Why does customer service suck so bad?

Not astrology related, just a rant. I have had to call 3 different companies and had bad experiences with all 3!

1. Verizon I ended up in an argument with the voice response system. Press 1, press 2 but never an option that I needed. I finally get a person and he was rude because I had the wrong department, offered to transfer me and disconnected.

2. Software company that I used last year. I can't get access to my own files for 2013-2015 because I didn't renew with them this year. I can view but not print from my computer. I paid thousands a year for this software.

3. Called for information from a bank that I use for customer cash advances. The woman acted like I was annoying her when I was asking simple questions like what date they will be available. I finally asked for someone else because I didn't like her attitude. The new person was nice though.

IVR-The devil's spawn.

You can skip through the prompts by speaking "representative" or "operator" and it will immediately transfer you over to someone. Sometimes you may have to repeat it a few times to get there. There are certain times where it will not allow you to bypass like utility companies for instance.

Most of the time if a rep. is rude to me or refusing to assist then I will request to speak to the manager and point out the rep's behavior. And you can get rewarded if you were inconvenienced. You just have to know to work the system 😉

THANKS OBAMA

Because we're poor

In all seriousness though, they have a super rough job. If you're forced to constantly take abuse from both the employer and the customer with a smile on your face, it's only a matter of time before that manifests.

It doesn't make it ok for them to be rude to polite customers, but it happens when they're under the rule of The Customer Is Always Right, which rewards jerkass customers.

Posted by PeanutButterandElly
Despite the toll it's taken on my psyche over the years from dealing with assholes, I've actually really loved working in customer service. But I love people. I love creating a positive experience for others.

Sadly most people in the industry don't give a shit. So it opens up the portal to a well of unskilled aimless people who just need jobs but hate people and fake it for a paycheck.

That and often people shit on customer service workers for no reason. I've been called atrocious sexist and degrading slurs just for doing my job. I've been grabbed and pushed around by angry or drunken customers. One drunk asshole stalked one of my jobs all night threatening to kill me and two coworkers because he was removed from the premises after throwing beer on children. And on a daily basis people it's pretty normal to have at least one or two customers that talk down to me or will cut me off from introducing myself or asking what they need. Then they get mad at me a few minutes later and ask why I didn't tell them my name lol.

Those aren't reasons to treat other customers like crap. But most managers in customer service aren't trained to deal effectively with their employees. Or with customers. So unless you have someone who's talented with managing people and training them to effectively and swiftly deal with problem customers, then one problem person can fuck up and entire project, shift or whatever.

If people recognized the job for a skill rather than unskilled labor there'd be better service. For the most part the industry is just a rotating body mill though lol

Oh, I have been on the receiving end of bad customers too! I'm at the casino and some people blame us for "turning off the machines".

I always approach customer service reps in a friendly manner but it doesn't always end that way.

Posted by Deedee86
Not astrology related, just a rant. I have had to call 3 different companies and had bad experiences with all 3!

1. Verizon I ended up in an argument with the voice response system. Press 1, press 2 but never an option that I needed. I finally get a person and he was rude because I had the wrong department, offered to transfer me and disconnected.

2. Software company that I used last year. I can't get access to my own files for 2013-2015 because I didn't renew with them this year. I can view but not print from my computer. I paid thousands a year for this software.

3. Called for information from a bank that I use for customer cash advances. The woman acted like I was annoying her when I was asking simple questions like what date they will be available. I finally asked for someone else because I didn't like her attitude. The new person was nice though.

1- It's Verizon.

2- You gotta read the fine print with these companies that file host. I'm not surprised since some are shady as fuck to get your money. Holding your files ransom for cash? Welcome to the era of letting others handle your files.

3- Many of these companies are shit to work for, hire shit employees, or turn employees into shit employees because the company is that shitty.



Anymore, with a lot of companies, the main focus is money and having bodies to help get that money. The ones that are good about customer service may not be aware of what's going on at the lower levels because there are people who shouldn't be management who fuck things up and make life hell for anyone. Sadly, in those instances, the bigwigs won't really know until a lawsuit arises.

Posted by PeanutButterandElly

Posted by Deedee86

Posted by PeanutButterandElly
Despite the toll it's taken on my psyche over the years from dealing with assholes, I've actually really loved working in customer service. But I love people. I love creating a positive experience for others.

Sadly most people in the industry don't give a shit. So it opens up the portal to a well of unskilled aimless people who just need jobs but hate people and fake it for a paycheck.

That and often people shit on customer service workers for no reason. I've been called atrocious sexist and degrading slurs just for doing my job. I've been grabbed and pushed around by angry or drunken customers. One drunk asshole stalked one of my jobs all night threatening to kill me and two coworkers because he was removed from the premises after throwing beer on children. And on a daily basis people it's pretty normal to have at least one or two customers that talk down to me or will cut me off from introducing myself or asking what they need. Then they get mad at me a few minutes later and ask why I didn't tell them my name lol.

Those aren't reasons to treat other customers like crap. But most managers in customer service aren't trained to deal effectively with their employees. Or with customers. So unless you have someone who's talented with managing people and training them to effectively and swiftly deal with problem customers, then one problem person can fuck up and entire project, shift or whatever.

If people recognized the job for a skill rather than unskilled labor there'd be better service. For the most part the industry is just a rotating body mill though lol

Oh, I have been on the receiving end of bad customers too! I'm at the casino and some people blame us for "turning of the machines".

I always approach customer service reps in a friendly manner but it doesn't always end that way.

Yeah I work with a lot of people that I like as people. But I loathe as coworkers. Some people really shouldn't do the job. They legit will be borderline yelling at someone and when I watch them retell the story they say they were very polite and straight forward. Some people have no idea how they sound to others. And unfortunately most of those people have customer service jobs lol.

The companies that have better customer service you notice are the ones harder to work for. Generally they spend more on lower management, like training, specialized positions and emphasizing cross training so there's more communication going on. They pay a little better and have stricter interviewing processes too. You're standard big box company spends most of its time cutting the flow of money in that sector rather than enhancing it though.

click to expand

Yep. I can tell how good a company is based on how its run and how the employees behave. If you go to a store and there is one register open and the line is stupidly long, chances are that manager is a cheap asshole and refused to schedule enough people. They prefer to run on bare minimum, make their employees do double or triple the labor to save costs- all for their bonuses, which are incredibly difficult to get on purpose, that corporate dangles in front of their nose like a measly carrot.

Or, corporate is cheap in itself, and if management had their way, things would run more efficiently. But corporate gave them shit amount of labor to work with for the week, thus leaving them insanely short staffed. Anytime I see things like this, I'm patient because I know some fuckery is going on and the poor employees subjected to this shit don't need to be shit on.

If you go into a restaurant and see an employee juggling more than 6 tables, chances are it's also a skeleton crew based cheap ass restaurant. I've read reviews of places where the constant complaint is "slow service" or "server was rude" I know right then that company sucks and the management is even shittier. They can't hire to save their lives and the ones they do hire are treated like shit.

Same goes with these call centers- they have quotas to meet, times they have to keep, etc. If their managers or the company are nazis about that shit, calls that take longer than the target time frame are just going to annoy them. These companies need to quit being number crunching dick bags and focus on the customer service aspect. This is what happens when you have an economy run by masses who got an MBA with zero life/work experience in that field.

Is it an excuse for these people to behave badly? Of course not. But it's definitely something to keep in mind when in these situations.

Posted by fugu2
In all seriousness though, they have a super rough job. If you're forced to constantly take abuse from both the employer and the customer with a smile on your face, it's only a matter of time before that manifests.

It doesn't make it ok for them to be rude to polite customers, but it happens when they're under the rule of The Customer Is Always Right, which rewards jerkass customers.

Agreed.

I used to work in a place that was terrible about the number crunching and less about actual customer service.

"These are our expectations of you giving good customer service, but we're setting you up to fail due to lack of support staff and structure. Now go make us money!"

Serving is difficult enough as it is, but when you have to worry about shit like table turn times (omg why has that not been closed out after 45 minutes?? TABLES ARE SITTING TOO LONG. THAT'S WASTED MONEY!!)

There was a lot of pressure to get people to do those surveys at the bottom of the receipts. We were pressured into getting at least 2-3 done per month. Sounds easy enough, except they fucked with the incentive to where nobody wanted to bother anymore. Our manager got so crazy, she started threatening to write us up if we didn't have 3 at the end of the month, claiming we weren't meeting "performance standards." ...we have no control over whether customers do these or not, wtf.

We also were given a lot of shit if our drinks and dessert averages weren't high enough. We are in the day and age of people skimping where they can or are incredibly health conscious, so yeah it's waters all around, and not everyone wants dessert. We can suggest and upsell til we're blue in the face, but customers will do what they want. They're here to eat and have a nice time. Not have a sales pitch thrown at them.

Shit like this is just so freaking common throughout the customer service industry and it makes for a lot of unhappy employees and shit customer service.

All in all, all the clueless, greedy corporate douches are the ones ruining jobs for the employees and customer service for the customers. Capitalism!!!

Posted by rockyroadicecream

Posted by Deedee86
Not astrology related, just a rant. I have had to call 3 different companies and had bad experiences with all 3!

1. Verizon I ended up in an argument with the voice response system. Press 1, press 2 but never an option that I needed. I finally get a person and he was rude because I had the wrong department, offered to transfer me and disconnected.

2. Software company that I used last year. I can't get access to my own files for 2013-2015 because I didn't renew with them this year. I can view but not print from my computer. I paid thousands a year for this software.

3. Called for information from a bank that I use for customer cash advances. The woman acted like I was annoying her when I was asking simple questions like what date they will be available. I finally asked for someone else because I didn't like her attitude. The new person was nice though.

1- It's Verizon.

2- You gotta read the fine print with these companies that file host. I'm not surprised since some are shady as fuck to get your money. Holding your files ransom for cash? Welcome to the era of letting others handle your files.

3- Many of these companies are shit to work for, hire shit employees, or turn employees into shit employees because the company is that shitty.



Anymore, with a lot of companies, the main focus is money and having bodies to help get that money. The ones that are good about customer service may not be aware of what's going on at the lower levels because there are people who shouldn't be management who fuck things up and make life hell for anyone. Sadly, in those instances, the bigwigs won't really know until a lawsuit arises.

click to expand

The software company pisses me off the most. In my business, I have to use one of these companies, there is no other option. There is no fine print or contract that locks you in for life. Every year you simply repurchase for the next tax season. The files are stored on MY hard drive but I need their program to open them. I can still view everything but I can't print! How's that for bullshit—??

It wasn't a cheap program either! This is the same company that owns TurboTax and Quickbooks. It is the professional edition where I can prepare and efile unlimited fed, business and all 50 states. It was over $ 1200 plus fees. At the end, it cost me over $ 2000.