As a former CSR, I was explicitly told that even though certain actions were easily done by the supervisor, the reps had to basically deny customer requests to perform these actions (mostly unlocking accounts). So if the customers didn’t raise a stink, they would not get their issue escalated.
Yeah I worked at a place that had a policy that was basically “you’re not allowed to escalate the call until the customer asks specifically, twice.” We were more or less told to tell customers things that were very much possible, were not.
There were tons of things I was not allowed to permit but a supervisor could do quite easily. The “supervisor” was just someone who sat right next to me but had slightly more training. So basically it just guaranteed that you were going to get berated several times a day.
Just before I quit I was reprimanded because one day I just decided I’m not going to be an obstacle anymore and I would just transfer anyone who would ask immediately.
I am certain the majority of call centers have policies like this solely for the reason of saving money from customers who refuse to fight with customer service.
Completely different thing.
Sure, if you're calling AT&T or somewhere trying to get your account cancelled or unlocked - by all means, shout 'supervisor' over and over into the phone.
But if you're chatting in asking "how do I do x" and the CSR tells you "there's no way to do X. Here's a work-around you can use to achieve a similar result, but there's no way to do what you are asking specifically" and you just say "I WANT TO SPEAK TO A MANAGER" you're getting the wall in my ideal world
actually either way, you still get the wall even if I worked at a place where escalations were mandatory for anything - which I don't, as mentioned the supervisors don't know shit and don't have any special powers.
Of course and those people are assholes. The way I tried to think of it was that many people need to vent their anger and you just happened to be there at that moment. Almost all of it was misdirected. People are stressed out, they feel cheated by a system and they feel like they can’t trust anyone.
However, if there is one thing you have near absolute control over in your life is how you treat others especially those who can help or be gatekeepers to that help.
Customer service taught me a lot empathy and patience and I wish more people knew how it actually worked and experienced the other side themselves. The mental and emotional toll of not only explaining the same 8 things a million times in a million different ways but also the verbal abuse I received even if it was a minuscule part of it still stuck with me. I worked retail before that and I think customers have the idea (an idea borne of material reality) that you are subordinate to them in every way which gives them a free pass to be assholes. It was bad 20 years ago and it’s worse today.
I’m sorry this customer sucked. They probably know they suck and they were always going to a pick a fight first.
I think most users just aren't competent enough to know when it's warranted or not, and unfortunately most organizations don't train, equip, or trust their reps with access to the real good tools. For questions about features or functionality I understand your point, I just think the asymmetries created by lots of orgs having obtuse multi-tier support trains customers to put little faith in reps across the board.
I usually couch it like "look, I appreciate it but I'm pretty sure this can be resolved by escalating", like a recent issue I had with a pay card which is tied to a transaction processor but issued by a 3rd party bank. Usually the card is automatically present during an online checkout process, but a replacement issued when the previous card expired, after activation, was missing and could not be added like a normal pay card, failing with an error message.
Word. Customer Support reps for big corporations are basically human shields the Corpos put between themselves and the public to soak up all the hate and vitriol. Getting screamed at until you break down is the real job, not helping people. Then you get thrown in the trash and replaced with a new warm body.
this was my first real job when out of high school, I didn't last too long once I started to piece it together
Yeah no it's very common to staff such that the initial rep has basically no training and is just a filter to make sure you tried turning it off and turning it on again.
Also why do you care if they talk to a supervisor?
Also why do you care if they talk to a supervisor?
I don't but when they're going to tell you the same damn thing I did and you're being combative the entire time I'm trying to explain this to you, it just causes me to roll my eyes. He could've had his (self-inflicted) 'problem' solved in <5 minutes if he'd just read what I sent to him 3x instead of acting like I'm hiding the keys to the kingdom, but 🤷
You and everyone else in this thread seems to think I work for some call center and I'm dealing with account closures/subscription cancellations or something, but this is software support - a supervisor isn't going to get you fucking anything and you're just an asshole for crying for one instead of reading/listening to what I'm calmly explaining to you.
I'm not the person who called you. I get that you're very angry but if you don't like how we're interpreting your post maybe edit it so it's more clear what you're talking about.
And FWIW I was talking about softwareq support.
I do not care how anyone interprets it, thus I will not be editing this post
Sucks for both sides. We're put at each others throat's because I need help, and you need to get rid of me as fast as possible to keep your metrics up. And we both know that the fastest and most reliable way to get rid of a customer is to make them give up. We're made to dehumanize either other because it's the optimal strategy for the corporation.
I've been lied to and jerked around for hours and hours so many times by corps like Comcast and Wells Fargo over and over again I don't even try to play the game anymore. I'll answer basic questions like my name or a brief description of my problem, but after I politely say "I would like to speak to a supervisor" until they realize I'm hurting their metrics and escalate the call to get rid of me. Like sorry, bro, but there's no trust here. We're enemies by necessity, and you're the one whose paycheck is signed by Satan. I'm just trying to cancel my Netflix account for the fifth time.
Re: Your specific case, though, I rarely encounter software problems I can't find a solution for somewhere on the web, and when I can't solve the problem it's usually because of Comcast or Microsoft and I don't call them because anything that came out of my mouth would constitute an actionable threat with terror enhancements at this point. I get other people to handle Comcast on my behalf then go sit in the bathroom biting a leather strap until they tell me it's been resolved. The urge to "return their borrowed hardware" that I never requested and refused to take delivery of by writing "I don't have it you fucks" on a brick and hurling it through their window is overwhelming sometimes.
I used to end-run around automated phone systems by replying to all of the machine's questions with "Operator" until it put me through to a human, but they've wised up and now the machine just hangs up on you. It'll probably be impossible to resolve anything once they hook up plagiarism machines to all the support lines. Why resolve problems when you can have a Markov chain talk the customers in circles for fractions of penny until they shoot themselves to end the suffering?
Supposedly back in the day before anyone really understood what to do with the internet you could occasionally find a company's directory, find the personal line of some high level executive, lie your way through their secretary, and get some really prompt and stellar support once they figured out what was going on.
Fun fact: Back in like 2017 or so it was worth about 30$ an hour to Amazon to get you to stop politely saying "Well, I understand, but I'm very disappointed and I want to know how you're going to make this up to me, a long time customer" over and over to the call center rep.
I forget what the issue even was, I just did it on a lark as an experiment to see how long they'd try to get rid of me before giving up, and what treats they'd pony up to get me off the line.
Supposedly back in the day before anyone really understood what to do with the internet you could occasionally find a company's directory, find the personal line of some high level executive, lie your way through their secretary, and get some really prompt and stellar support once they figured out what was going on.
People still think this works and whenever someone hits me up via LinkedIn messenger like "Hi ABC just reaching out to you about the platform you work for....." I deliberately mark the message as read and then ignore it
...
You know it just occurred to me that very soon you'll be able to run a plagiarism machine on your PC, hook it up to some natural language software and a voice emulator, then dial Comcast customer support and let Jesus take the wheel.
There are so many new opportunities for chicanery and social violence being created by the visionary tech industry.
Main. Tangential but I have to call manufacturer customer support often enough as a part of my job, and there’s an inherent cost analysis the manufacturer has with its support tickets between RMAing it and eating the cost, or getting more people involved. The company I work for bought six figures worth of equipment for this one job and we were having issues, and we honestly didn’t want to ask for the supervisor we just wanted the RMA, but each tier of rep we talked to would say “let me get my supervisor” within like 5 minutes of talking. It got escalated up to the point where I was on the phone with the actual kernel engineer for the equipment I was holding. Literally at one point we asked the rep not to get their supervisor, but they insisted.
I did this exactly one time but it was with my corporate landlord and they were trying to fleece me (They succeeded unfortunately)
I blame a lot of this shit on Apple's (and others) techno-magic marketing strategy. So many people just have no understanding of the basic workings of things, and they often feel like that makes them more knowledgeable for some reason. "I want to talk to the manager" is the clarion call of the libs.
the chud asks for your manager because they want to get you fired
I ask for your manager because I want to add more names to my list
we are not the same
