There is typically a universal groan of sympathy and acknowledgement when you announce to anyone that you have to make a call to a customer service number. To put it crudely—having to deal with people at a call center stinks. There are long wait times, scripted responses and what often feels like total incompetence on the other end of the phone.
But what we think of as the average call center is changing. First of all, though you may find yourself on the phone with a representative in India during off hours, there are 2.4 million customer service reps in the U.S. and only 350,000 in India and 400,000 in The Philippines. The number of customer service jobs in the U.S. has increased by 27% since 2001 and is expected to grow by another 13% in the next 10 years. Companies like Intelicare Direct, a call center based in Las Vegas that is on track to make $11 million in sales this year, are working to revolutionize and streamline the customer service project.
Burt Helm, senior writer for Inc. Magazine, decided to see what it was like to be on the other end of a customer service line. So he trained to work as a representative for Intelicare. It was not an easy job; he was required to multi-task negotiation and organizational skills all while keeping a cheery outlook after getting screamed at by disgruntled customers. The work doesn’t produce a large paycheck either-- employees at Intelicare receive a base rate of around $11 an hour with an additional small bonus if they keep the refunds they give out low.
There are also quotas to be met; “please” and “thank you” must be said at least twice during each call. Refunds-per-call are measured and should be kept below $7. In order to keep refunds low, workers will follow a script.
“First, reps offer a simple cancellation with no money back. Then, a 50 percent "courtesy" refund. And finally--and only if the customer is boiling over with rage--or mentions the attorney general or the Better Business Bureau--a full refund,” writes Helm. “Between each step, reps put the caller on hold to 'speak to a supervisor.' But we actually [spoke] to [the] supervisor only once, between calls, about the best place to get tacos nearby.”
“I wouldn’t say there’s a sleazy element to it,” Helm tells Yahoo Finance. “But this is a job to the people you’re talking to on the other end of the line.” The way you as the consumer can make the best of one of these calls, says Helm, is to make it as easy as possible for the customer service rep.
“The rep you’re talking to is probably a [person] just like you,” he says. He encourages you to make life easy for the representative by being polite and direct but make life harder for the company by mentioning things like the Better Business Bureau or your credit card company. No matter what you do, however, “You have to be very persistent to get a refund,” says Helm.
