What A Waste Of A Phone Call
(I work at a call centre for a waste services company. It is Friday evening at 4:30; we close at five. I need to make some calls to confirm to people that their hazardous waste is getting picked up in the next week.)
Me: “Hello. This is [My Name] for [Company]. Am I talking to [Garage] in [Town]?”
Customer: “Yeah, that’s us; what do you want?”
Me: “Well, sir, I’m calling to confirm that your hazardous waste is going to get picked up next Wednesday. But we were wondering if you had an email address so we could email you in the future?”
Customer: “You don’t need my f****** email!”
Me: “An email would be to your advantage, sir, as you would have written proof should something ever go wrong.”
Customer: “You don’t need my email, and I didn’t order anything; cancel it.”
Me: “I’m sorry, sir; I can’t cancel anything unless I have written proof, but you can email me at [my company email address].”
Customer: “You b****! You can’t trick me like that! CANCEL IT!”
Me: “Sir, I’m sorry that there is some confusion; you are [Garage], correct?”
Customer: “Yes, and I didn’t order anything!”
Me: “Sir, it says you ordered an emptying of your hazardous waste on [date], and you gave us your personal code.”
Customer: “You can’t prove that that was me; cancel it!”
Me: “Sir, I can’t cancel anything unless I have written proof, so you can email me or fax me.”
Customer: “You can’t f****** prove it was me, b****! CANCEL IT!”
(This little back and forth continues for 20 minutes, at which point two of my colleagues and my manager are listening in, as well, because I’m only doing a summer student job here.)
Customer: “I’ll f****** burn down your building and dump my waste on your head, you b****, and you can’t f****** prove that it was me, so CANCEL! I DIDN’T F****** ORDER ANYTHING!”
Me: “And I could be the bloody queen for all you know. Goodbye.” *hangs up*
Manager: “You had more patience than I would have thought you had; well done!”
Me: “Yeah, but do I need to mail the sales representative or something?”
Manager: “Nah, never mind that. If he doesn’t accept our services the fee for refusal will be enough for us to laugh about!”
Question of the Week
Have you ever served a bad customer who got what they deserved?
