obiwan

Has anyone worked or is currently working day-shift in an inbound (not telemarketing) call centre?

Hope you can share your experiences, or anything you have heard about the industry or this type of work..i might be getting a job offer from one in the city. its a Monday-Friday 9-5pm job...its basically a customer service job answering inquiries, clarifications etc...

thanks!

Vash the Stampede

I worked for Telewest Broadband for most of 2005, based in their Small Heath sales support call centre. Took phone calls from sales reps all day and night (shift work) and left after 9 months because I was going insane.

Some people like it (I knew people who had worked there for years) but I just couldn't handle the grinding tedium and the sheer bloodyminded rudeness of the people I had to speak with.

Be prepared to discover that the human species contains levels of stupidity that you would not have believed possible in a sentient being.

The one saving grace was our online staff forum, where we chat to our hearts' content. My favourite thread was entitled "Things you hate customers saying..." and ran to 18 pages.

I'll post some examples in a moment...

Vash the Stampede

• Customer: My Internet isn't working.
  
  Staff: What lights are on the cable?
  
  Customer: Don't know, I'm not at home right now.

• Staff: Can I take your password please? (Their password is "dog".)
  
  Customer: Don't know!
  
  Staff [uses alternative security checks to access customer's account...] OK, would you like to reset your password?
  
  Customer: Yes, you better put it as "dog" so I remember!

• Staff: Good afternoon, thank you for calling Blueyonder technical support, my name is Ian Clark, can I take your name please?
  
  Customer: My Internet's not working!!
  
  Staff: Do you have your username or account number?
  
  Customer: No
  
  Staff: Telephone number?
  
  Customer: No, don't know it.
  
  Staff: House number and postcode?
  
  Customer: No, it's not my account, I don't live here and I don't know the post code.

• Staff: OK, your box will take 2/3 mins to load back up. but can you let me know when it says it's loading the data, please?
  
  Customer: Yeah sure... it says that now
  
  Staff: OK great. Now, how many lights are on the front of your box?
  
  Customer: One...no two...no sorry, one.....no, its two again....no one....two!!
  
  Staff: Is one of the lights flashing sir...?
  
  Customer: Ah... yes.

• Me [speaking to sales rep]: So, how are you taking the payment?
  
  Rep: £25 on a card.
  
  [I confirm the card details and attempt to take the payment]
  
  Me: OK, well that payment has been declined.
  
  Rep [speaking to the customer]: Your card has been declined.
  
  Customer: Oh.
  
  Rep [speaking to the sub]: Is there any money in that account?
  
  Customer: No.

And so on, and so forth...

Fiona&malc

classic, especially the last one

obiwan

thanks for sharing your experiences. and those quotes are hilarious!

Dorothy

The temp agency I work for in Adelaide does mostly admin and call centre recruiting. It's very big business, especially in SA. Like Vash said, some people hate it and other thrive on it. I have a friend here who has been doing inbound call centre work for about 10 years. She now works for Housing SA and absolutely loves it. There are some really good centres to work for and some really bad ones. PM if you like and let me know who it is and I'll let you know what I can find out about them.

ohippy

I've worked in call centres for many years on the management side and would say that there are good ones and bad ones - that mainly comes down to how you are targeted as the targets speak volumes eg if all the things you are targeted on are stats (eg length of call, number of calls a minute) you can guarantee that you'll have someone on your back all day long. If the targets also include the soft skills (eg rapport with customer, closing) then that is an indicator that they may be one of the better ones.

scotlandtooz

I've worked in a couple of call centres for the last few years in management. It's not a job for everyone, and it can be quite tough. There's a bit of a common misconception that call centre work can be quite easy - and fair enough, some of it can, but the better paid stuff tends to be things that mean you have to use your brain quite a lot, and deal with more 'difficult' customers. I would agree with ohippy that you need to look at what agents are targeted on to see what kind of working atmosphere you'll have - if its just call time etc, then it'll be quite rubbish, but if customer service is a big deal, then you'll have more leeway to help people, rather than just get them off the phone asap. You will need to be quite self motivated, and strict with yourself as well - its not like some office jobs can be, where you can get away with spending half the day gossiping - you need to be on the phone all the time, or at least ready to take a call.

I would second as well that you really won't belive your ears at some of the people you speak to. They can be mean and rude, and personally offensive at times. They can also be lovely though, which can be rewarding when you've just worked your bum off to sort their problem out.

The amount of people that just don't have a clue is astounding as well - about basic things in life, that you can't imagine how they manage to stay alive and well! I can't really go into any detail, as I keep hearing stories about people getting sacked etc for talking about their work on the internet, but honestly. Some people are a hazard to themselves!

_Australia

I didn't think a call centre job was enough skill to move to Australia? or are you going through a company? I would be interested in your findings as i work in a call centre also.

obiwan

Thank Dorothy! PMed ya

obiwan

Thank you for the insights ohippy and scotlandtooz, now i know what to look out for as far as how targets are done by the company since i dont think i want someone to be on my back all day long..i hope this is the type of company who doesnt just go by quantity of calls, they claim to focus on customer service as the priority....

LOL, didnt know you could get sacked for posting what some customers say on the net even if it is anonymous....

the people supposedly get 60-80 calls on a slow day and 90-100 on busy days...

cheers!

obiwan

hi Vash,

just wondering if what made you quit was having to deal with the comedian customers or did the night shift get to you? someone told me the turnover rates were very high with the night shifts and understandably so....

thanks

obiwan

i dont think it is though, like many other migrants, i qualified for PR on a different Job occupation.

Vash the Stampede

Fortunately, I wasn't customer-facing so I didn't have to deal with them. I spoke to our sales reps all the time - but I can assure you that they were often WORSE than customers, because they knew what they could get away with. Some of them were utterly foul, and took great pleasure in being as unpleasant as possible. Since I resent being treated like scum (particularly when the offender is far less intelligent than myself, but being paid a lot more) I found this quite intolerable.

Yes, turnover rates are very high on the night shifts; it's a high-stress job and the hours are unsociable, so it all adds up. I could have coped with the night shift more easily if (a) the work hadn't been so rotten, (b) the company had paid us penalty rates for working unsociable hours (this seems to be very rare if not totally non-existent in the UK) and (c) I hadn't needed to drive 45 minutes to work every day (Walsall to Birmingham).

It was worse when I married; I was hardly seeing my wife at all, except for late at night and an hour in the morning.

Call centres tend to be obsessed with performance statistics, so if you enjoy being micro-managed until you're bleeding from the ears, you'll enjoy working in a call centre. Personally, I hate it; I want to come in to work and be left alone to get on with it.

Fenton

Worked in a few call centres in the UK and they did drive me insane, as said previously they are all performance based, and if its like the UK the turnover of staff will be huge...It is also completely boring, and usually have managementt that treat you like a 4 year old