I worked with a lot of very nasty people and very few of them turned out to be really that way. When we get frustrated, we just want to blow our stack to someone who will listen and consider our problem. So, I did this. When someone came yelling at me, I would stand there and listen all the way through, ask them questions if I needed to verify anything. By then, the customer had mostly calmed down. I would then tell them what I could do to help them or, if I couldn’t, I’d give them the name of someone who could.

I also worked in a savings and loan for several years (13.5). A VP came to visit our office. While he was there, a very irate customer came in. He was still mad when he left. He told me what I could tell my boss (not nice). I said, okay. The VP looked at me funny. He wanted to know if I couldn’t have thought of something to say besides “okay.” I informed him that he was only the 2nd customer in 10+ years who had been so mad. I was unaccustomed to dealing with people like this. He then informed me that we must be doing something very right in our office, because the home office had that many upset customers every week or two. Of course, they were also a much larger office. But still, it was a great compliment.

I too have done phone customer service, and I disagree with a lot of the folks on here about some of Trent’s techniques. They absolutely would work in an insurance company- the more a person stuck to his/her guns and refused to hang up, the more likely his/her issue would be handled by someone who could make a decision the call center would not be allowed to make.

I’ve always been polite and friendly when I complain, and it’s had mixed results. With Comcast and Wells Fargo, I got nada. With others (especially hotels) I’ve gotten good results.

And as a Marketing person at a larger corporation now, we DO pay attention to negative mentions on small websites. We search for those kinds of things and try to fix the problem. Complaints on blogs turn into news stories too quickly!

I assume that you can not imagine because you have not worked as a CSR.

There is never a reason to yell at, berate, belittle, bully, be cruel or mean to another human being. I dont care how long you waited on hold or how much you hate the product or the company they work for.

Its a person answering the phone. Yes a CSR may appear to have thicker skin or be not human and only seem to you as a bump in the road to talking to a supervisor but they are more than that and no one deserves the treatment a CSR typically gets from most callers.

I’ve found this to work with Comcast in particular. On several occasions, I’ve called them, patiently tried all the relevant tactics presented here, only to waste a lot of time being stonewalled. But I’d say 75% of the time, if I call back and talk to a different person, I can get a quick and helpful resolution.

(I was originally going to start this comment out with the cynical remark, “All of these tactics are great unless you’re dealing with Comcast, in which case, you’re only hope is luck.” But a second call may just bring you the luck you need!)

Yeah, I’m skeptical of that, too. While it works, it seems to me that many companies use exactly this same tactic. They know that most people will hang up if you put them on hold for long enough. I have had MULTIPLE instances of being on the phone with Sallie Mae for 1-2 HOURS.

Also, to all the people talking about “being polite” to the service reps: blah, blah, blah. Heard it a thousand times. How about we look at the other perspective?

I know there are people who are a**holes on the phone, but I can’t imagine that most people are. That is, unless they have spent 10 minutes getting through an automated system to reach someone, 20 minutes trying to reach the right person, and 20 minutes on the phone with you trying to solve their problem and hearing that nothing can be done (oftentimes only to find out otherwise later on). How about a little sympathy and patience for us, too?

On the other hand, some companies just have a culture of disdain for their customers and the best thing to do is get away from them as fast as you can. You can’t always know that from the first customer service rep you talk to, so sometimes if I’m getting nowhere, I just say I have to end the call and will have to call back about it later.

There’s always someone at some level who can solve the problem if motivated. I had a problem with Sallie Mae calling my office over someone stranger’s student loan. After my assistant tried for months without success to get us taken off their DAILY calling list, I spent 15 minutes on the internet, found the name and home address of the head of the division we were dealing with, made my way on the phone up to a supervisor who knew who that person was, and asked if it was necessary to send the director a personal letter at her home detailing the problem, to get some real attention to our problem. That supervisor reported back her progress on solving our problem for three days and we haven’t had a call since.

I once had a guy wait on hold for 2 hours to talk to my supervisor only to hear the same answer I gave him 30 seconds into the call.

I agree with those who said it’s best to be polite. I always did the absolute minimum I could for rude and vulgar customer’s. But if someone called with a problem and was polite I would go out of my way to make sure they got proper help. Also, we were allowed to hang up if someone got too belligerent.

Pointing out how long you’ve been on hold is particularly strange- I’m sure their phones have timers!

I called the elderly couple (two reservations required two people working the computers), stated there was a small problem with their seating reservations and asked if they would mind being upgraded to First Class. Oh, they were pleased and gracious and even mentioned that it was a 2nd honeymoon after a few years of saving money. So I rebooked them into 1st and made ’2nd honeymoon’ comments in their reservation. Their son even sent a note stating they’d had a wonderful time.

Then my partner returned to the original caller and told him we had gotten him that bulkhead seat and he was elated . . . until he was told how. The reply to his screech of “I would have gone to first” was “No sir, you insisted on the bulkhead seat. You got the bulkhead seat.”

Lessons: Be polite. Be prepared to accept something else (equal to what you consider fair restitution). Realize that the rep really would like to help you.

And, I’m told that reservation agents can’t do this anymore.