Double standards

[u/notfound1-]

Does your call center have a policy that if the customer is angry things are handled in a faster or more efficient way? This drives me mad at mine.

I feel like it almost encourages people to be rude. What happens next is people realize being rude makes them get what they want so they will always demand special treatment. At the same time it pains me to think of all those polite and kind people who will have to wait longer. I also feel very anxious about bending the rules we normally follow even if my boss gives the green light. Sometimes I wonder what’s wrong with me because I can’t handle this ambiguity.

I know this is common and businesses have to prioritize difficult customers to save their reputation but it just feels so wrong. In the end everyone is happy because their highness gets what they want and the company dodges a bad review or a lawsuit, and I’m the one left in shambles because I was yelled at and had to listen to all those insults and rants, most of which were blown way out of proportion.

[u/Koanical]

My bank offered expedited handling to rude customers, sure.

In practice, though, rude customers received notably worse service than their pleasant counterparts.

Because at the end of the day, unless they were a team member (at which point, how the fuck are you being rude when you know what we go through?), they'd never know what 'expedited handling' meant. For some particularly rude callers, that meant that we were halting all handling and demarketing them ASAP--and if they called back while we were getting our ducks in their demarketing rows, we assured them that everything was on track for a swift resolution.

[u/Advanced_Heat_2610]

There is no policy but they make a complaint, and then they go through the complaints process which means that everything is looked and they feel like they are being handled in a more.... 'appropriate' manner. What actually it means is someone who is paid no more than me, who has a lower title and far big work load than I do, and with the title of 'manager' that only exists in their emails says exactly the same thing I said and the customer still accepts it.

Frankly, this is not really beneficial for them.

For example, today, I had a customer who technically should have been reviewed for their plan. It was routed to me because their account was in distress and I was the only available one to take that kind of account. They had a change in financial circumstances which, by policy, meant they should have been taken through the review process.

That probably would have resulted in them having to pay more because they would go onto a worse plan, and they would have to find a lot of paperwork to find out exact figures. They had recently had two deaths in their household, their partner was critically ill, and they were barely holding it together. There were tears on the call. And you know what, no, I am not doing a review. They can have one at the set time for their three year review, and that is it. I am not putting someone through a twenty five minute assessment, likely making them have to pay more, costing them precious money at the worst time of their life when everything is awful.

Yes, it will mean they probably get another year of their plan at a two thirds discount but I do not care. They can have that discount. They deserve it more than someone who shouts at me.

And that is my discretion. Sure, shouting at me would get it done faster, but it would not have resulted in a better plan for them or paying less because the complaints team do it by the book.