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

[Complaintxoxo]

I rang about a problem l currently have with a well known national organisation. The customer service advisor was unable or unwilling to come up with a solution.
I asked for her name so I could follow the complaints procedure. She gave me her first name but declined to give me her surname.
Is this standard practice? I was surprised. I worked in front line customer service for a local council for many years. It wouldn't have been accepted for me to refuse to tell the customer my full name.

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

Not everywhere, I noticed at the dentist that the dentists and dental nurses have their full name and qualifications on the board but the admin/reception staff just have first name...I thought it was probably to protect them from angry patients.

I used to have a work ID with my photo and employee number but no name at all.

It’s a really good thing! Years ago we had our full names on our badgers, next thing you know we’re getting messages from patrons on Facebook. Friend requests etc. nah fuck that.

Easier for me and my ND brain to remember I spoke to Firstname Lastname on Tuesday than to tell you the exact time of call so you can trace it... Also, I'd feel more confident about tracing the interaction with two names.

Like I said, they don't have to be real. Just, everyone should permanently have an assigned fake work name for each call centre.

I’ve worked in a few call centres and the customer service platforms they use all generally work in the same way. When anyone goes into your account it will record their id and date/time stamp it, plus note any actions, notes or calls. If I rang up a call centre and said “I spoke to someone yesterday but I don’t know who it was” the person I’m speaking to will absolutely know who it was, what they discussed and any actions they took in my account. There is never any reason to give a customer your name.

I hope you gave her chance to speak and tell you why it couldn’t be resolved. Found people just talk over me and don’t actually listen to the response a lot more these days.

YABU

My name is NOT common and I refused to give my full name for security. A customer doesn't need your full name. Maybe your last initial if there is more than one of you - John B / John H / John W etc

I worked CS for more years than I'm willing to admit and the level of batshittery only increased throughout my career

You probs don't need the person's name. If it's a national organisation, they may have notes systems that register who the person was who took your call and/or systems that record phone calls they can listen to. I worked in customer service for many years. Quite often, the recorded phone calls were quite useful to establish the conduct of the customer service agent but also the customer's.

Never once have I known a nurses surname or a police woman or man's full name.

Exactly. Not in a million years would I do that.

@FaintingAardvark73 but people in call centres shouldn't have to give out fake names to meet your needs. I wouldn't be comfortable making up a name. As a caller, you'll be given a first name usually. That's all you need, even though you may want more information. Customers have made it this way.

I think it’s a good thing. We don’t give out our last names in my job anymore. We used to a long time ago and I remember one occasion an angry customer put the advisor’s full name on a long Facebook rant on our page. This customer also felt the advisor was unwilling or unable to come up with a solution. Which wasn’t the case at all, it’s a financial company that abides by strict rules which we can’t bend. He also shouted at her and made her cry. I bet you also shouted at this poor adviser.

People who work on help desks are not paid enough to take the abuse they get on the phone, and they certainly don’t need to have it in their personal lives as well. Some lunatics will track them down on social media.

And just to add. Please don’t shout at someone, call them names and then back track with “I know it’s not your fault, I’m not really angry at you” because that’s so shit to hear. And if you kick off you are going to the back of the queue.

Surely the answer is an employee number or equivalent- no personal details needed and an easy way to track who you were speaking to.

I think you're forgetting that the Customer Service Advisor is not paid to make decisions. They follow a script. If you didn't get what you wanted then it wasn't their fault. Also calls are recorded anyway so they would be able to trace the call if they needed to. Your beef should be with the organisation and not with the minimum wage CSA who happened to answer the phone to you.

The call recording system will allow the person reviewing the complaint to see exactly the person who you were speaking to on the phone even if there are 4 Katies and 5 Bens working in the contact centre. It's not unreasonable to ask the name of the person so that you can be clear in your complaint who you are talking about if you've had multiple calls.

Even if you only make reference to "the call handler I spoke to on Tuesday", they will be able to match that person to the call you made. Knowing surnames is pretty unecessary.

I wouldn't want to have to give a fake name, I have my own name that I am okay with and it just wouldn't feel right.

To be honest, you don't even need a date and time if you need to raise a complaint, your account would be time stamped that you had made contact and the agents details would be on there anyway.

Do you really think they won't be able to find who you dealt within 5 minutes? All calls are recorded and logged. In shops, they will know who was on shift, especially as OP has the first name.

Bog standard now. Stops people be searched on socials and linkedin and harassed.
My daughter works for the CSA. She uses a made up surname!

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.

I wouldn't say so, no.

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 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.

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

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?

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

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