There will be times when you have to call customer service, a.k.a. customer support a.k.a. the help desk.
If you are educated on how call center environments operate you will get better results.
Let’s start off with this:
The Big Question: Does asking for the manager really help?
NO. Speaking to a "higher level" will rarely get your issue resolved any faster or get any better results. For some strange reason people think that speaking to someone with a higher "rank" in the support environment actually works. It doesn’t. When you do this you’re doing nothing but circumventing the method put in place for the fastest most accurate resolutions.
Does the call agent have any contact with technicians?
The call agent is the person who takes your call and assigns a support ticket. The technician is someone who physically comes to your location to address the issue you called about (if required). In most situations the agent and the technician never speak to each other. The agent will escalate/assign your ticket and then the manager who oversees the technicians will assign a tech via a work order.
The reason this is important information to know is that the technician is only aware of what is written in the work order. If the call agent wrote a poorly written ticket that leads to a poorly written work order, this will inevitably lead to poor service.
Tip: When calling on an issue that requires a technician to be assigned to fix the problem, ask the agent to read back what is in the ticket BEFORE escalating it. This will give at least some assurance that your problem is explained properly before it goes anywhere.
Good managers will "bounce back" tickets that are poorly written tickets back to the call agent for a rewrite. Bad ones will desperately attempt to make sense out of the gibberish sent to them and assign a tech anyway hoping the tech will be able to figure out what’s going on.
If you want to see an example of poorly written call agent tickets, refer to the Chronicles of George. After reading that you will understand why you should always ask the call agent to read back the tickets s/he writes before sending them anywhere.
Why is it required to go thru "the process" every time you call?
Whether you’re calling about a computer issue, a cable television issue or what-have-you, you’ve noticed that every time you call you must go thru a "process" each time and it’s very annoying.
The reason you are required to do this is because that’s what the agent has been trained to do. They do this because typically most problems are resolved by performing a few simple steps, so the agents are told to always perform those steps whether you want to or not.
The only time you can get around this is if you’re calling to update a previous call. Otherwise it’s treated as a new issue and yes, you’ll have to go thru the process again.
What can you do if you’ve received unsatisfactory service and your issues are not resolved?
Yell and scream at the call agent. However this rarely works so it’s not recommended (and yes I know I’ve guilty of this myself but at least I admit it).
Request a printed account of all call tickets pertaining to your issue. When you request this the agent will immediately escalate you to the Team Lead or Supervisor without giving it a second thought because he has no authority to send you records – but the managerial staff does. When management is alerted you want this information, the tickets will be read personally by management staff and they will probably quickly discover poorly written tickets, "talk to" the call agents who screwed them up, get them fixed and attend to your issue properly. A call agent who writes proper tickets has nothing to worry about. But the one who writes poor ones will put his or her job in jeopardy. This is irrelevant to you as long as your issue gets attended to but at least you know something is getting done.
If the call agent states "we can’t do that" in reference to providing a written account of the tickets involved with your account, that’s a lie. They can. If the tickets are directly related to you and your account – yes you can request the information and the company is obligated to release it to you.
Request a printed account of all work orders. A work order is different from a ticket. The ticket is assigned by the call agent. The work order is assigned by the supervisor/manager who dispatches technicians. Tickets and work orders rarely "relate" to each other because once a work order has been assigned, the ticket is deemed "closed" or "resolved".
Every company has a physical printed record of all work orders – signed by the technician himself or herself once work is completed.
Why is it necessary to go thru all this b.s. just to get something fixed when things go wrong?
It is the unfortunate tendency that corporations lose their humanity once they become corporations. When you call to report a problem/issue, you’re not a person but just another number. Once you come to accept this reality you’ll at least know how to work with the system, figuratively speaking.
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Good article Rich.
Couple points to add. When logging a ticket, try to be as accurate as possible when describing your problem. Most agents will attempt to write proper tickets, but garbage in, garbage out. Help them help you. If you aren’t technical, that’s ok…just be as accurate as possible.
Also, going through the “process” every time you call can help you, and everyone else, in the long run. In general, corporations actually do want to provide good service and good products. The information they collect about issues will likely be studied for trends, common problems, The company, at least the good ones, will then use this to try addressing the root cause. End result is a better product, better service or both.
Excellent article! Thank you for posting it. It makes more sense now. Another tidbit I would like to add, something I have noticed in the paper when these big corporations out-source their call centers they do try to hire people that have a technical background as well as people that are certified. Granted, I realize that just being certified doesnt always mean they always know what they are talking about. Thanks again, Rich.
I disagree. Asking for the line agent’s supervisor has produced results for me on a number of occasions. I haven’t been counting them, but I’d guesstimate 50% of the time when I ask for a supervisor — I don’t ask unless I’m not getting anywhere — I get results that the line agent told me were not possible.
What evidence do you have for your claim that escalation doesn’t work? If it’s just a study of procedures, that’s not enough. We all know that rules are meant to be broken.
I have worked in an IT ‘Helpdesk’ or call centre. The software we used did link ‘tickets’ to ‘work orders’ as the technicians can only edit the work order and not the ‘ticket’, so both need to be linked and ‘kept together’ in order to see what information the agent provided and what the technician edited or added to it.
Also a massive frustration for the agent is when the customer is vague. Be as specific as possible. For example this was an actual call, “I can’t get my emails” “Ok when could you last access your emails?” “Yesterday” “Can you access the internet?” “No” “What can you see on the screen right now” “Nothing” “Is the screen turned on” “I don’t know, it should be” etc etc etc and it turned out this guy was trying to access his emails on his Blackberry which had run out of battery so he couldn’t turn it on. He wasn’t even on a computer. This is why simple specific information given to the agent is very important.
As far as escalation goes. If the agent is doing their job properly then escalation will get you nowhere, but if the agent is lieing to you or just doing their job poorly and making mistakes then yes escalation will get you somewhere.
Last tip of the day. Do not start shouting at agents because your problem cannot be fixed straight away. It is not their fault, they have procedures to follow. the more you get angry and shout the less likely an agent is going to help you as best they can. If i was being shouted at i was within my rights to say “I’m sorry i am not here to be shouted at, please call back when you have calmed down” *Hangs up the phone*
Internal enterprise computer support is distinctively different from consumer end user support, with the single largest difference being that the agent absolutely CANNOT hang up on the customer no matter how irate he or she is. That’s a one-way ticket to getting fired – and fast. The automated phone system will record the agent disconnected the call and that agent will soon be asked (or moreover told) to look for work elsewhere.
Yes there are many different types of call centre support. Regarding hanging up, so if the ‘customer’ is shouting abuse at you on the phone, calling you names, swearing at you, if you hang up the phone you will get fired? Seems a little harsh to me. After all we are human beings not human trash acting as a stress reliever to some angry idiot blaming his midlife crisis on you.
Yes you will be terminated if you hang up.
This guy didn’t hang up, he stuck it out and kept his job:
http://www.abum.com/54814/Dell-caller-flips-out-on-the-tech-support-guy.html
Ah, but that Dell caller was right: The tech *could* have told him the answer — to hold the power button down for 10 seconds — without marching him through through Express Service Code, name, phone number, e-mail address, and so on. EVERY Dell home computer is that same in that if you hold the power button down for X seconds, the machine shuts off.
I get the same thing occasionally. I’ll call in with an informational question. I’ll *calmly* explain that my question has nothing to do with my personal account, and I can usually get the agent to skip all the questions about my account.
Rich, the example Dell clip u posted is EXACTLY what i’m talking about. There’s not a chance i would have helped that guy, not a chance on this earth. Why should anyone be forced to put up with someone talking to you like this. Let me give an example. If this ‘customer’ had been in a retail store, shouting and swearing and being irate at the member of staff behind the till, most probably security would be called and he would be escorted out. So why is it acceptable for this behaviour, language etc to be used and tolerated over the phone? Talk about double standards!
If you are calling for device/data support on a mobile device the rep in data support will generally try to resolve the issue for you without a ticket. At least, that’s what we do at the company where I work. Tickets for us are sort of a last resort, since in reality any issues that can’t be resolved under normal circumstances will likely end up the the device needing to be replaced.
Yelling at the rep will get you nowhere, asking for a manager will most definitely slow the entire process down and no one really in really impressed that you are asking for a manager anyway. The first team I worked on, before I joined data support, had a supervisor who wasn’t even familiar with our primary billling system because she had been brought in from an acquired company and hadn’t been trained on the system yet. What good did it do anyone to speak with her?
A rep won’t necessarily get fired just for hanging up on a customer. The call had to be recorded and observed, and not all calls are, and then there is generally a termination/discipline process that involves the rep, his/her supervisor and human resources. If labor is unionized the chance of termination is greatly diminished, especially in circumstances where the rep was suffering serious verbal abuse. There may be coaching or discipline, but termination is not always automatic. At my company the official policy is to attempt to calm the irate customer, and if all else fails put the person on hold and transfer the call to a supervisor. The supervisor can hang up if necessary, but they rarely do.
Finally, you may or may not be able to obtain copies of tickets. You most certainly may not have copies of the notes in the company’s systems. At least, not without a subpoena. Notes are considered proprietary.
@Seth Grimes: No the caller was wrong. The agent was trying to identify the computer and who it belonged to (which wasn’t his) and the customer was being unruly about it. I’ll defend the agent on this one – the agent was correct in procedure.
Sorry, I’ll be more precise. The agent was incorrect. It was the procedure that was wrong. The procedure marched the agent through asking for information he didn’t need to have in order to resolve the issue. The agent was incorrect in insisting (if he did; I’m not going to listen to the call again) that the information was needed: “I’m just trying to find out what computer you have.” In the end, it didn’t matter what computer the person had or who it belonged to or what the caller’s phone number was.
If the procedure had allowed the agent to skip right to “hold down the power button for 10 seconds,” it would have saved the agent abuse and Dell money by allowing the agent to move on to another call.
Sure, the guy was abusive. The agent deserves a medal for taking that. Doesn’t change my view on the waste-of-time questions however.
@Martyn: There’s not a chance you’d stay hired then (not here anyway), plain and simple.
The benefits of not working in America then i suppose. You can work in a job where you aren’t expected to be treated as human trash.
“Yell and scream at the call agent.”…I feel this is not a good thing to suggest, even as a joke. I work in a Call Center and although we definately cannot hang up on a customer that is irate, it usually means you get placed on hold more often and for longer periods of time as the agent is looking for their supervisor, who then will look for a higher up supervisor, ect, ect.
Alot of centers will give you a tracking or incident number and it is extremely vital you get this information so that a callback has a reference point and you don’t have to go through a thousand hoops again.
Get the agents name, and employee number or id if possible as you may be able to be forwarded to this same person, who already is knowledgeable about your issue or if they gave you incorrect information you can give this to a supervisor and the agent can then be trained properly.
An agent hangs up on the customer and is immediately not allowed to work. He is given 5 days to come up with a letter to explain his side at a hearing. He was told that he is suspended for 30 days. What is the best thing to do? Should he write the letter? It is obvious that he could be heading for termination. As a regular employee, does he get anything if he is fired or terminated?
Here’s some hints you might want to think about before you call.
1) Screaming or abusing an agent over your problems will not get anything done. In fact, your name will probably go around the office as a known pain in the arse and nobody will waste time trying to help you. Call centres are hard enough environments to work in without talking to emotionally fragile idiots all day.
2) Asking for the manager when its a simple problem will delay you getting a resolution. Once a manager/supervisor name pops up on your file, any agent you speak to will automatically refer you back to them. This will be to your own detriment, especially in cases where the manager doesn’t have the expertise to help you (e.g PC issues).
3) Be polite. The person you are speaking to has probably taken 30+ calls already today and is in no mood to listen to someone who thinks they are calling a therapy line. Also note that even though an agent may sound interested in your problem, they will NEVER care about it. They just aren’t paid enough to invest that level of themselves into it.
4) 99% of the time “the customer is not right”. If you are calling a PC line for help, you obviously don’t know better than the agent you are speaking to so don’t act like it. Agents take more joy in picking apart the flawed knowledge of a know it all customer than you could ever imagine, so don’t fall in to that trap. You’ll end up as a coffee break joke.