An Apple telesales rep tell us you can get them to knock $100 off your price when ordering over the phone just by playing a little hard to get:
If they make it obvious that they’re purchasing but are a little resistant to it being “too expensive” by about $100 – sales representatives can take off $100 off an order (as long as it’s purchased through the standard consumer store).
We’re thinking this is more likely to work if it’s a big-ticket item like a laptop.
US Airways’ phone system is jacked up and many publicly provided numbers don’t seem to go to the right place. Par example:
Not only does virtual cellphone carrier Helio work by piggybacking off Sprint’s network, it seems to have leased their call centers’ famous dedication to customer service as well.
Indian call centers live and die by the responses to customer satisfaction surveys. Customers selected at random are called by an outside agency and asked fifteen questions. Of those, the only one that matters is “Overall how would you rate the agent you spoke with?” Based on the answers to that question, the call center receives a weekly score on a 1-5 scale. The call center aims for 50% of respondents to rate them a 5, the highest, and for 85% to rate them a 4 or higher. From our experience, that seems like an unattainably optimistic goal.
After calling Indian call centers, many people email us to say “You won’t believe what I just heard!” Most of these problems can be chocked up to cultural differences or inexperienced agents who have yet to master the nuances of conversational English. Our call center tipster explains:
When there’s a problem, it’s usually just a misunderstanding, or a cultural thing. Phrases that are used in India, but not the US, that make a customer think the agent is being rude. Or the agent still in an “Indian customer service mindset”. (When dealing with Indian customers it’s all about getting right to the answer, completely ignoring any attempt to make the call personal. Also, to avoid confrontation. Even if they know something’s gonna take 3 months, they always say ’2-3 days’ Believe it or not, that’s how people like their service here).
Urine Year-end statements, and the story of “Mr. and Mrs. Hymen,” after the jump…
Ever wonder what call center agents are looking at while trying to help you? Our call center tipster explains that agents have only the tools they need to access your account, and nothing more.
There’s a manual that they follow, that tells them exactly what can and cannot be done in every case. They log into several programs when they come to work.
What really happens when you connect to an Indian call center? An anonymous tipster responsible for quality assurance gave us an insider’s perspective, which we will share throughout the day.
You know the ‘this call may be recorded for quality and training purposes” message you hear? I’m that guy. I’m the one that listens, finds problems, and fixes them.
To most Indian call centers, quality assurance has nothing to do with the happiness of the caller, and everything to do with how well the agent toes the company line.
Helio is an exciting new cellphone company! We heard about them some months ago when they just got started and were launching 2-page spreads in major magazines and taking out ads on prominent websites, except then they decided to only pay for the magazine ads and told the websites to go screw themselves. This general air of assclowns spinning asshats on sticks at the asscircus trickles down all the way to their call centers, which, based on reader Dave’s complaint, has their head totally up their ass. Which must hurt because it’s also got a spinning asshat on it (on a stick, no less) but we digress.
Chris Gates, a former call center representative for Charter Communications, told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch that Charter abuses their employees and lies to their customers. According to her, the number one question asked of CSRs is: ‘Where the !@#% is the tech?!’
So what do call center reps tell callers?
Call centers of the world, we’re gunning for your asses.
Did you know Best Buy got rid of their robot menus? Now when you call 1-888-BEST-BUY, all you have to do is press 2 and a human operator will direct your call. This is fantastic. Customers often cite being enraged by pushing button after button, especially when they’re already pissed off to begin with.
UPDATE 5/29/07: Call 703-433-4401, a special number just for Consumerist readers that goes straight to the office of the CEO:
We’re guilty of spreading disinformation; Sprint’s $3, seven-minute rule is the average customer service reps shoot for, over time. It’s not per call, as we’ve been trumpeting (out our ass, it seems) in our headlines. Kevin writes:
Remember how we said Sprint’s customer service sucks because they only let reps adjust bills by up to $3 per call? Well, that wasn’t no hooey-talk.
Daniel writes in a happy ending, with an unexpected twist, to his Radio Shack rebate complaint we posted yesterday.
Here’s 28 tips to help you land a coup de grace when crossing swords with a customer service rep over the phone, glossed from The Red Tape Chronicles.
After watching this a few times, we’re not sure what’s more annoying, comedian Orny Adams or phone trees.
If your cellphone contract is ending, you can haggle the next one into a much better deal. Here’s how:
