ThePhanastasio

Being stuck on outbound collection calls for the past week is really grating on my nerves. Technically, the calls are easier than inbound, because there has been a grand total of one time ever I've had to do something complicated on outbound, whereas there is at least five times a day I have to do something convoluted if I'm taking inbound calls. Basically, on outbound calls, one of five things happen:

1.) I get hung up on / get a voicemail that the stupid dialer didn't filter out for some reason.
2.) I talk to someone who isn't the account holder, and leave a message with them or mark it as the wrong number.
3.) I get a payment.
4.) I set a payment arrangement.
5.) I get cussed and screamed at - not shouted at or yelled at - SCREAMED at, because I can't given someone an extra MONTH to pay their TWO MONTH PAST DUE bill.

Some significant gripes:

I hate when people pick up the phone, then hang up the moment you start talking. I understand the logic: Out of sight, out of mind, or whatever...but, they need to realize that when they do that, we register it as a hang-up/dropped call, which means that the system is like, "Oh, ****. They probably hung up on accident. Let's call them again in an hour." After they do this so many times, they finally answer and scream at me like a lunatic, as though I devised the system.

I hate people who try to guilt me or manipulate me into giving them more time on an arrangement. This one dude was the worst. He used to be a teacher or something, so he said, and I kept telling him over and over again that I couldn't extend the arrangement, and he was livid. He was trying everything to guilt me into extending it, but dude appeared to never have bothered to pay his bill on time. His payment history did not do him any favors. It also didn't do him any favors that when he called and claimed he had nothing to pay, he was ordering fast food. I know that's not expensive, and I know people have to eat, but don't call people claiming you have zero dollars while you're spending money. That should be common sense. Anyway, dude finally tried to manipulate me into extending his arrangement. He was all, "You keep saying you can't, but you can; there is a way, but you're brainwashed into following their rules. You're a sheep. Be a free thinker. You know how to do it," and all of this garbage. At this point, I was just tired of his crap, and knew exactly what he was trying to do, so I advised him, kindly, that I really could not, blah blah blah, then he was all, "You're a sheep! When I was a teacher, I taught my students to be free thinkers! Be a free thinker! Push the button!" and I then, in my most emotionless and robotic voice, as though I was reading off a script, recited his existing payment arrangement. Dude hung up on me.

I detest people who ask me if I speak English. Particularly if they are, themselves, butchering the very language they question my competency in. One day, I was feeling froggy, so I told one dude, "No, I've been speaking French this entire call." He actually laughed, and apologized to me, and said he wasn't mad at ME he was mad at the SITUATION and all of that stuff that I hear a zillion times when I stay calm while people are venting and try to sound helpful. That, if it had been QA'd, would probably have lost me professionalism points, but I calmed the guy down, so that's fine in my books.

I can't stand when customers have some purported innate knowledge of the policies of my company as it pertains to their account and allegedly know more than I do. I especially loathe it if they take it a step farther and tell me I'm wrong, I must be new, because that's NOT how payment arrangements work. It's like, my weeks of training and months of experience pale in comparison to their consistent tardiness. Especially when they've been a customer for a period of time briefer than I've actually been working here.

I know they think they're being nice and friendly, but I'm about tired of people calling me babydoll. I don't know why they do it, but I get at least a dozen calls a day where that sentiment replaces my name. I've brought it up before with other girls who work with me, and they claim to never have been called babydoll.

I get super-irritated when people want to escalate to "tell on me" to the next level of support that I'm not letting them have the amount of time they want on a payment arrangement. I'm absolutely polite, kind and helpful even, moreso than just about anyone else on the floor, but they do this constantly. Fortunately, I've only ever had one legitimate "complaint call" and that was some woman who hung up on ME, then called back in to complain and said I hung up on HER. They pulled the call, and of course I didn't hang up on her; we actually have to click something on our screen to disconnect a call, and the call ended abruptly while I was calmly, mid-sentence, explaining something to her. My cursor was nowhere remotely near the disconnect button.

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