WIBU to Shout at the Young Man in the Call Centre?

[19lottie82]

OL this is longggggg but I need a rant..... sorry!

I'm an eBay business seller, i.e. That's my main source of income. My local Post Office offers a drop and go service, where I top up a pre paid card then drop (and go) off my parcels each day for the branch to process.

Around a year ago the couple of ran the PO retired and a youngish guy took over the franchise. He is however useless. He closes the PO early whenever he feels like it and sometimes doesn't open at all.

Anyway..... I dropped a bag of about 30 parcels in on Friday about 230pm. And when I drove past 30 minutes later, it was closed, and is still closed as I type.

I called the PO call centre and reeled off my complaint / concerns. I told "Daniel", that I was sitting outside the branch in my car and it had been shut for three days, and my parcels must be in there, unprocessed. I need them back or sent urgently.

"please hold while I try and contact them"

4 mins later "I'm sorry I just called the branch, no one is answering"

Again I reiterated I needed my parcels, do they not have alternative contact details for their franchisees? Nope.

What would they do if the branch remained closed indefinitely?
They would send a letter to the branch, apparently.

How did they keep in touch with him during the franchise application process.
They can't disclose that information.

Look..... I really need to get these parcels, telling me to "wait until it opens" isn't acceptable. This is my business, my income. Please can I speak to a manager."?
There aren't any avaliable, sorry (he didn't even check).

Are you telling me one of the largest companies in the U.K, with a nationwide call centre, there isn't a single manager around to speak to me?
That's correct.

This went on for a long time, then I was put on hold for 40 minutes.

He came back and said I can get someone to call you back.
I told myself to stay calm......

OK that's fine. Please can you confirm a manager will call me back today.
Oh no sorry. I can't promise that.
When WILL someone call me back?
It will be within 10 working days

Are you joking?

"Why do you want to speak to a manager anyway, they won't tell you anything that I haven't already".

I started explaining that speaking to him wasn't resolving the situation so I wanted to speak to a manager, TODAY.

Then he started speaking over me, and I'm ashamed to say I lost the plot and I SHOUTED.
Eventually he said, yes, someone will call you back today, but I'm fairly confident that they won't

WIBU?

I've lost the plot in similar situations. I make sure to tell them that I know it's not their fault, but that I am REALLY upset.

Contact someone in the franchise department to get someone to get in touch with the guy who runs it to see when it will be back open and how I can get my parcels back?

I'm not expecting someone from the PO call centre to go down there and get my parcels but to say they don't have any way of getting in touch with him, apart from the branch number is total crap.

Shouting does work; I was advised to many years ago when trying to get my gas fire/central heating repaired; no heating or hot water and a baby. The eleventh contact (in a week) said if it wasn't repaired immediately to lose my temper; it was the only way to get results.
So I did, and it worked; the twelfth repairman heard the call over the airways, identified the problem, and it was dealt with that day.
Right now he'll be sitting in the canteen, telling his mates about the fucking nut he just had on the phone and laughing.
which explains why so many British businesses are in trouble.
It is his responsibility to do everything in his power to pacify the customer, (that is , someone who has spent money to obtain a service) and resolve the situation, not just read from a script.

Can you just think about it for a minute - if he could get you off the phone and have someone higher up deal with it, why wouldn't he? Managers often refuse to take these calls because they would be telling you the exact same thing as the call agent has said. A written complaint will get you the investigation you want.

Sorry to repeat myself but how do you know your parcels are even still there?

moving I take a note of the tracking numbers before I drop them off (I have "signed for" stickers I attach to the PO), and looking online I can see they haven't been processed.

There is always a manager in a call center though. They won't leave all the people on call on their own all day long... .

So yes that was BS all the way.

And YY to sending a tweet/FB/whatever other way you can leave a 'Message' that will be acted on.
They might be franchise but I assume that, part of their contract, is to ensure a certain level of service is provided (eg open every day of the week etc etc). You can't just close the PO like this as it is a public service. I'm thinking of all the other people that could easily be affected (pensioners who can't drive further afield etc etc)

Well, as the young man in the PO is possibly committing a criminal offence - intentionally delaying a postal packet in the course of its transmission by post - I would have expected the call centre personel to do something more than tell OP to wait!

OP try the CAB link and see what you can do about it

www.citizensadvice.org.uk/consumer/post/post/problems-with-post/claim-compensation-for-lost-damaged-or-delayed-post/

Lemon at the moment an investigation isn't my main priority..... getting my parcels back is!

The manager would be able to gain access to to the details of the franchisee, and how to contact those who could gain access to the post office to deliver the parcels the customer has paid to have delivered.

Shouting never worked on me. The more the customer ranted and shouted the less inclined I would be to go the extra mile to try and help.

I also think that if there was any chance that Daniel could have passed the call on he would have.

Oh dear. Ask for a refund. That usually focuses the mind and gets through to the right people.

I would complain on social media. Sometimes they can be a bit quicker to get things done.

Alternatively email the chairman's office.

But an investigation isn't good enough is it? The OP needs this issue solved quickly because she has customers waiting on the other side.

If you were one of her customers, would you accept happily that your product, that you have paid for, isn't going to be there? Would you accept to to know when you would receive it?
Or do you expect the OP to be able to provide another of these products, send it away for the customer, just hoping that either, she will get the parcel back or taht the customer won't be keeping the parcel for themselves? That is, if she has another of said product of course....

In response to a PP, no, there aren't always managers. I'm a call centre worker (not on the phones any more thankfully) and our managers are quite often in meetings, meaning we can be left alone for a good few hours sometimes. The department I'm in is quite small with about eight managers so we can tell very quickly if one is around, if that's the case we tell the customer a manager will call back later, 10 working days is ridiculous though.
Also, we don't get immune to the shouters. There are many people, myself included, who have been in tears after a call from a difficult customer. Just because we work in a call centre doesn't mean we aren't people and we deserve to be treated as such.

I agree there is always higher ups in the call centre!

Ywbu to shout. Also, I work in a call centre and quite often there are not managers available and supervisors are running round like headless chickens trying to deal with a massive amount.

I agree with sparkling. I have worked in call centres and if anyone shouted at me they would get absolutely nothing out of me. I also agree that if there was anyone the "young man" could have offloaded OP to then he would have done. Probably no managers would agree to accept the call, that would happen a lot IME.

If you knew the system was likely to fail, then really you shouldn't have carried on using it. Now you are stuck......

Sounds like you should be shouting down talking on the phone to someone at the PO, not eBay!

I don't blame you in that situation, we are only human. I am sure that the PO do have the franchise details so that they can contact them, be firm and stick to your guns.

blue obviously I didn't know it was "likely to fail" yes the service has been shoddy previously but nothing to this extent.
Please don't say this is my fault.

Why put "young man" in commas? How else should I describe him?

I shouted once after being on the phone for almost an hour and being spoken over constantly.

Oh and FYI I've worked in call centres previously myself.

If you cannot get access to the parcels, the customers need refunding. Does the main Post Office offer this service, or could you have a deal with a courier service like UPS or DPD or something.

The managers in a call centre as a PP mentioned very often manage the staff but don't have as much knowledge as the call takers WRT the business.

But unless you know the internal workings of a PO call centre you can't know for sure how it all works there and what is or isn't BS.

I guess the OP will have to message customers and explain the delay which is out of their control.

waddles I was on the phone to the PO, not eBay?

I stopped using the PO quite a while ago due to their utter shitness. About time it was disbanded for good.

Call centres must have changed a lot. When I worked in one not only was there always at least one manager on shift but there was also a complaints team. tbh it sounds like the PO have adopted BT's attitude to customer service. They refuse to transfer to managers or the complaints' team and also fail to offer solutions. It is incredibly frustrating and extremely poor customer service.
The person in the call centre can't do anything . . . except route the call appropriately. If he can't deal with someone withholding mail then I'm pretty sure someone in the company can.
I hope you got a reference number for the call OP.