HOW to approach reps at the stores

[lefty11]

Originally Posted by kjhadfield

thanks you for this, as i tried explaining before this basic concept.

you will never know everything just b/c you had "training" and someone will always be smarter than you (as will someone to me) its YOUR job to have to put up w/ customer BS....you know why? cause your in retail or customer service. i work/ed in retail and above poster is right, squash it w/ a SMILE bit your tongue and deal or you really need to look into another job field

what he said ^

[lefty11]

Originally Posted by akmzero

I Love my job man. I love working with people. The ones im talking about are the ones who come in and start off the conversation "heres what your going to do" or walk up to you, shove the phone in your face and say its broken. When you ask whats wrong they simply say "ugh, the same thing as last time" I usualy provide less than stellar service.

If you provided stellar service , that same person might smile and befriend you the next time they come in with a problem. Who knows, they might even add a few additional lines of service because they were impressed with the stellar service they might have gotten had the tech been willing to provide every customer with his or her best effort.

[cmptekinc]

Interesting conversation…. I am in IT field for approximately 10 years, prior to IT I worked in restaurants.... My entire work experience revolves around Customer Service. I do understand exactly what CS rep is talking about. From my experience most of the customers are polite, BUT, every once in a while there is that One customer that ruins your day. I am not referring to people that say -Axe- instead of -Ask- I'm referring to people that believe they are entitled to treat everyone like crap because they think they are better then you. Some people are rude, they believe your sole purpose in life is to serve them. I believe the phrase "Customer is always right" is an oxi-moron. It doesn't mean that the customer is always literally right.
Myself, I'm a Sprint Customer. I do occasionally call for support whether it is sales or tech support and I try to treat people the way I'd like to be treated. When I’m treated unfairly then I treat that person the way I’m treated by him or her…. Anyway, I’m with Sprint well before the merger a few years back, so I`ve been with this carrier for a while. I tell you, that I mostly get frustrated when I review the Sprint.com Forums about their latest a greatest ways of rewarding the customers or around the time I’m shopping for a phone. I came across a lot of idiots in the retail stores and they do get under your skin sometimes. CS reps are not always right either. Here`s an example, I bought a TP2 a while back. I first called the store to verify that phones were in stock. I was told that phone is in stock. I asked to put one on hold for me, just in case. When I arrived at the store I was told that my phone was sold to somebody else because they felt I was not coming. Now, mind you the pervious conversation took place 15 minutes ago… OK.. this sucks, so I ask to order a phone for me. 2 or 3 days later, I receive a call informing me that phone is in. I go back to the store and pay for the phone. Open the box and noticed that case is not included. So, I ask is the case included ? Reply “Yes, but we don’t have it” I ask for a different case, they refuse. It was my own fault not to read of what does and does not come with the phone before going to the store, but it is the CS rep`s job to provide correct this info to the customer, isn’t it ? I take the phone and go home. Feeling a little odd about it, I contact Sprint CS on the phone, after 15 – 20 min of waiting I am told to go back to the store and ask for the case. My assumption was that case came with the phone and somehow it wasn’t in the box with my phone. I go back to the store and ask for the case, in return the CS rep starts cursing me out. Then tosses the case at me! At this point I’m pissed and I return the phone and eat the $35 restock fee…. I go back to using my TP1, a week later TP1 broke and Assurion replaced it with TP2. Sprint lost $400 for the phone and another $20-$40 for the case. Have they been knowledgeable about what they sell, I would`ve gladly spent another $40 for the case and wouldn’t be returning the phone either. Often CS reps feel that they know everything, however some of them do not know the products they sell. Anyway, if you don’t like your job, guess what ? Get a different job. That`s what I did.

[CtDMonet]

When I go to a rivalry game (say, football) at the visiting stadium, dressed in my teams' regalia, I get treated different ways. When I am happy and jovial (with my kids, enjoying the game), I get casual ribbing, and friendly rival fans. When I'm a jack-hole (I can be), I tend to find jack-holes - profanity laced tirades, and drunken morons. It's my behavior that drives their behavior.

What I'm saying is that respect begets respect. If you respect the customer for their problems, you will probably find more respectful customers. Along the same lines, if you treat your customer service rep with respect, you'll likely see the same back at you.

My wife had some Samsung phone, can't remember which. It could never switch to call waiting properly. While it wasn't an issue most of the time, as you can imagine -- the first very important call that was missed because of the issue was very frustrating-so we took it in to see if it was a problem with the phone. The tech barely looked at the phone for a minute, and then told my wife directly, "I'm pretty sure it's a PEBKAC issue, there is nothing we can do..." As my wife works as an office manager for a software development company - she is well aware of what a PEBKAC issue is ("Problem Exists Between Keyboard And Chair"). She grabbed her phone and left. Telling my wife that she just didn't know how to use call waiting (which may be the case - it doesn't really matter), was very close to causing us to leave Sprint altogether. It was the online service rep (she called Sprint immediately to report the issue), and his customer service that saved it. Instead of calling out my wife's ineptitude, he offered us an additional $50 off an upgrade. He made a $100 Razr sale, while the previous rep nearly cost 10 years, 2 lines, and a husband that upgrades his phone every year just because he wanted my wife to know that she didn't know how to use call waiting.

There is a fine line with showing someone how to do something properly as that means they were doing something wrong, or don't know something.

[Azrial]

I hate dealing with Customer Service because of the time involved and the great majority of the time, something gets screwed up for everything that gets fixed.

That said, they are people, just like everyone else and I make sure that I do not direct any frustration towards them.

[CPUwalkin]

I got remarkably courteous service when I came in wearing a spaghetti strap tee that had been printed in primary red: I'M MENOPAUSAL AND I'M ARMED

Even just walking from the parking garage to the store had a couple of metro cops laughing (we were on a first name basis with a few too many for several years dealing with the hood). . .

An over-washed short denim jacket with the sleeves rolled up made any determination of truth to the tee difficult across the counter!