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A seasonal company calls me in to do customer support during their busy season when the mail has lost customers packages and they havent been delivered and ever

A seasonal company calls me in to do customer support during their busy season when the mail has lost customers packages and they havent been delivered and everybody is crabby. In helping 1000+ customers on a live chat alone none have ever given me a negative review. (which I never let the company forget:) and a major reason they call me in. One tip when dealing with a upset customer, they will often call in angry and instantly start on a tirade of why they are upset. If they do I instantly interrupt them and ask them for account information and assure them we will take care of any issue they have because we are here to help. It does 2 things, you dont want them to rant and build up negative energy so you nip that in the bud and they dont have to relive negative feelings. The assurance that we will take care of them instantly sets tone that no matter what their problem will be solved so you take all the stress away from the start. Telling them you are there to help in a friendly tone makes it very hard for them to express anger since you dont get angry at those helping you. Take away the anger and leave them with happy thoughts. Once the anger is gone the rest is easy. Edit- Also when you interrupt and ask for account information it shows that before you even have to hear the problem you are already working to solve it in a fast and effective manner for them.

TeMPOraL 11y ago
That's a golden advice. Digging into details, I wonder just how much benefit comes from not just telling them "we will take care of any issue you have", but from immediately asking for account details. Instead of sounding cliché, this sends an immediate signal that they're being helped right now. And when someone is actually helping, there's nothing beneficial in being angry at them.
- Mendenhall 11y ago
  I edited before seeing this comment and you had all ready responded. In my experience you are dead on, it shows "I am on this and value your time."
jmadsen 11y ago
Unless, of course, they've just typed in their 16-digit account number before being connected with you ;-) (Doesn't sound like your case, but people will miss that little qualifier. I mean, of course, the cases where they ask for your account number - not verify details)
dasil003 11y ago
Of course if you don't have the juice to actually fix the problem then this can backfire. The most angry I've ever gotten is with Comcast's offshore chat/call center. The reason is because they are trained to tell you that they will solve your problem, and that afterwards that it has been solved in such an emphatic fashion that only a sociopath would dare to question. Yet they do this without any actual indication that what they are doing is having any effect at all. And the worse thing is, even when you call back they act like they are listening to what you did previously, but in fact they are just waiting to interject the script where they make you jump through the same 20 hoops over and over again. In my case it turned out to be a faulty modem, so none of what they were doing had any effect at all, but in no way did they ever let on any actual information or engage in any reasoning. I suspect the only reason hasn't replaced that call center with a voicemail tree is presumably because they need a Turing-test capable human to get the customer to calm down long enough for them to re-read step 25 from the level 1 tech support handbook. I apologize for hijacking your thread, but I had to get this off my chest.
- TeMPOraL 11y ago
  It's easier to dumb human down to the level of machine than to make machine as smart as human. I literally performed an impromptu Turing test on a telemarketer once, because he sounded totally like a TTS system. It took me two minutes to interrupt his monologues and yes-or-no questions and to force him to answer my, open-ended, question. Sadly, it turned out he was a human after all. I do not wish that level of zombification on anyone.
- Mendenhall 11y ago
  I think you bring up a great point and I couldn't agree with you more! If you are not in that situation or can't honestly say that, I strongly suggest not doing it. It would make you look like a liar and leave a bad overall taste in customers mouth. The company I work for thankfully takes customer service very serious. I don't mind helping them because they want their customers to be happy not be blown off or jump through hoops and that personally makes me want to help the company because its something I respect. I usually cant stand support from a company because of many of the concepts you touched on, specially the "hoops" and support not knowing what they are talking about so I empathize with the customers. Appreciate the post! I do love HN because the high level of discussion.

TeMPOraL 11y ago

That's a golden advice. Digging into details, I wonder just how much benefit comes from not just telling them "we will take care of any issue you have", but from immediately asking for account details. Instead of sounding cliché, this sends an immediate signal that they're being helped right now. And when someone is actually helping, there's nothing beneficial in being angry at them.

Mendenhall 11y ago
I edited before seeing this comment and you had all ready responded. In my experience you are dead on, it shows "I am on this and value your time."

jmadsen 11y ago

Unless, of course, they've just typed in their 16-digit account number before being connected with you ;-) (Doesn't sound like your case, but people will miss that little qualifier. I mean, of course, the cases where they ask for your account number - not verify details)

dasil003 11y ago

Of course if you don't have the juice to actually fix the problem then this can backfire. The most angry I've ever gotten is with Comcast's offshore chat/call center. The reason is because they are trained to tell you that they will solve your problem, and that afterwards that it has been solved in such an emphatic fashion that only a sociopath would dare to question. Yet they do this without any actual indication that what they are doing is having any effect at all. And the worse thing is, even when you call back they act like they are listening to what you did previously, but in fact they are just waiting to interject the script where they make you jump through the same 20 hoops over and over again. In my case it turned out to be a faulty modem, so none of what they were doing had any effect at all, but in no way did they ever let on any actual information or engage in any reasoning. I suspect the only reason hasn't replaced that call center with a voicemail tree is presumably because they need a Turing-test capable human to get the customer to calm down long enough for them to re-read step 25 from the level 1 tech support handbook. I apologize for hijacking your thread, but I had to get this off my chest.

TeMPOraL 11y ago
It's easier to dumb human down to the level of machine than to make machine as smart as human. I literally performed an impromptu Turing test on a telemarketer once, because he sounded totally like a TTS system. It took me two minutes to interrupt his monologues and yes-or-no questions and to force him to answer my, open-ended, question. Sadly, it turned out he was a human after all. I do not wish that level of zombification on anyone.
Mendenhall 11y ago
I think you bring up a great point and I couldn't agree with you more! If you are not in that situation or can't honestly say that, I strongly suggest not doing it. It would make you look like a liar and leave a bad overall taste in customers mouth. The company I work for thankfully takes customer service very serious. I don't mind helping them because they want their customers to be happy not be blown off or jump through hoops and that personally makes me want to help the company because its something I respect. I usually cant stand support from a company because of many of the concepts you touched on, specially the "hoops" and support not knowing what they are talking about so I empathize with the customers. Appreciate the post! I do love HN because the high level of discussion.