vB Easy Archive - Abusive Customer

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Abusive Customer
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Posted by: EvilTwentyOne

I am a rep. and for the most part I love my job, but that love is starting to fade. I understand and know how frustrating it can be when it seems like no one wants, cares, or knows how to help resolve a concern, complaint, or issue that a consumer can experience. But lately there seems to be more and more customers who feel they can throw phones at us, use every four letter word in the book (even in other languages), threaten, and in some cases wanna litterlaly throw blows. I dont know who these people think they are, and dont know why they feel this type of behavior is acceptable. These people should just stay at home, they obviously dont know how to function in a normal society. I dont care how mad you are, you have no right to treat people that way and expect them to treat like royalty. Behaving this way contributes to not getting the help you want. I always try my best to help a customer get the help they need but when customers come in behaving like *** holes and big babies throwing phones etc. they shouldn't expect much.

Posted by: ivwshane

Welcome to america

Ps this belongs in the employee rants forum

Posted by: jjdu4

That was one thing that I really hated when I was at Cingular......I worked for them for 6 yrs(tech--then sales) spending the last 2 years in a large mall Kiosk.....people would come up when you had like 20 customers and try and make a scene. I knew my job very well so I had no trouble handling these customers but one day a guy came in being a total *** and I had enough.....I leaned over and told him in a firm way that he was making this personal and that if he wanted to do that he could meet me in the parking lot after work.......never had another problem with guy ever! I'm not suggesting anyone do this as you may lose your job over it but they didn't pay me enough to take abuse like this......by the way I'm still in the wireless business and I can't understand why because I was just telling some of my employees that the wireless industry tends to bring in some FREAKS!

Posted by: DRC72

Quote:

Originally Posted by EvilTwentyOne

I am a rep. and for the most part I love my job, but that love is starting to fade. I understand and know how frustrating it can be when it seems like no one wants, cares, or knows how to help resolve a concern, complaint, or issue that a consumer can experience. But lately there seems to be more and more customers who feel they can throw phones at us, use every four letter word in the book (even in other languages), threaten, and in some cases wanna litterlaly throw blows. I dont know who these people think they are, and dont know why they feel this type of behavior is acceptable. These people should just stay at home, they obviously dont know how to function in a normal society. I dont care how mad you are, you have no right to treat people that way and expect them to treat like royalty. Behaving this way contributes to not getting the help you want. I always try my best to help a customer get the help they need but when customers come in behaving like *** holes and big babies throwing phones etc. they shouldn't expect much.

People need to take anger management classes. Many need serious

Posted by: inteller

well I guess the assign blame criteria falls at "did you create the problem or did they"? I have been ROYALLY pissed off at Sprint before...even most recently. I did not go into the store and make a scene. However I remained -extremely firm- to the person across the counter. I think if you don't budge an inch on a problem until you get help, you can get things done without making a scene. If the person behind the counter blows you off, then it is them that becomes the problem *******.

Here is the equation.

Ther person that pays money for a service is the customer.

The person that takes the money from the customer is the customer SERVICE representative. Therefore the customer should expect TIMELY and RESPECTFUL service. I think the problem these days with customer service reps is they don't take (or dont appear to take) ownership of a customer's problem/issue. Then the customer sees that as getting blown off.

Posted by: damba98

You do understand the risk in that response I hope(?)

Even if you have six inches and 100 lbs on the guy, he might take you up on the offer and return with a lethal weapon.

You're better off either calming him down or calling security IMO.

-P

Quote:

Originally Posted by jjdu4

one day a guy came in being a total *** and I had enough.....I leaned over and told him in a firm way that he was making this personal and that if he wanted to do that he could meet me in the parking lot after work

Posted by: tearsonurcheek

I agree that the sales rep should take ownership of the customer's problem, no matter how minor it is. However, it's been said before, and I'll say it again: Customer Service <> Door Mat. Notice how none of these job titles include the word "slave"? There's a difference between being firm and insisting on the service you're paying for, and being a baby. The second you throw a phone or become verbally/physically abusive to the rep behind the counter (or on the other end of the phone), you are hampering their ability to provide service, not only to you, but to all their other customers, and the rep (or at least the manager) has every right to call security/police and have you removed from the property, without addressing your issue. At the point you become physically violent (throwing phones, etc.), the manager's responsibility at that point changes from helping you get your problem fixed to ensuring the safety of the reps and other customers. I honestly find it difficult to understand why people get so overblown about what may be a five-second fix, when they haven't even given the rep a chance to know what the problem is, much less try to fix it. Those of you in my age group (I'm 35) probably had parents that would make them go back and apologize to the person in front of everyone, on top of whatever punishment they got at home. Parents need to take more responsibility for the upbringing of their kids, and a lot of the world's problems would go away.

Keep the Faith,

Lance

Posted by: 155

Quote:

Originally Posted by ivwshane

Welcome to america

Exactly. Step into any busy Wal-mart or Target. When you walk around it feels like the people are going to run you over with a shopping cart.

People have just gotten abusive.

Posted by: cgd

From my observance civility and manners in general have gone out the window and have given way to a sense of entitlement. You can see it while driving (some people can just pull out whenever they want, run redlights, cut you off, etc.), and esp. in customer service. I agree that customers should be treated well, but this does not include being allowed to curse the CSR, throw phones, or threaten anyone.

More and more people think they should be able to say or do anything they please, no matter what the consequences, the it's-all-about-me attitude. I'm not sure when people forgot they live in a society with others who have rights too. Self-esteem is a good thing, but sometimes I think that movement went a bit too far because now some folks think that they're the only important person in the world and that the world turns solely for them.

Your abusive customers are part of a larger trend in the decline of politeness and decent behavior. Unfortunately this trend shows no signs of reversal. Yes, I'm middle-aged, but this is what I've observed over the 40-odd years I've been here.

Posted by: DjDynasty

Yesterday I was at Sprint and this customer came in complaing about his phone being turned off. He had a 250 credit limit, his balance was $169 for his bill, but his account was hotlined for part of the ballance being 30 days past due. He was absolutely abusive, thick italian accent that sounded like something out of the god father, kept calling the rep Johnny, who kept repeating his name as John, Even the store manager came out front because of this guy. Considering John is this little flaky queen, And the rest of the store was all women, I stuck around longer than normal until this guy left, not to be nosey, but I didn't trust this guy he was getting *****y, Finally I pointed out that the store only serves as a place to pay your bill, all billing screw ups require you to call *2 and even with your phones turned off you can do that. He gave me a dirty look like 'Who the heck are you to tell me what to do, you're not on payroll?' And two of the reps then thanked me for pointing that out to him, as I'm the first person who got him to listen to that in the 2 hours he's been standing in the store screaming. Now that he offically felt like a moron, plus he didn't grasp the concept of "You still get billed even for months you don't use your phone. " So when I stepped in, I explained if he doesn't want to get billed for months he doesn't use his phone, perhaps he should trade in his two sprint phones, terminate the account, get two boost mobile phones, and pay $1.50 a day PER PHONE for unlimited talking to each other. He didn't like the hint I was giving him towards pre-paid that he has bad credit because he can't figure out how to pay his bill and left... As thanks from the store, I basiclly got two body glove bluetooth devices 1/2 off.
I see this atleast 10 times during my course of going into either Sprint or Cingular. Typically I'm there to SS the place, So they know me by now cause I'll put butt head customers in line. It's called SALES. They sell you the serivce.. *2 or 611 deals with you after the fact, INCLUDING CANCELATIONS!

Posted by: dsampley

I deal with Cingular customer service just about every month with problems, changes etc. I have found through experience that generally the nicer I am to the person I am speaking with on the phone, the more help I tend to get. If I get someone that is not being helpful, I polietly hang up, wait a while and then call again.

I think if we all just put ourselves in the other person's shoes for a minute, we would have less problems with tempers, abuse etc.

Posted by: inteller

Quote:

Originally Posted by DjDynasty

Yesterday I was at Sprint and this customer came in complaing about his phone being turned off. He had a 250 credit limit, his balance was $169 for his bill, but his account was hotlined for part of the ballance being 30 days past due. He was absolutely abusive, thick italian accent that sounded like something out of the god father, kept calling the rep Johnny, who kept repeating his name as John, Even the store manager came out front because of this guy. Considering John is this little flaky queen, And the rest of the store was all women, I stuck around longer than normal until this guy left, not to be nosey, but I didn't trust this guy he was getting *****y, Finally I pointed out that the store only serves as a place to pay your bill, all billing screw ups require you to call *2 and even with your phones turned off you can do that. He gave me a dirty look like 'Who the heck are you to tell me what to do, you're not on payroll?' And two of the reps then thanked me for pointing that out to him, as I'm the first person who got him to listen to that in the 2 hours he's been standing in the store screaming. Now that he offically felt like a moron, plus he didn't grasp the concept of "You still get billed even for months you don't use your phone. " So when I stepped in, I explained if he doesn't want to get billed for months he doesn't use his phone, perhaps he should trade in his two sprint phones, terminate the account, get two boost mobile phones, and pay $1.50 a day PER PHONE for unlimited talking to each other. He didn't like the hint I was giving him towards pre-paid that he has bad credit because he can't figure out how to pay his bill and left... As thanks from the store, I basiclly got two body glove bluetooth devices 1/2 off.
I see this atleast 10 times during my course of going into either Sprint or Cingular. Typically I'm there to SS the place, So they know me by now cause I'll put butt head customers in line. It's called SALES. They sell you the serivce.. *2 or 611 deals with you after the fact, INCLUDING CANCELATIONS!

you have the wrong view of a sprint store compared to the general concensus. If all the stores purpose was to sell phones and plans, then #1 they need to put a huge sign on the front of the door that says "THIS STORE IS FOR SALES ONLY, CALL *2 FOR CUSTOMER SERVICE" and #2 They need to remove all service realted things like bill pay machines from the store.

Also, the 'REPS' in the store are not on a comission only structure, which I feel is required for good salesmen. If the sprint stores are meant to be sales only, then thats what they need to be. It encourages MUCH better salesmanship. However they aren't, so they need to handle customer service issues too.

Also your intervention with the Italian guy is a good way to get yourself beat up or worse. You think I kid, but I have seen other people do worse. Let the SALES rep deal with them

Posted by: remusrm

Quote:

Originally Posted by DjDynasty

I am a patient person, but I hate that the stores in cell land seem to be for sales only.. They gadly take any form of pay to sign up but then they turn your back on you. I have no respect for that... The pay machines especially in cingular stores do not work. also i do not think is fare to have more crap available over the phone then in the store... from a business point of view the store represents the company. tmobile does allow you to pay your bill on corporate stores. take for ex: macys, sears, etc... they all allow full account info on the store level... i have calling all the time and most of the time in sprint case they screw over your account.

Posted by: DjDynasty

Quote:

Originally Posted by inteller

The reps of this store were all quite concerned over the guy. He kept arguing the same thing over and over. He was there at 10:30 in the morning when I got in to pick up my Treo. I waited around until almost 2:30 for him to finally leave and left 10 minutes after him. I wasn't rude to him. I was extremely polite about the limited powers of the Sprint Store. Even though Sprint store has full retention powers (That's why I have the retention codes on my account that I do) This guy was being a jerk, He wanted his phone turned on NOW, But it simply couldn't happen, even if he did pay the full bill.

The reps were happy that the guy finally left after me pointing out that the reps couldn't do anything other than sales and take payments or change plans, that billing errors needed to be dealt with with Customer Service. Even though it was a little white lie, the point was, he left!

And as far as him hurting me. I weigh 375lbs. And I'm 6'2" Most people back down because of the deep commanding power of my voice. I'm so fat I bleed gravy!

Posted by: DjDynasty

Quote:

Originally Posted by remusrm

I use Sprint Stores for full account services that I need. Cingular I have a rep in Executive Services that I shoot an e-mail too or call her direct extention and she e-mails me back to my phone with reply to the voicemail. Verizon I never bothered with anything outside of the store, because I didn't survive 2 months with them. T-Mobiles corporate stores were the bomb. But I hated them as a carrier because of how they treated me.

Posted by: EvilTwentyOne

Sorry I should have pointed out I was talking about customers who where already pissed off. But no matter who is to blame thats no excuse or reason to throw phones, curse, etc. In your equation you gave us, it seems to me that just because you pay money (the customer) and we take money (the c/s rep.) gives the right to treat people like ****. I take pride in my job and try my hardest to listen and WORK WITH THE CUSTOMER to resolve what ever problem they are having. Yes WORK WITH THE CUSTOMER it takes the efforts of both parties to work together to find the best fix in the shortest amount of time possible. When one side is unwilling to do there part and waste both parties time throwing hissy fits and wanting to fight they only prevent themselves from getting customer service the want.

Posted by: blue8282

If I have a phone thrown at me, I throw it right back

Posted by: izod

First of all - yes, it is sad to see that stores actually SELL THINGS, and are not SERVICE CENTERS. As a rep for an agent, I WISH we could do more for my customers. I WANT to be able to take care of them, but I cant. And I have no control over what my computer will and won't show me, or allow me to do. DO NOT BLAME US REPS. Nothing excuses a grown man or woman lying through their teeth "I don't know what happened, it just stopped working" in regards to a sopping wet phone. Nothing excuses a grown man or woman using language to me they wouldn't say in front of their mother. WE HAVE NO CONTROL OVER THESE THINGS. Complain to corporate, not to the reps, agents, managers, etc. on the retail level. "I am but a pawn in the game of life." "Like my father said, treat others as you want to be treated". If we all lived by this, we'd have a hell of a situation on our hands.

Posted by: Chylder

You guys want to work in stores where you get treated like a human being? True recognition and thanks for helping a customer? Move to Canada. I've NEVER seen anyone throwing a fit like that up here.

Posted by: JDScott302

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chylder

You guys want to work in stores where you get treated like a human being? True recognition and thanks for helping a customer? Move to Canada. I've NEVER seen anyone throwing a fit like that up here.

I can attest to this because i spent a lot of time in cornwall ontario when i turned 19. Drinking age is 19 there

. Never had i ever seen anything there that happens in the states. People are so laid back there.

Posted by: magiteck

At least in my area, most Service Providers don't have a "retail outlet". If you want Customer Service, you call in to Customer Service. I don't see why a Wireless Service Provider should be any different.

Examples:

LandLine: If my landline stops working... I call SBC. I don't go run into their 10-story call center downtown. No, I use a phone that does work and call them.

Television: If my cable TV stops working, I call Time Warner. I don't look for a "Time Warner store". I call "Customer Service."

Pitney Bowes: If I have a problem with my Postage Meter bill, I don't run into their call center nearby. I CALL their "Customer Service".

Utilities: If my electricity goes out, I don't drive down to the power plant. I call their emergency and/or "Customer Service" lines.

Water: If I have a problem with my water, I call the city Water Works. I don't go yell at the mayor's office.

Internet: If my DSL stops working, I CALL SBC. There is no retail outlet to go visit!

These are all Service Providers - just like a Wireless Provider. If we are accepting of using Telephone Customer Service for all these other Services... why do we have such a hard time accepting it for wireless?

Additionally, if a customer has a legitimate complaint, then yes, he/she should be firm yet polite. The problem is, many customers that become rude and/or abrasive, DON'T have legitimate complaints.

eg:
C:"My bill is $500". R:"That's because you insisted on the 450 minute plan, and used 1600 minutes" C:"I demand that you credit this!"

C:"My phone has never worked at my house, cancel me without ETF!" R:"You've had the phone for 8 months, we gave you a 30-day trial" C:"So what! I demand you cancel me without ETF!"

--
I don't have a problem fixing my errors, and legitimate complaints. However, sadly, most complaints that I receive are NOT legitimate.

Oh well. I feel that the positives of what I do outweigh the negatives!

Posted by: DjDynasty

When I lived in Canada, I could take my cable boxes back to the retail outlets of the Roger's store, Comcast has the same thing in Chicago.
As far as SBC? Stands for Shi**y Bell Service. When My cable quits working, I call the office of the president for Comcast and ask to speak to Brian Roberts or his admin. I havn't paid a cable bill at this location in full in 3 years. Why? They can't give me a 100% signal, I'm not going to pay a 100% bill. Dish Network in Colorado hates me for the same reason. Everytime it goes out (regardless of weather) I'm on the phone for a service credit.

Calling the mayors office over water? Yep, I've done it, our water exceeds the EPA standards of safe drinking water, yet they expect us to pay for this? I call every month. Since garbage is included on that bill, I complain about garbage too.

And yes, I have visited the corporate head quarters of ComEd, GM, Ford Motor Company, Microsoft, & Packard Bell to complain about the crap products, and return them for their money back. GM I showed up with news camera's they took my crapppy grand am, handed me a brand new firebird convertible, which I drove 3 blocks to the Ford Dealership.

AT&T doesn't charge me anymore because of a text messaging glitch. I get charged international texts on 1 line to send texts to the primary line on the account. The person is in Denver, I'm in Chicago. Every month there is 1 text charge, I call executive offices, they apologize, credit 100% of my bill back to my account so I don't have to even bother fighting to see any other billing screw up. (they said they will only do this while my account is in contract...OPPS NBO keeps forgetting to read the part about do not renew contract on this customer when I order upgrades every couple months. I have more 3120's than I know what to do with.)

Posted by: VOLVORacr

Quote:

Originally Posted by dsampley

I deal with Cingular customer service just about every month with problems, changes etc. I have found through experience that generally the nicer I am to the person I am speaking with on the phone, the more help I tend to get. If I get someone that is not being helpful, I polietly hang up, wait a while and then call again.

I think if we all just put ourselves in the other person's shoes for a minute, we would have less problems with tempers, abuse etc.

AMEN!!!!

Someone finally figured it out.

Posted by: Alfred_Neuman

my problems stem a lot from cs. cs just keeps pounding away telling customers we have loaner phones, we'll do something we cant do but they can and other crap.

so when this guy comes in complaining to me, i must make him realize yes cs was wrong (nothing new there) and i cant do what they asked.

aside from cs giving me crap, customers lately calmed down.

Posted by: suicidal2af

Quote:

Originally Posted by Alfred_Neuman

my problems stem a lot from cs. cs just keeps pounding away telling customers we have loaner phones, we'll do something we cant do but they can and other crap.

so when this guy comes in complaining to me, i must make him realize yes cs was wrong (nothing new there) and i cant do what they asked.

aside from cs giving me crap, customers lately calmed down.

Yeah, that's an annoying one too.

Alfred, have you read the "wasting time coming into stores" thread? Back me up on that one please

Posted by: drinkbrew

Quote:

Originally Posted by remusrm

you can make your payment to cigular over the phone with check or credit card from home or anywhere else without the help of a sales rep (notice i said sales rep not, can i dial the phone for you rep), the payment centers in the stores works fine, if the payment center doesn't work at the store you goto doesn't work get with the store manager so they can fix it but it works just fine at every other store. I can't speak for the rep in the store you goto but if there are 15 people wiating in my store to activate service or other things that will make us money, i don't want to babysit someone paying their bill when they can do it by themselves by just listening to the menu when they call 611 or using the payment center with cash by putting in their number and zip code.

Posted by: drinkbrew

Quote:

Originally Posted by EvilTwentyOne

as far as abusive customers go give them a copy of the terms and conditions and highlight this phrase
"We may interrupt or terminate your service without notice for any conduct that we believe violates this Agreement or any terms and conditions of your rate plan, or if you behave in an abusive, derogatory or similarly unreasonable manner with any of our representatives"
and yes they will loose their number and get an ETF if they are in contract