Are customer service calls recorded for "training" purposes?

[itsrobert]

Or disciplinary purposes? I don't work in retail/call centers, so I was just wondering why they record these. I have some good guesses, but I don't think training is one of them.

[dysfunctional press]

1. if they say that 'this call is being recorded' on their end-

and if i also want to record it on my end, do i still have to tell them?

[dixiegrrrrl]

10. Depends on what state you live, notice laws vary.

In my state, only one party has to know about the call.
However, I always tell the customer service person I AM recording the call.
You would be surprised at how nice they act, and I actually got a refund from one place after a previous call had denied a refund. I called back a few days later, and said" Your telephone tree says you are recording calls, is that right?"
Yep, they said.
So I very sweetly said " I like that idea, and you need to know I also am recording this call to you".
Looong silence.
got what i wanted, when she spoke again, tho.
I make it a point to be very very sweet.

[SidDithers]

25. That's a great idea...

something I'm going to start doing too.

Sid

[dixiegrrrrl]

26. You do not have to actually be recording..they do not know.

And if they object, I tell them I object to their recording.

[Akoto]

2. Both.

When I worked customer service, a log was kept of every call. My supervisor would occasionally pull one at random, listen, and grade my performance. Notes would be included on how I did, ways I could improve, etc.

Of course, if I said something wrong or gave out inappropriate info, they could also be referred to for those purposes.

[Warpy]

3. Both, and likely for legal reasons, too

just in case there's trouble over the product in question. If there's a customer admission that it was dropped, drowned, or otherwise aggressed upon, the company is off the hook.

[REP]

14. No. It's illegal in every state I've worked calls to use recorded calls like that

I worked for the phone co - the evil one - and verbatim calls with customer info attached is a major violation plus at that level, not worth the record keeping. If a customer admits abuse, it's noted on the acct info and it'll show up on the equipment.

[apnu]

19. That and some places are compelled to record, like trading firms. (nt)

[baldguy]

4. Yes. Both.

Integrated telephone/computer networks are the industry standard, and servers & storage are relatively cheap. There's no reason NOT to record incoming calls.

[REP]

16. Mostly "training," or harassing of the call center workers

Some industries, like telcoms, are required to answer a certain percentage of incoming calls per hour; that's another monitoring but that drops off as soon as the line picks up.

[arcadian]

5. They do it so they have evidence if a customer takes them court.

[Jennicut]

6. Both. I worked at one for 4 years and the managers used it to get you to

improve on your talking points with customers and to point out what you did wrong. And if they caught something bad or inappropriate you were called out on it.
I am so happy NOT working that job anymore. So much pressure for such little pay.

[Akoto]

8. I was of the same mind.

I ended up quitting because of my worsening health condition. However, had that not happened, I still would've found another line of work. An almost constant stream of abusive calls, lots of pressure to get everything exactly right (no matter what's being screamed at you), and for little pay.

[Jennicut]

30. You described it perfectly. I got at least one caller a day that swore at me,

my managers all talked about productivity and then when a raise came it was a dime. I am not kidding, a freakin dime. I am home with my two little girls now but went back to school to be a preschool teacher. After doing some student teaching I can say the little kids are more mature then many callers I got!

[undeterred]

15. Its the ultimate in micromanaging.

Most work for the least pay with the most scrutiny.

[Jennicut]

31. Yes, my pay was pretty bad after 4 years.

[Xenotime]

7. I have heard they are recorded for profiling purposes..

They want to know how many different races they are talking to. I think that is just wrong.

[Peace_Sells]

9. Its to make sure we do our job.

I work at a call center and they record the calls to see if we are doing our job. Yesterday I had a good talking to because I forgot to reintroduce myself when a customer handed the phone to his spouse. But thats why they record them, to see how we are doing on the phone.

[The Straight Story]

11. They use them a lot for training, and to discipline people (my experience)

I used to work in a call center, ran the data center and handled desktop and personnel issues.

We trained people on how to handle calls by using screen captures and actual calls, and there were times people were written up or fired - especially after a customer called in to complain and we were able to verify what they told us.

[Echo In Light]

12. Both. Everything is recorded, although how long that data is stored is another matter

[Cleita]

13. Anytime you are talking to a service person on the telephone, it's most

likely being monitored. Sometimes it's to help out a rep with an angry person at the other end of the line but most of the time it's mainly to catch the rep doing something they shouldn't. I once worked at Ma Bell as a long distance operator back when they still used the cord boards. We also picked up coin telephones. I picked up a coin one night and it was an emergency call. I connected the caller to the police and listened to the call as I was supposed to. She was calling in an accident she had passed in one of the canyons that she wasn't involved in herself. When she gave her name, she turned out to be a friend of mine I hadn't seen in a long time. When the police hung up I asked her not to hang up and told her who I was. We spent five minutes catching up, very much against the rules. Well my supervisor was listening the whole time. I got pulled off the board and reprimanded. Since I was a union member I didn't get fired but my scores for the month were put way down.

[REP]

20. You can decline to have your call monitored by stating you don't want it monitored

Make someone happy!

[Cleita]

23. You are talking about the customer I take it, not the rep who probably has

very few rights in prison or some other country.

[REP]

24. Yup, the customer can. Sorry it wasn't clear.

[eqfan592]

27. That's not always the case.

The call center I work at deals a lot with customer safety concerns, so not recording the call would be a major liability issue. Basically, people HAVE to call us when doing certain things, so if they don't want their call recorded, then they have to submit their requests online (I don't want to get into too much detail for privacy reason).

Suffice it to say we use the recordings for training, disciplinary reasons, and liability concerns.

[REP]

28. But to qubble: submitting online avoids having call monitored, right?

[LynzM]

17. It can be training.

Also for legal reasons, to confirm sales if made, and to do Quality Control and training on each associate (at least the call center where I worked for a while).

[cbdo2007]

18. Does it matter? "training" and "disciplinary" can be the same thing if the company

is trying to give out the best customer service.

They'll record the calls and then have monthly meetings with the manager where they listen to some of the calls to figure out what they can do better. If someone is messing up their calls they should be disciplined and probably needs better training.

[REP]

22. "Do better"? Dream on. It's "sell more"

[cbdo2007]

29. Right....that's what business is. Do you expect companies to be in business to sell less???

You've got a funny way of doing business if you think companies should strive for worse customer service and lower sales.

[bridgit]

21. Training is one of the reasons calls are recorded, yes