A Day in the Life: Customer Service Volume 58

Alright, I know that I have had my new job now for a while, but this is the last one of this series - enjoy, its a good one :-)

So at the end of calls we have to ask the customer if they know someone that would want to have a free trial of our newspaper.

Customer: "Yeah, how about mitt romney"

Me: I laughed, and thinking, oh yeah, I'm going to get this guy... "Oh yeah if you have his address?" 

Customer: "Actually I do.. I already sent one to Ryan"

So I am stunned...

Shocked...

Laughing...

Then he puts me on hold and comes back on the line.

Customer: "Oh yeah here is the file..." and is now rummaging through papers

Customer: "Yeah, you know, the problem now is that he is always traveling..."

Me: "Yes, very good point."

Customer: After a few more seconds of rummaging through paperwork he says: "Oh yeah this isn't it, I'll have to call you back..."

  

Anywhosit

I hope you enjoyed my series of weird customer service calls.

With this one, I would like to bring this chapter of my life to a close...

Finally...

:-)

A Day in the Life: Customer Service Volume 57

Part of my job requires my coworkers to transfer calls to my department - if the customer is having technical difficulty or if the customer has an education question that the agent is unable to answer.

My buddy, the woman I sit next to, she had transferred the call to my queue and so I picked it up.
She warned me about the customer, that he was being a bit hostile and then told me his issue.

I pick up the call.
Me: Good Morning, Sir? My name is La Tache, <insert my coworkers name> told me you were having trouble opening a link on our website.
Customer: I didn't catch your name, because it foreign.

He had so much disdain and hatred in his voice.
I was about to retort back with a response, but he kept talking and I didn't want to interrupt him since he was clearly upset and I didn't want to set him off any more than he already was.

I decided to 'Kill him with Kindness' and I helped him through the steps to fix his problem, and when it was resolved, I asked him if there was anything else I could assist him with.

Customer: Yeah, every time I call, I talk to someone foreign
I couldn't let him keep saying that, so I interrupted him
Me: Sir, I am not foreign, no one in our office is foreign. We live in Los Angeles, CA

He would not drop it!
Finally, I asked him if there was anything else I could do for him, since I wasn't getting through to this crazy that we are located in LA and that we are not foreign, so he should shut up already ;-)

He then kept me on the phone for over an hour, trying to come up with other things to talk to me about.
Needless to say it was a frustrating call.

<fortunately, as you now read this...I am in my new position! yahoooo!!>

A Day in the Life: Customer Service Volume 56

Me: This is La Tache, how can I help you?

Customer: (Cheery) Hi La Tache! I have a question for you about something on page B1.

Me: Ok, I'd be happy to help you, are you a current subscriber with us?

Customer: Well, yes, that's why I have page B1... (Sarcastic and rude)

Me: Ok, well you could have a picked up a copy off of the newsstand. May I have your last name?

Customer: Well scr*w you then if you are going to be a b*tch like that

I immediately released the call.

So, no one has ever called me a bitch before (at least to my face ;-))

I couldn't believe how quickly he switched over to this dark side.

Sheesh...

<fortunately, as you now read this...I am in my new position! yahoooo!!>

A Day in the Life: Customer Service Volume 55

Disclaimer, I sometimes work on Saturdays and get the previous Friday off.

I was working on a Saturday....

This customer called to renew his subscription.

At the end of the call:

Customer: Alright, let me guess. You are an art student working here on the weekends to pay for school...?

Me: <Uncomfortable laugh> Ha, I wish, no, this is my job.

An uncomfortable pause follows...

Customer: Well, thanks for being there

bahahaha

I had to laugh out loud at this one...ha!

Thanks for making me feel like my job is totally worthless....

hahaha!

<fortunately, as you now read this...I am in my new position! yahoooo!!>

A Day in the Life: Customer Service Volume 54

This man just asked me about prices for a monthly subscription and then asked me how long it was for.

...

<fortunately, as you now read this...I am in my new position! yahoooo!!>

A Day in the Life: Customer Service Volume 53

Me: This is La Tache, how can I help you?

Customer: Can I just call you Jane?

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

????????????????

(My Mind) Me: Sure, Dick.

(My Mind) Customer: My name isn't Dick?

(My Mind) Me: Well, mine isn't Jane.

Only in a perfect world... ha!

<fortunately, as you now read this...I am in my new position! yahoooo!!>

A Day in the Life: Customer Service Volume 52

I have recently come to realize that I have a crazy name...

Ok, I have always knows..

Well, I realized it in college..

Ok, tangent..

The fact that I have a hard to pronounce/understand/hear/say/spell name is very prevalent right now because I am in Customer Service and am constantly saying my name and everyone is constantly mispronouncing it or giving me new names...

I just got this one:

Me: This is La Tache, how can I help you?

Customer: What was that? I didn't get that?

Me: Laaaa Taache

Customer: La Tache? Ugh, You guys these days with these names

What?

What is that supposed to mean?

Sheesh!

A Day in the Life: Customer Service Volume 51

Me: This is La Tache, how can I help you?

Customer: I'm sorry, I didn't catch your name.

Me: Laaaaaa Taaachhhee

Customer: Oh, well they left the "a" of it!?

Me: ....?

Customer: I usually hear that name Latosha (Or however you spell it! I wouldn't know because it isn't my name!)

Are you for real?
Sheesh...

A Day in the Life: Education Services Day 9

A customer wasn't able to get signed in to his account, so our automatic system sent him an email with a temporary password. He emailed us to let us know that it wasn't working, so I reset the password to 123 and then explained to him how to change the password once he signed in.

This is the reply I got:

"Thanks for the 123, since you think I am such a idiot, but your "svk30471" pass word did not work. "

<Speechless>

Yes that is what I said...{insert air quotes} "you're an idiot..."

Why on earth would you go there?

Ugh..people..

Sheesh...

A Day in the Life: Customer Service Volume 50

Real People, Real Emails...

Subject: an important question

Message: i have an important question that im trying to get answered so that ill know what my options are.

......?

What is your question.....?

LOL

(and I only "LOL" when something is really funny!)

A Day in the Life: Customer Service Volume 49 (UNedited)

Real People, Real Emails..

If you are offended by strong language, please do not read this post...

"Subject: Your fucked up web site. 

Message:What the fuck is up with your fucked up web site?  I have more fucking trouble with the stocks on the move screen than any other area on your site.  Often when I click on the green or red arrows there is no fucking response. Or, it takes a mother fucking long time to show the results.  IS your sitefucking overwhelmed?????

Also, your site is fucking slow to respond to cliks in various areas. Get your fucking act together. Vector Vest does not have this problem.  

I am utilizing a new computer and high speed internet via Comcast.  So, the fucking problem is not me. 

Sincerely,

A fucking pissed off cutomer who is going to suspend his subscriptions."

Either (A) you just learned this word and are over excited about using it or (B) you don't know any other words!

Do you talk to you mother with that mouth?!

And if you are writing emails like this/think you can talk to our agents like this then we would rather not have you as a subscriber, so you threatening your subscription status doesn't work... FYI

A Day in the Life: Customer Service Volume 48

Real People, Real Emails...

"Why Can't You Provide Service to East Coast Customers as you do For West Coast?

I've been awake since 4:00am waiting for my paper. This is the second day of my subscription and I have no paper. The deliverer has arrived and left my wife's Wall Street Journal w/o my IBD. You don't open for another 3+ hours for me to make the problem known. If you provided East Coast customers with the same courtesies I could have you remedy the problem before the deliverer left the planet. By the time your office comes online my chance of reading my paper today is zilch.

This tends to happen with the paper A LOT. I was assured it changed when I switched from electronic version to paper delivery.

Adding another paper 365 days from now is easy for you to say but what about today? I can't even get into the electronic edition without paying a higher premium!"

Pretty sure you are being a little bit dramatic...

A Day in the Life: Customer Service Volume 47

Real People, Real Emails

"By not offering phone subscription services throughout the night...you are showing why trickle-down economics can never work. You can staff your subscription services throughout the day, night and weekend with a very small staff to resolve after-hours problems quickly."

It is easier said than done, buddy!

Are you serious?

Yes, lets stay open all night for 1 customer to call us...

You're ridiculous

A Day in the Life: Customer Service Volume 46

Real People, Real Emails...

"I am helping a friend and he was under the impression that you offered dial up to those who get your daily newspaper. Is this true or does he have to get it from somewhere else"

We area financial news paper...not an internet service...

Do you know who you are emailing?

A Day in the Life: Customer Service Volume 45

I just spent 45 minutes with this guy and at the end of the call her asks: "Whats your name again?" 

I respond with: "La Tache" 

Customer: "Can I call you Sam?"

......?

I guess there is a first for everything...

A Day in the Life: Customer Service Volume 44

Here is another name silliness!

Customer: Ok Lakeisha, is it Lakeisha?

Me: No, La Tache

Customer: Oh, OK, will you spell it?

So I spell it, he repeats each letter- so I assume he is writing it down... (and he even asked: is it a capital "T"?)

After I finished spelling it, he says: Alright, Lakeisha...

Me: NO LA TACHE

Customer: Oh, is that how you would say it phonetically?

Me: Well that is how you say it...?

Oh boy, people are so silly!

A Day in the Life: Customer Service Volume 43

So it never hurts to ask, the worst that can happen is the answer is "no."

I had a customer call:

Customer: Hi, I am calling to see if you would meet a competitors price?

Me: Unfortunately, we don't price match. What are you looking for, sir?

Customer: I am looking to subscribe, and your competitor, the Wall Street Journal, has a monthly price of $45 but because I am a professional, they are offering it to me for a monthly price of $9.99.

Me: Unfortunately, we can't bring our price that low, sir. What kind of a professional are you? Are you a broker...?

Customer: Oh no, I am a chiropractor.

Me: Unfortunately we only offer professional discounts to brokers.

And we went through the formalities of the end of the call.

Um...how do you expect to get a "professional discount" to a financial newspaper with a job in chiropractics?

That is just silly!

I understand that doctors are professionals, but are you serious? ha!

And doesn't it seem a bit desperate for the WSJ to be offering such a huge discount? ha!

I think so ;-)

A Day in the Life: Customer Service Volume 42

I swear that when people call customer service all of their common sense goes straight out the window!

I have a few examples:

I told a customer to close down his internet explorer and then asked him to go back to our website how he normally get to it. After these instructions, he asks, "Do I go to Internet Explorer?" I respond with: "I don't know, sir, do you?"
Seriously?!

A customer asked how to get to our website, so I told him to open up the internet and he says "Where is the internet?" Um...? Down the street, duh!
Ok...?

Someone calls me because he can't access a part of our website, so I ask if it says "Hi <and your first name>" on the right side of the screen. He says no, so I tell him he needs to sign in. And he was totally dumbfounded about how to sign in! So I tell him, "You click on the button that says 'sign in..'"
Um...?

These are just a few...sometimes people just misplace their 'marbles' before they call and then we are expected to 'find' them for the customer! ha!

A Day in the Life: Customer Service Volume 41

A woman just called to subscribe to our paper. Because the delivery is to a California address, she will be charged a sales tax on top of the rate of the subscription. When I told her this, I heard something muffled on the phone and I said, "I am sorry, what was that?" And she goes: "I'm hissing"

I will leave you with that.

Have a fabulous day, lets hope no one hisses at you today!

A Day in the Life: Customer Service Volume 40

40 posts of just silly customer service issues/requests?! 

Wow!

So I got an email from this potential customer:

Customer Email: "What is your monthly rate?"

So with this email, I sent the canned answer to direct the customer to our website with our subscription rates.

Apparently, that wasn't good enough for him...

(And after the fact, I would be a bit frustrated if I was him because I guess on the site we don't post monthly rates, just annual and higher and we ask customers to call in for prices on Monthly rates - which I didn't realize...

Oops!)

Customer Email: "No monthly rate?"

So I sent him him the monthly rates for the printed edition because he didn't specify otherwise.

That sent him over the edge.

Customer Email: "This lack of a answer is just why I dropped my subscription. Simple question which was what is the monthly rate for the iPad edition can not be answered in 3 attempts. 

Don't bother no longer interested. "

Ok, SIR, you never said you wanted the rate for the iPad version. 

Chillax.

What the heck!?

Like I said, I could understand his tart email #2, totally get it!

But really, with the last/final email?!

ha!

WhatEVERRRR!