You don’t have to believe everything customers say to you when you’re a customer service rep. You don’t even have to actually care. But if you can’t stop yourself from slipping in phrases like “not my problem” when you’re helping out a customer, maybe you need to try a different career. Like, say, parole officer.
This customer wanted to remove his active mobileme address and turn one of his existing email only addresses into his main account. Here’s how the chat went:
Brian: Hi Sheena!
Sheila H: Hello, Brian.
Sheila H: I understand you want to switch your main account and email only account, correct?
Brian: I have a little problem. I need to switch the main mobileme account to an email only account and switch one of my email only accounts to the main account. Is that possible?
Sheila H: Unfortunately, email only accounts are no longer available, so if you cancel your existing email only account, you will not be able to reactivate it.
Brian: I’m talking about current email only accounts. And I’ve been able to reactivate email only accounts since the Mac Plus was around.
Brian: Such as switching making yyyyy@me.com into the main account instead of xxxxxxxxxxx@me.com
Sheila H: I understand. However you wish to cancel one account and make it an email only account, that is not possible.
Brian: It’s the main account I wish to cancel. I want to keep the email only accounts.
Brian: Frankly, I’m being harassed and stalked and I just found out I the brain tumor I thought went away didn’t. So my day isn’t really peachy.
Sheila H: Not my problem. Okay. So let me clarify, you wish to cancel your main account (which will cancel your email only accounts), and reactivate your email only account as an Individual account, correct?
Brian: Yeah, um, thanks for the compassion, I just want to get rid of the email address on the main account. If I could convert one of my other email only accounts to a full account, that’d be great. Would that be free under the circumstances or would I just have to buy a whole new subscription to get it done and get started on my email to the Consumerist?
Sheila H: You will need to purchase a new membership because it’s a new account. However, you will receive a prorated refund for your current membership which will be applied to the card it was activated with.
Brian: That would be over six months at this point.
Sheila H: You will be credited for any unused portion of your prepaid membership. Would you like me to cancel?
Brian: Not right now, thanks. I’ll just visit an Apple Store fifty miles away. But thanks for the information and compassion. I hope Steve Jobs reads this.
You stay classy, Sheila!
(Photo: Getty)
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I’m slightly interested in the time stamps here. The demeanor of the convo seems to suggest she meant to say “Not A problem.” But that’s me.
In any case, I don’t even think her saying “Not my problem” is too terrible. Tasteless, yeah, but eh. She provided him service.
And… for everyone saying, “I wouldn’t bother that person with my problems if I had cancer…” Unless you’ve had cancer, you can’t know that.
I’ve not had it, but when my father was dying of it last year and I had a 12-hour window to get home to see him before he died, and my bank froze my account because of a ridiculously low daily-spending limit, the stress and anger and despair was way more than I could keep in when I was on the phone with the rep at the bank, and the lady there knew in intimate detail what I was going through.
Sometimes you just HAVE to let it out.
@brooksosheffield: Just because you “have to let it out”, doesn’t mean someone else has to hear it.
That’s what social workers, therapists are for. They are licensed and trained for it.
Not an Tech support line for an electronics manufacturer likely outsourced overseas.
@digitalgimpus: I’m not saying that the person on the other end of the line is obligated to care. My point was just that when things in your life are that bad, odds are that the majority of people are going to talk about it.
Yeah if I was the csr, I would have just ignored the statement. I find if you aknowledge what the said, it opens the door to here more of their tiny violin play. I wouldn’t have made the “not my…” comment, but rather completely act as though it was never said.
was the rep a bot?
I’m really not sure if that’s appropriate to be mentioning like that. It’s really irrelevant and an attempt to manipulate the CSR.
People with CSR jobs get this type of stuff all the time. People expect sympathy with their late payments, etc. etc. Or special treatment. I’d guess 99% of people calling are just making it up.
That said… I have jock itch. I expect a Consumerist rep to show sympathy for my problem.
wow, waaay too early. looks as though I’m going to have to drink some coffee before making any more pitiful attemps at commenting.
Maybe Sheila H had a bad day. Maybe Mac users have a sense of entitlement. I guess I can’t blame them after spending a ton of money on Apple stuff.
I like how he mentions their God – Steve at the end.
I am sure Sheila was so scared!
Anyway most users on this website don’t care about people on the other end. Consumer is always right!
I disagree.
@2719: the consumer is NOT always right.
but, as consumers, we do have a right to expect decency from a CSR when calling them.
he really wanted to get the account switched because he was being stalked and was pissed off about it, compounded with the fact that he just found out his brain tumor had resurfaced. he was having a horrible day because of all of those reasons and now it was worse because the csr was not able to help him at all.
simple enough to understand.
often in conversations, if I seem to come off as a jerk, I like to clarify why. seems like this is what he was doing.
her response was “not my problem.”.
that’s just piss poor.
she should have said, as any compassionate human being would have, “oh, I’m sorry to hear about that. that sucks. but really, my hands are tied. I wish I could help you, but the software (company policy, etc.) doesn’t allow us to do that.
or something along those lines.
she needs retraining, or another job…perhaps as a clerk at the dmv.
way to pull the sympathy card.
Although Sheila was over the top with her “Not my problem” line, she is right. She can’t give special treatment to people’s claimed illnesses.
I’m not saying Brian is lying. What I am saying is that companies can’t start giving discounts on cars, special rates on loans, etc just because a customer says they are ill. If you did, every Tom, Dick, and Jane would be calling in saying they have cancer to get special treatment.
In certain and special circumstances, I’m sure that if someone is ill a company can make allowances on that, but changing the preferences on your cell phone isn’t going to be one of them.
@Everyone blaming the OP: Have you ever faced terminal cancer?
Especially when you’re first told, it tends to consume a lot of your attention. Shortly after my mother was diagnosed a couple of months ago, we’d be talking about something completely unrelated and she’d suddenly start crying. (My mother NEVER cries.) It eats at me every minute of every day, and I’m not even the patient. When we first found out and I had to go home, there was a problem with the system when I tried to book my flight. It came out then, too, even though I never meant it to. After over an hour with no progress I snapped at the CSR, something *I* never do. I had to apologize and explain why I was so short-tempered.
I did it because I wanted to say “I’m sorry, I’m not usually such a jerk but I’m under terrible stress,” not “Feel sorry for me and give me a discount.”
Yes, the tumor was not really relevant to Brian’s conversation. True, it probably should not have influenced the CSR in any way. I know, people will say anything to try to get some help. But for crying out loud, if someone has just told you that they have a brain tumor which will cause suffering that you (hopefully) cannot begin to imagine, do not dismiss them with a very rude “Not my problem.”
“I’m sorry to hear that.” How hard was that? “That’s terrible!” One more letter in that phrase–not too inconvenient to type, is it? “I can understand why you’re upset. Now about this account…” Would that have been so difficult?
If you can’t find one iota of compassion for the customers you serve, perhaps you should look for another line of work, one that doesn’t involve contact with people. I’m not saying that the remark should have been followed by a half hour pity party, just that the CSR should be polite. Is that too much to ask?
I often try to connect with the human being on the other line by telling them “my story.” I sometimes ask them for “their story.” Sometimes, I just want someone to cushion bad news or to search their brain for a way to help me. I rarely want something that I’m not “entitled” to. My brain doesn’t work that way.
I don’t understand the reactions you all are having here.
Also, the CSR’s suggestion is painless: Take the account you want to be full status, pay for full status, cancel the other account, the remaining balance is pro-rated.
The only negative to the customer is now he pays for a 6 month extension, which if he doesn’t want, he can cancel after 6 months and get the remaining amount of money back.
Whatever the CSR’s problem was, if what he was asking for was outside the realm of possiblities with the new MobileMe services- she could have explained it much better.
BTW Brian- good luck getting much help with MobileMe at an Apple retail store. Apple keeps all the divisions pretty segregated, so they have no clue how to handle MobileMe/.Mac issues (er, at least from my experience).
Freudian slip?
Maybe “my” was supposed to be “a”.
@cametall: But then why not explain that after the OP got upset? “Sorry, I meant not a problem in reference to what you’re trying to do with your accounts.” I suppose it could have been an accident but it seems that explaining would be better than ignoring that the customer got offended.
@deadspork: That, to me, makes less sense than saying that in response to the cancer. That the OP is being stalked and harassed is probably why he’s trying to change his accounts in the first place. That part is actually relevant to the transaction if only to explain why he’s trying to do it.
@Rectilinear Propagation: If this was a chat transcript, she probably didn’t know she had made a mistake unless it was pointed out to her. Brian made no mention of Sheila’s faux pas, just snarky comments about “Thanks for your compassion” and “I hope Steve Jobs reads this”.
If he said, “What do you mean, “Not my problem”, then he would have gotten the apology. She probably didn’t realize the typo.
…she probably didn’t know she had made a mistake…
@BuddyGuyMontag: Ah. OK, if it was a mistake I can see how the OP’s response might not have been enough for the CSR to realize what had happened.
Why you would even mention your health concerns unless you were angling to get the deal you wanted is beyond me.
I’ve had strangers on the bus start telling me about their health problems. I don’t think the OP was necessarily trying to get something out of mentioning it though from what I’ve read on customerssuck.com I could understand why the CSR might have thought so.
@BuddyGuyMontag:
I’m not sure “not my problem” is really a typo. What do you think Sheila meant to type instead? “I’m sorry to hear about your problems, let’s get this one fixed!” Probably. Yeah, you know what? I bet that’s exactly it. Good call.
@joeblack13: I’ve had several statements that I’ve typed via email and/or IM have their meanings drastically changed by the addition or substitution of one word.
If you’re typing constantly throughout the day, words can get mistaken. So I can see “Not a problem” becoming “Not my problem”, especially since there’s no indication of Sheila getting hostile in the entire transcript.
Would it make a difference if the CSR had said, “I’m sorry, but I cannot help you with that?” Or just ignored it? Frankly, these people might get hassled with stories like this all the time. A blunt response that shuts down the erroneous story isn’t exactly a bad thing. I would also bet they are timed on these support chats.
And just read it, “Brian: Frankly, I’m being harassed and stalked and I just found out I the brain tumor I thought went away didn’t. So my day isn’t really peachy.”
It just reads really awkward. Unlike a phone call, there is no tone to that awkward story. And zero credibility. But most of all, if the 1st level CSR can’t do it, no story can change that. Always ask for escalation when someone a) Doesn’t know what you are asking for or b)Claims they can’t do something simple.
Yeah its not the CSR’s problem and if I had a tumor I wouldnt be talking about it in my Apple support call – BUT, to say “not my problem” is just stupid. You at least say “I’m sorry about that.” or some other bullshit phrase and then move on like it’s not your problem anyway
She probably typed “not my problem” before the brain tumor came up, in reference to the stalking thing. Not very polite, but probably a bit misconstrued.
Last year, I spent about 5 months working retail at a [Fruit] Store. I saw people rudely demand the dumbest things, then offer up lame excuses for why they should get special treatment.
I literally had one couple in their mid-50s come up to the counter, on the day after Thanksgiving, and demand that I give them a new [MP3-player n] because theirs stopped working “for no apparent reason, and it was practically new.”
She read-off and I checked the serial and found it was actually a more than 18 months old and out of warranty. They said it didn’t matter, it was free as part of a promotion and they wanted a new one. I offered them a service replacement, and they stomped their feet and demanded a brand new one — which was a newer model, with more storage and more features — for free. When I told them I couldn’t do that, the wife said, “this thing’s been broken for eight months and I want it replaced.”
When I explained to her that had she brought it in eight months ago, it would have been covered by warranty — she erupted, screaming that she’d broken her leg at the time and couldn’t travel to the store and demanded to see the manager while the husband tried to make himself invisible. The manager, offered sympathy, and a service replacement at the service replacement price, but not a free [MP3-player n]. She screamed, “Well, I’m not ever buying another [Fruit] product, again!” causing people to back away from her. The manager leaned in and offered the service replacement, plus free in-store training, which would normally run $99/year and she, disparagingly retorted, “I don’t own any of your computers.”
She slammed the [MP3-player n] down on the counter and stormed out of the store, her husband in tow.
The broken [MP3-player n] that “just stopped working?” It had a shattered screen and was bent like a banana, due to someone dropping something very heavy on it. The back casing had a circular dent shaped like the head of a hammer.
Sounds to me that the CSR was responding with “Not my problem” to the “I have a stalker” comment, not necessarily the brain tumor.
Sheila meant to say Not a Problem. Sheila gave no indication that she was being hostile throughout the transcript. You just don’t drop an insult like that and continue to service the problem.
I’m sorry, this is a non-story and someone being oversensitive. Worry about your health first, and not about a CSR.
The problem with getting customer service via chat is that you have no idea of emotion, inflection, or anything. I see it as an Honest to God typo that wasn’t pointed out to the CSR. Why you would even mention your health concerns unless you were angling to get the deal you wanted is beyond me.
Folks, yet another reminder to
a) Read the comments above you
and
b) Follow the comment code!
Blaming the victim is not appropriate. The Consumerist, as the name implies, is a site for consumers — not for picking consumers apart. Please focus your comments on the company / employee aspect, or offer helpful suggestions. Nitpicking the OP will not be tolerated, and we’ve warned this several times in the thread.
@Consumerist-Moderator-Roz:
Even if we feel the “victim” is partially at fault? In my original post, I brought up the fact that I believe a consumer should act as professional as they would like to be treated. Is that not a helpful suggestion?
If someone went into a CSR situation swearing and telling off the CSR, and the CSR eventually reacted in kind, would that also make the Consumerist? Are we supposed to support someone who we feel made the first error and continued to exacerbate the situation?
I think the general consensus of every poster, both pro-brian and pro-sheila, have agreed that you don’t interject personal bits into CSR calls. That’s the helpful tip for Brian. Sometimes, it is inevitable. However, I believe you can derive Brian’s true motive for bringing it up through his comments after Sheila’s slip up. Threatening an expose at the Consumerist and name dropping Steve Jobs were intentional threats made after an appeal to pity failed.
If you are trying to tell us that we as Consumers have no responsibility for our actions and words when we are being served, then I would say we shouldn’t hold companies responsible for their actions and words. Proper etiquette is a two way street.
I understand that this is a consumer oriented website. As many stories that you post where the consumer is totally correct and righteous, you couldn’t possibly post a controversial consumer experience that sparks (mostly) civil debate, right?
@BDaiber: Exactly. As long as the critique is constructive, I see no problem. The idea behind the website, I believe, is to hold companies accountable for their actions, but it is also to educate consumers in the ways of getting the best results possible, and constructive feedback does exactly that.
@BDaiber: i agree- debating the consumer’s behavior in the interaction IS an important part of the discussion of this incident. The consumerist comments code says “assume the OP is acting in good faith”. why should we have to assume that when there is evidence in his own account that might lead us to conclude otherwise? I’m all for banning obvious trolls, but in my brief reading of the 100+ comments, i don’t think that anybody has flamed on the OP just for the sake of getting a response. it’s all been a legit discussion of what an effective interaction should look like, and what information is appropriate for an exchange like that.
the consumerist comments code is a fine thing, and i’m all for a comments section where reasonable people can engage in a civil debate. But sometimes i feel the comments moderation can be a little nannyish.
@BDaiber: Nicely said. I agree with you.
@Consumerist-Moderator-Roz: What the consumer says is just as valid and important to the story as the company response. It is not as if the CSR just types in a vacuum. CSRs are responding to customer input. That input becomes just as much of a part of the story as the output.
We can all learn how to be better consumers in order to get what we want out of the companies we deal with. In no way does that excuse poor customer service, but it doesn’t mean that consumers should get a free pass.
As a former CSR:
- Saying “not my problem”: Bad, always. Causes problems, always.
– Saying “oh, that’s terrible”: Neutral, always. Causes the call to be longer, makes your stats higher.
– Saying absolutely nothing and sticking to the topic: Perfect. You ignore all extraneous information and stick on the topic. The customer infers that no matter how crazy the excuse they can come up with is, they will need to stay within the rules, or speak with a manager.
If they repeat their off-topic problem with the intention to wrestle more service than they deserve, I would always explain “If you have a need to go outside of what our company can provide, you’ll need to write to us, preferably with evidence of the issue and how it affects your account.” We usually weren’t allowed to suggest they ask for a supervisor/manager, and where I was, even if they did, 9 times out of 10 the supervisor (team leader) was usually too lazy to care and just had me put them on hold until they went away.
Since 90% of the excuses had nothing to do with their account, ie they were things like “I have heart problems and don’t want to argue” or “I have 10 of my spawn screaming at me and just need it done!” or “I’ve called 30000 times and it’s still not done!” it was pointless to discuss them anyways. Now, for the actual useful ones (like “My spouse died and I need out of my spouse’s contract”) I’d make sure they’d get to the right people.
But, continued persistence on off-topic issues like this would not only put me in a bad mood (and therefore less likely to find the solution for you) but it might get you the perma-hold if you ever insisted for the supervisor (yes, I’d always ask, and I’d usually be told to put them on hold for 20 minutes and see if the “problem” resolves itself).
This is NOT a blame the OP thing here, but I work customer service, and I hate it when people play the pity card. Telling me about your personal problems is not going to help me solve your service problem. Sorry. If the personal problem is relevant to the service problem you are having (as the stalker is in this case), let the CSR know at the beginning of the exchange. “I need to change my email address because I’m receiving harassing emails.”
That being said, Sheila did not handle this correctly at all from a customer service standpoint. What Chris said may not have impacted what she could or could not do about his issue, but at least show some humanity. A simple “I’m sorry” would have gone a long way towards keeping this customer happy.
@BrianDaBrain: I guess this is from perspective ”shit happens”.
If this is one time slip, than it’s forgivable. The rep is human, too (If this was a bot, then it’s makes the story even better.)
An apology would be appropriate.
Wow, the guy vents for *two seconds* and the rest of you think he is a scammer. I’ve had people tell me about their problems, but unlike the rest of you, I try to listen compassionately for at a brief moment without a smartass response.
I love how you some of you think the robotic it can’t be done responses are okay.
I dunno, I started to write something about how I believed the customer and that the rep probably should’ve been a little nicer or just ignored it, but then I reread the comment and it seemed like his mounting frustration with not being able to do what he wanted made him say it to try and get her to give him special treatment.
I’ve also been treated very well by Apple over the many years I’ve used Apple products, but I’ve also occasionally been treated pretty shabbily (and then treated really well to make up for it, but still…).
So, I’m washing my hands of this one.
WTF? Who tells some random customer service idiot their personal problems?
What is truly funny is that: had the CSR been compassionate about the tumor remark AND a reader of Consumerist, this post would have been “CSR: Customer Wants Line Shut Off Because Of Brain Tumor.” She wasn’t very nice about it, but honestly, is it relevant?
I work for Apple albeit NOT a Mobile Me rep. I want to say as HUMAN
BEING I hope that was SERIOUS typo. If it wasn’t, I hope she was
reprimanded something serious for being a dumb ass.
You are on your last life Sheila, no more continues. Make it count. lol
I was a CSR for years and I HATED it when customers would try to get pity like that.
“I’m disabled, give me a refund!”
“My grandma was just cremated, so I never installed my software, now it’s 6 months later and I want a refund!”
This is SO MUCH BS! A customer’s request should be evaluated on its own merits. It’s not the CSR’s (or the company’s) problem if the customer’s life is not what they hoped it would be.
uh, and apparently i’m all for overusing the phrase “all for”.
Maybe I’m a complete monster, but I find the reply hilarious. (And very rude, and unprofessional…)
How overworked you have to be, to answer like that.
I’m going to side with the CSR in this case. I can’t tell if this was over the phone or text only. If this were a conversation over text, it was likely a mistyped word and she should have apologized. If it were over the phone he likely heard “my” and she likely said “a”. It’s very plausible.
Plus, is it just me or does this guy have a giant chip on his shoulder. Looking at the way he made his conversation here and his other blog posts, it really seems that way.
It’s called ‘Customer Service’, not ‘Psychiatric Counseling’.
I used to work technical support and would have customers use the pity card on me all the time. Sometimes you would get customers who were just TMI by nature and chatty, while others were obviously using their ailments/lack of money/child support woes to try and get over on me. I don’t agree with the tech’s response, they should have ignored it and gone on. I also don’t agree that the customer should have been playing an ailment for sympathy – much less get it posted on Consumerist.
On the flip side, I have called customer service and have agents tell me their life story while trying solve an issue. Bottom line is lack of professionalism – for both agents and customers.
I have no pity for brain tumor man. I work in customer service. People try to pull that crap all the time. Mentioning your personal issue is ruder then saying “Not my problem”. You are trying to unduly burden someone else with your problem, a stranger no less. Save that crap for your family.
I used to work in customer service and that rep was heartless. End of story. It doesn’t matter whether the OP was lying or not. Err on the side of compassion. A simple “I’m sorry to hear that” would have been fine. I was less rude to the elderly people who wanted to talk about their vacuum cleaners than this person was. It’s disgusting. Also, I once was telling the company’s rates to a customer and they replied, “Even if you have cancer?” and I replied, “Yes. I’m sorry, but the rates are the same for everyone”. Decency doesn’t cost much and I have no sympathy for the bad karma this person just earned by being so uncaring.
People drop personal info into their calls to CSRs all the time. Some just are the types who tell their whole lives to everyone they talk to. I’ve had plenty of calls where they weren’t trying to get anything special out of the company, but suddenly start telling me very personal things. Just the other day I had someone call in to get their billing address changed, then started telling me all about the affair his soon to be ex-wife had.
And plenty do it to try and get special treatment. My personal favorite was the guy who wanted a free phone because his mother supposedly had died. He was so talkitive that I had time to review the remarks. It seems that his mother died three other times in the past year. Ok, it’s possible he had several step-mothers and he was refering to them, and had just gone through a hellish year. So even though I didn’t believe him, I erred on the side of compassion and expressed sympathy.
But no, he didn’t get a new phone.
So someone was rude and out of line, although Brian’s problem may be very serious, this is blowing the call way out of proportion, especially as much as it seems like a freudian slip.
Also, being a customer service rep myself, I have to say, I’ve seen it all, and nearly every time someone mentions something like that it is for extra sympathy merely to get what they want. I’ve had people sound like they are crying uncontrollably about how their package didn’t arrive on time, and when I let them know that the shipping will be refunded, ….all of a sudden.. like magic.. their crying instantly stops and they have a normal and pleasant voice and thank me. Unbelievable. Just because you are ill doesn’t mean you get 20% off, I am sorry.
Sheila should have just said “not my problem” in her brain and not let it slip out of her mouth. But she did, she made a mistake. Wow surprising that humans would make mistakes. Get. Over. It.
Whether life has been so great for you that you’d stuff grenades up your butt to be a little less happy or if you’ve had every single different kind of cancer possible really has no bearing what a CSR can or can’t do for you.
Apple is slipping. Leopard was buggy upon release. They are still having problems with iPhone 2.x.x, MobileMe was a fiasco, and their customer support, which was previously known for being very good has seemingly gone waaaay down hill. Still better than HP who has screwed up do to THEIR error several times and expects me to spend hours getting it fixed without so much as an “I’m Sorry”, but still Apple, I expect better from you
The customer is being absurd, here. Absurd. They were lucky to get away with ‘not my problem’, to be honest.
The correct answer is:
Okay, I’ve deleted both your accounts. Enjoy that cancer. Good day!
She’s right, it’s not her problem. Her job is to advise and help the customer, which she did. Letting him create a new account and offering a prorated refund is a reasonable solution.