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Topic: How to Properly Answer the phone  (Read 7956 times)

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    • London Pet Butler
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Re: How to Properly Answer the phone
« Reply #15 on: October 30, 2008, 01:13:26 PM »
Understood, LittleLady. But our calls are along the line of wanting to pressure DH or me into taking their wondering 0% transfer. Since DH is main account holder on some cards; I am on others, they have a 50/50 chance of reaching the wrong person at home.

Discover is particularly harrassing about this. And will call each and every day, several times a day. They once even cancelled our cards (they were at $0 balance) and mailed us new cards with the same account number to get us to have to call to activate them, so they could pitch a BT offer. They admitted that was why!

For goodness sakes, we got all the paper offers in the mail. Just didn't have a use for it at the time.



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Re: How to Properly Answer the phone
« Reply #16 on: October 30, 2008, 01:21:02 PM »
Discover is particularly harrassing about this. And will call each and every day, several times a day. They once even cancelled our cards (they were at $0 balance) and mailed us new cards with the same account number to get us to have to call to activate them, so they could pitch a BT offer. They admitted that was why!

That is appalling!
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Re: How to Properly Answer the phone
« Reply #17 on: October 30, 2008, 01:57:01 PM »
That is appalling!

My thoughts exactly!


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Re: How to Properly Answer the phone
« Reply #18 on: October 30, 2008, 02:27:00 PM »
Yeah, Discover is particularly insidious and persistent.  ???
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Re: How to Properly Answer the phone
« Reply #19 on: October 30, 2008, 02:29:21 PM »
I worked in customer service for awhile so I try to be polite when I get phone calls, but a lot of times, I do END them with "F*ck off" and hang up in their face.  Of course, I do see what the phone call is about first...incase it is a nurse from the hospital and a family member is lying there, dying.  

The thing that really aggravates me about "those type of calls" (whether it's a bill collector, a solicitor, whatever) is when they try to pretend to be your spouse's friend.  Don't try to be sneaky with me!  Like I said, I've been on the other side of that when I worked in a call center, so I understand sometimes you have to be sneaky to get people to pay their bills.  My hubby's bank account manager called to speak to him...just a friendly call that she makes every month to make sure he is happy with his account and is there anything else she can help him with...problem is, she called and said "May I speak to *John*?" as opposed to using "Mr. Smith", which to me was unprofessional from the get-go.  My husband doesn't have women calling our house asking to speak with him...his friends and family members call his mobile.  So she started off on the wrong foot because I knew it wasn't just an old friend calling to chat.  When I told her that he wasn't in and could I take a message, she said "Yes, can you tell him to call *Carol*?"  and that was it.  When my hubby got in, he didn't have a clue who *Carol* was and only figured out 2 days later (when she called again and he answered) that it was his account manager.  Now if I was the jealous type or untrusting, that could have been a BAD situation for my hubby...lol.  


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Re: How to Properly Answer the phone
« Reply #20 on: October 30, 2008, 02:42:05 PM »
Does the UK have all those automated calls now?  You pick up the phone when it rings and there's a pause ... (Hello? Hello?) and finally someone comes on to inveigle something out of you.  Apparently they are set up to initiate several calls at once and whoever answers first is the lucky one.
A lot of people in US have caller ID on their phones and just don't answer if they don't know who it is.  There is also the Do-Not-Call list which you have to sign up for, but definitely worth it.  Have practically no annoying calls now.  Evidently it doesn't stop them if you're a legitimate customer which is too bad.  Your bank can keep calling to try to drum up more business from you.  Or the car service people keep phoning after you've been to find out how you rate their service.  The worst is a charity I donated to who keeps sending me unsolicited "gifts" in the mail (like calendars, address stickers) and then phoned a couple times to get me to make more donations.
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Re: How to Properly Answer the phone
« Reply #21 on: October 30, 2008, 02:51:16 PM »
Yes the calls are annoying and yes, they come from a variety sources that are annoying.  But at the end of the day, that's an actual human being on the line, who hates their job as much as you hate the phone calls, and are doing that peanuts for pay job just to survive.


The way I look at it is "ok mr. smith, your wife apparently doesn't want you to know about the fraud on your account.  too bad, so sad." 

But it still pisses me off that people are that rude.

I wish I held a similar role in the USA, I get the feeling people arent as rude .


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Re: How to Properly Answer the phone
« Reply #22 on: October 30, 2008, 03:08:41 PM »
Yes the calls are annoying and yes, they come from a variety sources that are annoying.  But at the end of the day, that's an actual human being on the line, who hates their job as much as you hate the phone calls, and are doing that peanuts for pay job just to survive.


Oh yes, the people making the calls are just working stiffs like the rest of us.  Its the companies that dream up these things and initiate them that are the real culprits.
Not sure they are any less rude in the US.  My mother used to just say "Not interested" and hang up.  Well, at least she didn't swear at them  :D
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Re: How to Properly Answer the phone
« Reply #23 on: October 30, 2008, 04:32:15 PM »
The way I look at it is "ok mr. smith, your wife apparently doesn't want you to know about the fraud on your account.  too bad, so sad." 

If there was fraud on his account, I think she would have been more professional to say something like "Mrs. Smith, this is *Carol* calling from *bank* and I need to urgently speak with your husband about his account.  Please have him call me at *number*."  When you call and say "Have him call Carol?"...first off, he didn't even know who that was, so if there had been an actual issue with his account, he never would have known about it.  She never identified she was calling from the bank so he didn't have a clue where to even start.  His response was, "Probably someone trying to sell something."  BTW...I was on my husband's account so she could have discussed any issues with me as it was a joint account anyway :-)   

I wish I held a similar role in the USA, I get the feeling people arent as rude .

Wrong...I dealt with Americans and they are no walk in the park.

Do you have an American accent calling British folks?  That might contribute to the "attitude" they have towards you.  Maybe they are just assuming you are a telemarketer (or someone calling to "bug" them) because you have a foreign accent.  They might be saying as they hang up the phone, "Damn, telemarketers are calling from America now."  LOL!



Re: How to Properly Answer the phone
« Reply #24 on: October 30, 2008, 06:25:07 PM »
oh crap, sorry Smith925, please realize I was using "mr smith" as a fake name example LOL not by any means directed at you or your husband!  I completely failed to connect that to the people responding in the post!!!

Yes, i think the accent almost heightens the  paranoia, like im calling to get their details.


Re: How to Properly Answer the phone
« Reply #25 on: October 30, 2008, 06:37:40 PM »
LOL...no problem...one of the many joys of having the most common last name in the entire universe!


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Re: How to Properly Answer the phone
« Reply #26 on: October 30, 2008, 06:49:35 PM »
What took me some time to get used to was the custom of answering the phone by rattling off one's phone number.

Back in the days of the state telephone monopoly when everything was under the auspices of the Post Office, that was the "official" suggested method, unless answering a business line with the name of the company.   It's a habit which has stuck for some people.

It did actually have a valid reason years ago when pre-pay coin phones were in use.  When the person you called answered you could hear him but he couldn't hear you until you pressed a button to deposit your money into the box.  So if you happened to have reached the wrong number, you could tell immediately and hang up without losing your money. 

Does the UK have all those automated calls now?  You pick up the phone when it rings and there's a pause ... (Hello? Hello?) and finally someone comes on to inveigle something out of you.  Apparently they are set up to initiate several calls at once and whoever answers first is the lucky one.

Unfortunately, yes, we have them in the U.K. too.   :(

The computers are set to just keep dialing out numbers and listen for responses.  If they hear ringing with no answer, or a busy tone, they mark the number to try again later.  If they detect a voice answering, they then immediately look for a vacant salesman in the pool and connect the call through, hence the silent pause before somebody comes on the line.   

What's perhaps worse is that if no "customer service agent" happens to be free within a few seconds of you answering the call, the system will often just drop the connection.   That can happen several times in a row throughout the day, so anyone unaware of what's going on can end up thinking that somebody is messing about making silent prank calls.
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Re: How to Properly Answer the phone
« Reply #27 on: October 30, 2008, 08:14:26 PM »
OK.
How do people answer the phone in the UK?


Re: How to Properly Answer the phone
« Reply #28 on: October 30, 2008, 08:24:48 PM »
My hubby and all my British friends always answer the phone

ELLO

That's cuz they never pronouce their "H"s.



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Re: How to Properly Answer the phone
« Reply #29 on: October 30, 2008, 08:27:49 PM »
Thanks. Now I noow. ;)


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