Customer Service..can YOU do it?

[fethrs]

I was called to the Customer Counter today to talk with a lady whose package was processed as damage last week. She was mad, irate, and impatient. She was missing some important docs and wanted some explanations.

After being interrupted a few times, I took control of the converstation, and explained the situation regarding her package. She was not happy the docs were missing but I calmed her down and she left in a better way than she came in.
I still got it. They come in pissed but they don't leave pissed. Customer service...imagine that.

 

[UpstateNYUPSer(Ret)]

Maybe you can teach Philip Rivers to hang on to the football.

 

[fethrs]

Ha ha, yer funny.

(at least he's not texting pics of his junk in his trunk)

 

[NHDRVR]

Maybe you can teach Philip Rivers to hang on to the football.

zing

 

[ajblakejr]

Ha ha, yer funny.

(at least he's not texting pics of his junk in his trunk)

Fethrs

PM me your cell phone number and I can send you a copy of Brett's goodies. Quality goods in that package.

And it is a real skill to tame the raging customer; sometimes I feel that combat pay should be established.

 

[pickup]

I was called to the Customer Counter today to talk with a lady whose package was processed as damage last week. She was mad, irate, and impatient. She was missing some important docs and wanted some explanations.

After being interrupted a few times, I took control of the converstation, and explained the situation regarding her package. She was not happy the docs were missing but I calmed her down and she left in a better way than she came in.
I still got it. They come in pissed but they don't leave pissed. Customer service...imagine that.

Is there anything you can't do?

 

[Catatonic]

I was called to the Customer Counter today to talk with a lady whose package was processed as damage last week. She was mad, irate, and impatient. She was missing some important docs and wanted some explanations.

After being interrupted a few times, I took control of the converstation, and explained the situation regarding her package. She was not happy the docs were missing but I calmed her down and she left in a better way than she came in.
I still got it. They come in pissed but they don't leave pissed. Customer service...imagine that.

I've been in and around customer counters and CSC Call Centers over the years and have always respected and appreciated the skill-set to be able to empathize with an irate person and guide them to a state of acceptance of the reality of a situation.
It is not something I am that good at.

 

[fethrs]

Is there anything you can't do?

Yes, I can't drive a feeder truck for one, and there are plenty of other things to.
I'll try to be more humble in the the future o master.

 

[The Milkman]

I was called to the Customer Counter today to talk with a lady whose package was processed as damage last week. She was mad, irate, and impatient. She was missing some important docs and wanted some explanations.

After being interrupted a few times, I took control of the converstation, and explained the situation regarding her package. She was not happy the docs were missing but I calmed her down and she left in a better way than she came in.
I still got it. They come in pissed but they don't leave pissed. Customer service...imagine that.

Was at the Counter for 8 years before retiring, I had to take charge many times in difficult situations. The only time I was unhappy was when the center would make a call against the rules of the counter and throw me under the Bus. Example: An acct would want to drop off 2nd day air Asd's that were poorly and I mean poorly packed and would have wrong weights on each bill.I would refuse to accept them and many would have declared values over 6-700 bucks. They would call the 800 #, then after a while the ctr would call me and told me to tell the customer to bring them in to the main bldg to accept. The Counter I was in was a seperate bldg away from the Hub. So I guess the rules change whenever conveinent to avoid a complaint....So why make rules on Packaging, insurance, etc?? Happened more than once, and another good one was whenever a customer wanted to speak to a Manager I was told to tell them They were in a meeting. What Joke at times. Glad I am gone

 

[pickup]

Yes, I can't drive a feeder truck for one, and there are plenty of other things [-]to[/-] too .
I'll try to be more humble in the the future o master.

Always in need of correction, aren't you?

 

[fethrs]

Always in need of correction, aren't you?

Only from you master...

 

[cachsux]

Fethrs

PM me your cell phone number and I can send you a copy of Brett's goodies. Quality goods in that package.

And it is a real skill to tame the raging customer; sometimes I feel that combat pay should be established.

After a video review I`ve been told by my better half the the football field is the only place that Brett is going long.

 

[RustyPMcG]

Before owning a TUPSS, I spent 8 years in a tech support call center. I'm going to tell you that people will say things to you over the phone that they'd never say in person. They'll also lie their asses off.

(I'd get people who'd call me for help, and then not want to walk though the solution. I would catch the liars by asking them to read me something on the screen word for word. If they tried faking it, I'd say we have to reboot, and start over. I once did this to someone three times before they finally rebooted, and followed instructions. Why would they call and ask for help if they didn't want my help?)

So when there's a disconnect between what should be done when someone is standing there in person, and what someone in a call center is saying should be done (or what someone is claiming someone in a call center told them), there is a very good chance that the person in front of you has lied to the call center rep, is lying to you, or both.

Saving a sale, and dealing with a liar is a whole subset of customer service that generally should involve supervisors or special people to handle escalations. One has to be far more pragmatic, and understand that changing someone else's behavior may not be possible.

For example, if someone has poorly packaged something, and you know it's going to be damaged, once you determine that the person is not a reasonable enough person to do something to help correct the situation the answer may be to just go ahead and accept the package. More claims are denied for insufficient packaging than any other reason. As long as the package isn't going to create a hazard when it is damaged, accepting it, and letting fate take it's course may be the best thing to do.

 

[HEFFERNAN]

You want to hear about customer service !

We were told that all on-road damaged packages are now to be sheeted as missed instead of refused-damaged. This is a new center policy to keep damaged packages off the radar ! I found a bowflex in my car that I wouldn't deliver to my worst enemy so I had to sheet it as missed. I pulled off the car and wrote damaged near the label. 2 weeks later, I hear a customer complaint about the bowflex. It was sent back to the shipper as Refused. No mention of damage what so ever. The lady was pissed because she'd been waiting for it and it never showed up. This is CUSTOMER SERVICE! Let's hide truths so preload isn't held accountable.

Sorry for going off thread a little. And you wonder sometimes why our customers get pissed.

 

[UnconTROLLed]

You want to hear about customer service !

We were told that all on-road damaged packages are now to be sheeted as missed instead of refused-damaged. This is a new center policy to keep damaged packages off the radar ! I found a bowflex in my car that I wouldn't deliver to my worst enemy so I had to sheet it as missed. I pulled off the car and wrote damaged near the label. 2 weeks later, I hear a customer complaint about the bowflex. It was sent back to the shipper as Refused. No mention of damage what so ever. The lady was pissed because she'd been waiting for it and it never showed up. This is CUSTOMER SERVICE! Let's hide truths so preload isn't held accountable.

Sorry for going off thread a little. And you wonder sometimes why our customers get pissed.

No, actually.

 

[UnconTROLLed]

I was called to the Customer Counter today to talk with a lady whose package was processed as damage last week. She was mad, irate, and impatient. She was missing some important docs and wanted some explanations.

After being interrupted a few times, I took control of the converstation, and explained the situation regarding her package. She was not happy the docs were missing but I calmed her down and she left in a better way than she came in.
I still got it. They come in pissed but they don't leave pissed. Customer service...imagine that.

The way I looked at the counter - it wasn't my job to calm people down.

The job of a counter person is to help cu ship, help them with pickups, and otherwise direct all complaints and questions to call 1-800-pickups.

I didn't make them angry, after all. Yes, after a 10 minute exercise in frustration they were angry at me. ( basically me explaining to the customer in monotone that I can't help them and to call 1-800-pick ups, and them refuting it requesting a manager)

Don't blame the faceless messenger.

UPS doesn't allow the counter people to properly help customers by not giving them any outlets to problem solve. I learned it was better off not getting involved, rather than step in and help the very little I could then getting the 3rd degree from the customer ( thinking that I knew something and was hiding, rather than understanding the company is what is tieing our hands)

 

[UpstateNYUPSer(Ret)]

You could take a few lessons from fethrs on customer service.

 

[hurricanegunner]

You want to hear about customer service !

We were told that all on-road damaged packages are now to be sheeted as missed instead of refused-damaged. This is a new center policy to keep damaged packages off the radar ! I found a bowflex in my car that I wouldn't deliver to my worst enemy so I had to sheet it as missed. I pulled off the car and wrote damaged near the label. 2 weeks later, I hear a customer complaint about the bowflex. It was sent back to the shipper as Refused. No mention of damage what so ever. The lady was pissed because she'd been waiting for it and it never showed up. This is CUSTOMER SERVICE! Let's hide truths so preload isn't held accountable.

Sorry for going off thread a little. And you wonder sometimes why our customers get pissed.

In our center, we sheet them as refused, damaged and put them by the damage pole. The damage clerk then rewraps them, adds her own little input for the customer to track, "driver error," and then the next day the customer is jumping on the driver's case because when they track the package, they see "driver error" on the screen, not damaged. We've had several drivers complain about this but nothing is being done. It's not the driver's fault, but it's not the customer's fault either. The customer is just going by the information they find when they track the package.

 

[Babagounj]

Customer counter is a rather rude place to work.
We daily take abuse because we have a face people can actually shout at.
We don't set up the rules , but everyone expects us to solve all their problems.
And it's true they all lie.
It's "I need it now, I'm leaving the country", "it's medicine", " I saw the driver on my street, but he didn't ring my bell", "I was home all day " " Why can't they just leave it, the {usps} guy does " , " I work all day. I'm never home " and my favorite is that we require a valid government issued ID for all pick-ups, these nice people drive up in their cars, so one would expect to see a USA drivers license, yet they produce a foreign passport or their home country id.

 

[UnconTROLLed]

Customer counter is a rather rude place to work.
We daily take abuse because we have a face people can actually shout at.
We don't set up the rules , but everyone expects us to solve all their problems.
And it's true they all lie.
It's "I need it now, I'm leaving the country", "it's medicine", " I saw the driver on my street, but he didn't ring my bell", "I was home all day " " Why can't they just leave it, the {usps} guy does " , " I work all day. I'm never home " and my favorite is that we require a valid government issued ID for all pick-ups, these nice people drive up in their cars, so one would expect to see a USA drivers license, yet they produce a foreign passport or their home country id.

The counter clerks lie as much as the customer. It's interesting how it comes back full-circle.

-You can be short with the customer, tell them to call the 1800# because we have zero knowledge of anything and only handle pickups available, and shipping. This usually gives a quick end to the situation, however the customer will probably harrass the other clerks if available.

-You can lie and say the package was lost, the plane crashed, the supervisor stole it, or "it's up the street, you're in the wrong building" and then go to lunch when another clerk feels .
the wrath

-you can spend 30 minutes explaining the little you know, however this gives the customer a sense that you're holding something back and continuing an exercise in aggrevation until he/she threatens to " report you", despite you trying your best to help them understand the situation. This is by far the least desirable option, even though it is the most honest approach.

Option 2 wins.