Call Center Questions

[mrsgenealogy]

Hi, 6foot3! Well, you asked for it so here you go...

I worked in a call center for 6 weeks. Two of those were in training so really, I spent only a month "on the floor" taking calls. I was doing tech support for a VOIP company (For those who don't know what that is: VOIP=Voice Over Internet Protocol, i.e. phone service that comes through your high-speed internet) and I decided to try working at a call center because these days, I need a job that will allow me to be off my feet as much as possible.

I quit after one month because I was disappointed in the company policy of trying to keep our calls down to a certain period of time and finding that this was impossible to do, in part because the company required us in every call to verify and type out redundant information. It would be fine if we could only verify it but we had to type it all out before we could continue to solving the customer's problem and by that time, much of our time was gone.

We were also required to find a company report on every problem and follow their protocol step by step. This was fine but required several moments to find...and often, there wasn't a report on our particular item. By this time, their suggested time limit was usually past, in my experience.

Each step we told the customer to do had to be typed out along with the result of each step, too. I type 60 words a minute and found this over-abundant documentation to be overwhelming and just another obstacle in my attempts to fulfill my employer's wishes.

The saga continues...

If we went through all of the protocol at our level and the customer's issue wasn't solved, we could send their call up to the next level of tech support...but those tech support people would turn us away if we hadn't done everything at our level. However, the floor supervisor eventually told us that if we hadn't solved the issue within a certain time, we were to send the call up to the next level of support, anyway.

Besides these big frustrations, there was the frustration of the callers themselves. I am a verrrry patient woman but with all the pressure, I found it hard to deal with people who either wouldn't or couldn't work with you, for one reason or another. I never showed it and in fact, those same people usually thanked me profusely at the end of the call but while those calls were satisfying in that way, they often took twice as long as they should have so my joy was short-lived, as I would have an unhappy Floor Supervisor on my hands, telling me that if I couldn't get my call times down, that I would eventually be let go.

Honestly, if the company would have allowed me to just do my job without throwing all those obstacles and time constraints on me, I think I would have stayed. I love helping others and I was feeling satisfaction in that area...right up until I learned that I couldn't do that if it meant taking more time than they wanted me to be on the phone in each call...and it almost always took more time than that. What were they thinking???

In the end, I decided I didn't need the stress and didn't want to spend the rest of my days doing a "crazy-making job" like that. I have too many talents and skills to be doing a job that I wasn't happy in...especially when they were becoming unhappy with me taking so long on calls once my rookie time was coming to an end. I'm not used to employers not being happy with me so I figured we weren't a good match.

I heard years ago that the #1 stress on the job was from being asked to do something and not being given the tools to do it. Well, I experienced that stress in the one month I spent in a call center. To be fair, it was just one call center and I don't know how others function but I thought I'd share my experiences since no one has shared anything quite like it in response to your question.

If you still want to consider it, ask your friend to share the difficult things of the job with you and maybe you can hang out in the parking area and ask other employees what they think of their job. It's just a thought!

I wish you well! I'm a grandmother who is still trying to figure out what I want to be "when I grow up"!

MrsG

[Six Foot Three]

I never thought they were as bad as everyone is telling (except Momzilla's) Maybe Comcast is different as i don't know as i know its inbound calls only on cable or internet questions. He use to work in the field as an Installer and got hurt so he tried the Call Center part of the company and says he'll never go back to an installer as he just loves what he does in the center. But again everyone has their experiences to tell on this.

Again i appreciate all the responses as i'm taking note....6/3...

[Tek_Freek]

Is this Call Center or Help Desk? To me there is a difference. Call Centers are businesses where you call people to get them to buy something, or rip them off in some way. Help Desk is the place you call when your computer or Internet, etc isn't working. Might be me misunderstanding definitions here...

I've done Help Desk and loved it. I wouldn't do Call Center for anything.

[Bigbluelandrover]

Yes you are confused..lol

A call-center is a place where a rep will sit at a desk all day with a headset and answer of make incoming/outbound calls. True characteristics are that many people do the exact same job as you. There is a 1-800# in most cases. 90-100% of your day is spent on the phone and the job gets old quick. You are answering calls /or making them. VERY little freedom within your day. You cannot just get up and go over to a co-workers cube and chat for 5 minutes-that leads to a write up.

Call center jobs include telemarketing, customer service, collections, insurance (verification/pre auths) City workers-many cities have call centers, consumer goods etc..goes on and on...

Help desk can include troubleshooting for computer issues. However, within a call-center these were usually the people that worked to assist the call-center agents when the systems went down, or the managers needed help with the phone monitoring equipment.

[Trin]

I worked in a call centre for a major security company and unless you like hearing exactely where you can place your telephone on a regular basis and also being asked if you have a life .go for it .

Its not the best job in the world and its not the worst ,but i comend anyone who does it they have the patience of a saint .

[wbsacto]

you would be answering. I work for the CA Bureau of Automotive Repair & answer tech calls all day. Years ago I worked for Consumer Affairs & answered calls from consumers that had problems with contractors.

" I gave $16,000 to a guy with a blue truck & he said he would remodel my kitchen but he never came back".


200 plus calls per day, Always the same thing...

[mrsgenealogy]

Isn't that a shame, wbsacto? My husband happens to be one of the good guys, a contractor who uses contracts and takes great care of his customers and I can't tell you how often he gets a call from someone in that same position.

In the most recent call, a woman saw his yard sign and even asked other contractors on the job about him before calling. He must have spent an hour commiserating with her and I'm sure he gave her a great gift just by listening to her. He also gave her advice on how to handle the man who now has her money but rarely shows up to work and won't return her calls. One of the things he told her is that besides never paying so much money up front, she needs to avoid ever telling another contractor, "You don't have to hurry. I'm not in a rush."

[Mayor_McCheese]

I've worked an IT helpdesk that was set up like a call center. Terrible job. Of the 4 years that I worked there only 2 people were able to move on to other groups within the company. Most people quit and found jobs elswhere. I agree, dead end job. Here are some of rules that we had to follow on our helpdesk.

-All grammer must be correct. Use captial letters and use spell check and correct punctuation
-All tickets must be cateroized correctly (There were over 100 catergories)
-All tickets must be assigned corrected (There were over 300 different IT groups)
-No dropped calls (only 30 seconds between calls)
-do not aux out of your phone to complete a ticket
-do not ask coworkers or supervisors for assistance
-do not call users back
-do not take a break during 11am and 1pm and also between 3pm and 5pm
-do not eat lunch at your desk (all employees are required to leave their desk)
-Do not remain on the phone for over 12 min after the 12 minute mark turn the problem over to a supervisor
-Do not give other technicians names to users. Do not give phone numbers as well
-do not tell the customer which groups are working on a ticket
-every call that comes in requires a ticket even if its a wrong number
-Do not place users on hold

Pretty hard to provided tech support with all of these rules in place. I was burned out after about 2 years and left after about 4.

[mrsgenealogy]

Sheesh! I hear ya, Mayor! I'm grateful to have other skills that keep me from having to keep a job like that.

I know there are people who have found jobs they have enjoyed in this field...and I don't want them to think I am belittling them or their job in any way. Actually, I am not surprised to learn that all these jobs are not equal. After all, my husband is an EXCELLENT contractor who takes GREAT care of his clients but many people say all contractors are bad and not to be trusted because they've been ripped off by one.

This has been a good thread, though. Don't you agree? I'm really glad we got a chance to share our experiences and hope that there will be others who will come to this thread in the future and read all of the posts, good and bad, so they can get advice in making the same decision.