Comment I worked for Sprint (Score 3, Interesting) 386
For a while I worked doing customer support for Sprint. There are two really big problems:
1. A lot of customers are just trying to scam the company.
2. The company is super cheap and doesn't want to pay-up when they are wrong.
To compound this delicate situation, the software we used to track these issues is REALLY REALLY bad. You have never seen bad software until you've worked for Sprint (imagine the worst windows program in the world and then make it 100times worse).
I started training with 16 people (which is a small group compared to the normal size) -- of those 16 peope, I was the ONLY one that truly understood the billing system. And the only reason I understood it is because I took an accounting course in college. When you phone Sprint with a billing problem -- chances are the person that you are talking to only knows a little bit more than you.
But let me tell you what a service agent is up against -- when someone phones in with a problem you've got four bosses pressuring you to: 1. end the call as quickly as possible because time is money; 2. sell the customer something they don't need; 3. solve all their many problems... Now they all like to talk bout "solving" the customer's problem, but that's more like an obstacle in the course of making more money.
They keep detailed records of how long the calls were, and numerous other 'metrics'. If our calls were getting too long (eg: because we were helping the customer) then we have some asshole boss hassling us over our performance. If we don't make enough sales offers -- same thing -- we get hassled. Try and think of a combination of "office space" and "boiler room". I remember one day when I got 20 calls in a row, and only one of them was applicable to make a sales offer (the rest were agents from sprint stores, people who hung up, etc) well, because my offer rate was so low they took me aside and gave me "special coaching"... They wouldn't listen to the fact that I COULDN'T make sales offers on these calls... they treated me like I was a moron.
And the customers -- don't even get me started on the customers. The customer would be yelling at you through the headset, and at the very same time your boss would be yelling in your other ear. It was a crappy job -- the company was crappy, the co-workers were crappy, and the customers were crappy.
1. A lot of customers are just trying to scam the company.
2. The company is super cheap and doesn't want to pay-up when they are wrong.
To compound this delicate situation, the software we used to track these issues is REALLY REALLY bad. You have never seen bad software until you've worked for Sprint (imagine the worst windows program in the world and then make it 100times worse).
I started training with 16 people (which is a small group compared to the normal size) -- of those 16 peope, I was the ONLY one that truly understood the billing system. And the only reason I understood it is because I took an accounting course in college. When you phone Sprint with a billing problem -- chances are the person that you are talking to only knows a little bit more than you.
But let me tell you what a service agent is up against -- when someone phones in with a problem you've got four bosses pressuring you to: 1. end the call as quickly as possible because time is money; 2. sell the customer something they don't need; 3. solve all their many problems... Now they all like to talk bout "solving" the customer's problem, but that's more like an obstacle in the course of making more money.
They keep detailed records of how long the calls were, and numerous other 'metrics'. If our calls were getting too long (eg: because we were helping the customer) then we have some asshole boss hassling us over our performance. If we don't make enough sales offers -- same thing -- we get hassled. Try and think of a combination of "office space" and "boiler room". I remember one day when I got 20 calls in a row, and only one of them was applicable to make a sales offer (the rest were agents from sprint stores, people who hung up, etc) well, because my offer rate was so low they took me aside and gave me "special coaching"... They wouldn't listen to the fact that I COULDN'T make sales offers on these calls... they treated me like I was a moron.
And the customers -- don't even get me started on the customers. The customer would be yelling at you through the headset, and at the very same time your boss would be yelling in your other ear. It was a crappy job -- the company was crappy, the co-workers were crappy, and the customers were crappy.
