Am I a bad CSR?
 

Ok, NTL's CSR are monitored on AHT (Average Handling Time), this means the faster you handle a customer, the happier the managers are.

I dont think this works, because every customer has a unique story and this can add the length to the call and the matter.

on average my AHT is around 390.

but my manager wants a max of 300 (seconds per call that is).

Rather than rushing the customer, Im happy to listen to customer, say what Im going to do, action it, then give the customer a response and make sure the customer knows exactly what I've done. Rather than say "Ok thats all done for you now" and basically send the customer off thinking "what if?" because I get alot of those customers calling me back.

I then get my manager on my case simply because Im looking after the customer. My manager freaked on me because I had alot of outgoing calls. But this is simply because I had to call other departments and then call the customer back! Im not going to have the customer wait with me while I speak with Field support (engineering department...kind of) because that's usually a 45 minute wait!

So my question lies: Would you the customer rather someone that takes the time to explain to you what the situation is? or would you rather someone not tell you what the problem was and just do it and send you on your way?

Re: Am I a bad CSR?
 

Personally I'd rather know exactly what's happening and why it has happened.

Re: Am I a bad CSR?
 

It's a fine line.... normally I'd say take yer time with each caller, but in NTL's case, it drives me mad when I get the message about a 45 minute wait to speak to someone. If it's something that can be quickly handled or resolved then I say just cut to the chase.

Re: Am I a bad CSR?
 

Completley agree with you.

What the hells the point in having Customer Services if all they're there to do is fob you off?

Maybe if they allowed people like you to properley sort issues out, as you're trying to do.. then there wouldn't be as many calls as there was in the first place. Many a time I've rang up to be told it was a problem my end (After they'd tryed fobbin me off with, reset the box, lalala).. and that they couldn't do anything. Always ended up ringing back the next day.. If the issue was solved there and then, there would be no ringing back.

Re: Am I a bad CSR?
 

and when it's going to be resolved.

Re: Am I a bad CSR?
 

ntl & their bloody stats driven regime. :afire:

Re: Am I a bad CSR?
 

Steven, from what I've seen of your helpfulness on this site, I would say you are just the kind of CSR that a customer would want to find on the other end of the phone. It makes me mad that call centre managers are so obsessed with turnover, rather than quality - I know if I called because I had a problem, I would like to think the CSR would stay with it to a satisfactory conclusion - not cut it short because of some KPI.

- what is better, 10 unhappy customers an hour, or 8 satisfied ones, grrr.

Thanks for your input on here :tu:

Re: Am I a bad CSR?
 

AHT's are just another type of statistic.

As Disraeli said, there are lies, damned lies,and statistics.
Statistics are meaningless without a knowledge of the context in which they are set/derived/used sample size and other such things.

I can see your managers side, as he wants to drive AHT's down as that will also reduce Call Waiting times. However as a customer, i'd rather have a CSR that didnt shoot the bull, spout of the prepared excuse of the day, actually cared about resolving the problem, provided meaningful, helpful advice, and arranged whatever support action was necessary.

As to the question in the thread title, only you can truely answer that.

Re: Am I a bad CSR?
 

Sorry - i didn't actually answer the question raised by the thread title.

NO I DON'T THINK YOU ARE A BAD CSR....

OK :)

Re: Am I a bad CSR?
 

same here , what i wouldnt mind knowing is this something your local manager has introduced off his / her own back to make him / her look better or is this general ntl policy :erm:

Re: Am I a bad CSR?
 

You are a good CSR from the customers point of view, but a bad one from your managers point of view.

The employees who take it upon themselves to learn that little bit extra knowlege and then see a fault through to completion takes time, these employees are not seen as an asset in a stats driven environment.
The ones who keep their head down, dont kick up a fuss and do just enough to survive by using any means to met their targets are the ones who get the best deal and a pat on the back at appraisal time in most companies.

Some people have a sense of responsibility and conscience like yourself.

It's the same for the network guys, there are ones who are very experienced and end up with the 5% of faults that are the most difficult. When it comes to redundancies and the decisions are based on stats these are the guys that dont measure up.

Re: Am I a bad CSR?
 

No mate you're not a bad csr ... as Escapee says your a csr that cares .


http://www.cableforum.co.uk/board/showthread.php?t=3553

Andy E
ntl pirate

Re: Am I a bad CSR?
 

You are the type of CSR that I would like to speak to when I call. :tu:
You are not alone either, on more than one occasion I have called faults when service has failed and they have phoned me back later on to check that things are ok and back to normal.
This is the sort of service that the customers deserve, and I would like to thank you for being one of the CSR's that do care. :D :clap:

Re: Am I a bad CSR?
 

I have, apparently, a call closure rate of 2 (that's two tickets/calls) a day and I'm only available to take calls for about 2 hrs a day. So on that basis, I'm crap at my job - which is why I have just been sacked. Stats only tell you about what you have measured. No one measures how often customers are calling back because it's not important - it's all about answering the phone and being seen to handle calls. What you basically have is a hierarchy of politics where your manager wants x from you because his manager wants y from him and doesn't care how it's achieved. And it's the people at the bottom that get the crap to deal with. With me, I spent up to 90 minutes on a call, and I spent hours in call back mode phoning users and looking at their IT problems. No one measures that.

My advice would be to leave and find a company that values and supports you - if you stay where you are you'll crack up with the stress of fighting your nature.

Re: Am I a bad CSR?
 

All call centres are subject to AHT targets amongst other things- because this is the best way to make sure people are indeed working hard and not slacking.

I can't comment on the AHT for csrs, but a good tech can easily meet the targets we have and also give some courtesy support and decent explanations for problems.

And i have no idea if you are a good csr... which centre do you work in and i'll find out :p: :p:

Re: Am I a bad CSR?
 

and i still wonder if this is a local target set by a glory hunter manager or not :disturbd: :disturbd:

Re: Am I a bad CSR?
 

i doubt it... it is more likely that it is a global target

Re: Am I a bad CSR?
 

fair play , just being curious :erm:

Re: Am I a bad CSR?
 

Set a target too low and the manager has nothing to achieve; set it too high and the manager is demoralised because he's constantly failing. When a manager starts consistently meeting a target, that's the time to raise the target - or fire some of the better staff :D

Re: Am I a bad CSR?
 

:Yikes: i hope i never end up in a call centre :erm:

Re: Am I a bad CSR?
 

This is why I have a great deal of respect for call centre staff - I don't think I could cope with it to be honest - I'd end up telling customers what I really think of THEM ;):D

So best I stay on this side of the phone.

Re: Am I a bad CSR?
 

No steven you are not a bad CSR infact maybe the rest of ntl customer services should follow your example.

if waiting a little longer means we get a better service when our call does get anwserd then the wait probably wouldnt bother people quite so much :D


better hope i get you anwsering next time i need to call ntl, which i hope is never (because if i need to call them it probably means somethings gone wrong and i prefer everything to be working as it should :))

Re: Am I a bad CSR?
 

sorry to hear you have been sacked, J, however I agree 110% with your last sentence - it will be for the best ;)

Re: Am I a bad CSR?
 

Absolutely I would prefer this!

Like many people (especially those who have a degree of techno-savvy) I've got fed up with "pre-canned" responses given out mindlessly by CSR drones who are just reading from a prepared script or "knowledge (hah!) base" that doesn't help!

Me: "OK, this is the problem, I've tried rebooting the cable box and that doesn't work"

CSR: "Can you try rebooting the cable box"?

Me: "Hello? Did you *LISTEN* to what I just said???

:banghead:

Re: Am I a bad CSR?
 

Know that feeling :(

also reminds me of the recorded message saying to download broadband medic when u phone bb faults and press the option for total loss of service :rolleyes:

Re: Am I a bad CSR?
 

I couldn't cope with it, I admit I would probably walk out because I would find the job so soul destroying.

Then again they seem to have plenty of takers for the jobs at that rate of pay and conditions.

just couldn't do it myself.

Re: Am I a bad CSR?
 

I think I have reached that conclusion. Some people can seperate work - the culture, politics, run ins with the boss - from the rest of their life. As soon as they leave work, the day is forgotten. I'm just not like that. A guy I used to work with said that it's important that you have something more than work otherwise your life becomes your work and everything that happens at work suddenly has more significance and meaning. Tis true. Stress creeps up on you - you don't realise how unhappy you are until you can't get in your jeans because you've been comfort eating like Annie Wilkes, or you pause one day and realise that that feeling of nausea every morning for the past month just isn't normal. The trouble is, and it's true in my case, some people develop an internia where, yeah they're unhappy and stressed, but they just can't take the leap of leaving. And just because you hate the job and/or the boss, doesn't mean you hate the people you work with, which just adds to the inertia.

Leave! :D

Re: Am I a bad CSR?
 

I have a slightly different take on stats from when i worked at ntl...

My AHT was never over 260 my calls per hour were usually abt 15, so i was turning the customers round well within the timescales given to me, however i always had ppl moaning about the amount of 'wrap' time i used (this is what you use between calls so you can add notes, maybe send an email) which was at abt 20% target was 13%. Anyway i was always told by my manager to keep the customer on the phone for longer even though half the time i was waiting for the system to decide to work :rolleyes: which is utterly pointless IMO.

Anyway the morale of my story is do what you deem the best way of dealing with customers. ntl have to understand that in a call centre everyone is different and deals with calls in a different manner.

To answer your question Steven, i haven't a clue if your good at your job or not as i have never spoken to you on the phone :)

Re: Am I a bad CSR?
 

Its not just NTL
I used to work for BT and it was exactly the same there.

Re: Am I a bad CSR?
 

I used to Work for Vartec (one of those indirect calling services), When I first started, the first thing they said was that the companys idea was that answer all the custs questions on the first call to avoid repeat callers. Then just after that, we were told that we had a CHT (call handling time) of 3 minutes. Later on though, the call centre was taken back in house and they threw the stats out of the window. Bliss.

As for the answer to the question, you sound like a good CSR, but Id say too good for a call centre. Get out because you will end up severly stressed due to having to conform to the 'bloody stats driven regime' rather than being allowed to get on and do your job Properly.

Re: Am I a bad CSR?
 

Kinda off topic here but I see the starting point here, end of day it is lovely to know such people in NTL exist who wish to care for people who use there services. Sadly mismanagement over the years has lead to this mad craze of speed, things must be done quick and quicker, and as my dear old father says over and over " todays world is not quality of services its quantity of speed they can get shut of you " and there is alot of truth in that statement I believe.

;)

Re: Am I a bad CSR?
 

Have some reps :) Your heart is in the right place m8! Keep up the good work and dont let the b*stard get you down!

Re: Am I a bad CSR?
 

steven,

I would much rather speak to a caring person such as yourself than someone who is intent on getting me off the phone within the set number of minutes. Whenever I go about choosing a service the cost of that service is important, but in my eyes the customer service you receive is 10 times more important.

Keep working hard, and if you need me too I'll call you for help with my ntl connections everyday and ensure my call is no more than 1 minute thus reducing your average call time :)

Phil.