Rants from a Call Center Customer Service Rep

            Unless you’ve lived in an Amish community or in a cave, it’s likely at some point in time you’ve called a company that routed that call to a call center. And you’ve probably ran the gauntlet from exceptional customer service to abysmally bad customer service. You’ve likely shared these experiences with friends and family, who have likely had similar experiences.

            Unless you have worked in a call center or a similar customer service position, you likely have no idea what those reps have to put up with day in and day out. I’m not trying to excuse rude behavior, but these reps are often subject to verbal abuse; over time that verbal abuse takes its toll.

            Here is a collection of stories I’ve compiled over my time working for a TV company. I have been working at this company for less than a year and have never before experienced this level of burnout this early in any job – and I have held several customer service based jobs since I began working at fifteen, including two years at Wal-Mart and another two years in child care.

            I blame this burnout on many factors. The first problem is that my company outsources several call centers not only overseas, but also to contracting agencies in the US. This means that many of the CSRs the customers speak to either a) don’t speak English as a first language or b) don’t work directly for the company. Our automated system also seems incapable of transferring customers to the right department the first time. This is either a problem with the automated system or with the customer giving the automated system the wrong information, both are likely causes. I often get calls transferred to me from our billing department (I handle equipment and internet/phone services within my department) with offers of free equipment or installation that the customer doesn’t qualify for. Believe me, that misinformation makes for a crappy call.

            Second, that wonderful old cliché “The customer is always right.” You know what? Sometimes the customer is just plain wrong. People seem to be under the impression that giving a company their business for X number of years entitles one to free stuff. No, actually it doesn’t. Yes, it’s nice to get free equipment upgrades, free channels, or a discount on your service as a thank you for sticking with the company. The company is not required to give you these perks, the only thing the company is required to do is give you the service you’re paying a monthly fee for. I know, it’s a hard concept to grasp in today’s society.

            Next up, the wonderful “everyone gets a trophy for showing up” fad that’s sprung up in recent years. Yeah, it’s real great for a three year-old’s self-esteem, but it’s succeeded in producing a bunch of whiney adults with me me me syndrome that can’t seem to grasp the fact that life isn’t fair and not everyone gets the same size slice of the pie. This factor is also coupled with the new customer offers many companies advertise. Chances are, unless you signed up with a company in its infancy, you got some sort of new customer promotion when you first signed up. These deals generally happen once in the lifetime of an account. Yes, the current one may be different or better than the one you got, but all companies have to change their offers to stay competitive.