Some People Just Want To Be Angry At The World

(I work for a PPI (payment protection insurance) claims company. In the UK, this type of company is not well liked due to several of them having aggressive telephone sale pitches in the previous years. However, I work in the processing part of the company and usually only ever speak to people who are already customers. At this time, I have been working for them for about six months. One day I get this call.)

Me: “Hello, this is [My Name] at [Company]. How can I help you today?”

Caller: “I’ve just been watching TV and a show has just played explaining how awful your company is.”

Me: “Okay, I’m sorry about that, sir. Would you mind giving me a little more detail?”

Caller: *getting more aggressive* “How do you not know about this? They say you cheated a man out of lots of money!”

Me: “I’m sorry, sir. I’m afraid I don’t know of any case like that. However, I can speak to my manager who has been here longer and may know more.”

Caller: *shouting* “Yes, do that.”

(At this point I put the caller on hold and grab my manager, who then takes the call. At this point I can only hear the manager’s side of the call.)

Manager: “Hello, this is [Manager] at [Company]. I hear you have a complaint?”

(Pause.)

Manager: “Okay, and are you a customer of ours?”

Caller: *loud screaming heard but cannot be made out*

Manager: “Okay, then, in that case I am curious as to why you have called if you are not a customer yourself and have no knowledge of the people involved.”

(Pause.)

Manager: “Actually, I worked on that case myself. The TV show was first aired over a year ago, after the case had been settled to an acceptable end for both ourselves and the client involved.”

Caller: *unintelligible screaming*

Manager: “I’m sorry, sir, but as you are not a customer of ours, not involved in any way with that case, and because of your treatment during this call, I’m afraid I have to end the call here.” *puts phone down*

(My manager gave me a little more information about the case involved. The case was about two years old and during the processing stage a worker had made a simple mistake. This was not something that really changed the case, only made it take about six months longer. Because of this, the involved customers were given greatly reduced fees and were reasonably happy in the end. The only reason the TV show existed was because someone had told the producers and they had interviewed the customers just after they had been told. They were understandably quite annoyed at the time and so it made for a good show. The man who called us had simply seen this, decided we were all the worst people alive, and wanted to shout at us. We assume he had to have looked up the company separately for our phone number (leading to him getting our section of the company and not the sales team). All so he could shout at strangers.)