Large Call Centers Can Mean Big Headaches

One of the things I’ve noticed in the three months I’ve been at Webnames.ca is the commitment to resolving issues. I’ve worked at several call centers, and all of them have been large scale operations. The first call center I worked at had contracts with companies such as Microsoft, Amazon.com and MCI to name a few. At the time I was employed in the Narrowband technical support department for a major North American internet service provider, which was pretty much just a fancy way of saying dial-up tech support.

The main difference between my position there and my position at Webnames.ca is the resources we have available to us to resolve issues. Big call centers typically have contracts with multiple companies who have outsourced their support services, and the call center company is paid by the number of calls handled in a specific time period. This usually means the call center tends to push their reps to take as many calls as possible. Metrics for agents are measured in average call time, as well as the average number of calls per day. Agents unable to meet their metrics are often let go, and fresh recruits are brought in (this also brings to light another problem with large call centers, but I’ll get to that later).

Have you ever called your internet service provider, your phone provider or any other support line for that matter, and felt that the call was rushed and the agent just wanted to get you off the phone? You were probably right – if an agent can refer you somewhere else to get the answer, they usually will – even if they know the answer, and if an agent doesn’t resolve your issue and you have to call back again, it’s another call they can charge the company who is outsourcing to them. All call center agents are not like this, many want to do everything they can to help, even if it takes just a little longer. This good customer service isn’t rewarded, instead when an agent’s metrics stand out as being above the set average, they are first disciplined, then let go.

Another problem with large call centers is the employee turn-over rate. The rate of attrition in call centers is immense, with new hires hitting the floor on an almost weekly basis. So when you call for help, you get someone new every time. This alone isn’t a bad thing, but combined with the fact that calls are rushed and you will likely have to call several times to get your answer (each time starting your story from the beginning), it is a huge test of patience for any customer.

Now that I’ve listed all the bad things about large call centers, let me tell you why Webnames.ca is different. As I said earlier, I’ve only been at Webnames.ca for 3 months, so I’m still new to the company, and learning all there is to know about supporting our customers, but from what I have seen so far, Webnames.ca is a breath of fresh air for someone who has been working in the merciless world of big call centers.

The first and most important difference I’ve seen is the strict adherence to metrics. While we monitor agent talk times, answer speed, dropped calls, etc., agents aren’t required to stick to a minimum average call time. This alone means that we can take the time with each customer to resolve the issue completely instead of spouting a few scripted lines, and then referring the customer somewhere else. Another big difference is consistency; we have a small team of agents working on the phones. This means we all know each other, and can easily pass information back and forth. So if your call gets disconnected, or the signal on your cell drops and you have to call us back, you won’t have to start from scratch because chances are, you will get the same person, and if you don’t, the person you get will be able to pick up where the last person left off.

My favorite part of all of this however, is the fact that we actually get to know our customers. A number of people call us regularly for various reasons, and that’s one of the things you can never get with large call centers. Having been an agent for several large centers, one of the things that got to me was that I didn’t get to know any of our customers. Once a call was over, chances are I would never speak to that individual ever again. This can be a good thing for the customer, if the issue gets resolved or you don’t experience further issues, you won’t need to call again. But if you do, it’s always best if you can talk to someone you have spoken to in the past. I know that for myself, and for the other support reps at Webnames.ca, we very much value the relationships we build with our customers.