Mandee

Do You Know Your Own Home?

Customer called up today asking for boiler cover. Nothing unusual about that. It’s one of our main policies. ‘Is it natural gas from the metre?’ I asked. ‘I don’t know.’ I changed the format of the question. ‘Do you get the gas piped in from the mains? Or is the boiler LPG or oil?’ ‘Oh.Continue reading “Do You Know Your Own Home?”

Putting On Weight

I’ve put on a few pound working at the call centre. Actually it’s a bit more than a few. The frequent buffets we have don’t help. We seem to have one to celebrate anything and everything, whether it’s a religious festival, a birthday, a leaving, an engagement, absolutely anything will do as an excuse toContinue reading “Putting On Weight”

Marvellous Mistakes

Speaking to some of the customers who phone us, I often wonder how they manage to get by from day to day. I know we all make mistakes it’s what us humans are known for. But some mistakes made by us mortals are worthy of being mentioned. Take a lady who phoned in a fewContinue reading “Marvellous Mistakes”

Rocket Science

Well here we go again. Christmas barely over and the new year not yet started, but it’s already a matter of rocket science to call us. A very nice man rang to set up a new policy. Told me he’d already spoken to a colleague and he’d had details of the cover to read throughContinue reading “Rocket Science”

No Privacy

It’s quite a big call centre where I work. When it’s full there’s about 400 people on our floor alone, and we only take the inbound coming calls. So there’s no privacy whatsoever. It’s quite a big place, although I would not go so far as to say it’s the biggest call centre. Definitely not.Continue reading “No Privacy”

Renewals

One of the most routine things we do in the call centre is renew a policy. We do many renewals each day. Customers even ring in if their policy is on automatic renewal, even though we send out documents a few weeks before renewal telling them it will be automatically renewed. Here’s a few ofContinue reading “Renewals”

Computer Problems

The call centre computers went down today. Only for a short time so it wasn’t too bad. It happens from time to time. We’re stuck answering the phone but can’t do anything on the system. The managers always come round with the inevitable ‘call-back’ sheets. I very rarely write anything on them. I try toContinue reading “Computer Problems”

Are You Listening?

When customers phone us they often have an idea of what we are going to say, or more often an idea of what they want us say. Sometimes it can take several minutes before we can get through to the customer with the actual facts. Here are a few examples: ME: Your policy was renewedContinue reading “Are You Listening?”

Stupidity

I had a very nice gentleman phone me today. A professional person from a respected profession. He was ringing about a particular policy we offer. I’ve been very careful not to mention the company I work for during my blogs, or say anything that could relate to the company. People who work there obviously spotContinue reading “Stupidity”

Interviews

A friend of mine shared this anecdote about an interview, so I thought I’d share it on my blog. PROSPECTIVE MANAGER: So, Fred, have you done much work in chemicals previously? FRED: Oh, yes. Most of my working life has been in the chemicals field. PROSPECTIVE MANAGER: We deal primarily with nitrate. I take itContinue reading “Interviews”