| Telephone rep-new accounts services/change of financial responsibilty |
When I started there it was at the very beginning, there were very few
people there prior to myself, after AT&T contracted us to do New
account services, in fact it was only 1 class before me. This may have
been a bad time for some, only because the training provided didn't
stress the importantace of many of the "meanial things, things that
made a difference in your pay, and pay increases, it was pretty much
learn as we go. The concentrations that were put on us during training,
were the basics of cellular phone service and equipment, which included
towers and batterys etc.. In the new account services, this was a huge
waste of time, because we never used much of the information, we had
studied the rate plans, the various phones, none of which we had used.
Stress was on customer servioce, one step resolution and making the
customer a top priority. For people like myself, where these qualities
were very important to us, this was very misleading. Once out on the
floor it was a totally different ballgame. It was more of how many can
we get out and the importance was not on customer satisfaction. We were
told the dealers know the score, they know to get things done quickly.
Sometimes problems arised with problems in the credit report and having
to go back over old accts sometimes was very time consuming. especially
when there was possibilities of fraud. depending on the time of year
those times were more frequent than others, (christmas etc..)
Working in NAS was great, I enjoyed my job, I enjoyed the dealers. it
is very fast paced and most everything is ready to go by the time the
dealers called in.
They then got the COFR contract (change of financial responsibility).
This is where a customer who has a cellular phone wants to give that
phone to someone else, and make them financially responsible for it.
Here is where the problems really were more apparent regarding the
training vs the actual job duties. Stress was still put on One step
resolution, customer service as well as customer satisfaction, with
COFR you work directly with the customer. the duties not only included
creating new accounts and transfering the number to that account,
closing the old acct, but also going through the various rate plans
with the customer, and helping them find what was best for them,
regarding travel etc.. It also was commonly used for when employees
left companys that had supplied their phones, to the former employees.
The time that is used to efficiently help the customer (for the
customer) took much longer than the time allocated. If you rush the
customer, many times the customers get irate, It was not uncommon for
people to call in, demanding not to be switched to another department
or placed on hold again. This is where you have a judgement call to
make, whether the call handling time is more important than the
customer. It was explained to me, that the one step resolution, also
means that we assume the responsibility for the long call handling time
as well. I was told I had to switch them to another department, to keep
the CHT down.
When errors were made at the center (like a newbie, changing
information on a corporate acct. instead of creating a new acct.) and
those errors were called into to us, we were told to let it go, ignore
it, Let AT&T catch it and they will fix it, it wasn't our concern.
The call handling time, as well as the times logged in and out of the
computer were was the the raises were based on. This was not ever
taught or explained in detail so everyone understands it. in fact no
one understood it, till everyone got reprimanded for it. privately of
corse, a flyer was passed out, but no training on how to mange those
numbers.
IF they explain the things that are important to the center (not to the
customer) the turnover wouldn't be so high. but the points run up fast
when you don't know till you learn, so you already start off with a
disadvantage.
The team leaders at the time were only as experiemnced as the rest of
us, with only 2 people understanding the proper procedures. that made
it tough for a 24 hour center with over 800 employees. it was very much
like the blind leading the blind, where we were all learning the rules
and procedures as we went along.
With the right team leader, things were explained and understood, but I
also noticed personality conflicts many times got in the way of what
was fact, and what was shall we say clerical errors.
I highly suggest when working there to keep any and all, paperwork
regarding shift sharing, schedules, and keep your own time sheets.
Another thing that convergys stress is the importance of family, and
helping those in crisis. this also is very misleading. They asked a
young woman to resign, because she was having problems with her
pregancy, telling her she could come back after the baby was born,
however they used the time missed against her, so that she was unable
to return. After all she had not been there a year yet.
not all calls are monitored, and when they are word buzzes through the
center, so the monitorings are used against you when the time for the
raises comes around.
the raises were cut one year for everyone because the center was low on
funds.when I started it paid 8.00 per hour, 2 groups later the starting
pay was on 7.00 per hour.
this is all a matter of prospective, on how you look at what they
stress, and what you expect.
This was my first time at a call center, I learned a lot from them,
somethings I really didn't want to, but a lot I did. I know as I
continue , and I am working for another call center now, things are
very different, priorties are set, training is given on what you need
to know, and things run a lot smoother.
the employees at convergys is varied, we had a wide diversity of
culture, backgrounds and personalities. the ages of the employees
ranged from 18-70. the center itself tried to acknowledge the various
cultures throughout the year. The dress code was casual which ranged
from normal dress attaire to some of the latest unorthodox attair.
As far as advancement opportunities are concerned, well with the
exception of pay raises, it was supposed to be a hire from within type
of system, however; it didn't work that way, some people were hired
from other places. Recommendations for advance to team leaders, had to
come from the upperlevels, and any and all strikes were held against
you.
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