Infographic Category Tech

How to Talk to Customer Service Representatives

By | source: Oct 19th, 2010

Bro, did you read yesterday’s post? You should, our new author wrote it. Have I read it? Hell no, I don’t care if it’s good or bad — we pay him in Trident Layers. But he did tell me he has this thing where he really likes it when people appreciate what he does. Make his day.

While we’re on the subject of liking things…Like us on Facebook! If you do, next time I see you I owe you one high-five. If I don’t know you, you can go around telling your friends that someone you don’t really know told you on the internet that they owe you a high-five. Kinda cool?

Well, today’s graphic expresses America’s disgust towards customer service. Sure, there are plenty of ways to get what you want from a customer service rep, but knowing how to talk to one is key. Being polite and having all of your information on hand when you make the call is essential. Although, it can be very frustrating when you’re speaking to someone whose first language isn’t English.

My English professor last semester was doing her dissertation on outsourced call centers. She said that when a bunch of companies first moved to India, it was one of their greatest mistakes. She told me that these companies didn’t teach sarcasm to their service reps – bad idea.
Say you’re on hold for 20 minutes. You finally get a representative.

“Thank you for calling Dell, how may I help you today?”

“Well I’d just love to listen to that hold music for another 20 minutes.”

“Umm….okay.”

Just one of the many reasons outsourcing customer service didn’t work out too well. [Via]