AIBU to expect Customer Service Advisor to tell me their full name?

I didn't say they changed the rule ,just that I got the outcome I wanted

@soupfiend - you have no 'right' to be given someone's surname.

I have worked in customer service and been threatened so no way I would be giving my full name to customers. Welcome to cyber stalking

If you ever have the misfortune of having to phone the IRS (wait times are even longer than to HMRC) the agent gives you their identification number, no name.

can understand it

Yabu. It’s standard practice not to give your real/full name if you work in customer service because the general public are psychos.

We user to get all sorts of threats when I worked in a call centre, even when I was working on innocuous campaigns like the dogs trust or the electoral campaign 😏. I once had a man threaten to rape my children over a refused refund of £14.95. I didn’t actually have children at the time but still, grim. Interestingly, the customer was a nurse by profession!

Oh look. Another FTP with a single post on their own thread, asking a question that is guranteed to have everyone telling them they are unreasonable.

So fucking sick of them.

@soupfiend they are not public sector workers and do not owe that duty.

I worked for my local council for many years. Junior staff like those on reception or call centre were only expected to give a first name, their name badge only contained their first name. Managers who got involved were expected to give their full name in person and in correspondence

If someone refuses to give me their full name I insist on being put straight on to Complaints ah, you’re one of those.

What these members of the public also need to remember is that when they are abusive, when they complain unnecessarily, as well as a record of their call, the above is often also listed on their profile, so future agents know exactly what kind of person they are.

Obviously not the low level ones, but where I work customers who have been really abusive are reported to a specialist team and can receive written warnings or even have their accounts closed. And then there is a note on their profile to say they’ve had warnings for abusive behaviour.

Similarly if customers complain there is a note on their profile to say that they’ve complained. This can be useful especially if they call for an update on a legitimate complaint, but if the complaint is purely about not giving out your name then we have access to that as well, including the communication the complaints team will have sent to the person saying that agents aren’t obliged to give out their full name.

Doesn’t matter if you complain, it’s not going to change anything with regards to someone giving you their full name. And in actual fact, if you go to complaints then you’ll be sent a letter by a complaints officer who also won’t give you their full name.

Surely you are joking. My name is on court documents, on plans for children and their families, my registration is known to all, it has to be, just like if someone needed to check your qualification, my car is parked outside the building, we have had a our building attacked, Ive been attacked, my colleagues have been attacked, cars have been attacked, both in the community but also in our parking area and in courts. I know the risks and how the public are but everyone talking about how 'the public make threats' are completely naive to how it is for many of us who owe the public a duty to say who we are and yet customer service staff on the end of a phone dont have to do that? Really? Astounding

They changed a whole policy just because you were awkward? Seems very unlikely.

It's unfair that it works this way round as she will have your full name and details- erm well yes of course she will, because you’re a customer. Or would you be happy to not give your full details to your bank’s call centre and still be happy for them to discuss your personal bank account with you? No?

Used to work for a travel insurance company a decade ago and would never give my surname. I had a very unique name so would have been very easy to find on SM.
I used to say I’m the only X at the office and when they didn’t believe that (I think because it was a popular brand they expected there to be 100s of us..unfortunately there was not enough of us hence the complaints 😂) I’d give my internal extension number. They couldn’t call to harass me but it was individual enough to satisfy most.
The amount of threats I got through decisions that I had no control over was unbelievable. The office address was available to all customers as they had to post original copies of documents for everything at that time. The last thing I needed was the man who told me he would kill me was for him to also know what I looked like thanks 😅
Most call centres can track the specific person you spoke to by seeing who has accessed your account so you don’t need their surname.

It's the same as those dicks who say "you have my full name" I'm like emmmm yepppp I need to adhere to data protection, you don't need to know mine for us to resolve the query 🤷‍♀️

They get an eye-roll, and if anyone wanted to speak to manager about is, manager would say "she doesn't have to tell you" and she sure as FUCK isn't going to tell them it so why bother???

Told in every call centre to write good notes on accounts. So any CSA could read notes and carry on with the problem etc. So customers don’t waste their time/get pissed off in retelling their story.

As if customers demand to speak to xxxxx. Firstly they could be on holiday or on day off. Or could work at another CC. We didn’t know who was in which other call centre.

I should get what I want because I demand it, no you should not

People who work in call centres often use a fake name. They're usually allowed to as long as it's fairly consistent and their own supervisors can identify them. People working these jobs could face personal attack online from disgruntled customers in their thousands. Potentially if they gave their real full name. It wouldn't be fair. They're on minimum wage and if the company sucks it's not really their fault.
Taking the first name is fine, and noting the time of the call. They'll know who you mean if you want to complain.
It's to stop their personal lives being affected by their crappy job.

Standard, for their safety. You sound a bit unhinged. Years ago, a male found me online and harassed me because my full, slightly unusual name was published through a media work thing. Customer service reps are people too!

If someone refuses to give me their full name I insist on being put straight on to Complaints
Many years ago 'Amy' refused to give me her surname and then when i called back they would not deal with what was said on the call if i did not have the surname
Lessons learned
Myclients pay me to sort out their problems and i am not easily fobbed off

They are not accountable to you, and you do not have that right. HTH.

Presumably the management will have records of who was on duty at that time too. The Customer Service person could have said anything, would the OP have known?

I work in customer service, for a small private company, we are a lovely company with mostly lovely customers, but omg we've had 1/2 cuckoos, one lady tracked down some staff members on LinkedIn. she was in the wrong, but we all had to deactivate our LinkedIns to avoid abuse from her.
We only give first names. and have had to change all our avatars to cartoon characters and as I said no links anywhere to the company on LinkedIn or social media. We've had customers track us down by going through people who have liked posts on fb. People are mental

I used to work for a call centre, and we never gave out surnames either. Agent is well within their right to decline to provide that information. It’s easy enough for managers to track who answered the call if they need to do so.

Standard practice to protect staff, who may also be survivors of domestic abuse.

If it’s a common name and a large organisation you can also ask for their staff number. Though, as others have said, their handling of your call may be digitally logged in any case.

Probably would have helped if they’d explained that to you though.

I wouldn't say so, no.

Systems are actually pretty sophisticated nowadays. The person taking your call will be recorded on your customer record as they will need to be logged in on their personal profile in order to answer a call or if it was an admin person, that will also be marked under their profile as they need to log in in order to access your record. The system will imprint the details of any person who touched your record even if that is then a complaint handler.

It's not like just a phone on a desk picked up by whoever happens to be passing.