MY FAVORITE RANT

       I have ranted before about call centers and their poor service. It seems like the wait time for your call answer gets longer and longer.

      Today the micro manager was waiting for an hour and 20minutes.

      That did it. Something has to be done. We can't spend that much of our lives waiting for call centers to answer.

      So here's my suggestion. Call centers have to be hit in the pocket book so that it hurts.

     My suggestion is that regulations should be made governing call centers. Give them 5 minutes to answer a call. If it takes them longer than 5 to answer then they pay for every minute past 5. So charge them so much a minute for time past 5 minutes.  A dollar a minute ? It would have cost them $75.00 for being slow this afternoon. As you can see there are several different options for a scheme like this. 

     We  all complain about call centers but do nothing about it. So lets get loud and suggest some solutions. 

ANOTHER CALL CENTER RANT

        I have ranted about my frustrations with call centers several times on this blog. Today, I had another very unpleasant experience with a call center.

        We had received a letter a few days ago from the bank telling us if we didn't want a certain investment to roll over automatically that we should phone a certain number to tell them not to roll the investment over. 

       The Micro Manager was doing that piece of business this morning. I was busy stretching but I could hear the conversation as the speaker phone was on. They asked for a couple of the usual identity questions . Then they kept going on. I came into the office to pay more attention and finally I told the micro Manager that these questions were unnecessary as far as identity was concerned . Oh yes they said we are updating our information and continued with pressure. They asked the Micro Manager's age. They already had her birth date. When they asked if she was a Canadian citizen and if she filed income tax in Canada , that was the end. 

     I felt that they were going on a fishing expedition to get information to sell me more product. It felt creepy. I began to think that they were scammers.  They really put the pressure on for answers to the last questions but we stuck to our guns and said no way. 

     So, unless we answered the questions , they were not going to do the piece of business we were asking for. So the piece of business was not done and we are contacting the local bank manager. 

    I'm thinking about the part on the phone introduction that says "This call may be monitored." I hope it was monitored

WAITING WHEN SOMEONE CALLS ME?

    I have been known to rant about call centers from time to time. I have a long list of complaints about call centers. If anyone wants to start a petition to outlaw call centers, count me in.

    But recently, the call centers are playing a new game which is more insulting than ever.

    Recently call centers have set it up so that you can be called back. I take that option rather than hang on the line for an hour and listen to terrible music over the phone. 

    So when they phone back they ask if you still want the call back and if you will take it. After you breathlessly say yes and think that you finally can talk to someone, they make you wait longer. So here I am waiting on the phone again for someone To take their sweet time about answering my call. It's insulting. 

     I like to have some control over things. I like to be able to make or take a call when it is convenient to me not when it's convenient for the other guy.

    I like to have some control over my life. 

    Where are we going next with telephones and call centers?

A FAMILIAR RANT

       I have written about my dislike for call centers  before this rant. We had a few issues with call centers this week. One would think that banks would be somewhat careful about the service they give but it's not the case.  Yesterday we waited 52 minutes to have someone answer. Then they couldn't answer our question so we waited another 20 minutes to get someone who could give an answer. You have to wait too long for a call center to answer. I would be willing to wait 5 or 10 minutes but any more is just plane rude . The company does not deserve your business. Then people working in call centers are very poorly trained and do not know much about the products. 

      Okay. That was mild. 

      What are we going to do about this problem. They seem to have us as it seems to be all we can get. I think most communication is going on line. 

      Today, I met up with a completely new internet and phone problem.

       Our provincial government cheerfully told us that today we could make appointments for covid-19 vaccinations. Two systems were to be used...the phone and the internet. 

      This was meant to register all the people 75 and over in this province. There are about 290000 of us.

      Things were to open at 8:00 AM and they did. At 8:01 it was reported that the system was overloaded and you could not get on. I tried off and on all day and never got on. They registered 5000 people today. At that rate it will take 58 days just to register us and then they have to find an appointment for us. 

    If it takes this long to do the elderly what will happen to the other people.

     The government is just not willing to hire more people for the call center or provide more servers to register people on line. 

    What ever happened to good old face to face contact? 

CALL CENTERS

     I have ranted about this topic a few times already. Yes, I'm not happy at all with call centers.

     Just when you think they can't be any worse they get worse. Recently. I have waited more than two hours and then hung up. Recently, I have tried to speak to people who  have very limited English skills. I've tried to talk to people who have no clue of what they are supposed to be talking about. And worse, I have talked to people who could care less about what you want to know. The worst are those who are just dishonest little dummies.

     How are call centers able to operate and be paid for such poor service? Why do companies hire call centers that are poor performers?

    What really got me thinking about the call center topic again is that I've been doing income tax so wanted information on a couple of things. I could not get a satisfactory answer. 

    So with such incredibly poor service , I began to think about what we could do to bring about some changes. 

    Several changes were brought in to make the airline industry give better service in a few areas.

    So why not get some regulations for the call center business. 

    First set a minimum time that they have to answer a call. Five minutes maximum to answer any call. Agreed? The public has a right to decent treatment . Answering a phone in a very timely manner sounds fair to me.

   Then language skills testing must be developed. Call center employees must have a basic language skill so that they can be understood 90% of the time. A standard language test must be given.

   Call center employees must have a good knowledge of the products they are dealing with. Call centers should have to test employees. If the employee doesn't know the product , they can find some other line of work.

   So you see where I'm going with this. Call centers must perform or they face fines for poor performance. 

   Agreed? Now we have to get busy and complain to whoever will listen. Make lots of noise. Let's see if we can get some changes.

CALL CENTERS WILL DESTROY OUR SOCIETY

       I've always disliked call centers


       When you call it takes forever to get an answer. It seems the usual time is 30 to 45 minutes. Listening to the mournful repetitive tiny bit if music drives me crazy. Listening to , "Your call is important to us" 200 times is insulting.


     So finally someone answers. What have I got? Someone whose English is very limited. They have an accent and only understand about half of what I say. Since my hearing is poor , I have difficulties hearing speech which is heavily accented.  If we did understand each other they have a very limited knowledge of the topic I'm seeking information about. So after a frustrating time I usually end up not getting the information I was seeking.


    Now the call center business is large. It's set up to operate efficiently and is very lucrative.


    Now I knew a young guy who had brief experiences with working in call centers or should I say training. He was well paid and he would train until some other opportunity came along. Many opportunities he chose were also short term. Sergio spent time at my house and I tried to help him with support and employment. He worked in a slaughter house for a few weeks. He worked for a cement company for a few days. However, Sergio always seemed to mess things up. He didn't seem to care if he got anything right. So if he was working in a call center he could make anything up!


     Now yesterday with my tax issue I happened to be dealing with a call center. The person knew absolutely nothing about what I was asking.


     A few years ago taxation employees answered the phones. You got information.


     Now I'm sure that if call centers continue they will be responsible for destroying our society.