To wonder if any call centre is not "busier than normal at the moment"??

[CollieFIower]

Or "experiencing a higher number of calls" or whatever chirpy message they play on repeat. I actually cannot remember the last time I had to ring any customer helpline for any business or govt department and didn't get told some version of the above!

If you're always that busy then no you're not busier than fucking normal, this IS YOUR NORMAL and you might as well just stop trying to gaslight your customers into thinking otherwise.

And breeeeeeaaathe. May as well settle in for some yoga with Adrienne while I wait for Royal Mail to answer

Is it not in part due to people working from home, and skiving?

@Rebel2 exactly!! You got through, your call was answered by a friendly person so just let it go and get on with your day. I always think that because no matter what day I’m having I answer each call with a positive attitude and a happy tone. I speak to my customers the way I’d like to be spoken to and majority of the time that’s all it takes to calm them down. Some just come on very entitled and wanting to cause a scene and in the end they get the bare minimum from me because I’d rather go that extra mile for someone who deserves it and appreciates my help.

It’s impossible to skive in a call centre role, both at home or in the office as you have a schedule to adhere to and some form of targets. I am actually more productive wfh as less distractions and no one coming to my desk for a quick chat.

Had the worst customer service experience ever with BT this week.
No actual phone number for technical support, every number we called told us to text and then cut us off. So we sent a text as we were told, Waited in for an engineer that didn't show and ended up having to phone the sales team (funny how they always have a phone number for sales!) absolutely shocking service.
The engineer said that a lot of people had complained about the same issue.

Hahahaha
Sorry but

You're monitored every second of the day
My screen and phone is recorded. Time for making a brew/toilet is recorded. Breaks and lunches are timed to the minute and allocated
Starting 5 seconds late is well, late
Managers know if you're on a call, on hold, typing etc from your status code
You can't just wander off for no reason, you're at your desk for the full shift
I mean I've done it 18 years and not found a way to skive

I’ve had a nightmare recently trying to make multiple calls to two very large companies. Automated systems and voice recognition is a nightmare if you have a Scottish accent, although it is getting a bit better. My biggest issues, and I feel terrible for saying this, but every customer service agents I’ve spoken to recently barely speaks English. It means I can hardly understand what they are saying and they definitely can’t understand me. One guy got really angry because he couldn’t understand my post code. It has the number 3 in it, try getting a stressed out Glaswegian to say that number clearly, it’s impossible. I still haven’t had my issue resolved and I don’t know how I will find the time to make another call, last one took ages.

Yikes! That’s a lot of monitoring! We don’t have anything like that. Timed toilet breaks? I’m often a few minutes over my break and lunches but it evens out as I rarely finish on time. My place is very trusting in that respect. Only our calls are recorded and I’m
glad because that protects me too! Customers often lie ‘mishear’ things ….I’m sure you have experienced that too

I agree with this 100% - I know it’s cheaper for companies to hire offshore but ultimately this is a bad move. The language issue, a lot of times it’s not a good connection and knowledge gaps as well. Someone answering the call who does not live in the UK can’t understand the situation our country is in and ultimately the customer suffers.

@User129867588 not timed as such but we have a phone code which is making a drink/toilet/personal stuff and it's meant to be under 10 mins a day

I worked in a call centre for a very large organisation 15 years ago and had the most evil boss. She went mental one day because the time I scanned out the office and the time my computer said I was offline was out by 2 min and she was furious at me. I only went for a pee. I thought conditions would have improved but it seems not.

just stop trying to gaslight your customers

Congratulations on the most ridiculous and trivial use of the word “gaslighting”.

Had my call been answered in a timely manner and dealt with effectively I would have had no need to have been so angry, frustrated and upset when my call
was finally answered.

For call handlers, as a representative of the company I’m afraid it’s comes with the job 🤷🏼‍♀️

Had my call been answered in a timely manner and dealt with effectively I would have had no need to have been so angry, frustrated and upset when my call
was finally answered.

For call handlers, as a representative of the company I’m afraid it’s comes with the job 🤷🏼‍♀️

I get it not being dealt with but the fact it wasn't answered isn't their fault
I get people yelling at me because they've been queuing for 10 mins. What can I do about it?
Tell my manager? He already knows
I can't handle calls any quicker and I can only take one at once so people venting about wait times does nothing

I try and help by
Pointing out when we are quieter and is best to ring
Texting and emailing links that work to check things for yourself online
Sending email and text appointment reminders

But yet people still ring at 9am on a Monday morning to say (random info so not outing)
"When is my appointment/when does my car insurance expire/do you have a phone number for the RAC?"

It takes longer to get through to us than it does to use google/read the email we sent. MN is not representative of the general public though to be honest. I would say 50% of people can't tell me their postcode/phone number/policy number/don't understand what the DVLA is/why they need car insurance

Sounds great!
I definitely could work from home and I'm available for very flexible (whenever needed) 0 to 30 hours.

Why do I think the pay/hours/conditions are not as good when it actually comes to it?

I'm only looking for a minimum wage steady job without any career prospects preferable 😂

The supermarkets haven't yielded any luck. Maybe I'm over-qualified... (not Queen Camilla in real life but with a degree and a former rat-race participant).

And just recently, I haven't seen any call centre jobs advertised. They must be all in India already.

Can’t remember who I called the other week but it said this and all the usual waffle then the automated system told me I was now in a queue and my call would be answered within 2 minutes, which it was. So hardly busy?

What pees me off is if they still refer to covid or working from home as a reason for delays in dealing with your call that is so important to them.

@QueenCamilla it's pretty much what you want
Our role is flexible as in if you wanted part time you can have pretty much whatever hours you wanted
Some work 9.30-3 or 10-4
Heavily monitored but manager isn't an ogre and you always get your breaks and lunch
Decent colleagues and some socialise outside of work
Forget about work mostly after you finish Random challenges where you can win stuff/free takeaways/vouchers
Abusive customers not tolerated
Can have a chat with customers, not stuck to a script

The downsides are it's busy, you are sat down all day and don't get a second to breathe!

@Rebel2
The downsides are it's busy, you are sat down all day and don't get a second to breathe!

I'm self-employed at the moment and that's ⬆️ exactly what it looks like, just without a break ever! And the social media has exploded beyond what I can deal with, so I'm a one-person messaging centre now too. I'm a failing messaging centre, and I'm sure it's perceived as me being a bitch rather than busy. Pretty typical 😂

I'll consider call centres then, I hadn't because of the awful reputation for working conditions that they hold (much less worried about irate callers!)

It's that, or Only Fans for me Majesty 🤣

I work for a call centre and I completely appreciate it's stressful for customers trying to call and being held in a long queue, but I can assure you it's just as, if not more stressful for the call taker. We can visibly see the queues and the stress and panic about this can be so overwhelming. You get customers who call for things that are things they could check themselves on a letter that has been sent or an online account (if they're tech savvy), some customers will refuse to come off the phone until you've solved their issue which isn't always possible as it involves higher powers or different teams so that means the queue will just be held up more.

It's definitely not a case of companies not caring about the customer. I know I can't vouch for every company or every call taker but myself and the people I work with, do everything we can to help everyone as quick as we can.

If you get a decent one it's ok, like I said ours is small and manager is picky about who they recruit so they fit into the team - they have to be competitive but not so competitive that they don't share with the rest of the team

When I say manager is decent, I accidentally called him a twat once and he just laughed at me

I rang the Council today & expected to be on ages after receiving the high call volumes speech, got through in under 5 minutes.

When I say manager is decent, I accidentally called him a twat once and he just laughed at me

@Rebel2
That's definitely a good manager!

I was at a team-building event moons ago and at some point we had to present a little write-up on where we see ourselves within the company in 5 years time.

On my turn, I announced that I do not see myself with the company in 5 years time as I'd have left by then due to low pay and being overworked doing essentially two jobs... There was this wtf silence that fell.
On returning to the office, my boss promoted me and gave me a rise for the guts. I was already packing my bags! 😂
Unfortunately, I got all the tasks from then on that needed the "guts" so that didn't make a nice ride.

Me and my old war stories... 🙄
I definitely need to get out more.

Have an easy-going one if you're working tomorrow Rebel!

Our insurance company (In Australia) has very strict requirements for how long a customer can be holding before the call is answered. If a certain percentage go over the allowed time then we pay a fine to the companies who we underwrite policies for.

So when they say they have a higher than usual wait time, it's very real.

I had an issue with BT and called their helpline. The guy at the (offshore) helpline gave me "his personal assurance" that the issue would be fixed by x day. I knew it this was bs (although I was polite on the phone) as I felt that he had no direct influence on the engineer who was meant to be sorting the issue out. Needless to say the problem wasnt fixed by the day he promised....in fact we gave up waiting and cancelled our contract with BT (it was in the 14 day cooling off period)

Great post. We have a smaller labour pool than we used to and the effects are widespread.