Tuesday, November 23, 2004

Just a snippet of what I go through daily

Okay. This is an actual call I took yesterday. Word for word. Some of this stuff, I don't have to embellish.

One of the joys of my job is that I get to help people access our website (for the example, it will be www.nababna.com. This is not a real link, I have made it up. But everything else? Yeah, it's real). I was helping a customer, let's call her Ms. Website Wonder (WW for short).

WW: I tried calling your website and it didn't work.
DM (me. In case you forgot): Huh. Which number did you call?
WW: www.nababna.com.
DM: That's a website. What number did you call?
WW: www.nababna.com. It's not working.
DM: Ma'am, that is a website address. You cannot call it. You can, however, call a number listed on a website.
WW: Oh. I'm sorry. I meant I went to your website and it didn't work. I didn't actually call it.
DM: Okay. Yeah, because it's a website!

Now, we've been having problems with people trying to register for the website and putting in all sorts of strange things in so I immediately start walking her through the steps to sign up for access to her account information.

DM: When it asked for your Tax ID #, what did you put in?
WW: My tax id number (She reads it to me).
DM: When it asked you for your account number, what did you type in?
WW: My account number (She reads it to me).
DM: Okay. There's a drop down menu. What did you put for company name?

This is important. We are a transfer agent for 400 to 500 companies. Not all of them participate in our online service but there's a few of them. It's important that the stock holder select which company they have stock in. It sounds so easy. There's a little blurb of exactly what you should do. But do they get it? No.

WW: I'm not a company.
DM: I understand that. What company did you select from the drop down menu?
WW: I'm not a company.
DM: Yes, Ms. WW, I understand that you are not actually a company. But there is a drop down menu. If you do not select the name of the company you have stock in, it will not allow you to access your account.

We recently took over as transfer agent for a company and when they go to enter in their information they will choose NABABNA instead of their actual company of stock. Do you know what they say to me? They say "Well, the letter's from NABABNA." Yes. Does the letter say all of your stock is now with NABABNA? No, it does not. It says we are now the transfer agent for your company. Idiots.

WW: I didn't enter in a company.
DM: Okay. That may be our problem. When you try to access the site again, change the company name from Manufacturing Company to Insurance Company. That's the name of your company of stock and it is required to access your account information.
WW: I didn't get that far.
DM: You didn't? Why is that?
WW: Because when I called your website, it wouldn't let me on it. It told me it wasn't working.
DM: Did you receive a message that said the site wasn't available?
WW: Yes.
DM: Why the hell didn't you say that in the first place? Okay. When was that?
WW: Last week.
DM: Have you tried registering since then?
WW: No.
DM: Okay. You might want to try that again. If it doesn't work, call us again.
WW: Okay.

I hang up the phone and bang my head, repeatedly, on my desk. This happens daily.

And yet, I love my job.

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