Do call centers keep side notes on customers?

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scuwp

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#191784 16-Feb-2016 14:32

Just wondering…

Do call centre staff keep ‘Intel’ on their customers? Do they note that the customer was polite, aggressive, useless, IT savvy, an idiot, etc for future reference?

I have noted on occasion that call takers almost immediately change tact when making subsequent calls, it’s as if they recognise that you know what you are talking about (or not) and change their approach to suit. I appreciate there would be an element of skill and experience in that…but I always wondered if there is some note somewhere that says “this customer is a complete twat, be careful” or “customer is an IT professional, don’t treat like an idiot or he will start ranting”…you get the idea I am sure.

If I ran a call centre I would think this could be valuable.

Anyone know?

Lazy is such an ugly word, I prefer to call it selective participation

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#1493274 16-Feb-2016 14:50

Back in my iHUG days, we would note things you've mentioned, in the calls logs, but that information was available to the customer if they asked for it. So you kept it professional. But having a note of "customer lacking in PC knowledge" etc wasn't offensive and helped the next CSR who got the caller....

There was always the exception tho, was some "amusing" notes that would appear. ;)

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#1493275 16-Feb-2016 14:54

Managed a few teams, and yes they do. It is normally relevent and should be all the time professional. They were always part of my QA checks

Here is a crazy notion, lets give peace a chance.

BTR

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#1493286 16-Feb-2016 15:05

Saw interesting notes on corporate accounts in the Telecom days. Most were about angry and threatening customers or people who had failed to pay their bill and were trying to rack up even bigger bills.

jmh

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#1493290 16-Feb-2016 15:14

I trained call centre staff in a social housing organisation many years ago. Lots of seemingly irrelevant info would be put down in case of some arrears issue down the line. Could be related to job, family circumstances, comments about expenditure. When a call came in you logged into the CRM and could see a list of previous calls and what they were about - would be pretty obvious if they were a difficult customer. You had to be careful about what you put down, but everyone could read between the lines.

Andib

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#1493295 16-Feb-2016 15:19

Back when I worked for a Telco it was common to see / make notes on customer accounts to help future interactions with them such as "Customer gets abusive", "Customer frequently rings asking for free credit" etc.

One that stands out was someone who rang several times in a night asking for emergency credit as someone had just died, except each time they called and got a different CSR it was a slightly different story and different person who had died.

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#1493303 16-Feb-2016 15:44

The interesting thing about notes being written on your account is when csrs note that rather high ranking staff members have had dealings with you. Often ild call up, start going through the security checks and so on while the csr would notice. it was rather rare that i wouldnt get asked something along the lines of "oh i see here X has dealt with your account a lot in the past, do you know him well?" - Obviously often noticing the potential personal connection.

Always was interesting to see if their responses suddenly changed.

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andrew027

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#1493337 16-Feb-2016 16:22

I used to train call centre staff for one (or two) of the leading banks in new Zealand and, as others have said, yes - there will often be notes attached to accounts or particular calls. But if a customer asks, the contact centre must turn over all information they keep about the customer and that includes those notes, so if you've been rude or dismissive then that may be revealed to (say) the banking ombudsman, which obviously puts the bank in a bad light.

For example, I know one CSR who was disciplined for writing something along the lines of "Customer is an arrogant twat who won't listen to good advice". We suggested wording like "Customer is generally not receptive to suggestions from the bank" would probably have been acceptable.

Hoofhaarted

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#1493352 16-Feb-2016 16:44

At a Energy company I worked at, a customers notes were - Must speak to a male CSR. For the reason you are thinking.

Dairyxox

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#1493380 16-Feb-2016 18:08

Cant think of a good reason. Often the internet and obscurity don't mix well.

roobarb

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#1493382 16-Feb-2016 18:33

If there is a formal/official investigation required to follow up a complaint then notes written at the time carry far more weight than an attempt at memory recall.

dejadeadnz

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#1493387 16-Feb-2016 19:01

andrew027:

I used to train call centre staff for one (or two) of the leading banks in new Zealand and, as others have said, yes - there will often be notes attached to accounts or particular calls. But if a customer asks, the contact centre must turn over all information they keep about the customer and that includes those notes, so if you've been rude or dismissive then that may be revealed to (say) the banking ombudsman, which obviously puts the bank in a bad light.

For example, I know one CSR who was disciplined for writing something along the lines of "Customer is an arrogant twat who won't listen to good advice". We suggested wording like "Customer is generally not receptive to suggestions from the bank" would probably have been acceptable.

I work in the Chief Risk Officer's office for a major financial institution. Anyone who writes that the "customer is an arrogant twat" will be up for a very serious conversation with me, someone from the General Counsel's office (both lawyers) and HR and given a very stern talk about the Privacy Act. Under the Privacy Act, all agencies are obliged to disclose on request all information which it holds about a person and the person also has a right to ask the agency to correct all inaccurate information held about them. The type of persons who will make such requests are the very sort about whom such notes would be made.

In relation to people making notes about the customer being abusive (as pointed out by other posters), I also do not consider such conclusory and blanket statements acceptable or wise from a risk-management point of view, except in the absolutely clearest of cases. You really don't want someone from Risk or General Counsel's office having to spend time arguing the toss with someone whether it was accurate for us to have classified him/her as abusive. It would be far more preferable for people to describe things in greater detail and with some context. "Customer phoned up at 4.15pm on 14/2/2016. He seemed upset and angry with us due to........." is far better.

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#1493424 16-Feb-2016 20:15

In a past life I have seen notes in files written in a short of shorthand/code.

One chap annotated a couple of staff files I took over with "CDE" in the margin by annual development plan, which it turned out means "career development elsewhere" for people he wanted rid of.

Doctors used to do the same, but I think the practice is falling into disuse not that it's easier for patients to get their files and there are guides on the internet do decoding the acronyms. One I remember they used to use was FLK, for "funny looking kid", when they suspected foetal alcohol syndrome.

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#1493429 16-Feb-2016 20:34

We added a 'Demeanour' field in our call logging just recently. We are tiny so call volumes aren't high so a nice easy way to keep track of it. I got sick of hearing from customer service they were getting abuse. Next step is I will colour code the field so when you look at calls from that customer if it is all red and then they start yet another abusive call it will be 'please just hold while we transfer you to the manager'. The manager who won't just sit and take it.

It annoys me people think they have the right to abuse telco staff purely just because they are at a telco. We want to help you but if you start with f you and f that you aren't going to get anywhere very fast.

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#1493452 16-Feb-2016 21:57

My personal favourite from ambo days.(long long long time ago)

PFBUNDY

Patient fxxxxd but unfortunately not dead yet.

raytaylor

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#1493536 17-Feb-2016 00:43

We have a few customers who will call up and abuse us because they turned off the wifi on their laptop by mistake or something like that.

We keep notes seperate from the tickets and call history.

if a customer calls, the csr pulls up the account overview which has a notes field which they can read before starting a call log or ticket.

we have a few which say hang up on first curse word of the call.

As an idealistic utility, i accept we must take those complaints, but as an employer, I have a higher responsibility for the well-being of my staff.

So if a customer wants to get their notes under the privacy regulations, they are welcome to.

Such notes are not offensive to the customer, they are simply factual and accurate with call recordings and/or tickets to back them up.

A typical note looks like this one

=== ABUSIVE CUSTOMER ===
Action: Instantly Hang up on first curse word. If they call back, read out this statement:
"You have been warned about bad language, you will talk in a respectful tone and avoid that language otherwise i am hanging up again"

Jan-18-2013: T-3233 Abusive to kathleen. Subject: data usage while on holiday. Verbal abuse towards kathleen and hung up. Ray called back, abuse continued, Found neighbours iphone logged into wifi router. Remotely changed wifi password and issued abuse warning - attitude instantly changed. Call recordings on ticket.

If they refuse to talk politely, escalate call log to ticket, assign to Ray so a disconnection order can be processed.

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