The Death of Customer Service...

[woodjer]

Quote: Originally Posted by SmashMan

His example would be going into an interaction with a specific customer based on a past negative experience. Your example is saying it's okay someone to take out frustration on any random employee because they had a bad interaction with someone else in the company? You don't see how those are different situations? I could see going into a second chat with someone and not being optimistic based on previous experience, but there was no reason to start going after the second rep in this case and especially being ready to jump on them before even confirming there was an issue from the first chat.

Alright, I have some egg on my face...I read the first page or two the other day and then came to the last page today without reading the rest of the thread. Having done that now, I feel a little differently.

I want to believe that ODogg genuinely thought he was being helpful by offering to share the chat (maybe if she sees the terminology that was used, it can help?) but it seems to me that things could have been handled better from the customer perspective. Yes, it was their mistake but she offered the information to help resolve the situation (actually faster than originally planned, too) and even said that she would wait while an attempt was made (so she wasn't trying to just rush out of the chat). If it's already been tried, simply say so and try to explain what happened when it failed. If you want to take the "it's your mistake, you fix it" approach, I think you're better off on the phone with someone that can actually hear the tone rather than rely on the reader to "hear" it the way it was intended.

As far as there being a difference in my example, I respectfully disagree. A customer service rep IS the company during an exchange with a customer and he/she should understand that bad experiences may have happened and, if so, try to change the perception. As an individual, I know that I've behaved poorly in some customer service situations and, when I interact with the company again, I know that they probably have notes about what a jerk I was. The onus is on me to change that perception. If you're not willing to give me the opportunity to do that and come in with a bad attitude, you've got to accept that some people feel the same about interactions with the company that you represent. It may not have been you but who's to say that, in the reverse situation, I didn't just have one bad day but would otherwise have been a delight to work with?

And I'm not saying it's ok to treat "any random employee" this way but, until I have a way to reach out directly to the last person I spoke with, other customer service reps (same job and role) get to handle my frustration with their company and/or department because that's who they represent to the customer, for better or worse.

The main point that I was trying to make is: If you want to lecture someone on respect, saying "Let's review some of your chat with Sandy and see where you ****ed up, shall we?" probably isn't the best way to get your point across. Sure, it doesn't sound like calmer responses worked in the past but if those didn't, why would this? The irony of it is that, while talk of shutting down based on responses and perceived tone (which is all that exists in type) is fine, leading with that had the same effect on my perception of the post.

[SmashMan]

Quote: Originally Posted by woodjer

As far as there being a difference in my example, I respectfully disagree. A customer service rep IS the company during an exchange with a customer and he/she should understand that bad experiences may have happened and, if so, try to change the perception. As an individual, I know that I've behaved poorly in some customer service situations and, when I interact with the company again, I know that they probably have notes about what a jerk I was. The onus is on me to change that perception. If you're not willing to give me the opportunity to do that and come in with a bad attitude, you've got to accept that some people feel the same about interactions with the company that you represent. It may not have been you but who's to say that, in the reverse situation, I didn't just have one bad day but would otherwise have been a delight to work with? And I'm not saying it's ok to treat "any random employee" this way but, until I have a way to reach out directly to the last person I spoke with, other customer service reps (same job and role) get to handle my frustration with their company and/or department because that's who they represent to the customer, for better or worse.

Yeah, we'll just agree to disagree. I know what you're saying and I know people like that, but I personally don't carry over any negative impressions from one rep to the other.

My last real customer service experience (where I needed repeated attention) was trying to nail down a six-month-long intermittent noise issue that killed my internet multiple times every single day. I had to go through a lot of Comcast people before resolving it (needed someone to be checking at one of the moments it dropped because the signal read fine otherwise) and while I was frustrated at the situation, the rep didn't get any of that from me. I knew that for all they knew it was my first time having a problem and I went into it with that in mind.

Going through so many "let's try restarting the modem" attempts had me screaming at home though, haha.

I agree with the overall point of being respectful on both sides.

[Fresh Tendrils]

My biggest pet peeve in this whole matter is how ODogg thinks his behavior and tone is justified simply because there was a minor mix-up between AT&T's terminology. Using that confusion as an excuse he got bent completely out of shape for no reason.

From his previous stories I feel like he's the type of customer that is just waiting for somebody to make a mistake so he can jump down their throats and lord over the lowly retail worker.

[Dog]

I feel like customers that behave that way should be fined a fee for being a ****ty person during the process. Kinda like suing for pain and suffering

[AUChase]

I worked in retail for a long time... we all know those people.

[BunnyHardaway]

Quote: Originally Posted by CH4SEau

I worked in retail for a long time... we all know those people.

Man if I had a dollar for every time I got reamed out because the customer's 8 month old coupon expired and they couldn't use it*....

*-This is an instance in which I'd still apply the discount if they were cool about it. ODogg would have to go find a new coupon.

[Hassan Darkside]

I thought this thread was gonna be like that Comcast call that went viral a couple years ago but this is far from that.

Though the hyperbolic thread title was kind of ironic from someone who contacts Amazon's customer service "a lot" and has never had an issue.

[PVarck31]

My biggest thing is the fact they gave him/you a link to do it on your own, but you chose to continue to be difficult about the situation.

If you needed it done so bad, go to the link and do it. No reason to keep getting an attitude with the lady.

You could have even asked her to stay in the chat with you while you did it to make sure everything went through.

I think we all can get annoyed with customer service at times. We've all had bad experiences, but you chose to make it more difficult than it had to be.