Your Call Is Important to Us

It doesn't always feel like customer helplines offer, well, help. Ellen talked about it with her audience.

[MsCrafter]

You were So on point with this topic Ellen!! Very frustrating....sigh

[McSilverAg]

I think she dissed India/indians.Thats pretty racist stuff if u ask me.Not all nice & helpful r we know?
smh!

[Royal]

come on pllllz!! why do you always cut the dances off?

[olive]

That is SOOO TRUE Ellen! You speak for my heart!

[lilyjameson]

I can't stand when they put me on hold and keep repeating the same message every 5 seconds!!! You only need to say it once, people. It only serves to annoy me, and make sure that I'm really mad by the time your agent picks up the line (45 minutes later)!!!

[izitaish]

wow, that was certainly not sweet to hear about my country in that bad sense, that too from Ellen.
You have got fans and followers in India too. And we are no less human. 

[zir]

I work in customer service. I help people!

Wtf elen.

[potocatepetl]

I must be lucky, I had mostely good experience with Customer Service. Maybe it makes a difference that I don't live in the US?

Ellen,

I've worked in a call center in the United States. We get hundreds of calls and it takes time for us to assist each person that calls. We do answer within 2-3 rings, but by the time we are done finishing our calls it goes into a queue and we have 30 people waiting to for us to answer. It a hectic environment. And I can only imagine how a person feels living in a different country taking calls for foreigners in the United States. It must be way harder.

- Chris

[HarleyQuinnLuvr]

I am a Customer Service Rep. I answer on the first ring. Every time. I get people who are not expecting it and have to take a second to gather themselves. Then I get, "I was not expecting a real person!" Well, I am real, in the US and speak English fluently. I don't like to put people on hold. I don't like it myself so why would I do it to another person. Nothing is automated during business hours. We have multiple voice mail boxes and I try to give out my personal business extension to all the customers I talk to during the day so they have a direct source to call. A lot of my customers know be my name so when they call I get 'life updates'. They tell me about birthday's, their kids, business etc. I just like to handle all of the calls letting the customer know that I care about their needs. 

[synchrxny]

No one's knowledgeable in these jobs because there's such a high turnover because the general public is so shitty and awful. Even Ellen, a beacon of kindness, is coming down on customer support. What do you expect? A study conducted on the impact of turnover rates on customer service found the obvious:

"The inquiry revealed that low job satisfaction, unfavourable working conditions, and 
slow career advancement were major factors influencing employee turnover. High employee turnover rates interfered with internalization of standards by the employees resulting to lower quality of service, reduced customer satisfaction, and making an establishment less competitive."

[karlaviverosmedina]

I love Ellen, but I think this is a very rude monologue. It's not agents fault the companies are not willing to spend more money on hiring more people. And let's be honest sometimes customers call demanding something ridiculous like free stuff or a refund and if you don't get what you want then they "didn't help you".

[jenkinboykz]

You want the solution for this? First, empower the agents to be able to decide on what to do with the customer's query without getting flagged and flogged for it, say the cust demands a refund for a faulty product, credit on a bill that's higher than usual due to stupid and ambiguous fees like "service charges", DO IT RIGHT AWAY. Sadly, this prime category is riddled with RED

Second, transfers to the correct department shouldn't be a pain in the ass as it is right now: Most of you don't know this but, each transfer the agent has done will count against him/her, despite of it being the resolution the customer needed.

Third, it should be fine to argue with customers who think they can get away with their huge bills due to the flawed idea that "customer's are always right." Now, there are customers who are willing to compromise, like pay only the amount they feel that  needs to be settled, very applicable for customers who experience poor services especially for telcos and cable tvs. But, sadly there are customers who want services for free, and pitch in the stupid line of "I've been your customer for years now, bla bla bla!!! and I don't want to pay for *insert service or product here*" customers should know that each product and service being utilized is to be billed. There are lots of customers who don't take the responsibilities well, and blame it on the next person they hear from customer services. 

. The faster you can get off the phone with these free loaders, the faster you can get to the next customer who might have valid concern.

Fourth, agents should have the right to drop calls outright from prank callers which waste our time. Sadly, we still need to be professional with these brats.

[silve]

Doesn't matter if it's a nice person. Once you start getting call after call you get annoyed so yeah thats how ppl are

[KPSnare]

I work customer service too! For Schwans! (If people have heard of them, yay ice cream!) I'm not in India, in Minnesota! Come on Ellen! Call us! 888-Schwans!

[PriEverythingChannel]

I work in Customer Service... Believe me, if it was THAT easy to just answer a call after the 2nd ring we would. There is so much more to it than what people think there is. They think we just sit back and ignore the calls. Come on, really? If you work in a Customer Service Center you'll know what I mean.... Now, I agree, we do encounter those employees who just don't want to help... I APOLOGIZE FOR THEM. Lol.... Ever since I started working in Customer Service and I know what it takes and all that goes into it, I am A LOT more patient when I have to call to any Customer Service Line

[mycovercr]

I worked at customer service and sometimes it's not our fault... for example, when a call finished, instantly another call started and this person would be mad because she/he was on hold for 20 minutes! and it was not my fault... also, we have some tools and procedures we MUST follow... and if that doesn't help the customer, well, there's nothing else we could do... 

[itzmeacire]

hmm.. i wont deny that there are times like that and we are very sorry on behalf of any outsource BPO company partly .. that is true .. i was working for customer service  before too but also please do understand that not all agents are like that .. (im not from india) and i can say that most agents are also trying our hardest to make sure to attend all possible concerns and make sure to that we have a happy and satisfied customer just before ending the call plus working with this type of job for  5 years .. changing  moods call after call is very difficult as well for some that wont accept resolution.. sometimes it really out of our hands.. but we feel sorry if were unable to satisfy the customer..

[emircalake]

I always get helped! Guess it's a holland thing, I have even called on weekends after midnight, after I have blown my circuit plugs, and within an hour someone comes, and I have electricity again. Btw, I love you Ellen, and hopefully u weren't calling the shampoo customer line.

[TheJustinglen]

phone to customer service can be frustrating for sure