Aug 7, 2008
How to get what you need (assuming it’s reasonable) from a huge company.
Call repeatedly.
Every conversation is with a different agent. You’ll eventually reach someone who combines knowledge and helpfulness to create solutions.
Maybe.
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Theme based on Derek Punsalan's Grid Focus.
If you believe that, can I interest you in a bridge I’ve got for sale?
Phone lines are there to suck your soul dry. Interestingly, the effect is just as pronounced at both ends.
But, OK then, I’ll bite – tell us about your great victory. Anything to take my mind off today’s night of the living dead encounters with “help” (HA!) lines to the oleaginous thwarted demi-monde zombie people of British Gas.
You are right, this is the ONLY way to handle these types of places. We also have an understanding about government office/agency visits…always plan on 3 trips before you actually get something (hopefully the correct thing) accomplished.
Here’s a little trick I use on occasion when dealing with large organizations where the first 4 tiers of folks are not capable of resolving a reasonable issue.
First, do some searching to find how the company handles their email account naming. Is is first.last@company.com or flast@company.com?
Once you’ve found their naming convention go back online and pull up their press releases. Usually it will include the name of some VP of account services or customer service. Based on the information you’ve acquired from your previous search you should be able to put together a pretty reasonable guess at the email address of the person who may actually be able to get you the service you need.
Now, don’t be telling everyone my trick or it will quickly become useless.
I agree! Exactly as you say…I needed to get back a decent amount of money from a company. I talked to 3 different kinds of people:
1. people that didn’t care
2. people that cared, but couldn’t do anything about it
3. 1 person who cared and could do something about it.
I got person #3 after about a dozen calls, and a total of a couple hrs on the phone.
I got stuck in the Cincinnati airport once…was told I couldn’t get a flight back home for another 9 hours. I kept going from desk to desk and asked over a dozen different folks the same thing and finally got a flight back in about 3 hours. Thing is…I was surrounded on the plane by empty seats…
I have found that if you ask for a manager, you’ll be able to go further in the conversation.
Who wants to be on the phone that much? After I have waded through all the lunacy of the $7hr guy in the cubicle and too frustrated to wait any longer…
z
So, if you get one of the same unhelpful people on a subsequent phone call, do you hang up and re-try? Or ask them again?
I hang up and redial.
Another way to get something from the huge company-
Any time our internet service is down at home and I am required to call tech support, I ask for our monthly rate to be discounted. They always agree.
Yes indeed. So true.
I admit that I do this very thing. Actually, earlier this week with Sears.
However, on the flip side… before becoming a stay-at-homer, I worked in a bank. I was often peaved by folks who implemented this practice of repeated calls demanding to talk to different people. Perhaps that was because we weren’t huge and we had good communication so everyone was on the same page with what cranky customer wanted and we were able to consistently tell them the same thing.
So, in conclusion, make sure the company you’re taking issue with is big enough that they aren’t all discussing you after you hang up each time.
Very, very true!!
Qwest would be an exception to the rule in that the entire company is 100% unhelpful. Every time my husband calls…so, every Saturday or so.
I agree with Lindsey. I too work for a bank and manage one of those call centers that people call to get help. Do I have people on my staff that deliver poor service? Yes, but they are by far a small minority. The rest of them come prepared each day to provide the best possible service on every call they take. Sometimes the road block is the caller. I can’t tell you how many calls I listen to where it was the customer who caused the miscommunication by being unclear, uninformed about their own service/product, unwilling to listen or accept a viable answer or was uncivil with the agent.
So give that $7.00 per hour, cubicle encased person a chance to help. Be civil, be clear, be considerate and you just might find your answer on the first call.
It’s interesting how everyone at these call centers is robotically trained to say, “I understand how you feel,” but rarely do they.
This post inspired me to create a couple of posts about a recent experience I’ve had with being put on hold — 2nd post is here:
http://blog.visionnavigator.com/2008/08/your-call-is-very-important-to-us-part.html
Even got creative with a GraphJam.com inspired graph (I need to get out more)…
Even though I know that the reps are trained to say, “I understand how you feel,” I’m always glad when they do. I appreciate when they at least act like they care, and it really bothers me when they don’t at least try to act like they do. After all, it’s not like I’m bugging them at home. It’s their job to try and help.