Long story so sorry. I work as a senior customer service employee in a call centre (which basically means I get paid more as I train new starters, give help to employees on a call they are stuck on/floor support and I am allowed to occasional cover management if they are off as an emergency).
Yesterday I was helping to cover the phones and a customer called back to check whether she would still get a refund for something as she said the agent she spoke to seemed unsure of what she was doing. I check what the agent had filed and could see the form they filed was filed somewhere strange in a process I would never do so told the customer I would chase it up for them but for now followed the timescale based on what the agent filed.
Then I checked with my manager who agreed that it was filed wrong which will impact the customer getting a refund so told me to message the agent. I did and politely asked if they could double check with their manager to make sure if was filed correctly, and if not to re-file and call customer back, or if they are happy with it to just leave it with the timescale I quoted anyway. I wasn’t rude or pushy and just wanted to make sure I was giving the customer the correct info about guaranteeing a refund and even put a smile at the end.
They said they would with a smile emoji back and I left it at that. Then I go to clock out for the day later, and I get a teams call from another senior colleague who is covering as team leader for that agent’s team. She tells me that I shouldn’t have messaged her agent as her agent was new and shaken up to the point of crying and upset by my message and that her agent had done nothing wrong and she was happy with how the claim was filed. She told me it wasn’t my business to message her and I have shaken her confidence especially as I was in the wrong. She then tells me I need to apologise and to personally message the agent to apologise.
I simply said it was not my intention to offend the agent but to make sure the customer was given the correct outcome and that I stressed at the time that she didn’t even have to re-file the claim if her manager (I guess this person) was ok with it and just to run it past someone just in case. She didn’t accept my response and has now sent a strongly worded email to my manager’s manager tagging me in it.
After checking the claim today, it’s still pending, which to me means the customer won’t be refunded anyway as normally it would have moved to a different queue within 2 hours. Should I say anything or just leave it or do you think I was in the wrong here? Feels weird to go through all this. I am thinking to just message the agent now and apologise but just feels all so dramatic and too late. Fully prepared to be told I could BU in any case. Just curious really.