Customer service advice from experts and insiders |
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But the guy on the phone said ...
It can be awfully frustrating when a call center agent can't help you or worse, gives you false information.
Just ask Linda Sherry, editorial director at Consumer Action, a consumer advocacy group based in San Francisco.
In April, four different Bank of America customer service reps told her the bank does not charge a foreign currency conversion fee.
Unconvinced, Sherry kept digging.
"To find out the true answer, I had to go to the people in external communications," Sherry says.
Turns out Bank of America does charge a fee on overseas transactions. All those call center agents that told Sherry otherwise were wrong.
Be as clear and as specific as possible in the questions you ask a customer service rep. Some of the troubles customers have with call centers
stem from simple communication problems between the customer and the agent.
"Consumers need to be clear and perhaps ask the question
a couple of different ways to make sure it's clear what they're
looking for," says Les Riedel, a president of Speer & Associates,
a financial services consulting firm in Atlanta.
En garde!
Be ready for the hard sell. Whether a call center agent can answer your question or not, there's a good chance they'll try to sell you something.
"They're going to give you information and they'd like to get a cross-selling going as well," Iacobuzio says. "If a credit card issuer has a customer on the phone, it's a golden opportunity to try to sell them more stuff."
Keep a written record of every call. Make note of the day, time, the name of the agent you spoke with and what was said.
Don't lose your cool. Screaming into the phone may make you feel better but it's not likely to get your problem solved any quicker.
"The most important thing any consumer can do is take control of the situation," Tamburrino says. "You can't let it frustrate you to the point you lose control."
Keep pressing until you find someone with the power to help you.
If an agent can't help you or doesn't seem to know what they're talking about, ask for a supervisor or manager.
"You should ask for a supervisor," Tamburrino says. "But it doesn't mean you're getting one. It's best to be persistent. You can tell if you've got a supervisor. A supervisor is empowered to get things done."
Don't threaten to cancel your card until you're talking to someone with the power to solve your problem. Tell a front-line agent that you're thinking of canceling the card and they may just shrug you off. After all, that's one less call they'll have to answer.
Wait until you're speaking to a supervisor or manager before you threaten to cancel your card. These folks have the power to help you. If they don't, ask for the office of the president.
If you're still unhappy with the company, you may
want to take your business elsewhere. There are plenty of card issuers
out there that would be happy to have you as a customer.
"Consumers have tremendous power, especially in the credit card business, which is so competitive," Riedl says. "They get to vote with their feet."
Not up to conquering the call center maze to get a simple question answered?
Pull out your credit card agreement. You'll find the answers to most of your questions there.
"Ideally what you want is the original disclosures and any changes from that time to present," says John Wood, counsel at the Federal Reserve Board.
"Hang on to the cardholder agreements. Even if you're not going to read them when you get them, they could come in handy later if a dispute arises."
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