Call Center Opinions?

[dfrecore]

I always ask to speak to someone in the U.S. I've heard that they HAVE to transfer you back to the U.S. when that happens, although I can't believe that's true. But, for whatever reason, it seems to do the trick. I've also heard that you can ask to speak to someone who speaks English as their first language. You can say that you have trouble understanding people with accents because you're hard of hearing, and they're supposed to help there too (disability).

Even with U.S. customer service though, it's full of dopes. So when I don't get a decent answer right away, I either ask to speak to their manager, or hang up and call back.

Obviously this doesn't need to be done every time you call, but when you know in advance that it's going to be an issue, or you've had problems in the past, just go right here. I don't waste time anymore. First, always ask for the person's name, ask them to spell it, and write it down. If they don't give you their last name, ask for their identifying number so it's very clear who you've talked to. Also ask for their job title and department. That, seems to have an effect. Tell them you're writing it down for future reference. Use their name a couple of times so they know you know it. Then, if they don't help you, tell them that you'll be speaking to their supervisor, and going up the chain, and getting everyone's name, so that when you write a letter to the president of the company, he/she will know exactly who to have a discussion with about not doing their job.

It also helps to know the higher-up state/federal department that's in charge of the company, so that you can tell them you'll be reporting them if they don't solve your problem.

For phone/cable/utilities, it's the PUC (Public Utilities Commission)

For insurance, it's your State Insurance Commissioner (my mom just had to complain to the CA Ins Comm, and you should see the hoops the company is jumping through all of a sudden - although she also got chastised for "reporting us without giving us a chance to fix the problem" to which my mom replied, "If you'd done your job in the first plan, I wouldn't have reported you at all."

For your bank, there will be a state department - mine is the CA Department of Business Oversight, yours may be something else. The Federal department is the Federal Reserve.

Be armed with the info you need ahead of time, and when it's going to take longer than you think necessary, just shut that person down and move on up to the next person. UP, not over. Not a different department. Tell them you need to speak to the manager of their department specifically so they can't transfer you to another department, ask the manager's name and title. Again, when they know you have written down the information and plan to use it later if need be, it seems to help a lot.

Good luck!