Monday, June 8, 2009

Dealing with technical support/customer service

It's been two months since I accepted my new role at work.

Our client is a huge American company with a name that's very familiar to everyone kahit sa barrio.

What's my role?

Say there's one disgruntled American customer, dialed a 1-800 number for the first time, and get the shock of his life upon hearing someone speaking with an unfamiliar accent in the other end. Because he's kind of a racist, he demands for a supervisor or someone who speaks English exactly the same way as he does!

Chances are, kami lang din ang sasagot. Pero dahil naiiyak na siya kasi gusto niyang mapalitan ang USB cable na nginatngat ng aso niya, hahanap siya ngayon ng ibang number, address, email address, etc. para iparating ang hinaing niya. He decided to send an email.

Makakarinig siya sa aken.

Dahil hindi siya masaya sa sinabi kong hindi ko kasalanan na kumakain ng kable and aso niya, gumawa siya ngayon ng sulat at pinadala sa corporate office somewhere in America.

Asa! Scan lang nila yun dun sa pinagpadalhan niya, attach sa email at send sa amin. Makakarinig ulit siya sa aken.

That's me. A virtual supervisor. Bisor-bisoran. If you're nice, I may give you what you want. But if your complaints include your whining about what you call a third-world support, I'll give you third-world support - tossing your letter in the trash. Sorry, I've got a lot of other customers to please.

So why did your neighbor get a USB cable and you didn't?
Simple. Your neighbor must be really nice.

When calling a 1-800 number for support, expect to hear a foreign accent. That's very normal. If you are in need of help because it's been a month since you had DSL and you haven't figured out how to locate Internet explorer in your desktop, you need a technical support representative with an unbelievable patience. How to get one?

Simple. Just be nice.

Nayninayn percent of these agents are naturally patient. All you need is to cooperate. Don't get insulted if their first question is "do you have a computer?". Don't question them if they're asking for information such as your name, phone number, email, etc. Don't even think that they're interested with you. Never! They're just following their ABC's, and failing to do so may cost them their job.

When to get irate?

As a customer, you have all the rights to complain. But be sure that your complaint is valid, that you're in the right position to create that hysteria. Check the warranty agreements, contracts, etc., of the service or product that you purchased. If you bought your television 10 years ago, don't expect that it's still in-warranty that the company may replace the battery of your remote control.

If you just bought it 10 days ago, sealed, and you just realized that the remote control is missing, go ahead and curse, scream, and demand that president Obama will send you the remote control!

It's all about being reasonable. Customer representatives or tech supports will understand the reason why you are hyperventilating so you need not to cuss on them. Do not blame them for your troubles! Never! How to get what you want?

Simple. Just be nice.

14 comments:

fufu said...

yeah strongly agree with you! be nice... no matter what and when... we gotta be nice ya =p not only the time we ask for favour or... must be very stressful ya answering all these calls... i know some are really ridiculous in the sense that they are always right because they are customers or bla bla bla... anyway all the best =p

david said...

Taray ni Ely, hehehe! Pero I strongly agree with you. Though hindi pa ako naging tech support or worked on a call center, I deal with kupal clients on my line of work. The more kupal the client, the more ko tinatagalan ang submission of deliverables up to the point of extending deadlines myself. Afterall, I'm still the boss... Hehehe!

Hoobert the Awesome said...

i agree with you. si naman porke sila ang customers eh maaari na nilang sabihin lahat ng guso nila.

call center agents like other people also need respect. naks!

Allen Yuarata said...

Just this morning, me and my bro went jogging and ended up in a fastfood restaurant. Then as I was queuing up the counter, I heard a woman shout at a crew just because he asked for a smaller bill. Sometimes talaga, customers forget how to deal with other people.

Sometimes din, customers think that just because they are to buy something or that an establishment needs their money, they think too much of themselves.

Just like everyone else here, I also agree with your article. ^^,

Ely said...

fufu, very stresful. In fact I didn't want to accept the job at first because I dont wanna be talking to a customer over the phone anymore. And so they decided to let me answer email escalations instead. But reading customer's emails is as crazy as hearing them talk.


David, hehehe...ganun ata talaga no. Pag kupal, mas lalo pa gagalitin. hahaha. Pag mabait kc mas ok pa pagbigyan.

hmmm, any links?


.pOot! Thank you! dapat lang talaga. Although madami din iba na na-aapreciate din ung ginagawa namin for them, kc lam nila na sumusunod lang din naman kami sa mga policy.


Allen Yuarata, To be honest suplado din ako kung minsan, but not to the point of shouting dahil lang sa maliit na bagay. Kung nasa lugar yung tao, sometimes we understand kung bakit ganun reactions nila, pero kung dahil sa mga simpleng bagay lang, mababaliw ka. hehehe

aajao said...

ako may naburaot na ring customer dati sa office namin. tama ang punto mo, dapat valid yung complains nila. pwede naman sila magreklamo hangga't gusto nila eh.

eto excerpt nung phone conversation namin pagkatapos kumulo ang dugo nya sa sinabi ko, dinagdagan ko pa ang pagkulo ng dugo nya:

irate customer: asan na ang supervisor mo at kakausapin ko.

ako: ah.. nag lunch-out po.

irate customer: anong oras sya babalik?

ako: mga after 40 minutes, ma'am. ganito na lang po. kung gusto nyo, tawagan nyo na lang po sya para sya ang kausapin nyo sa request nyo.

irate customer: talagang tatawagan ko sya! anong number nya?!

ako: dito rin po sa number na ito kayo tatawag. ako rin po ang sasagot sa inyo pero pagtawag nyo ulit, ibibigay ko po kayo sa kanya.

irate customer: ... (natigilan)

hahahaha!!! :P

Honney said...

haha. nice one, ely!

this post made me remember of a mean customer that I assisted years ago (when i was still an agent). since hindi kagandahan ang ugali nya at puro insulto ang inabot ko (e to think that she badly needs my help!), pinaiyak ko muna bago ko inactivate yung software license nya on a 3rd computer. haha. take note ha, two computers lang dapat valid yung license! so violation na agad yun on her part. but the thing is, had she been nice to me, i would've let her use the software on her 3rd pc in a snap of a finger. haha. so ayun, pinaiyak ko muna...LOL.

Better Than Coffee said...

been there. done that. :)

love,
nobe

www.deariago.com
www.iamnobe.wordpress.com

Ely said...

Aajao, haha. Ganyan din naman kami. Dadaan pa rin lagi sa level one bago makarating sa supervisor. Ang sarap kamo silang galitin minsan. hahaha


Honney, i believe hindi sa aten ito? hehehe. ako din dati nung bago pa lang tau dito, naalala ko may napaiyak ako na customer. Ayaw tanggapin ng supervisor, kaya no choice ako, hinayaan ko lang siya umiyak, wala ako magagawa. hehehe


Nobe, kewl!

The Scud said...

i have not lost my cool talking with CS reps. sadyang magalang lang tlg siguro ako kahit sa blog ko i rant and rant. hehe.

KRIS JASPER said...

hmmm.. Suplado ka pala sa personal. LOL!

Pag pinoy yung call ctr rep na nakakausap ko (HSBC, T Mob), tinutukso ko pa ang mga yun. Pero pag mga taga "Curry Land" or
"Mr. 5/6", (AOL, Sky cable) hmmm.... laging "failed" ang appraisal ko sa kanila

Ely said...

The Scud, i just can't keep my cool kaya bilib ako sa mga kagaya mo, hehe.


KRIS JASPER, suplado nga daw. hehe. Actually ganun din "sila" saten, pag nalaman nila na Pinoy, nang-aasar sila tas nagttrip.

Dear Hiraya said...

agree!! CSR naman ang trabaho ko at madalas akong makasagot sa mga kanong maiinit ang ulo.. pero, sabi mo nga 'nayninayn percent sa mga ito ang patient'. ako siguro yung natitirang 1 percent. di kasi ako pasensyoso kung sinisigawan ako sa kabilang linya.. hehehe

Ely said...

Fjordan Allego, kasama din ako sa 1% na yan. hehehe