Does anyone else find those automated ‘abuse won’t be tolerated’ phone messages incredibly irritating?

[Bottlesofrumonthewall]

You know the ones. Robotic voice before you’ve even spoken to a human.

It always makes me think if you need to say that before putting someone through maybe the issue isn’t the callers but the deliberately infuriating customer service systems. Endless menus no actual help staff with no authority then a warning not to get annoyed.

It just feels like being pre emptively told off. Surely better systems would reduce abuse more than a passive aggressive recording?

Jeez, they’re a slight inconvenience at most for the caller. Imagine the call staff get some pretty poor treatment

You've not worked in a call centre, have you?

It acts as a first warning. 3 strikes is usually the point at which the agent can hang up on you. If you're shouting and hurling abuse after hearing the automated message they tell you to stop, and if you don't they terminate the call.

I agree op. The signs up everywhere too essentially warning you not to complain about anything…. because any negative feedback will not be ‘tolerated’ aka accepted or acknowledged.

No. I find it sad actually. There should not be the need to have a message telling people not to act like entitled assholes.

There is a huge difference between 'negative feedback' and the abuse customer service employees face on a daily basis.

Same - makes me feel awful when I hear it on the phone, see it on a poster... literally what have we become.

No I find it sad they needed to put it there in the first place and feel sorry for the staff facing the abuse.

"a positive interaction benefits everyone". Well maybe I'd be feeling a bit more positive if you answered the phone inside of 45 mins and didn't then cut me off! 😂

I saw a message about being aggressive etc, and there was a plastic screen up too.
It was in a PDSA vets. Made me wonder what shit the staff put up with to need a sign and a physical barrier.

So appalling isn't it? PDSA vets as well? I work in the community a great deal and the moment one of my groups has to put that sign on the front door of a community centre I will truly despair.

No. I feel sad they are needed.
If you are finding yourself ‘incredibly irritated’ by having to briefly listen to a message saying that abuse won’t be tolerated, perhaps you need to ask why? Is it hitting a raw nerve?

I put the issue in the same bracket with the idiots that cause the need to have those ridiculous warning signs, if there weren't imbeciles who think common sense is a football player, around there would be no need for it in the first place

It’s the warning the service is shite.

It's the 'helping professions' that cop it the worst. Partly because, unlike a commercial service, they have an obligation to keep helping and can't just tell abusive people to fuck off and go somewhere else.

You are absolutely right and it's abhorrent isn't it?

In the sense that it’s become necessary, yes.

we have such a message where I work (public sector body), and don't have any of the other stuff you're whining about. no press buttons or different departments, once you've heard the message you go straight through to the one and only helpline (obviously unless there's a queue, if so you're rarely waiting long).

Presuming you haven't had the joys of working with the general public? If you had worked somewhere where you've never gone a shift without being shouted and sworn at, had to listen to someone masturbating, or told to kill yourself or that the caller is going to wait outside the office for your shift to end to rape/murder you or follow you home to do the same to your kids, all for having the temerity to politely tell someone they would have to fill a form in or might have to wait a few days for a refund you wouldn't be moaning about such a minor inconvenience.

It's a minor inconvenience. My partner works in admin for the NHS, and gets some horrific abuse down the phone. There needs to be a zero tolerance policy.

There is a VAST difference between having a calm moan/politely raising an issue or complaint, Vs being a verbally abusive twat.

Our old GP surgery one used to just say “please note we operate a zero tolerance policy” and then went on to talk about appointments. The pedant in me always found it annoying that they didn’t specify what they had zero tolerance for.
(yes I know it’s obvious)

If only customers could give the same warning.
In some situations you can at least vote with your purse and take your business elsewhere but in others we have no option but to tolerate incompetent, disinterested and frequently rude staff. Water companies for example.
Of course staff should not tolerate abuse but in my own experience the boot is on the other foot all too often.

Agree

The French version of the DWP has taken this to a whole new level.

Well, sort of, it's called the Caisse d'allocations familiales or CAF for short. It's not exactly the same thing but as we know, as far as French beurocracy is concerned, "Why have one office, when we could have five?"

You can be on hold for quite a while, then what I think might not be real human but is definitely a recorded message chimes in with their life story. They catch you off guard because for a fraction of a second you launch into your pitch about...then realise...

I've had these personalities so far:

I am Lionel. I am 43 years old. I adore working for the CAF. It has always been my dream to help the isolated and marginalised. The other day one caller threatened to hurt me because their claim for RSA was on retard. On week-ends I like to go jogging by the canal.

Then a stern female voice: "Does that shock you?"

More muzak for half an hour.

Or what about Sandrine?

I am Sandrine. I am 28 years old. When I won my job with the agency, all my family celebrated. In my spare time I like to spend time with my little dog and play volley-ball.

The other day, I was menaced with threat of death because a lady couldn't understand why I couldn't let her access her daughter's student loan dossier.

"DOES THAT SHOCK YOU?" says stern lady.

Or, recently, I've had "Kelly's" life story. She likes drinking hot chocolate on her couch at week-ends. Somebody refused to talk to her at the reception desk because of the colour of her skin.

"DOES THAT SHOCK YOU!"

I was very eager to get through to either Lionel, Sandrine or Kelly. I was sure that we could hit it off. Instead, I just got a very annoyed person who told me that he really didn't know why I was calling and that I should access, "l'appli."

CLANG!

I had no time to enquire about jogging by the canal, dogs, volley-ball or hot chocolate.

The average response time from my team is less than one minute. They still get abuse.

Yes-was there no abuse in the past, because the signs weren't there?
Are they saying people were just more polite 20 years ago? Maybe. Or were they just treated/served better? I'm obviously not saying it's ever acceptable to be abusive, but someone complaining, politely, about appalling service can be another thing. I'm not talking about someone swearing because their TV stopped working, I'm talking about someone who just lost a baby (and was politely, now swearing, begging to see a doctor but classed as breaking their policy), or is in terrible pain, desperately trying to get medical help and being ignored. Or some of those people who died by suicide after failing to get help with tax errors.
OP, I agree, and the "we're currently experiencing high call volumes"-when that's said EVERY time you call is annoying too. I don't blame the staff, and yes I've worked in customer service, but they need more people answering the phones, because "you can find answers online" is often untrue-if you could, you wouldn't be hanging on the phone, would you?

Many years ago I worked in a horrible call centre in Liverpool that had a rule you weren’t able to hang up on anyone. Ever.

I got around it by lowering the volume right down so I couldn’t hear a thing while they were verbally abusing me.

I was screamed at in such a high pitch my ears were hurting, called a white bitch (jokes on them I’m not even white but I can be a bitch tbf ) and had the most vile aggressive sweary abuse and threats from a woman once.

Once I effectively muted them by lowering the volume and remaining silent they would lose interest and terminate the call themselves.

Don’t know if that company has the same policy now about never hanging up but it was disgraceful.

On the flipsake I have received shocking customer service as a customer which is frustrating for me considering how much of an effort I made when I worked in call centres/retail.