Entitled or Mistreated Consumers ?

by bigcajunman last updated on August 9, 2017

An interesting comment on one of my older posts (the script for customer retention) stated, “… you’re bottom feeding scum that try to bully everyone for nickels and dimes when you aren’t a top shelf customer to begin with…”. I am assuming that if the writer is an actual call center employee, they do not speak for their employers (officially).

I’d also like to point out that throughout that article I stressed the importance of being polite with folks on the phone (my daughter works in a call center and I know how crazy some people can get).

I am glad that this one article keeps getting folks reading, and hopefully getting better deals, but, things are changing out there. My inability to get to the Customer Retention group to get a better deal (Cable and Phone service), I will be trying again, but there is hope.

Media Maven Preet Banerjee says he has had an interesting “deal” proposed to him. He set up Rogers Internet in his new Fortress of Solitude in Downtown Gotham (North), and realized two weeks later that he might need a higher monthly bandwidth limit. Did this cause him to give up? NO! He called and he must have used one of his Jedi mind tricks because they gave him a higher monthly limit and they charged him less for it? (This was not the deal you negotiated).

We Deserve Better Deals

I realize that not all of us have a Fortess of Solitude or Jedi mind tricks to fall back on to get a better deal, but Ellen Roseman wants us to get those better deals (and wants to make sure we don’t get ripped off). If you have a chance to listen to this up beat lady talk, do it! She told some scary consumer stories, but she also gave me hope that we can all get a better deal (if we just stay persistent).

It is your right as a consumer to get the best deal that you can get.

originally published on September 25, 2013 { 2 comments }

Sudip September 26, 2013, 12:23 AM

You gotta give them call pretty much every month.
I was with a big name then got irritated by their gouging and left for a small name who accidentally deleted my account on a weekend. After spending few hours on phone Internet – decided to go to a store and collect the cable router to have the Internet running.
Next day found out that there is a better deal the cable company is offering. I called to realize that the deal is for new clients only ( I was less than 24 hours old at that time)
Used the buyers remorse clause to leave them without much damage.
Now, I am with another small name. Doing fine for now..

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Bet Crooks September 25, 2013, 9:36 AM

Wow, I bet that call centre rep had a few really unpleasant calls that day! It is really irritating though that the Big Tel companies expect customers to call in and grovel to get a reasonable rate. We have no features whatsoever on our phone service yet the standard bill (no long distance) is now about $50 a month. Are they really surprised that we get angered by that?

I agree though that it’s misplaced to take that anger out on the caller centre reps. They don’t set the policies and they often don’t agree with the policies. So being polite and calm is really the only acceptable behaviour.

I have to make a decision soon about what to do about this excessive landline phone cost. We cancelled cable when its cost got way out of proportion to our usage. I’m afraid it’s starting to look like that for the phone too.

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