Ask a Retail Call Center Rep anything

When someone complains about a rep to a supervisor, how much effect does that acutally have? How many complaints before there'd be some sort of discipline of that rep?

Asked by Dhot about 9 years ago

It's honestly situation based. If a customer complains about a representative, most companies will, regardless of the situation, listen to the call. Then, based on the company's standards and disciplinary process, they will decide how to move forward if the rep did indeed conduct themselves inappropriately.

I have been involved in the discussion of many of these calls. I have seen the outcome where the rep was given a verbal warning all the way up to and including termination for ONE bad call. Most companies take these situations seriously and do try to keep their reps in the understanding that if you mistreat the customers, you will be removed from the company.

It all depends on the situation

579 Votes

How does your performance get evaluated? Do supervisors listen to your calls and what if they happen to choose a really crappy set of calls to evaluate?

Asked by Ertro3x about 9 years ago

Most companies are going to monitor several metrics. Handle time, speed to answer the call, accuracy of information given, sticking to the quality expectations the company has as well as schedule adhearance. Schedule adhearance is important in the industry because that means the agent is on the phone when they are supposed to be. Things that would have a negative impact on schedule adhearance are things like getting stuck on a call so you are going to break late or going to the bathroom when its not a scheduled break time, that sort of thing. basically anything that goes off the set schedule you are under, hurts you.

For the call center industry, time is money. There are people that run constant analytics and forecasting for any sector that is customer facing. They use forecasting models to predict call volume so that the company can make sure they are adequately staffed. If someone gets stuck on a call and goes to break say 5 minutes late, that five minutes late they come back (break still needs to be taken obviously) then that can have a negative impact on the numbers the business is graded on like abandon rate (customer hangs up before they get to an agent because of the long wait time) and overall customer service ratings (if it takes forever to call in, you aren't going to be very happy with their customer service. right?) So the goal is to stick as closely to your schedule as possible to keep the number crunchers happy.

Now obviously an agent isn't tied to a desk and refused bathroom breaks so if ya gotta go, go, just hurry. But they encourage time management so that you are at your desk, on the phone when they need you more. Most companies have a goal of around 90-95% minimum but want as close to 100% as possible. As 100% is almost impossible, they do give a little bit of breathing room to account for real life, but use the facilities and get a drink on break because when you aren't on break, you need to have your headset on, talking to whoever is calling in. Handle time is important because if everyone is hitting handle time goals, then forecasting is a breeze and customers have a better experience when they call in which helps create more revenue (happy customer buys happily) and stuff like that.

The industry as a whole is more or less a numbers game. Once you learn the numbers and what they mean, you have to figure out how to hit it and do it. That's what your paycheck is going to reflect.

Yes supervisors listen to calls. This is how the agents get better at their job. Typically the supervisor will go over any calls that have been monitored and scored by the QA (quality assurance) department (which are supposed to be randomly selected) and go from there. When i was a supervisor, and I have seen in my experience this isn't an uncommon practice, I would also randomly find calls and listen to see what I can find personally that QA might miss to help my agents better develop professionally.

It does occasionally happen where an agent has a bad set of calls. We all have bad days. As long as nothing is considered "gross misconduct" like hanging up on a customer to avoid dealing with the call or speaking inappropriately to a customer (negative things about the company or product, swearing, or anything generally offensive) then its simply a matter of showing the agent the mistake and helping them learn from it. I have never fired an agent because of a bad day as long as the customers weren't treated poorly. Missing a few things on a QA evaluation or unintentionally giving incorrect information are all things that are easily fixable regardless of the situation. As long as the customer isn't mistreated (for examples of mistreatment, see comcast LOL) then we have the ability to fix the issue as long as the agent responds to feedback and actually puts into place the instructions the supervisor gives, then we have no issue. If it becomes habitual and the agent isnt improving, then we need to look at evaluating if the position is the right one for that person. But that takes months in most cases so the agent knows what is coming.

599 Votes

Do you think most CS reps think of it as their long-term career or just something temporary? How about you? Is it intellectually stimulating enough for you in the long run?

Asked by Snooper about 9 years ago

To be honest, when i started in this industry, it was a paycheck until i decided what I wanted to do with the rest of my life. Having still been undecided in what I want to do with my life, I have continued to atleast better myself in the industry I do work in, so that hopefully i will come across something that will stimulate me long term. I enjoy the person to person interaction but I do not feel this is something (for me) that is a lifetime career. I still have yet to meet one person that does. Everyone that I have come into contact with in my work has fallen into the position because they needed a job and just never left because of one reason or another. Being a phone rep for the rest of your life (in most business sectors) doesn't pay even to the middle of the middle class and I have a wife who is a stay at home mother for our son so we definitely struggle financially. Getting into management does provide a pay increase but it definitely lacks the mental stimulation i'm looking for as well. So while I will definitely try to advance my career in this industry so that if nothing else i have the management experience on my resume when I do find what I want to do with my life, I have no intention of staying for the rest of my professional life.

745 Votes

Other than being a good listener which seems obvious, what traits would you say are required if you want to get into telephone customer service?

Asked by igotstripes over 9 years ago

Computer literacy is very important' especially nowadays. I also look for agents (when im involved in the process) that have the ability to think quick on their feet, think outside the box, and have the ability to keep a positive attitude. A lot of the customers have a negative attitude and one company I worked for previously was so aggressive with their expectations that people would have to be put on anxiety medications because they felt so pressured.

The reason I am able to be successful in this industry is that I don't let those things get to me. I fully understand the reality of the world and business and frankly, don't care to put myself under that much stress. i take everything everyone says with a grain of salt and when I am not hitting the metrics I need to, I focus on implimenting the feedback im given and leave it at that. As long as an agent is doing those things, its very difficult to be fired in this industry.

i also feel like you need the ability to accept feedback constructively and not as an attack. If you cant take critisizm well, you will not last long at all. Additionally, having a good set of ethics and a good moral code help. It is always very tempting for some to do things that are unethical or immoral to make an extra buck. Don't do it or you will get caught, and most companies are not afraid to assist to make sure the person is prosecuted for fraud if need be.

So in short, Computer literacy, a positive attitude, good time management skills, able to accept feedback well, a good moral code, and an understanding of what ethics mean is important. Also, good people skills are mandatory. if you dont like people and take everything seriously, do something else with your life because the call center industry will be a living hell for you.

538 Votes

Do more call center reps work for several companies at once, like they have to be trained for any of them, and then their phone displays which company a caller is calling about?

Asked by rich over 9 years ago

I have only seen 1 company that does this but i know more exist. They use software that routes the call to the agent and shows them the number the customer called. These are usually pretty horrible centers. They are revolving doors for people just looking for a paycheck. The third party company that operates the center cares about the bottom dollar, not the rep. Those of us with more experience that have come across these companies avoid them like the plague unless its absolutely necessary. Ill work fast food again before i go to a company like that. The companies that use them usually have very little concern for the customer experience either.

Now its not uncommon for companies to use third party companies to supplement the call support. But, the ones that do better will dedicate reps to different accounts. For example, 50 people are dedicated the cell phone company A, they only take those calls daily and its like they work for that company they take calls for they just get a paycheck from the 3rd party company. This is done by companies to Outsource and save money but still keep the jobs in the US so they don't take the PR hit and its easier for them to control what the outsourced reps do.

614 Votes

If a customer service representative screws up in something she tells me (like gives me a wrong price for a service for example), is the company bound to honor that, even if the rep just made a mistake?

Asked by Edok0 over 9 years ago

I'm surprised it took someone this long to ask this!

The short answer is no. Humans make errors. a company can't be held liable because sales rep you talked to knew he was about to get fired so he told the last 5 customers he talked to you could get free cable for 6 months. They are honor bound to do SOMETHING, but are not required to do anything other then say it wasn't a valid offer and they can't do anything.

The only time it gets to where the company has to do something is if its advertised. Then they need to investigate it. If the ad was printed wrong or something, a simple retraction letter covers them on it. Now if you were promised a valid promotion and that wasn't given (89.99 a month for a year for your cable bundle) the company is bound to correct that within a reasonable amount of time as long as its caught within a reasonable amount of time. For example... if it takes you 6 months to realize you didn't get the promotion, don't expect to get credit for the difference for the last 6 months or whatever it would have been. rule of thumb is 90 days. As far as i know that's a policy of the FTC has. Now some companies ( i have done this myself) will start the promotion as of the date you catch it and let it go for the advertised time.

Now if a company has its reps telling customers one things and they are doing another, that's a whole other issue where the FTC and BBB need to be contacted as that's false advertising and fraud. But one off issues, the laws usually favor the company because of the possibility of human and computer error.

I will say though, all calls are recorded and MOST companies have to note the calls. These are both able to be used in legal proceedings.

634 Votes

Are most call centers still big bullpens with hundreds of phone reps or is it moving to a system where you can work mostly from home?

Asked by shot22 over 9 years ago

Some companies have a very virtual system. This allows the flexibility of working from home or telecommuting during bad weather situations. However, because of the liability issues and the bigger risk involved in that situation, most companies do not allow it. Several do but require stellar stats for a year or two before you can transition to a work from home capacity.

611 Votes

Call Center Employee (Retail)

Ask me anything!

What do YOU do?

When someone complains about a rep to a supervisor, how much effect does that acutally have? How many complaints before there'd be some sort of discipline of that rep?

How does your performance get evaluated? Do supervisors listen to your calls and what if they happen to choose a really crappy set of calls to evaluate?

Do you think most CS reps think of it as their long-term career or just something temporary? How about you? Is it intellectually stimulating enough for you in the long run?

Other than being a good listener which seems obvious, what traits would you say are required if you want to get into telephone customer service?

Also on Jobstr...

Do more call center reps work for several companies at once, like they have to be trained for any of them, and then their phone displays which company a caller is calling about?

If a customer service representative screws up in something she tells me (like gives me a wrong price for a service for example), is the company bound to honor that, even if the rep just made a mistake?

Are most call centers still big bullpens with hundreds of phone reps or is it moving to a system where you can work mostly from home?

Call Center Employee (Retail)

Ask me anything!

What do YOU do?

When someone complains about a rep to a supervisor, how much effect does that acutally have? How many complaints before there'd be some sort of discipline of that rep?

How does your performance get evaluated? Do supervisors listen to your calls and what if they happen to choose a really crappy set of calls to evaluate?

Do you think most CS reps think of it as their long-term career or just something temporary? How about you? Is it intellectually stimulating enough for you in the long run?

Other than being a good listener which seems obvious, what traits would you say are required if you want to get into telephone customer service?

Also on Jobstr...

Do more call center reps work for several companies at once, like they have to be trained for any of them, and then their phone displays which company a caller is calling about?

If a customer service representative screws up in something she tells me (like gives me a wrong price for a service for example), is the company bound to honor that, even if the rep just made a mistake?

Are most call centers still big bullpens with hundreds of phone reps or is it moving to a system where you can work mostly from home?

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