Whether you are on the phone with the airlines or you bought some defective merchandise, there are many situations where you might hope for a better resolution than the customer service agent “helping” you is able to offer.
What are your choices?
1) You can give up.
2) Use expletives and throw the phone across the room.
or
3) You can use what my mother taught me are the six most powerful words in the English Language when dealing with customer service.
May I Speak With Your Supervisor?
If you want to be polite, then you can say, “Please.”
Now that you’ve said it here is how you may still be screwed and the best ways to avoid it…
1) Sure, please hold a minute. Oftentimes, the minute will drag out for 20 or 30 minutes. To avoid this, at the beginning of any conversation with customer service personnel, ask for the employee number, the first and last name, or the the first name and the name of the call center. Each company has it’s own policy of which identifying information should be given to customers.
2) Hang Ups. Yes, even the most professional sounding “customer service” agent might hang up on you if you have not gotten identifying information first. Before begining your complaint kindly ask for the agents name and number if possible.
3) “My supervisor will tell you the same thing I did.” The first response should be, “Well, please let me try.” If they persist, then your response should be: “If your supervisor did not have any more power than you have, they would not be your supervisor. Please, may I speak to your supervisor.”
4) “I don’t have a supervisor.” Your response should be, “Oh, then are you the CEO of XXXX (Whatever company you are calling)?”
5) General stalling. At a certain point, if the person will not transfer you, you need to ask them point blank: “John, employee number 12345, are you refusing to transfer me to your supervisor?”
6) Pretending to help. Sometimes the agent will pretend to have resolved the issue just to get you off the phone. Later you will realize that the problem has not been corrected and you will need to call back and begin the process all over again, most likely reaching a different customer service agent with no record of your previous conversation. In order to avoid this have the agent fax to you a signed document stating your case and the proposed actions/ resolutions. Remain on the phone until the fax is received. Make sure it includes all the important information and official company mentions (logo and contact details). Keep a log of all your dealings with the company about the issue.
Check back for part II… “what to do once you are on the phone with the supervisor”