfair you think the situation is. It's usually not even the fault of the person whose day you're making miserable, and it certainly wasn't the fault of the guy he started verbally assualting in this case.

When I get super angry at customer service people, I might get short with them, but I never resort to insults and name calling!

-1

Sorry but why should the customer take the kind of corporate abuse that they were subjected to. We are not talking about a minor problem, there landline was disconnected and ported out.

Jennifer: My deepest apology but you have reached the Bell Home Phone department. In order to get the information you wish, I need to connect you to our Bell shop department where one of our representatives will be glad to assist you with your reconnecting your cancelled home phone . How does it sounds to you?

Are they try to be sarcastic?
graniterock
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join:2003-03-14
London, ON

graniterock

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When my wife worked at a call centre they were coached on sounding empathetic and caring towards the customers and were basically ordered to use certain phrases. At best they sounded phony and at worst it was sarcastic or even condescending. Empathy can't be scripted.
JMJimmy
join:2008-07-23

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said by Guspaz:

It doesn't matter, such behaviour is NEVER justified when talking to customer service reps. It doesn't matter how frustrated you are, or how unfair you think the situation is. It's usually not even the fault of the person whose day you're making miserable, and it certainly wasn't the fault of the guy he started verbally assualting in this case.

When I get super angry at customer service people, I might get short with them, but I never resort to insults and name calling!

There are multiple reasons why I'd disagree disagree with you

1) In this specific case none of the agents took ownership of the issue. When passing a customer to another agent in chat there's no excuse for not stating the customer's problem and verifying that the person they are passing them to will be able to assist them.

2) The last agent didn't even pay enough attention to the problem to realize that the course of action she was suggesting might not be possible and in fact was not likely possible since the person stated they were missing calls.

3) In general (not specific to this case) these individuals are representatives of that company. While they may have guidelines to follow & restrictions on what they can do/say, those are what the company has set out, and at the end of the day they are the company. If the company is screwing you it's completely fair to lash out at the individuals that they pay to interact with the customer. Would I rather lash out at the CEO? Sure. Can the average joe get access to the CEO? Usually not.

It's a shit job but the moment these reps stop treating me as a human being is the moment I stop treating them with the same respect. If they do give that respect, even with the limitations they may have, I'll do the same. In this case they stopped treating them with that respect from the get go

FiReSTaRT
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FiReSTaRT

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Meh, those reps are used to taking abuse, but I'm betting they're a lot less helpful with customers who dish it out I can understand the frustration and why someone would lash out, but the customer didn't help his cause any by lashing out.

The best way to handle this is to switch to another service provider. Once Bell faces a massive exodus over the support or lack thereof that they give to their customers, they may have to rewrite the scripts or even better... Hire and train COMPETENT reps, LOCALLY.
taraf
join:2011-05-07
Ottawa, ON

taraf

Member

said by FiReSTaRT:

Hire and train COMPETENT reps, LOCALLY.

Good, Cheap, and Local. Pick two.

The market forces are demanding that they offer the best service at the lowest cost.

sbrook
Mod
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Ottawa

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It's one thing to feel and express anger with these people, but it's another altogether to express that anger as personal abuse. Of course, this is one of the problems with the chat line call centre ... it's hard to display anger since there isn't the tone of your voice to go by on the phone or in person, or the steam flowing out of the top of your head when in person!

I absolutely agree that the problem here is the corporate culture that has been created in these call centres. At one time, these kinds of problems would have been resolved within a couple hours.

rednekcowboy
join:2012-03-21

rednekcowboy

Member

said by sbrook:

It's one thing to feel and express anger with these people, but it's another altogether to express that anger as personal abuse. Of course, this is one of the problems with the chat line call centre ... it's hard to display anger since there isn't the tone of your voice to go by on the phone or in person, or the steam flowing out of the top of your head when in person!

I absolutely agree that the problem here is the corporate culture that has been created in these call centres. At one time, these kinds of problems would have been resolved within a couple hours.

The biggest part of the problem is that agents on the floor are not allowed to escalate when someone asks for a supervisor. They are told to, no matter what, handle the situation.

This is the biggest mistake ever made. The minute someone asks to speak to a supervisor, nothing more is going to be accomplished in the conversation. They are done speaking to that agent.

What should occur at this point is the agent should be able to say "Sure, np" and pass the call off, many times that this actually does happen, the issue is resolved almost immediately.

sbrook
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Ottawa

sbrook

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I had problems with Rogers like that and I insisted that I wanted to speak with a "Customer Service Manager" Not a "Line Manager" or "Your Manager" (who would be responsible for the hours and calls these people worked).

Eventually after insisting, I eventually got a customer service manager, who although not quick did get it organized. Of course the customer service manager is not a technical person, so the problem had to be explained simply.

The issues though kept resurrecting themselves, for every time I called asking for this manager by name, I'd get a "What's this about" and a response of "I can help you with that problem", to which I'd reply ... "If you could have helped with that problem, I wouldn't have had to go to a Customer Service Manager in the first place!"

Eventually I'd reply "Ms. Smith will know what it's about as soon as you tell her who is calling". They didn't like that and would attempt to get me to tell them what it was about still. Then I'd have to repeat the "If you could have helped ..." line!

It's quite painful.
taraf
join:2011-05-07
Ottawa, ON

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said by rednekcowboy:

The biggest part of the problem is that agents on the floor are not allowed to escalate when someone asks for a supervisor. They are told to, no matter what, handle the situation.

I can assure you that it doesn't work that way at Bell. I've had that problem with Rogers, but Bell's policy is very different indeed:

»support.bell.ca/Billing- ··· omplaint

(go to bell.ca, click on "contact us" at the bottom of the page -- or if you prefer, click on support, and follow the links for your own service --, then scroll to the middle of the page and click on "how to escalate a complaint").

I have *never* had a problem escalating complaints at Bell, and my understanding is that their employees are not allowed to refuse to escalate to their manager.

rednekcowboy
join:2012-03-21

rednekcowboy

Member

said by taraf:

said by rednekcowboy:

The biggest part of the problem is that agents on the floor are not allowed to escalate when someone asks for a supervisor. They are told to, no matter what, handle the situation.

I can assure you that it doesn't work that way at Bell. I've had that problem with Rogers, but Bell's policy is very different indeed:

»support.bell.ca/Billing- ··· omplaint

(go to bell.ca, click on "contact us" at the bottom of the page -- or if you prefer, click on support, and follow the links for your own service --, then scroll to the middle of the page and click on "how to escalate a complaint").

I have *never* had a problem escalating complaints at Bell, and my understanding is that their employees are not allowed to refuse to escalate to their manager.

Do you work directly for Bell or a third party? I can assure you that the third party that I know, what you are describing does not exist.

Whether that is the correct attitude or not, I cannot say.
taraf
join:2011-05-07
Ottawa, ON

taraf

Member

If you're aware of a 3rd party that's acting like this, then yes, they are not following procedure.

That said, if you read the link I posted, there's an easy way to skirt around, even if you get somebody who isn't aware of Bell's policy. I would be interested in knowing which contractor you're claiming is doing this, actually.... Call it morbid curiosity. I have some very close friends in Bell's management team on the customer service side of things, and I expect that they will be very interested to hear about it. That's the kind of thing that contractors have lost their contract over.

rednekcowboy
join:2012-03-21

rednekcowboy

Member

said by taraf:

If you're aware of a 3rd party that's acting like this, then yes, they are not following procedure.

That said, if you read the link I posted, there's an easy way to skirt around, even if you get somebody who isn't aware of Bell's policy. I would be interested in knowing which contractor you're claiming is doing this, actually.... Call it morbid curiosity. I have some very close friends in Bell's management team on the customer service side of things, and I expect that they will be very interested to hear about it. That's the kind of thing that contractors have lost their contract over.

So if I've read this correctly, you do not work for Bell and then have no direct knowledge of the inner-workings of their call centers?

FWIW, my comments are from first hand experience when I was a customer of Bell's.