Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
At my customer service job, we receive questions via email and are told that if we don't know the answer to a particular question, then we should tell the customer we are researching the matter and will get to them. We then assign the ticket (with the customer's question) to a certain supervisor, depending on the type of question.
Over the weekend, a customer contacted us and asked a complex question that I wasn't sure about and I informed them "Thank you for your interesting question about XYZ. We are researching this matter with our ABC team and expect to have feedback shortly (in the next 1-3 days). Thank you for your patience.
Sincerely,
Me the CS agent.
I then followed protocol assigned the email ticket to the supervisor, asking her to look at the customer's original question and advise me please.
Her reply floored me.
"This question is not interesting, it is very simple and the customer should have gotten an answer right away. Please refer to your
experience in how we handled XYZ last year and deal with all ABC scenarios. Feel free to come see if you have any other questions regarding ABC."
(actual issue replaced by XYZ and ABC)
--------
That response floored me. My first reaction was surprise. Then, I got upset.
Mind you, I read the supervisor's answer from home, because I'm off today, but was checking into work email. My second though was, why does she mention the question is not interesting (what I commented to the customer)?
Who is she to tell me that?? Does slamming me, telling me to look up the procedure we used last year help the situation? No, it just kicks dirt in my face. Now I'll have to go back and do like 15-30 minutes of research, and who knows, I might still not know the answer, whereas it would take her all of 2 mins to direct me to the right answer.
My concern is not only her bitchy attitude , but that we are timed on the volume we handle and I can't afford to spend half an hour on a ticket, it will ruin my overall "productivity" , i.e. handle time. In CS, they are really anal about that.
What would you do in this situation? Complain to a manager or get in the supervisor's face about the way she answered me? Obviously I will indeed review my notes on how this was handled last year, but I think she went too far. Another time I asked her a question on something else, and she refused to answer directly, instead referring me back to an email she sent that neglected to indicate an important detail I asked about. Then she had the nerve to disconnect IM (or block me, I dunno).
I don't ask her questions often and she's the one who is supposed to coach us when we don't know what to answer our customers. I need to do the right thing here, without doing something I'd regret later.
Now I'll have to go back and do like 15-30 minutes of research, and who knows, I might still not know the answer, whereas it would take her all of 2 mins to direct me to the right answer.
Were you able to find the answer after researching for 15-30 min or not?
If its affecting your productivity then you can talk to her directly politely, let her know your concern and see how she reacts.
If I were at home today, I would spend 15-30 minutes doing the research and have the answer ready on Monday moning. Show her you are a go-getter and can handle the job... Spend more time and effort and perhaps someday you will be the supervisor... Spending a little extra time on evening and weekends might just make you a star, rather than a complainer.
I'm on her side all the way, no one ever promiced you she would be sweet all the time..
Bosses' can be horrible, but you have nothing to complain about. Go to management with this and your picture will be on a wanted poster..life is tough, if you want to get ahead, be tougher.... The ones who go the extra mile are the ones who come out ahead in the end...
Were you able to find the answer after researching for 15-30 min or not?
I read the email on my day off and don't have the tools available to me yet to take the estimated 15-30 mins to research this. We'll have to see tomorrow.
Spending a little extra time on evening and weekends might just make you a star, rather than a complainer.
In another situation, I was also told I'm not allowed to write a weekly report from home and bill 30 mins for it. Nowadays I still work from home, but basically do it for free, because I was told I need to "respect my schedule" and be more productive, without being provided stats about my so called inefficiency.
But what still gets my goat is how the supervisor threw this ticket back in my face and that we are no further ahead than 2 days ago when I told the customer we'd research the answer. Normally I am able to answer questions without escalating to supervisors, except I do have a weakness in the area this supervisor specializes in.
I've been told that in the past and I asked for extra coaching, training, and I'm told that a new trainer is only for new employees, not current ones. Then I ask for more hours to do self -training, and am denied that too. I currently have less than 20 hrs/week on my schedule and there isn't time to spend up to 30 mins. on tough tickets, unless it's in a dedicated training session - and my colleagues are handling the daily emails. I feel like I'm damned either way. Not ask questions and risk being wrong, or ask questions and get scolded.
At my customer service job, we receive questions via email and are told that if we don't know the answer to a particular question, then we should tell the customer we are researching the matter and will get to them. We then assign the ticket (with the customer's question) to a certain supervisor, depending on the type of question.
Over the weekend, a customer contacted us and asked a complex question that I wasn't sure about and I informed them "Thank you for your interesting question about XYZ. We are researching this matter with our ABC team and expect to have feedback shortly (in the next 1-3 days). Thank you for your patience.
Sincerely,
Me the CS agent.
I then followed protocol assigned the email ticket to the supervisor, asking her to look at the customer's original question and advise me please.
Her reply floored me.
"This question is not interesting, it is very simple and the customer should have gotten an answer right away. Please refer to your
experience in how we handled XYZ last year and deal with all ABC scenarios. Feel free to come see if you have any other questions regarding ABC."
(actual issue replaced by XYZ and ABC)
--------
That response floored me. My first reaction was surprise. Then, I got upset.
Mind you, I read the supervisor's answer from home, because I'm off today, but was checking into work email. My second though was, why does she mention the question is not interesting (what I commented to the customer)?
Who is she to tell me that?? Does slamming me, telling me to look up the procedure we used last year help the situation? No, it just kicks dirt in my face. Now I'll have to go back and do like 15-30 minutes of research, and who knows, I might still not know the answer, whereas it would take her all of 2 mins to direct me to the right answer.
My concern is not only her bitchy attitude , but that we are timed on the volume we handle and I can't afford to spend half an hour on a ticket, it will ruin my overall "productivity" , i.e. handle time. In CS, they are really anal about that.
What would you do in this situation? Complain to a manager or get in the supervisor's face about the way she answered me? Obviously I will indeed review my notes on how this was handled last year, but I think she went too far. Another time I asked her a question on something else, and she refused to answer directly, instead referring me back to an email she sent that neglected to indicate an important detail I asked about. Then she had the nerve to disconnect IM (or block me, I dunno).
I don't ask her questions often and she's the one who is supposed to coach us when we don't know what to answer our customers. I need to do the right thing here, without doing something I'd regret later.
It's your supervisor, you take the criticism and get better at your job. Getting upset won't accomplish anything but a weak relationship with your supervisor
It's your supervisor, you take the criticism and get better at your job. Getting upset won't accomplish anything but a weak relationship with your supervisor
Good point, but to clarify this is not my own supervisor. It's one of 4 in the company. Each have their respective roles. The relationship with my own supervisor is a bit better.
I guess what I'm looking for in this thread is guidance on how to approach the supervisor in the OP without blowing my top. I'd like to resolve this face to face if possible and make sure she doesn't send me a nasty message like this in the future. I'm not there to be scolded, I'm there to be taught, so I can effectively reply to the customer's tricky "interesting" question.
Perhaps this supervisor had reasonable expectations that you should have been able to handle this inquiry based upon their knowledge of your past experience; or,
perhaps this supervisor believes that question to be very basic, and within the scope of skills/knowledge that you should have, and that you should be able to look it up and resolve it easily.
I'd suggest that before having any sort of "confrontation" with this supervisor that you actually take their direction and research the previous situation they referred you to. If that gives you the answers you need, then you've learned something ... which may have been the intent of the supervisor. If you still can't answer the question after following the lead, then it may be appropriate to ask the supervisor what the resolution should be, in light of your research.
No different than when one of my techs starts trying to pick my brains for an easy answer that I should know rather than thinking for themselves within the scope of their training and experience. And when I repeatedly get a tech that doesn't think for themselves and show me some initiative ... they are invited to find another job. In today's job marketplace, it's good to stand out as a valuable asset to the company, not just another functionary.
Good point, but to clarify this is not my own supervisor. It's one of 4 in the company. Each have their respective roles. The relationship with my own supervisor is a bit better.
I guess what I'm looking for in this thread is guidance on how to approach the supervisor in the OP without blowing my top. I'd like to resolve this face to face if possible and make sure she doesn't send me a nasty message like this in the future. I'm not there to be scolded, I'm there to be taught, so I can effectively reply to the customer's tricky "interesting" question.
Just approach her like this-"hey Ms...I'm all about getting better at my job and wanted to talk to you about how I could have better handled the situation on.."
I'm sorry to hear about this poor supervising experience. All I can say is good luck. I hope you speak your mind in a calm, brief, and polite fashion. Don't ruffle feathers,... you get the idea.
Quote:
Originally Posted by ValueAddedWorker
At my customer service job, we receive questions via email and are told that if we don't know the answer to a particular question, then we should tell the customer we are researching the matter and will get to them. We then assign the ticket (with the customer's question) to a certain supervisor, depending on the type of question.
Over the weekend, a customer contacted us and asked a complex question that I wasn't sure about and I informed them "Thank you for your interesting question about XYZ. We are researching this matter with our ABC team and expect to have feedback shortly (in the next 1-3 days). Thank you for your patience.
Sincerely,
Me the CS agent.
I then followed protocol assigned the email ticket to the supervisor, asking her to look at the customer's original question and advise me please.
Her reply floored me.
"This question is not interesting, it is very simple and the customer should have gotten an answer right away. Please refer to your
experience in how we handled XYZ last year and deal with all ABC scenarios. Feel free to come see if you have any other questions regarding ABC."
(actual issue replaced by XYZ and ABC)
--------
That response floored me. My first reaction was surprise. Then, I got upset.
Mind you, I read the supervisor's answer from home, because I'm off today, but was checking into work email. My second though was, why does she mention the question is not interesting (what I commented to the customer)?
Who is she to tell me that?? Does slamming me, telling me to look up the procedure we used last year help the situation? No, it just kicks dirt in my face. Now I'll have to go back and do like 15-30 minutes of research, and who knows, I might still not know the answer, whereas it would take her all of 2 mins to direct me to the right answer.
My concern is not only her bitchy attitude , but that we are timed on the volume we handle and I can't afford to spend half an hour on a ticket, it will ruin my overall "productivity" , i.e. handle time. In CS, they are really anal about that.
What would you do in this situation? Complain to a manager or get in the supervisor's face about the way she answered me? Obviously I will indeed review my notes on how this was handled last year, but I think she went too far. Another time I asked her a question on something else, and she refused to answer directly, instead referring me back to an email she sent that neglected to indicate an important detail I asked about. Then she had the nerve to disconnect IM (or block me, I dunno).
I don't ask her questions often and she's the one who is supposed to coach us when we don't know what to answer our customers. I need to do the right thing here, without doing something I'd regret later.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
