Calling a toll free government number is becoming my hell, not for the fact you can be on hold for a inordinate amount of time, but for the fact when I finally, FINALLY, get a support worker on the phone and I get to ask that simple question of mine, they don’t understand me and treat me like I’m stupid for it!
I don’t care that they have a thick accent, I understand them fine. I speak clearly and concisely, and they have difficulty figuring out that, no I’m not asking for another form, no you don’t need my social, no I haven’t sent the forms yet. A simple question turns into a ten minute conversation, and when I finally get my answer they get frustrated with me and hang up. REALLY?
—proffessional on the phone
This article appears in Mar 5-11, 2009.
I’ve called major organisations and asked them a question about something on their website, only to have them argue with me about that information even being on their website. I’m on the computer when I call, and read it exactly to them, and they still don’t get it. Sometimes, they just have no idea what they’re talking about.
lol I am on hold with superannuation for last 15 minutes and guaranteed when they answer they will probably be of no help. They just answered and guess what, couldn’t tell me any more than what they told me a month ago.
I spent five years in customer service, phones specifically…
Just because you can understand them fine doesn’t mean that they can understand you fine regardless of whether or not you are speaking clearly and especially if they have have an accent, because that means that to them, you probably have an accent too. More often than not they are in a busy, crowded, and noisy office anyway.
If you are on hold it’s because they are busy helping people who called before you did. There’s nothing worse than getting someone off of hold after you have finally, FINALLY, finished with the other five people at the counter who were all demanding your attention at once, only to find that person is pissy for being made to wait their turn.
There’s nothing you can say that will please this person, they have already made up their mind that you are deliberately inconveniencing them. Never mind that you may be understaffed, or unusually busy, or that whatever problem they were calling about in the first place wasn’t your fault.
An experienced worker will have developed a thick skin and have learned to be cheery and nice even when the caller is being blatantly rude, which is about 80% of the time.
But oh how those 20% made your day. So to every patient soul out there who doesn’t act like a spoiled child in these situations, thank you! And have a nice day.
Your lucky you can understand someone with an accent. I have a hearing loss and cant understand any accent. I also cant understand someone who whispers and when I tell them I have a hearing loss and could they speak up a little they whisper even lower so I hang up. Halifax is well known for the whispering language.
Nanners: if someone has to wait because 5 people are head of them, perhaps more CSRs should be hired/put on shift. No excuse for inadequate staffing.
What gets me about this bitch is how the feds seem to think that people who speak french and a TOUCH of english are more employable to work with english people than people who actually speak english. When you’re going for government positions, more often than not your english skills if your first language is french don’t have to be that great, but your french skills if your first language is english has to be top notch. And for what? I’ll probably get flamed up the ass here, but french speaking people in this country are FAR in the minority to english speaking people, yet english speaking people have to bend all the fucking time. I understand french is an official language in Canada, but I seen a lot of qualified people get turned down for jobs because they know french, and a lot of inept, unqualified people get hired because they either know french, or are french speaking (and yes, can barely speak english).
Given the minority in which french speakers exist in this country I think making it an official language was a stupid STUPID idea.
Let the flaming begin.
In a lot of the cases PK, it’s not inadequate staffing in fact, most call centres are over staffed. I honestly think that Government call centres always have a wait because people are calling in with a stupid question that they can find in the website or in the paperwork they have. It’s tax season too, so you’ve gotta be patient. Everyone else in the country is asking: “What’s a T-4 for?” and I’m pretty sure, after hearing something that inane 100 times a day, you’d be pissed too.
Pretty Kitty,
I totally agree with you about the staffing thing, there’s no excuse for it, and in every place I worked in those five years (a total of three) we were always understaffed. Although, I did not work in any government call centers, so I’m not testifying against Dr. Fever’s Statement.
BUT
What people can’t seem to get through their heads is that the person they are talking to on the phone is not in charge of anything. They are not responsible for being understaffed, or for any of the other problems callers have hissy-fits over. Customer service is a thankless job, especially if the only line of communication is a phone line. People are less likely to be civil if they can’t see your face. Need proof? Some of the comments on these message boards should be plenty.
As for the French speaking vs English speaking thing. I can understand your frustration trust me, but again, the poor french guy answering your call wasn’t in charge of the hiring ratios. He’s just doing his job, trying to earn some money. Any public organization in a multicultural nation like Canada is going to have people with accents on staff, and any organization dealing with the public is going to take calls from people with accents. Regardless of whether or not the hiring process is fair, it’s something you’re going to have to deal with. So why not make it easier on everybody by being a grown up about it, and being polite. If you do, you’ll be making that poor french guys day so much better.
that’s why I always prefer e-mail to phones…
well that and you have a paper trail (digitally anyways).
depending on the situation though, it quite helps to know more than the person responding to you. if you make it known that you’re not just farting around asking questions and know exactly what you want, I find you tend to get what you need and much more quickly.
That’s only in my experience, though I will reiterate.. I detest phones.