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

A close family member works in CS and they don't even use their real first names.

They absolutely will be able to see who you spoke to by looking at the call logging system. Your name, address and (if applicable) account number are your reference if you need to make a complaint / follow up. You call, go through DPA and they’ll be able to see your account. If they need to call you because the person you spoke to escalated the call, then they’ll see all the records of your calls. You’ll go through DPA again and then you’ll be able to discuss the call that annoyed you.

You don’t need the call agents name for any of this.

I wouldn’t give you my full name either. I used to work in a public office and refused to wear a name badge. I once received a message on a social media account from a guy I served a couple of weeks earlier and he asked me if I had a boyfriend 😳 He recognised my face and my first name so from then on I wouldn’t wear one.

It's for their safety. Given the way people can be found online and bullied when people know their full name, it was entirely reasonable for people not to give out their full names. Remember that it's the company at fault and not a customer service advisor directly - unless in fact a person specifically did something that warrants complaint such as abusing you down the phone.

We live in a time where people can get doxxed over the slightest thing. This isn't to say that's what you'd do, but it's a risk which means that full names are rarely given.

I worked in a call centre for an insurance firm. Our emails have our full name and we have raised that we don't like that we can be found online so easily as a result. Unfortunately nothing done about it yet.

Yes. You can reference john. That’s all you have the right to know.

You have absolutely no right to know someone’s full name just because you want it.

Only time I was given a surname was when my call was escalated to a manager - who happened to be my cousin.

You never give your surname because you have no clue what kind of crazy person you may be talking to. A first name is enough for your complaint

The audit trail is the recording of the call or the transcript of the conversation. Also depending on the nature of the company there will be a digital footprint on the file/account/service you’re enquiring about.

If you work in public services you know full well what the risks are and what the public can be like. It’s very unfortunate if you have to share your full name, however that doesn’t mean that everyone should have to just because you think they should.

I work for the council and we're encouraged to avoid giving even our first names unless directly asked for the purposes of a formal complaint.

No doubt you'll be asked to complete a survey about your satisfaction with your interaction with the customer services team.

I’ve never known customer service advisors to give out their surnames. Why would they? It would leave them very vulnerable.

Its not a race to the bottom its about accountability and me as the customer having the right to know who to reference if I need to

I wouldn’t ever give my surname. I have an uncommon first name so I used to say ‘I’m the only xxxxxxx in the office’.

My brother worked in a call centre for a while when he was made redundant (anything to keep food in his kids bellies). He shares a name with someone very famous but also has a PhD. When customers demanded his full name he’d say ‘certainly it’s Dr xxxx xxxxxxx’ they used to get angry that he was making it up….it was his name though

Just because you’re at a higher risk doesn’t mean the risk to others should also be increased. It’s not a race to the bottom.

I recently worked in customer service and the level of abuse we received shocked me. One lovely gentleman used to threaten to come down to the office with his hunting knives.

This drives me insane, every other single agency, police, nursing, doctors, social workers, teachers the list is endless, we give our full names, our work place, our managers name etc etc

the risk is much higher to us, we are working with a difficult client group most of the time. It is absolutely right that I as a customer am able to say that I spoke to John Smith on tuesday at 5pm rather than I just spoke to John, could be any bloody John, what about my audit trail and proof of what is said to me?

It’s a good thing. People have turned up at our office before demanding to speak to customer service staff who’ve pissed them off. The contact centre’s actual location is unadvertised for this reason.

They could just give you a random surname if they do not want you to have it.

YABU. I’ve worked in many CS roles and would never have given my surname.

Yes, another one whose worked in a call centre and we were allowed to just give our first name. We'd also give our team number if they wanted to complain about us.

I have a really unusual name and you'd absolutely be able to find me on social media if I gave you my full name.

In fact we had a vexatious caller who kept ringing and demanding our full names, he had a real bee in his bonnet about it.

yes of course it’s standard practice.

I work in customer service and both I and other colleagues have had physical threats made against us while on calls. We’re talking things like “I’m going to find out where you live;you’d better watch your back;don’t think about walking around alone any time soon,” One of my colleagues had a death threat and another was told that the caller hoped they would be raped.

You think we should give psycho’s like that, with access to the internet, our full names so they can track us down? I don’t think so.

Yabu. Surname not necessary.

A few years ago , I was dealing with a customer over email which had an email signature with our full names. The customer found me on Facebook (I didn't list or post anything to do with work but he still found me because he had my full name). It must have happened to other colleagues because the signatures were soon changed to first name and position eg "Christine - Customer Services ".

Security and privacy reasons, anyone divulging their full name would get searched on social media and anyway you don't need a surname just the time of the call

Often false first names are used as well. They will be able to track who you were talking to from call data.