Alt Focus- This is the weirdest thing, but normally, I can tell if someone is going to offer me good or bad customer service solely by their voice. Just the way that they say "hello" or greet you is enough, 90% of the time, to determine the quality of the experience. I've probably had ten times as many really good experiences as bad ones, and am often surprised by how nice and helpful people are. Of course, tragically, like with most human interactions, the bad ones stick with you more than the good ones.
I work in customer service and, for the most part, I agree with you. That is the nature of the job, yes it's fucking retarded some days. My problem is with customers who flat out create alternate realities where they have been abused so they may complain. Yes, some people have nothing else to do but complain and exaggerate the wrongs committed. Example: My assistant had an encounter with a woman painting her nails in the store, with polish she had not purchased. My assistant nicely told her that was unsanitary and offered her some paper to test color on. The woman then lingers twenty minutes past closing, and then attempts to provoke my assistant by complaining about her attitude. But she doesn't stop there. Three days later she calls for the manager (me) to tell her story, which now included my assistant THROWING polish at her and swearing. Oh, and it's illegal for us to lock our door when we close, according to this lady. I listen and say I will address the issues and that we are well within fire code, seeing we have emergency exits everywhere. I want to tell her she is crazy but I don't. My boss was in the store when I took this call and praised me for remaining neutral. Oh, but not good enough! The woman comes into the store again to purchase items and complains to the clerk about how abusive I was and how I shouldn't have a job. My clerk, who was present for the initial situation, is speechless. Later in the day I find out that she filed a customer service complaint, claiming that I called her stupid on the phone and that I was a "criminal." I'm lucky my boss heard the phone call in question and completely has my back. Point is, some people go into it looking for a problem. I bend over backwards for people who are genuine, I do care about them getting what they want. I am not paid to star in some strange reality as a bad guy out to ruin someone's day, or have my job threatened because of someone's power trip. Those customers can swan dive into a wood chipper.
I digress. I am in management for an IT firm and if there is an issue with customer service, it usually gets escalated to me. What the customer is paying for is our experience and expertise in supporting their IT infrastructure, or the product we are selling; not the right to insult my employees because they are paying us and thus keeping us in business.
Working in IT the usual situations that arises pales in comparison to when I worked at the front desk for one of the largest, if not the largest real estate rental firms in NYC. There was a woman who rented an apartment through us - done deal lease was signed, she moved in, everything was dandy for about 2 weeks. Then one day she showed up to our office with no appointment and demanded we refund every penny she paid (brokers fee, first months and last month's rent, and the security deposit) because... the apartment was haunted. I went to get the office manager who tried to reason with her the best he could, explaining that the majority of the money has been forwarded to the landlord, we only get to keep the brokers fee and a potentially haunted apartment are not grounds for a refund. I don't know how he kept a straight face through that conversation. Finally we had to call security because she was causing a scene and she refused to leave until she gets her all of her money back. When the security from the building arrived at our office, she decided to sit on the floor in the reception area and screamed that if anyone touches her, she is going to sue them for sexual assault. So the security guys called the police who finally removed her. I think they took her to Bellevue. The entire debacle lasted about 2 hours, our operation was nearly shut down, some of our agents had to stay in the lobby to redirect our clients to conduct business in the Starbucks nearby.[/quote]
BACK ON TOPIC ... Here's a story happening right now. For my land line, internet and TV (home) I am switching service providers. I went with my current provider because the bastards loured me in with one of their new customer bundle deals. In summing up the last two years of service, I will simply say that they have shit the bed hard. My contract ended last month and I'm going back to my old provider. The trick is my cell and auxiliary data plan (work) are with the same bed soiling sack of a provider. The bill is in my name, but it's under a corporate contract that my employment agreement states I must use for all my corporate wireless. This contract has a flat monthly rate for all staff entitled to it. I have two completely separate accounts (work and home) that are not inter-connected — simple enough no? Well the snapper head I just spoke too told me that if I cancel my home services that my cell bill will raise by ... well ... a lot. I will lose my corporate rate for my (pretty damn awesome) cell plan and have to pay full pop. Oh, and it's retro somehow too!? I went through the facts (sep. accts., corporate contract ... yadda yadda) three fucking times, for nearly fifty four minutes of my life that I will never get back. Nope. I wish I'd recorded this fucker. It wasn't just the fact he wouldn't listen, he was VERY rude. He kept saying things like "Lady, I will cancel it all right now and you will have to pay $XXX more. Is that what you want, because it really doesn't make any sense". Then he asked if maybe he should be speaking to the "Man of the House" — If I could crawl though a phone line, this guy would be in pain right now. I'm still fuming — I'll fix his Little Red Wagon when I call the corporate folks tomorrow. But (and this is entirely off topic (again)) ... how are these people paid? They must get some sort of remuneration for retentions. They MUST, and it must be decent. Or else they're all degenerates that conned Grandmas' out their medicine money when they were seven.
The next person to babble on about this bullshit gets a week off. I am so tired of you guys slapfighting. Get over it...and yourselves.
I get shitty customers all the time, people are delusional when it comes to repair work on the vehicle they drive. They have oil leaks, misfires, any and all problems with a 6 year old / over a 100k on the odometer vehicle. That should be warranty! Never mind I haven't maintained it at all, the interior is full of rotting Taco Bell and cigarette butts, I shouldn't have to pay a dime. My car won't shift out of park, I would like it fixed for free please. Please disregard the 64 ounces of spilled coke that is soaking my console and all the electronic devices under it, GM should cover it because it's the cars fault that the cup holders don't accommodate a 64 ounce big gulp. I get called a crook all the time as if the customer really believes that when they pay the 92.50 an hour labor rate that I just pocket every penny. My job would be great if I didn't have to fucking deal with these people.