Jonski:KiwiNZ: raising your voice at the CSR's is pointless and completely unproductive. More likely you will get further if you do the opoosote.
That's not what I've found. A certain degree of tense exasperation and ridicule pointing out the simple failures of The System has usually got me onto the team leads reasonably quickly. I don't shout, swear or abuse so "raised voice" was probably the wrong choice of words but I do make it the CSR's problem not mine.
CSR doesn't care. As soon as you end the call or it gets escalated, the problem ceases to be theirs. CSRs, especially the lowest paid FLS, will often just say stuff to get you off the phone. The team managers aren't interested in resolutions, they're interested in call volumes. So you can be as hard as you like on the CSR, but it'll never be their problem, and you can be as hard as you like on the manager, but it'll never be their problem either. This is why complex problems never get dealt with at the call centre level.
Me, if I have an issue that isn't going anywhere, I usually find someone above them and start harassing them like crazy. They don't think like CSRs, who deal with 70 nutters a day and who won't remember you the next day.