By: Andy

Andy — Sat, 16 Dec 2006 05:09:34 +0000

Yeah, I worked in a call center for a bank doing collections. I totally hear ya. I call in 5,000 was with a human being worth talking to, the rest shouldn’t have been given a loan to buy a tricycle!
I always loved people who wanted to talk to my supervisor. I’d try to honestly talk them out of it because between the two of us, I was the nice one…..by a LONG SHOT! My supe was a woman who had done collections for 10 years, she could make customers I couldn’t put a dent in weep for mercy and beg to pay on time. She scared me.
And my personal favorite dealing with loans that were signed by a husband and wife that were now divorced. Soap operas got nothing on reality.
My personal favorite stinger though was
Customer: “I son’t have to pay these charges”
Me: “your account is over 30 days past due and the charges are automatically placed on your account.”
Customer: “I’m a lawyer mister.”
Me: “Oh good, so you know the definition of a binding contract!”

By: Rachel

Rachel — Fri, 15 Dec 2006 21:13:00 +0000

Girrrlllll!!! I can so relate. Even though I am a licensed professional, the fact that I answer the phone in a call center gives people the idea that I don’t know what I am doing.
Um, I know better how to do my job than the people sitting in their office in your town doing the exact same thing. You think that the people you buy your insurance from know what the hell they are doing? No. Wanna know why? They go through no additional training after they receive their license other than a book that they have to read and a test to take every two years - If you are lucky and your state renews licenses rather than keeps them in perpetuity. Even then you probably won’t talk to the agent, but an unlicensed administrative assistant.
Me? I not only have to take classes to renew my license, I also have product training and meetings every morning to go over thing specific to our products. And I am scored on about 15 different things regarding how well I do my job.
Call quality, transaction quality, premium generated, close rate (how many policies I sell vs. how many I quote), time management and a bunch of other stuff.
If I do my job poorly, I get fired. An agent that has a sattelite office? It is in their better interest to be a mediocre agent. You get paid more for the first term of a policy than a renewal so if you switch them to a new compay every year or let their policy lapse you make more money when you re-write them.
And I don’t even deal with agents. I AM an agent. I speak to every Mildred, Edgar and John living in all 50 states. I have heard “I live on a fixed income” more times that I can count. And Florida? Don’t get me started. You want a policy on a home that is in Pinellas County and are upset that we don’t write there? Call Citizen’s and stop whining in my phone. I can’t make an exception for you, especially if I can’t make an exception for the nice person that I spoke to yesterday. I have literally had to tell people that I am not willing to lose my job to provide them insurance.
I could go on and on and on…….
Background noise drives me crazy. Dogs barking, The Price Is Right on, babies crying. Oh, and people who call but normally their spouse deals with everything but doesn’t want to talk on the phone. Then you sit there and have to listen to a relay conversation.
I have stories for days!!!

Comments on: I Hate People.

By: Andy

By: Rachel