I work in a 999 call centre for an ambulance service and some of the ideas that people have regarding the definition of emergency are worrying
ooh can u give some examples? i watched that coppers programme on channel 4 a few weeks ago, where it showed the 999 call centre for the police and some of the things people were phoning in for were just absolutely ridiculous!
ooh can u give some examples? i watched that coppers programme on channel 4 a few weeks ago, where it showed the 999 call centre for the police and some of the things people were phoning in for were just absolutely ridiculous!
999 calls made to Greater Manchester Police (GMP) recently included one from a priest because he was in WH Smiths at Manchester Airport and the staff wouldn't let him use their toilet, a man who complained staff at a pizza shop had put mushrooms on his pizza and he had not wanted mushrooms and a caller who dialled 999 to ask what his mobile number was.
999 calls made to Greater Manchester Police (GMP) recently included one from a priest because he was in WH Smiths at Manchester Airport and the staff wouldn't let him use their toilet, a man who complained staff at a pizza shop had put mushrooms on his pizza and he had not wanted mushrooms and a caller who dialled 999 to ask what his mobile number was.
:eek: that is absolutely shocking. what a bunch of timewasters.
ooh can u give some examples? i watched that coppers programme on channel 4 a few weeks ago, where it showed the 999 call centre for the police and some of the things people were phoning in for were just absolutely ridiculous!
I saw that episode too. It was shocking what some people would call up about!! When the caller would start with "I don't think it's an emergency but..." and you would see the agent just roll their eyes as they knew it was another time waster, unbelievable.
I saw that episode too. It was shocking what some people would call up about!! When the caller would start with "I don't think it's an emergency but..." and you would see the agent just roll their eyes as they knew it was another time waster, unbelievable.
i know. and then the one where they actually went to a house and it turns out they'd been arguing over whose turn it was on the wii?!
so because theres an automated message, u would feel ok to be rude and impolite to a person trying to help u out? my companys automated service is actually ok so people dont have that excuse.
anyway, i didnt really start this thread to argue, so heres another little gem
we had one guy who called us every night, for no particular reason. he was a liverpudlian guy with the strongest accent ever and it was soo hard to understand him and everytime i said excuse me, or sorry or whatever, he'd say 'its like to talking to a cat' (?!) and also that women shudnt have jobs, that we shud be in the kitchen he no reason for calling us, other than to wind us up, the sad little man. anyway we got called all the names under the sun, i was told that there was people on the dole more deserving than me and that i shud be cleaning toilets. and also that he was going to shoot me. and that if he couldnt shoot me he was gonna go into his local branch and shoot every one of them. every single night. anytime someone hung up on him, he'd call back just screaming down the phone. so we had get to the police involved as he'd threatened to shoot everyone in the branch. he still continued to call for a months after that, but its stopped now.
Sorry to hear you had that trouble with the man with the scouse accent. At least you know what there like, aggressive and all. Mind you, they should very well know there are people on the dole up there!
Sorry to hear you had that trouble with the man with the scouse accent. At least you know what there like, aggressive and all. Mind you, they should very well know there are people on the dole up there!
I work on a charity hotline. I wish some people would learn to differentiate us from other charities!
Last week I had a woman call up wanting someone to come and collect her 'bra bank'. Now, I've been there a year and know we don't do that. When I told her that and asked if she was sure she had the right number, she practically screamed at me that of course we did it as she'd called up the number before and it had happened. I tried to find her on our system, she didn't have a record. I explained again it wasn't something we did. "OF COURSE IT IS, I PHONE YOU UP AND YOU ORGANISE FOR THE MEN TO COME AND GET THEM AND SEND THE MONEY TO BREAST CANCER!" I offered to find out who her area manager was, and perhaps they could help. "NO! YOU DO IT FROM YOUR OFFICE!" I put her on hold and asked a colleague what I should do, who offered to talk to her, even though they'd only be saying what I did. So I put her through to them, and somehow they managed to persuade her that they'd "look into it" and so she got off the phone.
Stupid cow called back 10 minutes later, admitting that she had called the wrong number. Sadly I didn't get to take that call...
I work on a charity hotline. I wish some people would learn to differentiate us from other charities!
Last week I had a woman call up wanting someone to come and collect her 'bra bank'. Now, I've been there a year and know we don't do that. When I told her that and asked if she was sure she had the right number, she practically screamed at me that of course we did it as she'd called up the number before and it had happened. I tried to find her on our system, she didn't have a record. I explained again it wasn't something we did. "OF COURSE IT IS, I PHONE YOU UP AND YOU ORGANISE FOR THE MEN TO COME AND GET THEM AND SEND THE MONEY TO BREAST CANCER!" I offered to find out who her area manager was, and perhaps they could help. "NO! YOU DO IT FROM YOUR OFFICE!" I put her on hold and asked a colleague what I should do, who offered to talk to her, even though they'd only be saying what I did. So I put her through to them, and somehow they managed to persuade her that they'd "look into it" and so she got off the phone.
Stupid cow called back 10 minutes later, admitting that she had called the wrong number. Sadly I didn't get to take that call...
I work on a charity hotline. I wish some people would learn to differentiate us from other charities!
Last week I had a woman call up wanting someone to come and collect her 'bra bank'. Now, I've been there a year and know we don't do that. When I told her that and asked if she was sure she had the right number, she practically screamed at me that of course we did it as she'd called up the number before and it had happened. I tried to find her on our system, she didn't have a record. I explained again it wasn't something we did. "OF COURSE IT IS, I PHONE YOU UP AND YOU ORGANISE FOR THE MEN TO COME AND GET THEM AND SEND THE MONEY TO BREAST CANCER!" I offered to find out who her area manager was, and perhaps they could help. "NO! YOU DO IT FROM YOUR OFFICE!" I put her on hold and asked a colleague what I should do, who offered to talk to her, even though they'd only be saying what I did. So I put her through to them, and somehow they managed to persuade her that they'd "look into it" and so she got off the phone.
Stupid cow called back 10 minutes later, admitting that she had called the wrong number. Sadly I didn't get to take that call...
oh i hate customers trying to tell me how to do my job! i actually had a guy on yesterday who said 'on your website it says you're open till 9' and i said well yes, thats correct, we are open till 9. he then argued with me for 15 minutes solid trying to tell me that we closed at 5. i was on a 1-9 shift yesterday...
I believe it's a sort of recycling box, that ladies deposit their old bras into and then the bras are sent to women in the third world who maybe don't have any.
I believe it's a sort of recycling box, that ladies deposit their old bras into and then the bras are sent to women in the third world who maybe don't have any.
I was once on hold and they were playing some really crappy music for what seemed like an age. Probably only about 15 minutes but I was getting a bit stressed as I was due to leave for work soon. Anyway, the voice came over the line, "your call is important to us and will be answered as soon as an operator is free. Please continue to hold or call back later..." I jokingly said something along the lines of "instead of telling me how busy you are, why not jump on the ****ing phones and help them out..." just as the call was answered by an operator at the point of "jump on the ****ing phones" - To which she jokingly (luckily for me) replied "Sir, I sometimes feel like it after a day like today". She saw the funny side. I learnt a lesson that day:D:o
The best one I've had was someone wanting a manager because he refused to answer the data protection questions.
Like we ask them for shits and giggles or something...
Heard all the sob stories why they've not paid their bill...doesn't make a bit of difference, the reinstate process is system controlled and certain conditions need to be met.
And cannot be overridden by me, my fellow agents or team leaders on the floor.
Pet peeves:
People who say "no" after you've explained their bill to them. Like it can change anything...
Cold transfers from other agents from other departments to me. Especially when I'm not the right ****ing department!
I worked in the Home Delivery Customer service dept of a well known chain years ago and one call i took made me think i was in a scene from the movie Trains Planes and Automobiles, the one where Steve Martin had walked across the snow ridden car park because his hire car wasn't there!, Do you remember it?.....
I had a man from Scotland ring as his delivery for a tv he had ordered had failed to show up two days running so i could understand he was getting quite peeved about it, but i think he must have lived somewhere really remote because they had had a devil of a job trying to find his house, anyway!, he was so angry he couldn't control himself no matter how much i appologised and said i would chase it up urgently for him the tirade that came out of his mouth just wouldn't stop!..
He was saying, ' Sorry!, you haven't got to f*****g go home and tell your f*****g kids they aren't going to get their f*****g tv ... because you cant f*****g find out f*****g house, '
All i could picture was that woman behind the reception desk in the film saying, 'well you know what?, your f****d'....:D
It still makes me laugh now thinking about that phone call!..... D
The best one I've had was someone wanting a manager because he refused to answer the data protection questions.
Like we ask them for shits and giggles or something...
Heard all the sob stories why they've not paid their bill...doesn't make a bit of difference, the reinstate process is system controlled and certain conditions need to be met.
And cannot be overridden by me, my fellow agents or team leaders on the floor.
Pet peeves:
People who say "no" after you've explained their bill to them. Like it can change anything...
Cold transfers from other agents from other departments to me. Especially when I'm not the right ****ing department!
****ing voucher calls!
Oh I loved calls where the customer just refused to play along with the Data Protection Act rules. It was normally where they had set up a password and couldn't remember it. I lost count of the number of times where the customer would say they didn't set one up, so after verifying some other details I would get them to set a new one which as you can probably guess was the original one they set up to begin with!
I had one woman who came on the phone and gave me her name and address. When I asked her for the password she just kept repeating the same line over and over "You've got my details, now look me up!". After explaining 5 or 6 times to her that she has a password set up to protect her account she finally gave up and told me what it was followed by "This is ridiculous, you knew who I was to begin with!!".
People just don't seem to understand that the reason we have these rules in place is to prevent anyone from calling up and accessing any account. But the general British public just doesn't seem to understand this and think it's just another hurdle to keep them on the phone for longer.
just wondering if any fellow call centre workers have any funny/interesting stories to share about the joys of being on the telephones to the GBP!
I work in a large bank on the phones..and i swear the amount of stupidity i hear on a daily basis is unreal.
we have call centres across britain and i work in the glasgow one. i had one particular customer who demanded to speak to a colleague of mine in the belfast centre,so i tried to connect him through but she was on a call. i explained this and said that if he wanted, i would email and get her to call him back. but no, this wasnt acceptable. he demanded i go speak to her in person to let her know he was wanting to speak to her, so i told him that while she was in the belfast office and i was in the glasgow office, that would be impossible...his response..? "i dont care, go and speak to her"...ok gimme a minute till i fire up the teleporter.
:rolleyes:
"I work in a large bank on the phones..and i swear the amount of stupidity i hear on a daily basis is unreal. "
LOL...says someone so highly educated, that they have a job in a call centre.
Comments
I used to work for a GP out of hours and found the same. Some people should be prosecuted for time wasting.
ooh can u give some examples? i watched that coppers programme on channel 4 a few weeks ago, where it showed the 999 call centre for the police and some of the things people were phoning in for were just absolutely ridiculous!
I can believe that, i read some of the Manchester cops twitter feeds( When they tweeted for a day). Some of the calls they got defied belief.
:eek: that is absolutely shocking. what a bunch of timewasters.
I saw that episode too. It was shocking what some people would call up about!! When the caller would start with "I don't think it's an emergency but..." and you would see the agent just roll their eyes as they knew it was another time waster, unbelievable.
i know. and then the one where they actually went to a house and it turns out they'd been arguing over whose turn it was on the wii?!
sorry, i don't get what u mean?
Last week I had a woman call up wanting someone to come and collect her 'bra bank'. Now, I've been there a year and know we don't do that. When I told her that and asked if she was sure she had the right number, she practically screamed at me that of course we did it as she'd called up the number before and it had happened. I tried to find her on our system, she didn't have a record. I explained again it wasn't something we did. "OF COURSE IT IS, I PHONE YOU UP AND YOU ORGANISE FOR THE MEN TO COME AND GET THEM AND SEND THE MONEY TO BREAST CANCER!" I offered to find out who her area manager was, and perhaps they could help. "NO! YOU DO IT FROM YOUR OFFICE!" I put her on hold and asked a colleague what I should do, who offered to talk to her, even though they'd only be saying what I did. So I put her through to them, and somehow they managed to persuade her that they'd "look into it" and so she got off the phone.
Stupid cow called back 10 minutes later, admitting that she had called the wrong number. Sadly I didn't get to take that call...
I was a team manager and had to take many manager calls.
One that sticks in mind was from a very upset scottish lady who was accusing us of changing her gas so it burnt the bottom of her new pans black:D
hahaha
oh i hate customers trying to tell me how to do my job! i actually had a guy on yesterday who said 'on your website it says you're open till 9' and i said well yes, thats correct, we are open till 9. he then argued with me for 15 minutes solid trying to tell me that we closed at 5. i was on a 1-9 shift yesterday...
I believe it's a sort of recycling box, that ladies deposit their old bras into and then the bras are sent to women in the third world who maybe don't have any.
Indeed, it is the same for ourselves in the the police 999 centre, and we get more calls than you lot.
But you got to love them - they do keep us in jobs! For the moment at least.
The best one I've had was someone wanting a manager because he refused to answer the data protection questions.
Like we ask them for shits and giggles or something...
Heard all the sob stories why they've not paid their bill...doesn't make a bit of difference, the reinstate process is system controlled and certain conditions need to be met.
And cannot be overridden by me, my fellow agents or team leaders on the floor.
Pet peeves:
People who say "no" after you've explained their bill to them. Like it can change anything...
Cold transfers from other agents from other departments to me. Especially when I'm not the right ****ing department!
****ing voucher calls!
I had a man from Scotland ring as his delivery for a tv he had ordered had failed to show up two days running so i could understand he was getting quite peeved about it, but i think he must have lived somewhere really remote because they had had a devil of a job trying to find his house, anyway!, he was so angry he couldn't control himself no matter how much i appologised and said i would chase it up urgently for him the tirade that came out of his mouth just wouldn't stop!..
He was saying, ' Sorry!, you haven't got to f*****g go home and tell your f*****g kids they aren't going to get their f*****g tv ... because you cant f*****g find out f*****g house,
All i could picture was that woman behind the reception desk in the film saying, 'well you know what?, your f****d'....:D
It still makes me laugh now thinking about that phone call!..... D
Oh I loved calls where the customer just refused to play along with the Data Protection Act rules. It was normally where they had set up a password and couldn't remember it. I lost count of the number of times where the customer would say they didn't set one up, so after verifying some other details I would get them to set a new one which as you can probably guess was the original one they set up to begin with!
I had one woman who came on the phone and gave me her name and address. When I asked her for the password she just kept repeating the same line over and over "You've got my details, now look me up!". After explaining 5 or 6 times to her that she has a password set up to protect her account she finally gave up and told me what it was followed by "This is ridiculous, you knew who I was to begin with!!".
People just don't seem to understand that the reason we have these rules in place is to prevent anyone from calling up and accessing any account. But the general British public just doesn't seem to understand this and think it's just another hurdle to keep them on the phone for longer.
I think that kind of backfired on you
"I work in a large bank on the phones..and i swear the amount of stupidity i hear on a daily basis is unreal. "
LOL...says someone so highly educated, that they have a job in a call centre.
I thought you were discussing call centre workers. Since when have they been helpful?