Call Centers Likes and Dislikes???

I worked at a Call Center as a tech support in Western Canada for 7 month and it was brutal in fact they finally told me that I was over qualified and they where pushing me so I would get frustrated enough to feel like the rest of the workers. Well I took that word of advise and packed my locked and left. I now use the knowlege they gave me and started my own business. Good luck I hope it doesn't stress you out and end up burning you out.

Phone doesn't ring??????? well it never going to happen, I have worked as tech support 3 years back, and believe be there are number of calls in queue waiting to be picked up so getting bored and killing your time forget it. enjoy the calling.

since you are working at the call centre you should know by now the plus and minus points and decide for your self

Hi, Welcpme to myLot. & welcome to the Call Center Industry. I have felt the same thing when I started working in the call center business. And it is just a matter of overcoming your fears on the job itself. I admit that on my first week of training i really felt too much pressure that i even told my friends that i will not be reporting the next day or simply uttering the line at the back of my mind" I QUIT". And now proud to say I have been in this business for 4 years now and Im enjoying it. You could really get lots of things working in a call center aside from the good pay of course. What i could really advise to you is to just work hard during your probationary period which include basic & client-specific trainings. After that then you should be able to adjust to this new world.

I have worked at a call center as a customer service rep for MCI. The dislikes are as follows: 1. Following their phone call procedues and guidlines. Every phone call had to start with "Hi my name is Traci how can I provide you with exceptional customer service today!" Gag me! 2. Rushing customers off the phone in order to make your call time. (We had a certain amount of time to get them off the phone to meet our number of calls) 3. Saying the same thing over and over each day. 4. Getting told off and cursed at and not being able to stand up for yourself. 5. Prank calls. 6. Getting monitored on calls. They would record you and at times you can hear beeps when they do so..and you get graded on if you followed the guidlines or not. Things I liked about it: 1. Did not really have to dress up because nobody is face to face without except your supervisor. 2. If we hit certain requirements we got bonus's. 3. Having a mute button so you can hear what they are saying when they think they are on hold and you make fun of them with other employees. 4. If we unplugged the phone from the back during a call the company couldn't trace it back to us. That way we did not get in trouble for not wanting to deal with a customer. It is sad but true.

Hi there!I have a friend working in a call center company and she's having fun. I think what you are afraid of is their shifting schedule because if you can't adjust you'll be unefficient and unproductive they will train you so you can adjust from their policy and systems if you think it will be a problem to you then don't continue :)

With any type of employment there are expectations that the employer has of their employees. When the expectations become overwhelming, it is time to look for other employment.

Depends on what product you are supporting. If the product is faulty or the company is not doing something to annoy their customers you should be fine. If the product is faulty you get a lot of nesty calls from angry customers. I know because I managed a call center for a new multimedia computer which had a lot of problems and the techsupport was pissed and quit even after we paid them twice of what they were worth. A techsupport girl told me that she gets so stressed out that she yells at her 2 year old when she goes home so she quit. Keep a good book around to read in case you don't get any call.

hello, seems its your first job as a call center rep? well, its pretty normal to feel the way you are feeling now, regarding your current job. im currently working as a call center rep. ive been so for 10 months now. and this is my first job after the hard earned 4 year Bachelor's degree i was really having a second thought in working in such type of job. maybe you had heard horrible experiences. well, let me share you mine..(u just decide which is horrible and not) 1. from training until now, myschedule is either 6am or 7am, rest day is either sun-mon , or sat-sun. you got the option of your preferred schedule depending on your performance appraisal (all metrics) 2. stock option grant after 1y and 6 months in the company 3. half million health insurance (excluding maternity), life insurance, govt insurance, home insurance ( i know those exists but i havent used it yet) 4. normal 1 hour break and two 15min break time...FORFEITED if you're unable to take it as scheduled 5. scarcity of allocation for Leaves 6. resilience for irrate callers (which really depends on what type of account you are in...irrate callers are common to departments which involves their finances $$$.) 7. .... :-) good luck and Godbless

i worked in callcenters and they wre gud yes time shifts might upset u but it wont matter as they pay u gud and as far as bad things are concerned its with bad qualities every job has its own drawbacks and its always u ,urself who is responsible for things happening around u and u always get choice so take ur pick and trust urself.

hi 1divinediva! by the way, where exactly are you from? i work in a call center also and im from the philippines, so most call centers are usually done as night shift, unless its a 24 hour cust svc call ctr. well, about the not getting calls, i think its all right, ur getting paid for it anyway... i guess you can bring a book or magazine, that will pass some time, hehehe... or talk w ur seatmate, make a friend, your seatmate might be just as bored as you... thats all i can say, good luck! dawgmart

From my experince, call centers suck! It's really boring work, although you usually get paid great for it. Callers are often rude, and bosses uncaring. It sounds like youre going to be really bored at work.

i have been working in call centers for almost 2 years now almost and it is a policy for most call centers that an agent calls must all be recorded.that way, they could monitor the quality of service that agent is giving to customers.usually what we do to kill time is to talk with our colleagues.we talk about anything under the sun.since you are a newbie it would be helpful for you if you could review some of your articles regarding your LOB (line of business).sure they'll be times you'll fall asleep, just make sure that you sit beside a good pal to wake you up when somebody is roving and you should sleep lightly so that you could attend to your call once it comes(or better yet drink a gallon of coffee..its free anyway lolz).as for the training i got a 4 week one.it is necessary so that you'll know your product better and also it is for call handling skills.believe me you need that skill because it would introduce you to various types of calls and which are the effective ways in dealing with it.as for the monitorings yes it is true that your PC and your calls are monitored but the recording would only start once the call arrives.you could browse if you dont have a call and close the window right away once you hear the prompt.being an agent is really a boring job.you get bored within just a month because you are going to say the same thing over and over again making you think that you are a parrot.you'll get so used to your job that there are no more excitements in it and even irate callers wont wake your interest anymore (usually they are these callers are the ones im waiting for).once you're there anyway,you'll get the hang of it.hope this helps good luck

I have a relative who's working in a call center. She said that she liked it there for the first 2 months but after that she realized that the job was too routinal. Yes she makes money just by answering the phone but it was too boring for her. The job was getting to her nerves. It all depends of what job you enjoy. Seems like my cousin does not like sitting iinfront of a computer the whole day.

well if you are wondering how long you can stare at the computer well its up to you, you can do something else while waiting for someone to call,,or dont stare at the computer for the whole time do something else.

I've worked in a call center for a technical account for the past three years and believe me, the only time that the phone will not ring is when you're on lunch or the entire system has broken down, in which case never happens. All call centers do have a strict policy with computer usage since they are protecting their database and even opening your personal email is considered unauthorized use of company property *lol* and dont grumble about the three week training, because believe me once you start taking in calls, you will wish that training never ended. Its a hard job, but it can be quite fun. i have a lot of bloopers that i could share, like a caller asking me why the computer (a desktop) isnt working when the power cord wasnt connected. *lol*

Im also a tech support. They need to train you 3weeks for product knowledge. of course we don't want to give customers misinformation, and we have to know the product and tools very well. We have to hit targets and we must know every flow of the call. Do you know that in 3weeks you can only get max of 25% knowledge when you hit the floor? and when you do calls, you might wanna get back to training. Too much pressure and all you can render is your active listening skills and product knowledge. you must know logic specially in tech support. :)

Well its ha some merits including some de-merits also. I like it because this job pays really good but on the contrary side if we see its timings and its toughness its not able for everyone to perform this job.

well i know people including myself that has done this at home rather then outside the home and made just as good money if not better in two weeks time frame, sky is the limit if you can put in the hours. Now i do data texting. I did not care for the call center thing even at home, as you have to have a quiet room and there were upsells to deal with i am not an upsell person. Now i do data texting and it is pretty much data texting to people like on an IM and i love it, if you are a fast typer it is good money too, if you can handle Adult Entertainment on some of the postings, which i can. Some is just regular chat and some is Tarot/Psychic stuff. All the same it is fun and i enjoy it immensely. Good Luck with the job though hope it works out!

well being in a call center has it's perks...if ure in a graveyard shift no traffic..heheh..well u can read books if u don't have a call..u just sit there and plan what u want to do..working in a callcenter is awsome sometimes..but it does have it's own disadvantages...stress and workload can get ugly at times...sometimes u must get ure stats up..but hang in there..