more bees with honey, yadda yadda yadda

You catch more flies with honey than with vinegar - as the old saying goes. As a csr, the first time I start getting cussed out, your chances of me going above and beyond to help you have now disintegrated along with your manners and I will now only do what I am bound to do by my job. Then yes, it does get added to my notes that you were "verbally abusive" and that you cursed at me. Just an fyi for the next reps that have to deal with you. People like this need to remember that csr's are people too and have to deal with idiotic companies, we're all consumers. Most of us though don't take it out on reps. When all else fails, there's the golden rule - treat others how you wanted to be treated.

Based on my experiences with Chase, he wouldn't have gotten better customer service even if he didn't use profanity. They are pretty incompetent.

I HATE being put on hold and countless times I've just wanted to cuss at the CSR who returns after 10 minutes or so

One of my coworkers wife went off one day over her bill with comcast. That the comcast rep felt threaten and till this day they will not put on service under her name/social until she writes them an apology letter. So think twice what you about to say to them. Make up new words in place of the F-Bombs.

Not to blame the OP, but really? You expected some probably relatively low-payed phone jockey to explain to you why your account is borked after you open the call with "WTF IS WRONG WITH MY ACCOUNT?!"

Really?

You probably could have saved some face in this situation by calming down during the hold and then approaching the situation with a more even tone. But instead you hung up and tried to go at it with another rep.

Bad consumer. No donut.

You said it yourself, you're an adult. Start acting like one.

It is your right to curse as much as it is my right not to have to hear it. Would the CSR be able to curse at you? How would you feel if you heard them say, "I can't get this f****** computer to bring up your account!"?

All good companies will tell their reps that they don't have to take abuse from the customer, and they do not have to deal with customers who curse at them repeatedly. Be civil, be angry, ask for a supervisor if it is warranted, but do not be rude- rude will get you nowhere fast.

@tony_important:
did you just "yada yada" sex?

:-)

If the call center was in India, chances are the next time he calls about his AT&T wireless bill (or some such), the CSR will know about his checkered past, too.

It's not your right to curse at another person. Go into a courtroom and curse at the judge and see what happens.
First, it's not the CSR's fault that your card is not working, so why curse at that person? Anytime I'm in that situation, I simply tell the CSR that I am frustrated and know it's not their fault personally. That let's them know that anything you say (within reason) or attitude that comes across isn't directed at them personally.
Second, just try your hardest to be nice. I used to work as a CSR and honestly if the person who called with a problem was reasonably pleasant and didn't go over the top with the sucking up, I would go out of my way to help them. If they were an ass, I would the minimum that had to do and try and get them off the phone ASAP.

"I needed to vent! I am an adult, and so are they! If I want to curse I feel it is my right!"
Wow.
He must have a lot of friends, the respect of his coworkers and I'm sure he was the most popular boy in his class.
Any bet he drives an SUV? It'd confirm so many baseless stereotypes I hold in my latté-sipping head.

the op states that the csr has a "shitty job" and that he tries to relate. apparently not, otherwise he wouldn't refer to their job as shitty. i know some tenured csr agents who make upwards of 50K/yr.

plus the op hung up before the first csr could help him. the beginning of the article also states that the op fumbled a wire transfer.... he should have been mad at himself, but wanted to take it out on some guy trying to help him.

when i was doing csr work, i asked the customer not to use that type language on the phone and that any abusive language makes it hard for me to help them. most people realized how much of an ass they were being at the point, but lo and behold i had people who wanted to keep cursing and eventually got disconnected. of course i added case notes and any more instance of cursing after that would result in disconnection as well.

i did try to be fair, but it always seemed that the nice people with legitimate gripes would get compensation which was more than fair.

@blueneon: And you can catch more bees with Mountain Dew and Dishsoap.

I don't get it. The CSR did nothing to you... they were the one trying to help you until you cussed them out... not the best way to win them over. You admit that you screwed up the transfer - they are trying to fix YOUR mistake, not theirs. How exactly would you have taken it if they cussed YOU out over your mistake. Id their job is a shitty one (note your continued tone and attitude problem) then it is because customers like you make it such.

You want your problem fixed? Start by admitting that you are part of the problem. Call back and start by apologizing. Act contrite not abusive and ask the CSR if they can help you resolve the issue. Remember you are asking them for help, not the other way around. They MAY just record your change of attitude.

Did you really expect sympathy for your abuse from this forum?

@JamesEnsor: Love the "Bad Consumer. No donut" comment... I'm using that! :)

This reminds me of when I was in Vegas at the Mandalay Bay and I said "mother f*cker" when a dealer had blackjack against my blackjack. He scolded me and told me that "He doesn't like hearing that kind of language". Something else happened and my friend said something like "shit" and the dealer said to him "I told you guys once, if you do it again I'll have to ask you to leave my table".

That's right. Cursing is no longer OK in Vegas, but hookers still are.

@ecwis: Still, starting off a call by yelling and swearing at someone is a sure-fire way to get ignored by any company.

So now we know that it takes to get an agent to actually put something in the notes.
I can't recall the number of times I've had to make multiple calls to CSRs only to discover that my previous call has, despite my sometimes explicit request, not made a note.

Regular readers on this forum will be familiar with a number of horror stories about how call centers really operate. And having worked for one of these jobs in the past, they are pretty much true. Yelling at a rep may not get your problem solved, but I'm hard pressed to say they don't deserve it.

Treat others in the way that you wish to be treated. In just about every country, this bit of philosophical advice seems to a good guide on how to act.

I nominate this as The Consumerist's third best example of how not to behave with a CSR.

my phone support/csr job involves speaking to the same people repeatedly, several times a year. i have one who tends to have a pretty foul mouth whether she's frustrated or not. one of my coworkers was assigned to her and asked me and the customer if we would mind if i be her new representative because my coworker is much more offended by the language than i am.
so now i talk to her, and i've asked that if she calls in to ask to speak only to me, and if that's not possible then to please be more conscious of her language.
fortunately she's ok with that.

it's just that she wasn't even really aware that she was using language that could be offensive, it was part of her normal speech pattern. [as, away from my job, it's part of MY normal speech pattern]
in the rest of her life, away from her support phone calls with me, she uses the same language and no one she's around has ever said anything to her about it for whatever reason [to be polite, they don't care, etc]

most of the people i work with who would be offended would probably just suck it up, or politely ask the caller to watch what they say. but many of them would be upset enough to have to step back from the phone for a minute afterwards and would probably say something to a coworker and would DEFINITELY leave a note indicating hostility and strong language.
but at least my job has the option to take a minute off the phone for composure. most call centers don't and i can imagine getting that kind of verbal abuse every day, probably repeatedly, is exhausting and maddening. [used to sell carpet cleaning by cold calls so i have some experience with telephonic verbal abuse]

I work at a Call Center as well and I can tell you here they let you vent unless you go to HR and demand your rights but yeah when someone acts up I quickly not the account and try my best to take care of you but as well as making sure a supervisor knows and the next person knows.

@DeadWriter:

He just made his problem even worse you think a CSR will help him now? They will see the notes and imagine that happened to them and make sure you don't get any breaks.

Be nice.. or NO SOUP FOR YOU!

I've worked as a CSR, and his phrasing would NOT have resulted in a reprimand from me. I was trained to let things slide unless the offending word was directed at my person (as opposed to a situation or, in this case, his account).

This is what would have happened...

"What the F***K is wrong with my account?"

"I'm very sorry to hear that you're obviously upset. Would you mind terribly if I looked at your account notes? My goodness... it appears as though you were promised NUMEROUS TIMES to have a block lifted from your card. I can certainly empathise with your frustration. Let's see what we can do do expedite this, and I'll be as honest as possible about any timeframes or delays."

I don't know how US call centres work, though...

Well I try to be as nice as possible and understand that they have to work with the procedures that they have been given however we are all only human. After being on the phone for an hour to argue about something (overdraft fees - the way it happened was I had a bunch of small purchases then a last large purchase that would have put me over the balance, for some reason they switched them around and instead of paying one overdraft fee, I end up paying 4, one for starbucks, one for mcd, one for a pack of smokes and one for a parking spot...."

It gets frustrating to hear its policy over and over. I am just hoping to let these companies hand over some decision making power to these guys since they are the point of contact......so they can do something about certain situations.

@jadenton:

Sometimes they write notes and the CSR asks to confirm in your own words again what happened in case your story changed, which it does OFTEN

@GTI2.0:

As a worker, you should have to deal with someone treating you like dirt because you are spending money. I have rights, and they have rights. You can't just walk up to anyone and expect you can treat them like dirt. That's a no, no.

Besides, there is always the satisfaction of knowning people who act like that they get a suprise every time they go out to eat ^_~

@jadenton: I was thinking the same thing... they read/use the notes when it benefits THEM, but pretend they are nonexistent when you ask them to refer to the notes from previous calls to back up what you may be trying to communicate.

Seems that them that's got the notes, controls the notes.

Ah but the real question is if you are cordial to the CSR is THAT noted on your record?

There is something quite ironic that in a letter warning people about cursing to CSRs that he curses several times:

"So it is in my file now that I am an official asshole"
"I can relate to their shitty job"
"After my tongue-lashing" (I'll assume that this included some other curse words)

Should your readers be wary of this, or is it our consumer-given right to demand "WHAT THE F*** IS WRONG WITH MY ACCOUNT?!
You certainly have a right to know what is going on with your account, but youshould treat people with some level or respect. I personally am not offended by the casual curse word, but when every other word is a curse word, it can be offensive.

Seriously dude? You curse out someone, they are going to put a note on your account about it. Call center employees have enough crap to deal with everyday, a customer acting like an Eagles Fan is not something they have to deal with. Be lucky they didn't close your account out.

"I WANT TO KNOW WHAT THE F*** IS GOING ON WITH MY CARD!"

Well, I hope someone at the Consumerist writes people like Brad when they submit stories like this (where THEY are at fault) and tells them so.

In my work running CS departments, if someone swears, you tell them you can no longer speak to them and you disconnect the call.

This is not Chase's fault, that we can be clear on.

Excuse me.....but CSRs should expect to be cursed at and trained how to calm the customer down or to transfer him to a competent CSR. I have NO pity nor do I empathize with CSRs at all. I worked for HSN (Home Shopping Network) in the mid 90s and got that yelled at, cursed at but I remained calm and if I couldn't help them they were transferred to a special unit. We (CSRs) are on the front lines of customer problems, what do they expect? Sweet, gentle, understanding voices from EVERYONE? Sorry, in the real world that ain't happening. Period.

Imagine being at work one day. You're sitting in your cubicle, doing your job, when your phone rings. You look at the number, it's one of your major clients, so you pick it up to find out what they need. Out of nowhere, or seeming so, they blast you with a string of angry cussing... while you're still checking over their file to make sure you've got your facts straight. As you glance through, you realize that your company has royally screwed them on a deadline - something you didn't know - and you're still hearing a litany of entirely vulgar comments about you, your mother, and so forth. You think you know what to do - you can grab the widget they're waiting for and send it to them, but first you have to run over to your inventory people and make sure you've got one in stock before you promise the client something you may or may not be able to deliver. You ask the client to hold on a sec while you see what can be done, set down the phone, and run three desks down to ask John the Inventory Control Guy. It takes all of a minute and a half to find out that there are plenty of widgets to go around and you can promise delivery in about 3 days. But when you get back to the phone, you find the client has hung up on you.

How do you feel?

This is how we call centre folk feel on a daily basis.

What could you have done to get a chance a service? First, never curse out the CSR. No one should have to listen to that as part of their daily job.

Second, accept that hold happens. Sometimes the agent actually has to get up to figure something out, and they can't do that when they are tied to the desk with their headset. Deal with it. Hanging up while on a 30 second hold when someone has offered to help makes you look like the incompetent ass, not them.

Third, yelling or hanging up and trying for another rep also makes you look the incompetent ass. Don't do it. Instead, ask for a supervisor or ask to be escalated.

This should get you through any reputably run call centre out there. Bear in mind that there are call centres run by really dumb management that make the rest of us look bad, but please do not take that out on those of us who truly are trying to help.

@lotussix: We do the warning system at our call center. 3 strikes and they're out...or in this case, the call is disconnected and the account is noted. With me, I'll give them two warning.

Violation one usually is something like this: "Sir, I have to ask you to please refrain from using that type of language with me."

Violation two: "Sir, I've asked you not to use that type of language with me. I'll proceed to help you, but if you continue to use that type of language, I will be forced to disconnect this call."

Violation three: "Sir, I've asked you twice to refrain from using that type of language with me. At this time, I am disconnecting this call."

Then I go in to note the account (And I have the wording saved in a notepad for usage. Copy and paste right into the notes), that the customer was using abusive language, and that call was disconnected after giving the customer two warnings to cease using the abusive language.

Save notes, close account. That's it. Then everyone who works in my company can see the notes and realize that person is an ass.

This customer is an idiot.

CSRs do not put a hold on your account for "swearing." They can, however, make a note that you did swear during the call. Someone can swear all they want in their own home but not when they're knowingly within earshot of someone else and it makes them uncomfortable.

All the CSR did was put in a note akin to "Customer used profanity, asked him to stop." This is so that if the customer comes back and is being abusive to another CSR then there are detailed notes of people berating them. This does happen in the profession.

What constitutes profanity is up to the CSR, however. So people might not care if you drop a string of F-bombs. Other people might be highly offended if you just say "shit." The only way to avoid this is to simply not swear.

Honestly this sense of entitlement is just getting ridiculous. "It's my right as an adult to swear!" Actually, as an adult, you should be capable enough to express yourself without cursing. Seriously most of us developed that skill after grade 12.

@savdavid: Customer's will be irate, this is unavoidable no matter what business you're in. However when you're swearing at another human being in a manner which offends them that is never acceptable.

I used to work as a CSR at one of the WCIA and was once called a f***ing c**t. You know, I understand you're upset and that you probably hate the company (along with everyone else... including myself), but swearing, yelling and calling me names isn't going to help. The CSR isn't the person who caused the problem.

@savdavid: True but it's always a good idea for the customer to try and remember the CSR didn't (insert unpleasant happening) deliberately to them.

Believe me, when I was standing in a phone booth in the middle of England with an ATM card that did not work, and 5 Pounds in change, trying to at least find the # to call to get it fixed, I wanted to vent.

When I finally got through to the bank, I made a conscious effort to hold together - this was just a guy who could help, not the person who screwed up. Two minutes into the conversation he said "I can tell by your voice this is very frustrating and I appreciate your patience." Ten minutes later he'd asked the questions so he knew I was... me, he'd "opened" the card and gave me a toll-free 0800 number to call if it didn't work. And, he thanked me specifically for keeping cool.

Maybe it's a phone thing - I'm sure there are people who'll say things to a voice on the phone they'd never dream of saying to a person in front of them.

@savdavid:

Being that the writer hung up before the csr came back, we don't know what they would have done if they had come back.

I've done helpdesk, and I would note callers who cursed or were uncooperative - not so much to get back at them as so other techs could be prepared, and to have a record of what happened in case the user complained to someone higher up

I love how the mental picture fits so perfectly with these kinds of assholes. They email consumerist thinking they're a victim. It reads:

Bla bla bla whine whine whine wah wah wah We'll see when I go buy some smokes.

I'm glad they hung up on this kid and I hope from the social tongue lashing everyone here is giving him (lightly), he'll learn not to be such a doofus.

@Steven Pryor: WIN.

I tried dealing with the brillant CSRs at DirecTv and the same thing happened to me. I was polite until I was about an hour into my pointless conversation with a "supervisor". I started apparently raising my voice and she yelled at me and basically told me I had anger issues. I did not curse, but she wouldn't let me get any word in edge-wise after that. She just kept talking AT me. I didn't hang up on her, I just said good-bye since we were getting no-where. I called back and the next rep told me she needed to "read the notes on my account". After reading the notes, her tone changed with me and got me no-where again.
They sure can note your account with any opinion about you they have REGARDLESS of how ugly you were to them. I'm sure those notes did not mention how ugly the "supervisor" was to me.
They never seem to keep accurate notes on what they tell you concerning your account unless it benefits them. I learned that the hard way...

Where I work, we have a rating system which goes like "well, you've spent a load of cash and hardly asked for any discounts" to "needy (re: please stop calling us. please.) In the memos, if we see a customer has been abusive, it pretty much means offer to get a supervisor who can hang up on the customer and don't even bother listening. You can get normal CSRs to bend, but supervisors, nope.

@JamesEnsor: Agreed.

Using profanity is a pretty great way to make CSRs think that you have the potential to threaten physical violence down the line.

Plus, who hangs up in disgust after 30 seconds or less on hold?!?! And what did he "get wise" to? Get wise to the fact that he just made a giant embarrassing ass out of himself?

Ridiculous.

@blueneon: Just like torturing POWs, you don't get what you want by abusing the CSRs.

You flatter them by intimating that you believe they can help solve the problem, and if they can't, you just go back and forth with them and increase their call times until you get tired.

@GTI2.0: We know that Vegas is the center of wholesomeness in the modern world. Branson, Missouri is like Sodom next to it...

@catastrophegirl: There's a difference between general cursing used as punctuation and intensifiers and foul language directed at you personally.

When I was a CSR, I generally ignored the former. Heck, I'd spent several years in the Army, so bad language really doesn't faze me at all. If I'd been on the receiving end of the OP's "WTF is wrong with my card" rant, I probably would have let him blow off some steam and then after he calmed down a little, proceeded with fixing the problem. That's just someone who's frustrated with the company. But I understand that I have thicker skin that most people.

Bad language directed at me personally (or even generally abusive behavior without bad language) is what would get bare minimum service and your account flagged with me.