My Friend Sam (A CSR Story)
Let me tell you about my friend Sam. Sammy's a great guy. He works hard here at Cingular, and he goes above and beyond the call to help out a customer. His stats are low because he spends so much time trying to actually research an issue and help a customer, rather than just zip them on and off the phone. His managers look past this though, since he's a great guy who's very knowledgeable and always does his job. Hell, he hasn't missed a day of work or been late for four years.
Like most CSRs, Sam makes just enough pay to get by and takes a lot of hell from most customers, even though he's trying to help them. His motivation for being patient and continuing to work hard is the fact that he recently started a college fund for his daughter,...
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Like most CSRs, Sam makes just enough pay to get by and takes a lot of hell from most customers, even though he's trying to help them. His motivation for being patient and continuing to work hard is the fact that he recently started a college fund for his daughter,...
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Translation:
Cingular worries about quantity rather then quality.
CONFIRMATION OF THE OBVIOUS
BESIDES...FIRING IS EASIER THEN DOWNSIZING BUT CORPORATIONS ARE NICE AREN'T THEY
Cingular worries about quantity rather then quality.
CONFIRMATION OF THE OBVIOUS
BESIDES...FIRING IS EASIER THEN DOWNSIZING BUT CORPORATIONS ARE NICE AREN'T THEY
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i was written up for giving courtesy credits. Then I went on vacation and when I got back there was an email stating that reps could waive restoral fees that was exactly what I was written up about. then I disputed it and cingular refused to reverse the write up and i am on a level of deiciplineto this day. I got an award for a letter one of my cusotemr that I waived one of their restoral fees saying I was the reason he is going to stay a cingular customer.I refused to accept the award from management unless they reversed the writeup. I did not accept the award nor did they reverse the write up.
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Good job, that was very noble of you. Of course, it would've been ironic for them to give you both an award and a write-up for the same incident đ¤Ŗ
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That's cingular they blame reps when it is the man in the mirror that is causing the problems.
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repCB said:
Good job, that was very noble of you. Of course, it would've been ironic for them to give you both an award and a write-up for the same incident đ¤Ŗ
My best friend was given a "Perfect Attendance" award, and fired for attendance within a few days of it.
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đŗ What have we learned if anything by just being on this forum?! It suck to be a CINGULAR customer or employee đ
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There are worse jobs in this world you just ahve to survive and to survive u have to follow policy. Stupid rules are at every company
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There are too many "Cingular CSR = Glorified Fast Food Workers" posts and not enough "Cell Phones are not Landlines" posts. I'd die of shock if I saw some actual customer appreciation in this forum.
Kudos to ih8Verizon and welcome aboard!
Kudos to ih8Verizon and welcome aboard!
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Just because there's no appreciation shows doesnt mean it doesnt exist!
I though do appreciate Cingular Wireless, the service it gives me, the service customer service gives me, and the fun experience its been every since switching to them from Nexthell! đ¤Ŗ
I though do appreciate Cingular Wireless, the service it gives me, the service customer service gives me, and the fun experience its been every since switching to them from Nexthell! đ¤Ŗ
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sounds more like a fable to get those idiot customers to understand that the CSR's jobs are in jeopardy. one of the sales reps i used to work with would say that if i did this for you (whatever it was they were asking for), do you have a couch i can sleep on cause my wife will kick me out when i lose my job. sam shouldn't have put his job in jeopardy, saving one irate customer with the situation he is in.
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đ Ah yes the corporate bootlicker responce. Wouldn't want this to be a onesided issue would we. Please go on.
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corporate bootlicker?
cingular writes my paychecks, i have rent, car payment, insurance, utilities, and food to pay for. there is no way in hell i would jeopardize my job for a customer. you have to abide by rules to keep your job, it is as simple as that, and it isn't just at cingular.
what do you do that you can throw away policies and rules?
cingular writes my paychecks, i have rent, car payment, insurance, utilities, and food to pay for. there is no way in hell i would jeopardize my job for a customer. you have to abide by rules to keep your job, it is as simple as that, and it isn't just at cingular.
what do you do that you can throw away policies and rules?
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I'd have to agree with her, in any job you cant put aside rules and policies to please a customer!
I for sure wouldnt toss aside my company's policies to make our client employees happy! Cause once my jobs gone, they sure as hell are going to put food on my table, nor will they care, so I surely dont care for what they may want thats against policy.
I for sure wouldnt toss aside my company's policies to make our client employees happy! Cause once my jobs gone, they sure as hell are going to put food on my table, nor will they care, so I surely dont care for what they may want thats against policy.
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This is a company that changes rules so quickly and so often, they stress save the customer, smile in the face of degrading comments, put up with managements s$&t, no you can't use control time and you have to work on the holiday. I'm not saying that the rep mentioned in the beginning of this post is blameless, but termination damn. "And thanks for playing be CINGULAR's b#@^h!!! Why couldn't he have been coached or put on a written. If this was his first major offence the punishment definately does not fit the crime đŋ
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But it's not that simple, unless you have no heart.
Even though it's policy, sometimes it's not fair.
At the end of the day, I have to go home and live with myself.
Can I do that without helping a needy customer out once in a while when I believe they are in the right?
Another way of seeing it (although slightly more serious), I plan on being a social worker. I've been offered a job with Children's Aid (through family) once I finish my schooling. And now I have to think... What if I'm told to take a child away. I look into the situation and see that this child is fine, and should not be taken away. I bring this up to a higher up and they say "sorry, we have to". Will I do it? Will I risk my job to stand up for a family and a child who...
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Even though it's policy, sometimes it's not fair.
At the end of the day, I have to go home and live with myself.
Can I do that without helping a needy customer out once in a while when I believe they are in the right?
Another way of seeing it (although slightly more serious), I plan on being a social worker. I've been offered a job with Children's Aid (through family) once I finish my schooling. And now I have to think... What if I'm told to take a child away. I look into the situation and see that this child is fine, and should not be taken away. I bring this up to a higher up and they say "sorry, we have to". Will I do it? Will I risk my job to stand up for a family and a child who...
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That is such a load of crap.You are there being paid by the company, to assist customer and work within the company's p&p,if you can't do that, then get the hell out.You say its not fair, is it your money that you say oh well to, no thats the problem, if you say you couldn't live with yourself, then you in the wrong business, cuz you are not here to work around the rules, your job is to assist while wroking within them.
And i got news for you, i may not like the p&p,well most of it i love, but the point is, you don't your personal feelings into, thats not your job, and if you can't follow, be like sam then get fired! đ đ
And i got news for you, i may not like the p&p,well most of it i love, but the point is, you don't your personal feelings into, thats not your job, and if you can't follow, be like sam then get fired! đ đ
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i think that the moral here is that the fact that the customer didnt even show any apprciation to sam getting fired because of the offer he gave him... true i will agree with you to the fact that we have to follow p&p... but obviously you must be a sad lonely person to not have the feeligns and know when the cust is actually right and knowing the fact that you cant do anything about it, and your very last line is cold "be like sam and get fired"... how about you get bent
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if you can't follow rules, start your own business and be your own boss. i wouldn't say be like sam and get fired, just quit if you can't handle saying no to someone.
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I'm waiting for the day they fire me.
Hasn't happened yet, mainly because I leave such great notes. I've never been confronted.. not even for sending out free phones when I wasn't really supposed to.
So yeah.. I'm happy with my job by not following the rules ALL the time. Rules are meant to be broken sometimes. Even my sup says that.
You follow the rules.. whatever works for you.
Hasn't happened yet, mainly because I leave such great notes. I've never been confronted.. not even for sending out free phones when I wasn't really supposed to.
So yeah.. I'm happy with my job by not following the rules ALL the time. Rules are meant to be broken sometimes. Even my sup says that.
You follow the rules.. whatever works for you.
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CSR, is not a humanitarian postion. âšī¸
Your a phone monkey, you do what your told, no mater how unstatic the rules may be.
Your a phone monkey, you do what your told, no mater how unstatic the rules may be.
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ok, compare cell phones and credits to families and taking children away from their parents. GREAT ARGUMENT!
i can go home at the end of the day, telling 100 people no. your are doing the wrong job.
oh, and i say it to their faces, not over the phone, much harder.
i can go home at the end of the day, telling 100 people no. your are doing the wrong job.
oh, and i say it to their faces, not over the phone, much harder.
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yeah, I couldn't say stuff like that to their faces.
I respect workers in a store for that reason.
My friend works in one and he's had phones thrown at his head, and has been threatened on more than one occasion.
I couldn't deal with that.
Everyone is different.
You can tell people no all the time, and I can't. That's what makes this world a wonderful place.
If we were all jerks, or all pussies, this place would suck.
I respect workers in a store for that reason.
My friend works in one and he's had phones thrown at his head, and has been threatened on more than one occasion.
I couldn't deal with that.
Everyone is different.
You can tell people no all the time, and I can't. That's what makes this world a wonderful place.
If we were all jerks, or all pussies, this place would suck.
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a $20 razor??? and a free month of service??? what do you think was going to happen...a pat on tha back...come on. i feel bad for the guy losing his job but he knew that something was going to happen with that kind of a discount??? we cant even discount phones in our area if we wanted to save a customer. whatever is on the live bar ticket thats the price...want a car charge...yeah thats $26.99 oh you want a case...yeah thats $21.99. FREE!!! nope sorry dont know that word..kind of like that capital one commerical. NO!!! so again yes i feel sorry he lost his job but discount a cla or leather case not a $200 phone
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I understand but sometimes you allow yourself to get caught up in a customers problems. Which is what makes some reps good because they can really feel for a customer. In customer service you at times have to service two masters the company and the customer. We are put in that place a lot more than members of the sales team. You have to remain careful and remember your first loyalty is to Cingular not to the customer.
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Unfortunately, this is pretty much the case.
Cell companies can't afford to foot the bill for the customer anymore. The fact of the matter is that customers are given exactly what the company can afford. Too many customers have been "paid off" to remain "loyal". I have to commend Cingular for being one of the ones to start saying NO. If the cell companies have to pay up every time a customer wants to remain "loyal", then money is taken from other resources. Like network upgrades and maintenance. The money has to come from somewhere. Cingular is in the process of overhauling everything in customer service. They want the same clear and concise message coming from each and every representative. A CSR is the front line on a customer training p...
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Cell companies can't afford to foot the bill for the customer anymore. The fact of the matter is that customers are given exactly what the company can afford. Too many customers have been "paid off" to remain "loyal". I have to commend Cingular for being one of the ones to start saying NO. If the cell companies have to pay up every time a customer wants to remain "loyal", then money is taken from other resources. Like network upgrades and maintenance. The money has to come from somewhere. Cingular is in the process of overhauling everything in customer service. They want the same clear and concise message coming from each and every representative. A CSR is the front line on a customer training p...
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i ahve worked in retail I have worked in banking in customer service. Customers are pretty much the same but these long time cell phone customers are very pampered.
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I really do agree with what your saying here. I'm a representative on the blue side, so I really know what pampered customer's are like. They expect us to give them everything,and untill recently we did. However, now we are required to follow the exact same P&P as cingular representatives, and the customer's really do not like it when you don't come crawling with credit's every time they call.
One of the big problems we still have are the representatives that are NOT following the P&P, giving credits and phone discounts like sam, causing the customer to have higher expectations then they should have. We are required to follow by the rules set by the company, no matter how harsh they may seem. But, it's the company that signs the paycheck...
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One of the big problems we still have are the representatives that are NOT following the P&P, giving credits and phone discounts like sam, causing the customer to have higher expectations then they should have. We are required to follow by the rules set by the company, no matter how harsh they may seem. But, it's the company that signs the paycheck...
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Well Dammit man I have been in this forum praising you Cingular reps and no one pays it a damn bit of attention so screw you guys! LOL I am just kidding but to get serious now...
As a customer my heart goes out to Sam and his family. That A$$hole that got him fired doesn't even deserve to have a cell phone let alone have someone go above and beyond the call of duty to help him. I try my best to stand up for you reps who truly are good guys. The few times that I have called Cingular I am always nice and when the rep helps me out I always make it my business to let them know they did a great job. I know that it may seem like that we customers are ingrates but I like to ask that you reps keep in mind that there are good ones that don't give yo...
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As a customer my heart goes out to Sam and his family. That A$$hole that got him fired doesn't even deserve to have a cell phone let alone have someone go above and beyond the call of duty to help him. I try my best to stand up for you reps who truly are good guys. The few times that I have called Cingular I am always nice and when the rep helps me out I always make it my business to let them know they did a great job. I know that it may seem like that we customers are ingrates but I like to ask that you reps keep in mind that there are good ones that don't give yo...
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Lmao. Thanks Darth. You know those of us who you are speaking of as "good reps" do realize that not all customers are the same. I appreciate you standing up for us and I realize I am as guilty as everyone here at customer or rep bashing. I am trying to stop both but sometimes you just need to vent. Its good to know someone out there can understand why we have to vent, if we don't do it here its more likely to come out on one of our good customers....and that would be horrible.
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I agree sometimes we need to vent. We need more stress relief on our jobs
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Yup, Im not sure what changed while I was off last week but my stress levels dropped quite a bit and im doing a lot better, but it took a while for me to get the stress from the job and what has been going on (customer go my number and was becoming stalker like....creepy)
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A csutoemr got my cell phone number when I agve it to the lady to test her text messagae she was calling me 5-6 times a day. I had to do a number change.
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I have a temp number right now, my manager isnt sure what to do so she is speaking to her manager but tech gave me a sim card to use for the time being. (now nobody calls my work cell...WOOT!!!!!
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I've had married women stalk me from work too. đ I learned VERY quickly to delete my number from their phone when I do test calls or send test messages.
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Heh my manager found out when this happened that we are no longer supposed to use our phones as test phones.....so we are told.
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Nope. Im stuck with no way to check if its working properly, which creates call backs, which messes up my stats, which causes me not to get PAR...its a big dirty viscious cycle.
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...(*&@#$%
I just banged my knee into the desk.
They should super glue a demo line to every desk.
I just banged my knee into the desk.
They should super glue a demo line to every desk.
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Hey, I'll work on it. I'll just try to get my owner to buy shares and get himself on the Cingy board. That guy has so much money, and he's so nice, that he scares me...
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Well if you can get it accomplished...well im not sure what ill do, but I know ill be extremely greatful. đ
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Awww Shayby there you go always trying to make a bad boy brit blush đ¤ (try sayin that 5x fast!). I am glad you and the other reps agree with me. Just hang in there. Some days are going to be more rough than others. I need to find a high paying job where I don't have to deal directly with people...oh the sweet dreams mate... đ
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Repcb, i understand you feel bad for your friend, and you have every right too,but thats where my sympathy ends for Sam.
The fact is our P&P is their for one reason, to promote company employee unity, and give unformed answers no matter which site you call.Your friend sam F.U.C.K.E.D up big time and he paid for it dearly.The fact is Every tom, bill, or bob is gonna call in and ask for stuff like that.The difference you can empathize but still keep your objectivity and still work within the rules.he crossed that line and was sympathetic and screwed up.
What he did was just plain stupid.FYI that phone the RAZR is $199.99,so they would have $180.00 plus free month of service so you are talking a couple of hundred bucks, that's just stupid...
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The fact is our P&P is their for one reason, to promote company employee unity, and give unformed answers no matter which site you call.Your friend sam F.U.C.K.E.D up big time and he paid for it dearly.The fact is Every tom, bill, or bob is gonna call in and ask for stuff like that.The difference you can empathize but still keep your objectivity and still work within the rules.he crossed that line and was sympathetic and screwed up.
What he did was just plain stupid.FYI that phone the RAZR is $199.99,so they would have $180.00 plus free month of service so you are talking a couple of hundred bucks, that's just stupid...
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YOUR P&P IS FAILING HORRIBLY
CUSTOMERS AND REP ALIKE CONTINUALLY POINT OUT THE HYPOCRISY AND SHORT-SIGHTED THINKING PUT INTO IT. IT IS USED AND WRITTEN SPECIFICALLY TO F US ALL IF THAT IS HOW THE WIND BLOWS THAT DAY.
COURSE YOU PROBABLY WOULD AGREE WITH PEOPLE BEING PRAISED AND FIRED (AND DISCPLINED) FOR THE SAME ACTION LIKE PEOPLE HAVE POSTED IN THIS THREAD
WHAT FLAVOR IS YOUR KOOL-AID?
CUSTOMERS AND REP ALIKE CONTINUALLY POINT OUT THE HYPOCRISY AND SHORT-SIGHTED THINKING PUT INTO IT. IT IS USED AND WRITTEN SPECIFICALLY TO F US ALL IF THAT IS HOW THE WIND BLOWS THAT DAY.
COURSE YOU PROBABLY WOULD AGREE WITH PEOPLE BEING PRAISED AND FIRED (AND DISCPLINED) FOR THE SAME ACTION LIKE PEOPLE HAVE POSTED IN THIS THREAD
WHAT FLAVOR IS YOUR KOOL-AID?
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captainplooky said:
YOUR P&P IS FAILING HORRIBLY
CUSTOMERS AND REP ALIKE CONTINUALLY POINT OUT THE HYPOCRISY AND SHORT-SIGHTED THINKING PUT INTO IT. IT IS USED AND WRITTEN SPECIFICALLY TO F US ALL IF THAT IS HOW THE WIND BLOWS THAT DAY.
COURSE YOU PROBABLY WOULD AGREE WITH PEOPLE BEING PRAISED AND FIRED (AND DISCPLINED) FOR THE SAME ACTION LIKE PEOPLE HAVE POSTED IN THIS THREAD
WHAT FLAVOR IS YOUR KOOL-AID?
My Kool-Aid is grape, and it tastes awesome!!!!!
The fact any idiot does not follow the p&p deserves what they get, and for giving out a few hundred dollars as good will deserves to get fired.
And i got news for you knobby, you are hired trained and paid to critique the p&p, your job ...
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That real sad. They could atleast given him a warning or a less harsh punishment, since he was with the company for so long. I think they really went to far. They could have had the customer for alonger time, and kept some money coming in. But, on the customers part about not being caring, I think he is an IDIOT. So, basically he cause a rep to loose his job, and he didn't get his free phone or the month of service. Well, atleast the rep can try to apply for Unemployment, to have some income come in. It may not be enough to cover what Cingular was paying him, but atleast its a start.
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the employee is f***ed up, extremely f***ed up
because he can't apply for unemployment if he's got fired
because he can't apply for unemployment if he's got fired
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đ You can't apply for unemployment if you quit, you can if you're laid off or fired.
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I thought Cingular once is a strong supporter for union, and should treat their employee nice
how come.....?!
how come.....?!
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I'm really sorry to hear that your friend was fired. The fact that he was not given any sort of warning or reprimand despite the fact that he had not previously had any sort of disciplinary problems, but instead just fired seems a little harsh to me.
After reading everyones posts there are a few things that I think a lot of people are forgetting:
1. I'm guessing that Sam was not salaried, meaning that he was probably an 'at-will' employee. In other words, he can leave his job at any time and for any or no reason. But Cingular in turn can also terminate his employment for any or no reason. It would not be particularly nice for them to do so, but in doing so, they have done nothing illegal, wrong, or unethical.
2. You said you...
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After reading everyones posts there are a few things that I think a lot of people are forgetting:
1. I'm guessing that Sam was not salaried, meaning that he was probably an 'at-will' employee. In other words, he can leave his job at any time and for any or no reason. But Cingular in turn can also terminate his employment for any or no reason. It would not be particularly nice for them to do so, but in doing so, they have done nothing illegal, wrong, or unethical.
2. You said you...
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Ok here is what i think I think sam made a very big mistake and should have been reprimanded ,maybe not fired but severe discipline .On our first days of training we are told what we can be fired for and giving unnecessary credits is one of those if SAM was a regular customer service rep not retention he was i no-way authorized to discount that phone at all ! Also look at it from the company's side (if he has done this once how many times has he done this before)? .I no way sympathize for the company ,but I see the reasoning behind the firing . On another note was SAM a union employee or through an outsourced company? That would make alot of difference for the steps of his discipline steps !
JUST MY 2CENTS
JUST MY 2CENTS
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âšī¸ I DONT SEE THE REASONING BEHIND THE FIRING, wow caps, maybe a coaching or write up but certainly not termination of employment. again us not knowing his history we cant make sound judgements on what was going on, just he went outside of policy and was fired. perhaps he had high idle , was coached on handle time, or par and whatnot and this was the 3rd offense in a probationary period.
if he was a service rep and sent out the form for an upgrade reps in training are told its merely a request.he must have applied a credit then. a rep of 4 years , sounding like a good employee, it doesnt seem right. something else was wrong here.
Perhaps he was made an example of.
if he was a service rep and sent out the form for an upgrade reps in training are told its merely a request.he must have applied a credit then. a rep of 4 years , sounding like a good employee, it doesnt seem right. something else was wrong here.
Perhaps he was made an example of.
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im pretty sure the story is hypothetical nonsense put in place to prove his point. repCB, did this actually happen? đ
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It can happen a lot of reps have been reprimanded for credits. The industry as a whole is not giving money away like it used to. The cellular industry used to give out credits to customers so they would not complain they got compensated for every single inconvenience. that has such stopped for the most part Cingular I know has stopped Verizon also is not crediting as much as they used to.
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isn't cingular a union company? doesn't a union rep have to be present for a rep to get fired? no way would a union allow an otherwise exemplary employee to get fired for that unless he was shipping out a free razor to one of his buddies or something.
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cingular is union but if he is a blue rep then he isnt union so therefore can be fired
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He would also have to ask for a Union rep in order to get one. It's only required for them to be present if the employee requests one. And a Union rep can't do anything for someone who violates the code of business conduct.
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The company does have work arounds to handle just about every situation, If you has a rep feel that the customer is due credit that is not allowed per the standard policies then guess what if the CSR bothered to read the full policy then you would have seen the part where in a manager has something called "Value of the Customer" that they can issue credit for or approve something that you as a rep can't offer. Now if a customer is threatening to term their service, we do have a SPECIAL dept. that does handle these situations, Guess what...
they have their own matrix from which to determine what can be offered, I have seen several offers of free phones that just came out. Thats what they are there for, Sam should have handled the call corre...
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they have their own matrix from which to determine what can be offered, I have seen several offers of free phones that just came out. Thats what they are there for, Sam should have handled the call corre...
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u are completley missing the point bud... this guy went above and beyond for a cust and got kicked in the sac for it. he knew his job and did it
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Sending a someone ( anyone customer or not ) a Razor phone for $20 is stealing. I think it's called price switching. No matter how good you are at your job- if you do something considered theft, then you will be fired for it. I am sure Sam did this for a lot of customers to keep them happy- which is why probaly why they fired him right away. I think you can try to keep the customer as happy as possible but if it's really something you can't do- then tell them you are dont' want them to leave but it's their choice to do what ever they want to ( got this line from a sup ;) ) Can't make everyone happy. This is a business not charity- I think they don't want us to give away $300 phones for $20 and credit everything w/ out being a error involve...
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