Working at call centers or as virtual receptionists can be rewarding and a lot of fun. You not only get to help people, but you are constantly solving their problems and making their lives better.
Yet, there are always customers who get angry, yell at customer care executives and behave like overall jerks. At the same time, there are call center executives who speak poor English, barely understand what the caller is saying, or seem as if they don’t care. While in an ideal world all customers and call center executives are polite to each other, we all know that it isn’t always the reality.
It is a call center executives’ and virtual receptionists’ responsibility is to be kind, professional and helpful, no matter how bad the situation is. We have listed a number of customer service calls that show that things can be wrong on either sides of a telephone call. Some of them are crazy, some are disturbing, and some are downright funny.
1. Call 911 if your burger order is wrong
What should you do if Burger King gets your order wrong? This customer decided to call 911. Should the police “protect you from the wrong cheeseburgers?” After all, it is not just call center executives who get crazy calls. 911 handles them more than any of us will ever do.
2. When the customer is possessed by a demon
Sometimes, customers get angry. They get really angry. This call reveals what call center executives experience when customers lose it. The executive tries to help, but that only makes her angrier. By the time the executive tries to reason with her, it sounds like a demon possesses her. Fast forward to 4:15 if you just want to listen to the demon yell.
3. When the customer care executive addresses a woman as ‘sir’
Due to a combination of language barriers and sound difficulties, these call center executives managed to offend a customer by repeatedly calling her “sir.” While this happens occasionally on a call, a quick correction and apology usually eases the situation. Luckily for our customers here at Abby Connect, we only have American English-speaking call center executives and our calls are not ever handled by international services. This helps us avoid some of these customer service disasters.
4. Agent’s poor listening skills angers caller
This call center executive is clearly trying to help, but his lack of experience and poor listening skills make the caller angry. If there is anything that is more frustrating than bad customer service, it is poor listening skills of the call center agent. This is one of the reasons why we make sure that our answering service executives receive extra training in listening skills, always confirm a caller’s information and use the best technology.
5. Numbers and empathy
What would happen when either the executive or the customer is bad at math? Remember, a large part of customer service is helping customers understand how much they are paying for a service, including minor calculations done over the phone. While we can’t expect customers to be great at math, it is very important for the executive to communicate number-related information in an empathic, clear and correct manner. We feel, this executive didn’t.
6. 8-year old girl wants to demolish her school
At the end of the day, both call center executives and callers are human beings. To conclude with a bit of humor, check out Little Becky phoning a demolitian company in Dublin to ask if they can demolish her school because her teachers give her homework on Fridays. This silly call underlines the importance of humor in our lives and work, while also providing great customer service. All in good fun, the demolition company responds well to this prank. Of course, it is illegal to make threats in many scenarios (even as a joke) so we definitely don’t condone illegal pranks.
We understand that customers do not have any obligation to be polite and nice all the time, and that they may lose their temper, displace their frustrations, or be just plain mean. Yet, as virtual receptionists and call center executives, it is our responsibility to provide friendly, professional, and useful help and assistance to all callers, and to communicate clearly and politely at all times.
