TiVo : Can someone explain ?

[RichardCoulter]

Originally Posted by Telly_

@richardcoulter.

You quite obviously do not have any staff. Never. You say a member of your staff was disciplined after being the victim of an assault , so you see times when violence is ok? I wish I was employed in your fantasy company as if that happened to me I would of sued you to bankruptcy.

When some in the work place becomes a victim of violence then the employer has failed them. Anyone who agrees with you is an idiot.

When some at work is at risk of being disciplined by an employer when they're attacked society as a whole had failed.

You are quite correct, I personally don't have any staff (apart from my domestic cleaner etc), it is my limited company that employs them

I never said that I felt that there were times when I viewed violence as ok, nor did I say that the customer who hit the member of staff was not dealt with appropriately.

However, the blame for the violence he suffered was apportioned to the victim himself for not adhering to the training that he had received.

Originally Posted by andy_m

If I was assaulted by a customer and then disciplined by my employer for causing it I can assure you I'd be resigning, suing for constructive dismissal and winning my claim. Nobody ever ever deserves to be the victim of physical violence. Ever.

He did cause it because of the poor way he handled the situation and for not following the training given to him.

The member of staff was given the choice of demotion from head doorman and the loss of a weeks holiday as an alternative to dismissal. He accepted and signed to say that this was agreeable to himself.

No-one has suggested that the employee deserved it, but, due to not handling the situation correctly, he appeared to be a substantial cause of the violence.

Originally Posted by Hugh

Actually, most Customer Service training states that if a customer is being abusive, and refuses to desist, you should

a) if on the phone, tell them if they don't stop, you are going to hang up as it is not possible to help them whilst they are being abusive, and record on their customer record they were being abusive
b) if in person, call for a colleague to witness what is happening, try to defuse the situation, and if that doesn't produce an appropriate result, stop the discussion and suggest to the customer that it needs to restart after the situation has cooled down (no blame should be attached to either party whilst suggesting a cool down period) - if the abuse doesn't stop, call security to ask the customer to leave.

No customer, not matter how upset they are, has the right to be continually abusive and/or violent to a member of staff - employers have a duty of care to their staff to help prevent this.

At least, that was the training given when I worked for one of the biggest Customer Service outsourcers in the UK, and it was the same when I worked for a Financial Services company which had 7 UK call centres and 500 local offices......

How many staff do you actually employ, Richard?

That sounds like a reasonable procedure and, yes, employers have a duty of care towards their employees, hence the need for training. If this training is not followed, especially where it leads to violence, it is my view that this is a disciplinary offence.

Originally Posted by DaMac

Put it this way if i had a serious gripe about something, and the person who had caused it was was being condescending and winding me up with arrogance or whatever they might get a smack, some guy mentally insults you, thinks he's better than you, laughs at you, i don't see how that isn't deserving of retribution, i don't need stress in my life, i need people to do their jobs correctly, if they don't and cause me a whole load of grief, where is the difference in them getting some pain???? Physical scars usually heal easier than mental scars.

Indeed and this was the opinion formed by the perpetrator of the violence in this case

[Arthurgray50@blu]

My personnel view of VM and its staff is very poor, Since my complaint NOT one person from VM has called.

We were given a number to call, and no one has replied.

We received an email from Head Office, but all we got was a discount of ten measly quid, My personnel belief is that the staff don't give a damn about the customer, the engineers that we have had have been poor and all they have worried about is getting there bonus and how many jobs they have for the day.

The management don't give a toss as long as they get there payment each month, the invoices that arrive are sometimes wrong.

The staff need constant training in PR with customers, some of the engineers that have called, especially one who came from up North, l would have punched him on the nose for being so rude and arrogant, all he was concerned about was getting to the next job.

On the Tivo box scenario, NOT one person has called to see if the box is ok, IF l had my way l would switch over the Sky.

VM could be a good company, but its not, The only decent thing of it is the phone.

Over the years, l have had so much training that the main ingredient was PR with customers, as this leads top more work, training in what you are doing etc.

I spoke with a engineer who was laying cables, and he said that VM do not use fully trained staff and some of the engineers haven't a clue.

I might be annoyed, but do you blame me for the poor service that l have had.

Heavens - if this is what you are like with years of training whose main ingredient was PR......

Joking aside, if it isn't working, keep complaining until it gets fixed.

[RichardCoulter]

Arthur, has Sirius given you the email of the CEO yet, in case you want to complain? (I can't see anything in this thread, maybe he's sent it by PM )

If he hasn't supplied it, perhaps someone else would be kind enough to supply it for Arthur and others?

neil.berkett@virginmedia.co.uk

---------- Post added at 13:07 ---------- Previous post was at 13:05 ----------

Originally Posted by carlwaring

I would suggest it be given by PM only.

It's public knowledge, and has been issued on this and other forums many times - it goes to his office, not to him personally.