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calling retentions dept. get better deal
 

so just got a subscription slashed by 50% by doing this, and done it before when I though price rise was too much on renewal etc...

whats best discount anyone has had?

Anyone know if they are on bonus for each person they retain? because I genuinely had to cancel a while back and the guy sounded annoyed at me!

Some months ago I tried to cancel my Cox cable subscription. The customer service lady was able to slash 10% off the bill, $6, and give me HBO and Showtime free for 6 months.

In the end I still canceled cable and went with the bunny rabbit way, but hey I enjoy not paying over $60/month for 90+ channels of cable when I only watch 15 channels at most.

I don't know if this is good enough to post this on here but I saved lots of money in the end.

yep. sure do.
take it from someone who used to work in a call centre, while everyone else is on the lowest paid minimum wage p/hour (regardless of the campaign/company), except for the retention teams in each of these companies, all on same basic wage p/hour as their colleagues not in retention, PLUS huge commission for retaining customers, per custome, i.e. just one retain would often be more than the hourly wage itself. yes, they made more money than everyone not in rentention, but at what cost... could spot them amongst the other workers from a mile off: they were wired to the hilt on caffeine and god knows what else like hamsters in cages just going round and round go go go go keep those customers!!!!

so how do they prove they retained you, by recording the call and playing it to their manager? this guy sounded like his family would not eat this week because I cancelled!!!

plus he tried to offer me discounts when I told him I had already got the sub elsewhere for way less than his discount and was tied in to contract.

another callcentre recently, I asked for one product and the salesman deliberately tried to lengthen the call and tire me out, by running through higher priced product benefits and when I said no I wanted the original, his voice went a bit nasty and he tried it again and I stopped him and said I knew the one I needed. I fear for elderly people or the easily bamboozled.

essentially, yes.
every call to every call centre is recorded.
seriously: i say every, because you're talking way over 99%.
as a call centre worker, you get what's called "quality controlled": your team leader or whatever they're called will take x number of calls to listen to per week from each worker in the team, to check they're doing ok, to grade them, pull them into line, fire them, etc.
if for whatever reason you mess up (can be as simple as not following the script provided by your company to the exact word- say you're supposed to answer the phone with "good morning, worlds best tables, how may i help you?" and you answer with "hello, world best tables, how can i help you?" you can- theoretically- be in the firing line) it's basically marked down against you.

also: league tables.
sometimes there will be board of names of everyone on the team, and next to their name "retains made today". the team leader/etc simply updates the blackboard as the day goes on, so everyone can constantly look up and see where they are on the blackboard and who's winning/above them/etc. it's like being a in a slow, but constantly pressurised race, against colleagues. winner at the end of the week/month/etc gets a stupid-hardly-worth-anything prize- just one example of the joys of call centres. ^^^ "this guy sounded like his family wouldnt eat this week because I cancelled" haha yeah- but like I said, this is on the open blackboard, so you're constantly aware every minute of every day of the numbers being updated on there. who's ahead/behind you, how many you'd have to get to be at the top, etc, etc, and ultimately, who are they gonna fire if they have to lose say one or two people from the team? those who 'don't try hard enough' and 'keep' their customers (even if they've already left and there's nothing they can do, like in many cases where they've simply already found a better deal and left). so basically, unless you can sell ice to the eskimos, it's luck of the draw which customers you get if you can retain them or not. again, the joy of working in call centres!!!

whoa, thanks, that was beautifully written account and really interesting.... I get the feeling alot of call-centre ops are very intelligent and wasted on that souless job, graduates waiting for better and the like...if you wanted to make a career out of it then something is seriously wrong with your aspirations....

^^^
so true. funny, the campaign I worked on was full of graduates, and in the quiet periods (because you're just waiting for calls if not busy- none of us were insane enough to even approach going into retention teams in ANY of the campaigns/companies where you literally don't get a minute to breathe between calls) they'd all be on the internet applying for jobs sending their cv's off.... think the record was set by the bloke sitting next to me who one day managed to individually compose (i.e. specific to each job, not just click "send" the same thing many times) and send off five job apps with cv + different "i am great for this job because...." individually-written cover letters for each one, then the next day he kept on having to try to take the personal phone calls he was getting as a result of them from the job agency/employer on his mob phone in one hand in one ear, with the call centre headphones constantly on his head (team leaders: "NEVER remove your headphones!!! it is UNPROFESSIONAL for the caller to hear the line crackling while you adjust them/put them on suddenly when the call comes!!") on both ears, trying to chat to a customer in the other ear, all the while having the problem of only having two ears instead of three, and one mouth instead of two :D

but yes, most people are absolutely wasted there and simply use it as a stop-gap or temp work, as the pinnacle of your career path there is becoming one of those team leaders. paid better of course,but in relation the call centre wage of those you're in charge of, so still a rubbish slightly higher wage, just to go around harrassing and pressurising and analysing the hell out of your ex-colleagues who are your mates you used to be alongside doing the same thing.