While you were on the desk did you know people who hung up on customers?

N2IT

Or if you are still on the desk.

I haven't been on the desk for quite a while but I remember some of the service desk people hanging up on customers. They would get a lengthy profile problem or something weird and just tap the button and then next issue you would come in. Probably a password reset or something like that. I couldn't believe they could get away with it.

Anyone experience this or anything close? One other thing I remember people finding dead extension and dialing into them while in auto in status and keeping those numbers down that way. It's hiliarous how people cope with the desk.

Any stories to share like this?

Asif Dasl

I rang PayPal (US helpdesk) for some reason or other and the person on the other end did an impression of my accent (I'm Irish) but it was a Darby O Gill impression much like people do a Mary Popppins impression with someone from the UK. Sounds nothing like me. Then they hung up on me. I though it was hillarious rather than rude. Rang the number again, no problem.

ptilsen

No. I was in a call center with ten people, so if someone was doing it, we'd figure it out pretty quickly and it would not fly. Plus, ticket close ratio was a tracked metric, so hanging up really did no go.

The only time we hung up on customers was if they started swearing at us or threatening us.

Edit: In fact, if an issue got too difficult, we did have the option of saying we would have to look into it and call back. It wasn't exactly encouraged, but it was an option to basically throw in the towel (not a tiered system in which we could escalate), seek advice, and try again later. No giving up on difficult customers, though, which was the biggest challenge of the job.

Xyro

There is 1 person I work with who will not even answer some people seeking assistance. I find it necessary to state that I work in a face-to-face help environment. This means that this person will not even look at/answer the person requesting assistance.

When I first arrived there (in January) I found this offensive & unbelievable; however, I quickly came to recognize that it's just part of this person's personality & it offers me great opportunities to become more experienced because I then need to "take over" where this person is lacking.

shodown

I worked one where there was a policy of 3 curse words or racial slurs and you had to tell the customer that you had to hand up the call due to abuse. We had it happen one time my entire time there with a law firm of all places. Of course they called back to complain about the service, but once they heard there person on the phone with the language above they changed there tune right away.

CodeBlox

When I was doing helpdesk I knew one person who would either call their cell phone or call their direct line from their cell phone. They got away with doing it too. My very last phone call in that helpdesk call center environment was a hangup... Other than that, I never did it.

WiseWun

I worked these odd shifts as a co-op student and sometimes I was too tired due to lack of sleep that I fell asleep on the customer. Yikes!

Akaricloud

I've only hung up on someone once and it was after the point where they weren't listening, kept swearing at me and just being completely unreasonable. Hung up and had my manager talk to their manager at that point.

I can't see any other reason where someone should be hung up on.

Iristheangel

During my first customer service job when I was 18, I used to put people on hold for long periods of time if they called me up raging. I considered it "timeout" until they behaved better. I was young and stupid. I didn't hang up on any though or tell any off

alan2308

Never. But I was fortunate enough to only spend a couple months on the phones before moving up to bigger and better things.

Now on the other hand, if I had a nickel for every time someone hung up on me (I'm looking at you Cyberoam support)...

olaHalo

If things got outta hand I would hang up. But I would usually let them know that I cannot help them in that state and I am going to hang up.
All of our calls were monitored and reviewed so no one would hang up unless there was a good reason.

Psoasman

I've never hung on a customer. I've had some hang up on me, but that goes with the territory.

rsutton

Many moons ago I worked for SBC DSL Tier2 support. It was an office of about 30 technicians. Hanging up on someone was the norm if the customer was an a-hole (I never condoned this).

gbdavidx

We only do it if they put us on hold for more then 2 minutes

pumbaa_g

I remember when I was in the Service Desk it started out as a few complaints from end user regarding Voice Quality/Drop out issues and then quickly became a pandemic as the other analysts started to figure this out. I remember working with management to request and pull out the reports from Avaya Systems. The report clearly showed when the calls were disconnected by analysts. Its a different matter that the analyst could disconnect after the call is completed as well. This was made a part of the scorecard for the Desk (0 Disconnects in a month) which caused it to stop eventually. I think a few people were sacked as well who were excessively using this technique.

docrice

This threads reminds me of:

NetworkVeteran

> I haven't been on the desk for quite a while but I remember some of the service desk people hanging up on customers. I couldn't believe they could get away with it.

Completely unacceptable. The call and case management systems I've seen don't reward such shenanigans. I would be looking to a replace anyone who did that more than once, provided the person calling in was still talking and had not behaved abusively.

> I work with who will not even answer some people seeking assistance.

I could live with someone who avoided calls from a particular person as long as others were on duty to service them!

pumbaa_g

Anyone remember the "IT Crowd" ???

jamesleecoleman

I've hung up on customers without saying bye or thanks for calling. The only reason is that they were being totally rude through out the whole call. So I just give them the information that they need and hang up.

I can take a lot of the stupid stuff but through out the whole phone call, it starts to get to me a little just because people have that false courage going on and they need to be slapped a few times.

It's stupid how customers call in and treat people so badly. The customers forget that who ever they call has their name, address, tel number and other information.

boredgamelad

I've hung up on rude customers, after warning them that I was about to hang up if they didn't stop being rude. But other than that, no.

blargoe

I have hung up / walked away from abusive clients before. There is a point where that is the appropriate response, but it is rare.

antielvis

I'm guilty.

Anyone here start IT in the 90s? You probably know the term ID10T very well. Remember the days of questions like "I went to get a coffee and I came back and now there are all these stars on my computer" (screensaver). Or there was the idiots who you'd ask to "right click" on their desktop and they'd WRITE CLICK on their desk. Or the support calls or emails with profuse apologies from sheepish people concerned they'd did something wrong because they "performed an illegal operation". Or the guy who would call up freaking out because low and behold, he'd dialed in long distance & had a huge phone bill and WE SHOULD HAVE TOLD HIM

I hung up on a few of those people lol.

My absolute favourite was the guy who bought an internet package but had no computer. I asked him when he was getting a computer and he said never but said everyone told him he should get the internet so he was. Rather than debate it, I said have a nice day sir..and hung up. Not kidding.

NetworkVeteran

antielvis wrote: »

My absolute favourite was the guy who bought an internet package but had no computer. I asked him when he was getting a computer and he said never but said everyone told him he should get the internet so he was. Rather than debate it, I said have a nice day sir..and hung up. Not kidding.

Yikes! This was a potential customer who may have spent hundreds of dollars per year on your company, immediately or in the near future. I'd explain ordering Internet access without a computer is like ordering Cable access without a TV. That the Internet is a wonderful thing and could do x, y, and z for him. I'd suggest shops where he could pick up a PC/Mac, and to remember to call-in to cancel his subscription if he opted not to. I'd then wish him a good day.

Ugh! No wonder I keep getting pulled into sales.

About7Narwhal

I have never hung up on anyone without warning. While rare, there are some people who get the impression that they are allowed to yell, scream, and insult the tech. My rule of thumb is to give 2 warnings, then terminate the call with a "As I am unable to assist you, I will be terminating this call. A member of my management team will call you shortly to ensure you get assistance." type deal (assuming the company allows it). That said, part of the phone tech's job is to handle the call, including de-escalation. Beyond that, there is a massive difference between someone upset with a situation and someone directly insulting the person they are talking to. The "This is BS" or "That doesn't make any FN sense" I always ignore. But once it turns into "You are a *any insult*" I start giving warnings.

There has been a time or two where I have put someone in "timeout" like Angel indicated, but that was only when the user really got to me. It gave me a minute or two to cool off and prevented me from losing my job over some petty comment.