Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

The Department of Boneheadedness.

Collapse
This topic is closed.
X
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

    #61
    Originally posted by garhkal View Post
    Its almost like they DON'T want you to interact with people, isn't it..
    Or they keep you waiting for so long you just call it quits even before you've even heard a single voice, computer or otherwise. Or your battery dies, or you run out of credit when using pre-paid.
    Heightmeyer's Lemming -- still the coolest Lemming of the forum

    Proper Stargate Rewatch -- season 10 of SG-1

    Comment


      #62
      Whatever, as long as they don't have to pay someone to talk to you, they win.

      Comment


        #63
        Some people prefer to deal with machines.. Sometimes it's easier, they can go at their own pace, review information before pressing send so no one has to know how many tries it took to get it right...

        Comment


          #64
          Originally posted by garhkal View Post
          Its almost like they DON'T want you to interact with people, isn't it..
          That's because we don't.

          The biggest part of the job of any call center is answering questions that people either should already know answers to, or they could find answers through a simple Internet search in much less time than it takes to arrive to a customer service representative. The second-biggest part is helping customers resolve problems that actually have very little to do with the product being sold or serviced, such as providing ad hoc tech support (for example, a travel agency call center spends quite a bit of time explaining to people how to print out their hotel vouchers which were sent by email as PDF- in other words, how to operate the customer's own computer and printer). So yes, there's subtle pressure to NOT call in order to save pointless hassle and to downsize expenses (the more calls, the more manpower the call center needs, along with the necessary equipment etc.).

          The thing is, people actually enjoy online self-service much more than they enjoy phone interaction, but they call anyway for most trivial reasons.
          If Algeria introduced a resolution declaring that the earth was flat and that Israel had flattened it, it would pass by a vote of 164 to 13 with 26 abstentions.- Abba Eban.

          Comment


            #65
            [QUOTE=Womble;14467538]That's because we don't.
            Umm..
            The biggest part of the job of any call center is answering questions that people either should already know answers to, or they could find answers through a simple Internet search in much less time than it takes to arrive to a customer service representative. The second-biggest part is helping customers resolve problems that actually have very little to do with the product being sold or serviced, such as providing ad hoc tech support (for example, a travel agency call center spends quite a bit of time explaining to people how to print out their hotel vouchers which were sent by email as PDF- in other words, how to operate the customer's own computer and printer).
            This all but disproves your first statement.
            People -want- to speak to another person, especially when there are large amounts of money and/or time involved.
            So yes, there's subtle pressure to NOT call in order to save pointless hassle and to downsize expenses (the more calls, the more manpower the call center needs, along with the necessary equipment etc.).
            In other words, to make more money via eliminating jobs.
            The thing is, people actually enjoy online self-service much more than they enjoy phone interaction, but they call anyway for most trivial reasons.
            If they call for trivial reasons, they want human contact. Yes, self serve is easier and quicker, but after they get their discount, they want assurances that they did everything right. Travel is not the same as the self serve checkout at the grocery store.
            sigpic
            ALL THANKS TO THE WONDERFUL CREATOR OF THIS SIG GO TO R.I.G.
            A lie is just a truth that hasn't gone through conversion therapy yet
            The truth isn't the truth

            Comment


              #66
              Originally posted by Womble View Post
              The thing is, people actually enjoy online self-service much more than they enjoy phone interaction,
              You must work in a call center, probably management level. They are the only people I've ever heard make that claim.

              Comment


                #67
                No he is right. The calling tends to be more difficult than the Internet
                Originally posted by aretood2
                Jelgate is right

                Comment


                  #68
                  Originally posted by Gatefan1976 View Post
                  This all but disproves your first statement.
                  People -want- to speak to another person, especially when there are large amounts of money and/or time involved.
                  Some people do want to speak to another person. But my previous statement was that we - as in our travel agency - don't want them calling. What we want, ideally, is for people to self-service themselves with the tools that we provide. An ideal travel agency, in our day and age, is an IT department that supplies and supports a website with a price comparison engine and a number of service tools.

                  In other words, to make more money via eliminating jobs.
                  Yep. That is the goal of any business - maximizing profit while minimizing expenses.

                  If they call for trivial reasons, they want human contact. Yes, self serve is easier and quicker, but after they get their discount, they want assurances that they did everything right. Travel is not the same as the self serve checkout at the grocery store.
                  It's more complex than that.

                  The older, pre-Internet generation are the ones who want "human contact" because they don't trust either technology or their own competence with technology. For many of them, phone booking is a matter of habit. But that generation is slowly fading out, not just via natural causes but also some of them get more savvy and others get younger people to do things for them.

                  Younger people - those under 40 - WANT travel to be as simple as a self-service check-out. They prefer to depend on technology rather than on a person. They love the convenience of online booking - it's short and simple compared to the tedious process of booking on the phone, it does not make them feel pressured to close the deal (and agents do pressure), it leaves them reasonably confident that they got the best price because the process was automatic and there was no place for sleight-of-hand (or so they think), and on an ever-so-subtle level completing the self-service check-out makes them feel smart. Oh, and they don't have to depend on the agency's working hours. They can sit down in the evening with their buddies over beer and chips, or with their spouse over family dinner, and "hey sweetie, they're selling round-trip tickets to Amsterdam for 99$ a piece! Can you take a week off in April?"

                  Most calls from this category of customers represents a failure of the company to create a flawless automated process. For one, it's a failure to provide customers with a means of communication that they would find more convenient than a phone call. (That's why in China and India mobile chatting apps are quickly becoming popular as customer service tools). Then there's the failure to provide information in a way that customers understand and retain. I hope it doesn't surprise anyone but management of many companies hate providing customers with information; the information they do provide is mostly that which they are obligated to provide under various consumer protection legislation or the stuff they need to write in to avoid being sued. Basically, the goal of providing information is usually something other than actually making sure the customer understands and remembers it.

                  Then there is the usability failure. That's when people call because they haven't found the relevant information on the website because the website is not ideally designed. Then there are tasks that can't be automated at the company's present technological level, or haven't been automated because no one gave it a thought. And all kinds of other failures. "Human contact" is the duct tape with which all that gets patched up for lack of real solutions.

                  The only people who will ALWAYS call and there's nothing that can be done about it are the people who call the call center because they are on the move - driving or walking- or their hands are busy (in the kitchen for instance), and a voice call is their idea of saving time.
                  If Algeria introduced a resolution declaring that the earth was flat and that Israel had flattened it, it would pass by a vote of 164 to 13 with 26 abstentions.- Abba Eban.

                  Comment


                    #69
                    Originally posted by Falcon Horus View Post
                    Or they keep you waiting for so long you just call it quits even before you've even heard a single voice, computer or otherwise. Or your battery dies, or you run out of credit when using pre-paid.

                    I vote all of the above..

                    Comment


                      #70
                      Sadly, this one resulted in death..

                      http://www.foxnews.com/entertainment...tten-by-cobra/

                      bitten by cobra on stage
                      The Sun
                      Published April 07, 2016

                      A pop star collapsed and died on stage after being bitten mid-performance by a cobra.

                      Irma Bule, 29, was famous for wearing snakes during her acts and thought the king cobra had been defanged.

                      Despite being fatally bitten she continued to sing for 45 minutes before she collapsed in front of a stunned audience.

                      The pop star was performing in the village in Karawang, West Java, in her native Indonesia.

                      She accidentally trod on the cobra, named Rianti, and it lashed out, sinking its fangs into her leg.

                      Audience member Ferlando Octavion Auzura told local media: “The accident happened in the middle of the second song when Irma stepped on the snake's tail.

                      "The snake then bit Irma on her thigh."

                      The singer reportedly refused an antidote from the snake handler but later began vomiting on stage and suffered a seizure.

                      She was rushed to hospital where she died.

                      Police said they are investigating the incident and have interviewed members of the audience.

                      King cobras are the world's longest venomous snake and grow to around 5.5 metres long.

                      They can release enough venom in a single bite to kill 20 people or an elephant.

                      Bule had previously danced with pythons and boa constrictors.

                      Comment


                        #71
                        Darwin award entrant right there..

                        Comment


                          #72
                          Should have stayed with the pythons and the constrictors.
                          Or possibly used what was left of her brain and have antidote administered immediately after.

                          So yeah, definitely nominated for a Darwin Award.
                          Heightmeyer's Lemming -- still the coolest Lemming of the forum

                          Proper Stargate Rewatch -- season 10 of SG-1

                          Comment


                            #73
                            Yesterday's conversation with a customer at work:

                            "I'm flying to Prague tomorrow and I have a question. Last year I was in Berlin and it was so dreary, no children in the streets. It's like the Germans have no babies at all. So I wanted to ask: do people still have babies in Prague?"

                            What am I supposed to answer???
                            If Algeria introduced a resolution declaring that the earth was flat and that Israel had flattened it, it would pass by a vote of 164 to 13 with 26 abstentions.- Abba Eban.

                            Comment


                              #74
                              LOL!!

                              So, what did you answer?
                              Last edited by Falcon Horus; 15 April 2016, 01:04 AM.
                              Heightmeyer's Lemming -- still the coolest Lemming of the forum

                              Proper Stargate Rewatch -- season 10 of SG-1

                              Comment


                                #75
                                Originally posted by Womble View Post
                                Yesterday's conversation with a customer at work:

                                "I'm flying to Prague tomorrow and I have a question. Last year I was in Berlin and it was so dreary, no children in the streets. It's like the Germans have no babies at all. So I wanted to ask: do people still have babies in Prague?"

                                What am I supposed to answer???
                                "Na, they just import them"..

                                Comment

                                Working...
                                X