Sprint hangs up on a 1000 callers

[_Lisa_]

Originally Posted by DaemonSeid

u know what...others may see this as a way to get out of thier contract w/o having to pay.....hmmm.....let me call then now and 4 more times before 6pm today...hahahahaha

The agents themselves probably don't have permission to release individual callers from their contracts just because they're annoyed-its probably done strictly from a report that management runs. So you go on & call away, but I say they won't release any more people for awhile now.

[OneTimeSBX]

and forgive me if this sounds mean, but since they started outsourcing, i have to call multiple times to get issues resolved! i cant understand Linda from India (and why do they give them american names? lol!)

[_Lisa_]

Originally Posted by OneTimeSBX

and forgive me if this sounds mean, but since they started outsourcing, i have to call multiple times to get issues resolved! i cant understand Linda from India (and why do they give them american names? lol!)

My company outsources to India & there is no requirement from our end that says they have to have American names. I know that the company we hired picks American names for the agents to use & contracts them to use it the entire time they work for the company (regardless of what campaign they work for.) I don't think its for any other reason than to make it easier for the callers to understand the name of the agent.

When I was visiting our callcenter in Bangalore I met a few agents who would give me their contracted American name when I met them & it drove me nuts, because I think its rude to not even attempt to know their real names when we'd be working together. A few of the agents had, in their own words, "Christian" names, because their families were Christian. (For example: Samuel, Jasen, Matt, etc.)

[OneTimeSBX]

Originally Posted by _Lisa_

My company outsources to India & there is no requirement from our end that says they have to have American names. I know that the company we hired picks American names for the agents to use & contracts them to use it the entire time they work for the company (regardless of what campaign they work for.) I don't think its for any other reason than to make it easier for the callers to understand the name of the agent.

well half the time the only i do understand is their names...you can let them know at least THAT works

[PM_Mama00]

I'm surprised they didn't drop me, although it was THEIR fault. I was in the Sprint store about 4 times within a month because they kept screwing my bill up. When the two companies merged, you couldn't get online to pay your bill, so mine was late. Then no one ever told me that you didn't get free texts with my new phone. It wasn't written anywhere and the person at the store didn't tell me. So I had to get my $700 bill fixed. They never fixed it, so into the store 3 more times I went.

I also told the store employees that I came in there because I wanted to speak to someone who spoke English. They agreed.

[OneTimeSBX]

Originally Posted by PM_Mama00

I also told the store employees that I came in there because I wanted to speak to someone who spoke English. They agreed.

the last time i said that some smart-a** said that they "do speak English"...i very quickly replied "as a first language?"

i know the conversation is going to be very long and difficult when i have to give my name and number 3 or more times...

[_Lisa_]

Originally Posted by PM_Mama00

I'm surprised they didn't drop me, although it was THEIR fault. I was in the Sprint store about 4 times within a month because they kept screwing my bill up. When the two companies merged, you couldn't get online to pay your bill, so mine was late. Then no one ever told me that you didn't get free texts with my new phone. It wasn't written anywhere and the person at the store didn't tell me. So I had to get my $700 bill fixed. They never fixed it, so into the store 3 more times I went.

I also told the store employees that I came in there because I wanted to speak to someone who spoke English. They agreed.

They wouldn't drop you because you're technically doing them a favor by coming to the store. Its cheaper to handle in-store questions or emails than it is to take inbound calls. If companies really wanted to save money they'd drop their 1-800 #'s & use local numbers instead OR they'd drop phone support completely.

[_Lisa_]

Originally Posted by OneTimeSBX

well half the time the only i do understand is their names...you can let them know at least THAT works

I agree, most of our agents do have strong accents, a mix of hindi with british english makes for a very different sound than what we're used to. I also think that their inability to stray from the scripts they're given add to the frustration, but you gotta blame management for that, the agents are just doing what they're told to do then.

[Soliloquy]

As someone who worked for a cell-phone company, in-store, I can't say I blame Sprint.

Sure there are plenty of people who came in with valid issues and needed help, which of course I had no problem helping them resolve said issues. However, when you have a 60 year old come in with a camera phone wanting to know how she can take pictures of her grand-kid on the tractor... it gets aggrivating. If you're too old to understand the technology, simply get an easier phone, don't waste the time of the workers as they attempt to explain to you how to press a button. Not to mention the people that would come in complaining about stupid things and expect me to fix it, sorry but I have no control over the fact that you don't get signal at your duck-camp that is in BFE.

Unfortunately, a lot of people lack common sense. These people create major issues by tying up phone lines for people that really do have a problem. The knowledge necessary to target simple issues can be found on websites and in user-manuals, but I guess that means customers would actually have to do something for a change.

[DaemonSeid]

Originally Posted by Soliloquy

As someone who worked for a cell-phone company, in-store, I can't say I blame Sprint.

If you're too old to understand the technology, simply get an easier phone, don't waste the time of the workers as they attempt to explain to you how to press a button.

Sorry to say...but THAT IS YOUR (Customer service reps') JOB.

Theyput stuff on the phone and half the time EVEN THE REPS don't even know how to work them but then have a NERVE to get frustrated when people have questions about certain functions??? I remember about 2 months back I went to the Sprint store to ask about GPS functionality on my phone...I had to get the mananger because the rep helping me had no clue about what I was talking about and was rushing just to get me out of the store. Bottom line is this...u can bury 10 to 100 functions on a phone...and even for the one that you do...knowing that almost everyone AND their grey haired gandmama is gonna use it....then YOU NEED people who know the equipment to be there to explain it....again...it's called CUSTOMER SERVICE...that is thier job...to explain things that may not be explainable even if it seems easy as pie.....what's easy to u may not be easy to me.

[33girl]

Originally Posted by _Lisa_

I agree, most of our agents do have strong accents, a mix of hindi with british english makes for a very different sound than what we're used to. I also think that their inability to stray from the scripts they're given add to the frustration, but you gotta blame management for that, the agents are just doing what they're told to do then.

yeah, and it really needs to stop. The American name thing is absolutely insulting. It's trying to "trick" the customer into thinking the agent is in the US. As far as not straying from the script, you are so right. I asked a guy the other day a question about purchasing a ringtone and he goes "I'm sorry, I know this can be frustrating" - WHAT?? I'm not frustrated, I didn't speak to you in a stressed or frustrated manner, I just want you to tell me what the amount is I have to pay because I couldn't find the info on the phone's screen. I really don't appreciate being informed of what my emotions are.

If the companies who outsource don't get better at it, it'll cost them all the money they're saving doing it.

[_Lisa_]

Originally Posted by 33girl

The American name thing is absolutely insulting. It's trying to "trick" the customer into thinking the agent is in the US.

I think this is what it seems like, but I don't think that is the intention especially on the agent level. Maybe the management of the company sees the benefits of trying to "trick" the customer, but it also helps the customer to remember who they spoke to for the next time they call in, or it helps them feel like they can communicate with the agent a bit better because they know how to say their name. Amaranath, Srikanth, Sridhar, Amit, Anil, Balaji, Hema, Shunmugam, & Jitender would rather spend more time helping the customer with the problem then trying to tell the customer how to spell or say their name.

Originally Posted by 33girl

If the companies who outsource don't get better at it, it'll cost them all the money they're saving doing it.

The companies who outsource can't get better at accents & scripts, its the company that gets paid who handles those things. Its crazy how we'll send over training material to our outsourcing "partner" and they turn it into scripts for the agents. Its not the business practice of our company, but the business practice of their company. They do it for every campaign that uses their services. The agents get training, not just on the material & the products, but they do get training on the language as well. In fact, if the language trainer doesn't approve you for the phones, you don't get the job. The language trainer is usually someone from the US (the trainer for our campaign is some sassy dude from NYC, he yells all the time "Its WORK, NOT WARK"). And we do have people here, who used to the be in the callcenter before it was outsourced, that do call monitoring, or handle extreme issues from the customers.

[mystikchick]

Originally Posted by _Lisa_

I agree, most of our agents do have strong accents, a mix of hindi with british english makes for a very different sound than what we're used to. I also think that their inability to stray from the scripts they're given add to the frustration, but you gotta blame management for that, the agents are just doing what they're told to do then.

Trust me, this is a HUGE problem even when dealing with Indian call-center workers in India. Every month, without fail, they screw something up on my mom's cellphone bill. The latest fiasco involved her attempting to pay her bill online and it not working, informing her she had to register her phone numbers first. This did not work, so she called the call-center for help, only to be told that this simply wasn't possible. She attempted to use logic on the guy, asking him how exactly it was possible that she couldn't do something that they'd told her to do on the bottom of her bill, and all he could do was just insist that it wasn't possible. I'm guessing this is because that's all he's been 'taught' to say. Once in a way she gets someone who has the ability to think outside the box, but it's a rare occurrence.

[_Lisa_]

Originally Posted by mystikchick

Trust me, this is a HUGE problem even when dealing with Indian call-center workers in India. Every month, without fail, they screw something up on my mom's cellphone bill. The latest fiasco involved her attempting to pay her bill online and it not working, informing her she had to register her phone numbers first. This did not work, so she called the call-center for help, only to be told that this simply wasn't possible. She attempted to use logic on the guy, asking him how exactly it was possible that she couldn't do something that they'd told her to do on the bottom of her bill, and all he could do was just insist that it wasn't possible. I'm guessing this is because that's all he's been 'taught' to say. Once in a way she gets someone who has the ability to think outside the box, but it's a rare occurrence.

Agents that think outside the box may get a better customer satisfaction rating, but they usually are penalized by their superiors for not following the script. Its really a double-edged sword!