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Originally Posted by jtwn
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Why should it be the luck of the draw? Surely these such instances should be occasional at worst, yet I think many customers could validate such claims right?
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Originally Posted by Mark B
The likely cause is the phone system going wrong. Still unacceptable, but I get annoyed when I constantly read that ntl staff hang up on customers. We don't.
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I agree, most operatives wouldn't hang up for no reason (although it does happen). A phone system going wrong (and so often) is ludicrous for a call centre, AND a phone company!
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Originally Posted by orangebird
And the fact that ntl has more than one call centre hadn't been considered either. Surely a fair judgement would've been to go through to all three and take an average...but of course, that wouldn't make interesting reading and would probably leave people with less to whinge about. Not the objective, obviously...  |
OB, as customers we don't take average readings of three call centres when we call up - we call up and someone (usually and eventually) answers. It's irrelivant to anyone that doesn't work at ntl which call centre you end up at.
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Originally Posted by monkeybreath
Indeed 
The only times i hang up on people are the abusive ones... I will warn the caller twice that if they use abusive language i will release they call, and if they do it again, i will press release. It's their own fault for not listening to the warnings  |
Can I ask what the guidelines are for deciding who is abusive and to what degree?
If you're talking about people swearing and threatening you, then I would agree with your action. If you're talking about someone raising their voice, then you need to ask yourself why they are doing it before acting as judge and jury.
I've had many instances where everything starts out fine, but the people at the end of the phone make the problem worse and refuse to do anything about it. I am not afraid of challenging these people, which sometimes they seem to consider 'abusive'. I say they're in the wrong job and should work harder to help the customer. And yes, I've been cut off several times - but it will always come and bite them back later on.
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Originally Posted by monkeybreath
HSBC have a good system for dealing with abusive customers though... they warn you and if you don't take any notice they tell you they are putting you on hold until you calm down.... and a couple of minutes later they will come back, and if you are not calm you go back on hold again. It's a good system, because at the end of the day you have the choice to calm down or hang up!
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Again this is fine, but who decides what is 'abusive'? I'm with HSBC too, but I have never encountered this, namely becuase I have never had a problem with them - their call centre staff are knowledgeable and friendly - and if they run into something they can't answer, they go and ask someone who can.
Compare to ntl (and I know I am generalising here) but on the whole the call centre staff are indifferent (often lacking in basic manners) not informed (OK this is not their fault, it's ntl's) and regularly make-up answers to the questions they don't know anything about. See the difference?
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Originally Posted by monkeybreath
The "phone monkeys" (which incidentally is spelt monkies) know a lot more than you think.
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But there are a lot that don't. You have to see it from both sides. Now I'm not blaming a lot that don't know for not knowing, but the guilty ones should not be on the end of the phone line.
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Originally Posted by monkeybreath
I am always getting told not to take things said on this site about ntl personally, but i take "phone monkeys" quite personally. Nice to know that some people appreciate the help that Debsy, Mark B, and I (who are all "phone monkeys") give here in our spare time.
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But these (and yourself) are the stars...you
are the ones who give a damn, don't hang up on people, know the answer or offer to find out. If only ntl employed more like you. It's impossible when talking in general terms not to tar the good ones with the same brush as the bad - I'm sure such comments were never aimed at you.