Your call to customer service can make or break my paycheck

[polly7]

By Anonymous. Anonymous
Source: The Guardian
May 12, 2015

Your call is very important to us. It’s a trite phrase, but to the customer service representative on the other end of the line it’s actually true – just not in the way you think. Your call, as well as the 50-60 other calls I will take in any given shift, could make or break my paycheck and budget.

Customer service jobs typically pay just above minimum wage per hour. I have worked as a customer service representative for several companies over the last 5 years and my hourly wages have amounted to $18,000-$21,000 per year. But hourly wages aren’t why anyone takes a job working in call centers. We are seduced by recruiters promising a pot of gold at the end of the month in the form of a performance-based pay bonus. This arrangement, known as “pay for performance”, can add several hundred dollars a month to our paycheck. But its a very precarious way to make ends meet.

One of the most important performance metrics is handle or resolution time. This is the number of seconds you are on the phone with me, from the moment I greet you to the moment you hang up. Handle time is something almost every rep is measured on because, if we can each shave 2-3 seconds off of it and drop our department-wide average, the company will save tens of thousands of dollars. It may sound easy, but it’s not. One long call with a particularly needy customer, and your handle time for the day is toast.

There are other metrics I must meet in order to obtain a monthly bonus. Have you ever wondered why customer service reps can be so quick and efficient at resolving your problem and then suddenly try to sell you something while you’re still feeling all warm and fuzzy? The things I sell to you when you call in with a problem help pay for my job: managers often refer to it as earning our keep, because the things we sell to you offset the cost of maintaining a customer service department. This doesn’t mean we necessarily get commission for what we sell you, but we are required to offer you our products in every phone call. If no-one is buying, we may not get our bonus.

More: https://zcomm.org/znetarticle/your-call-to-customer-service-can-make-or-break-my-paycheck/

[bluestateguy]

1. Then here is what I would say in response

Agree with everything I say and give me everything I want, and we'll get along swimmingly.

[DonCoquixote]

3. and then

That person gets fired because you got everything you wanted, as the folks taping that call will call them out on it. Custoemr service is seen as a liability, and often CR reps gets accused of giving away the store.

[bemildred]

2. And that is why I never call customer service.

Send them a letter.

[JayhawkSD]

4. Nice that you care so much about your customer.

That was snark. There was not one word of concern about the customer. Quite the opposite. There was concern about your paycheck and about your company's profit. Get the customer off the phone fast so you and your company can make more money.

You are trying to gain sympathy from me? You failed. You drove my opinion lower.

[bvf]

5. Exactly.

That was my first thought as well. We live in a country full of corporate stooges.

Things need to change.

[marble falls]

6. Like Rick once said, "I have sympathy for the fox but I also understand the concerns of the hounds,"