This Call May Be Monitored ... 443
Iphtashu Fitz writes "We've all heard it. The recorded message when you call technical support or your bank or credit card company: 'This call may be monitored for quality assurance purposes.' But has it ever occurred to you that people actually DO listen in? Approximately 2 percent of these calls are listened to either live or after the fact, and it may come as a surprise that Big Brother even listens to what you may say while you are on hold. The people who monitor these calls routinely hear arguments between spouses or parents and children, people yelling at pets, and all sorts of other domestic disputes."
Turn it to your advantage (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Turn it to your advantage (Score:2)
Re:Turn it to your advantage (Score:2)
Re:Turn it to your advantage (Score:3, Informative)
Some time ago I ordered a phone/DSL service whilst in a college dorm. For the entire first month, the service didn't work at all. The phone company had no idea why and I had no idea why. After a while I figured out that the college had accidentally destroyed the lines while doing construction work on the building. I called the phone company and explained the situation to them and they told me they'd kill the service and revoke my bills.
Months later I get a bill for $100 interes
Re:Turn it to your advantage (Score:3, Insightful)
As someone who has worked in several call centers I can honestly tell you that the QA departments who monitor calls could really care less. I used to get threatened all the time with that statement while on the phone - just made me want to hang up quicker. The reason why is my co-workers and I were paid 9$/hr (and I'm not kidding in
Crap (Score:2, Funny)
Sheesh (Score:5, Insightful)
Time to listen to some old apple tech support (Score:2)
My favorite is Screamer.mp3
Re:Time to listen to some old apple tech support (Score:2)
Big Brother? Not quite... (Score:3, Informative)
You'd think that if 2% of the calls are monitored for quality control purposes... then QC would actually improve in the long run. In my experience, phone support/service is generally about the same (or less) quality as it was many years ago.
Re:Big Brother? Not quite... (Score:4, Interesting)
I tried... (Score:4, Funny)
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Big Brother? Not quite... (Score:2)
No, no, no. You misunderstand.
They are monitoring the call to gauge the quality of their *customers*. The more annoying their customers appear to be, the more likely it is that your call is mysteriously dropped when they "transfer" you to another department.
Re:Big Brother? Not quite... (Score:2)
The problem is high turnover in call centers. The people who stay do continue to get better (or at least not worse) or they are eventually sacked. Unfortunately, every time a new person starts answering the phone, you're pretty much starting all over again where the tr
HAving worked at a big TeleSales company .. (Score:5, Funny)
Re:HAving worked at a big TeleSales company .. (Score:5, Insightful)
Actually what they say while they think they are on hold IS the reality.
This call may be monitored or recorded (Score:5, Funny)
Re:This call may be monitored or recorded (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:This call may be monitored or recorded (Score:2)
Here it is legal to record conversations (anyone may do so) if one of the two participants know about the recording. So you may record the counter part on the phone as you know you are doing it.
Re:This call may be monitored or recorded (Score:2)
Tom
Re:This call may be monitored or recorded (Score:5, Informative)
There are twelve states that require permission from both sides of a phone call for it to be recorded. This site has the list. [pimall.com]
Re:This call may be monitored or recorded (Score:2)
Re:This call may be monitored or recorded (Score:2)
So much for all 50 states.
Re:This call may be monitored or recorded (Score:2)
Careful with this assumption! In some states you are required to verbally indicate to the other party you are recording, and still others require an audible "beep" on the line every 8-10 seconds to remind everybody it is being recorded. This is why if you call your stock broker you hear that "Beep" in the background of your call every few seconds--because the SEC requires the brokerages to re
Re:This call may be monitored or recorded (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:This call may be monitored or recorded (Score:2)
Years ago, I was the head of R&D for a company in Texas with a competitor in California. The president of the competitor in California was a lawyer and not a very agreeable person.
One day the presidents of the two companies were arguing about some issue over the telephone. The president of my company mentioned something about
My Rights Online? (Score:3, Insightful)
My rights: I'm told that the call may be monitored. I can hang up if I object. No 'rights' are being violated.
Online: You mean "on the phone", right?
Seriously, where's the BIG BROTHER story here? Slow news day?
I guessed as much... (Score:2)
I pretty much assumed that was the case, so I usually make a point of complaining verbally about the wait, the music and te service during the hold period. :)
I think that it should be illegal for the other party to record the call without your explicit consent... after all, even though they mention that the call may be monitored, often it's a few minutes of hold time before you can actually tell the human responder that you don't want to be eavesdropped on.
Tricky dilemna:
Forego the service, or lose yo
Re:I guessed as much... (Score:2, Funny)
Re: (Score:2)
Listen to my curses (Score:2)
Although probably not.
listening in (Score:2, Informative)
This is fairly universal among call centers, because call center managers never trust their employees to do the right thing without first-hand supervision.
To be fair, I was suprised about the on-hold part. What is the point of listening to th
Privacy concerns? (Score:3, Insightful)
Generally when I'm on hold, I'm either bitching about the f'ing annoying voicemail system that won't properly connect me, or about the idiot who has put me on hold for the fifth time while "helping" me. Great, I must have a lot of black marks on my "record" with Cingular, because I curse like a sailor when I'm on hold...
Re:Privacy concerns? (Score:2)
U are called an ass by me.
It's true (Score:4, Interesting)
And yeah, they can hear you on hold, so do be careful.
Re:It's true (Score:5, Funny)
pwned.
Thanks for ruining my date.... (Score:5, Funny)
Dammit... that was my first date this millenium, too. No wonder she told me off when I called!
which makes me ask a silly question... (Score:2)
I mean what license do you have to those classic 1983s hits?
Tom
Re:which makes me ask a silly question... (Score:2)
You should try it, some time. Seriously, no sarcasm intended...
As soon as a human gets on the line, say the exact same message they use right back. "I may record this call for quality control purposes".
Usually they don't seem to care, but some really tweak. Hillarious, actually.
As the most drastic yet, I've had a "monitor" on their side cut in suddenly and say something along the lines of "no, you may not, this call has ended, go
HA (Score:2, Interesting)
Of course they won't be but all I'm saying if you are gonna eavesdrop, you should take ALL responsibilities that come along with it....
Re:HA (Score:2)
Nah, sounds like the plot of a bad movie...
While on hold? (Score:2)
what the message should say (Score:2, Funny)
I wish! (Score:3, Funny)
I really wanted someone to be listening to that, but I didn't get a response form the mysterious back room. I just hope they heard it on tape.
manda
What amazes me... (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:What amazes me... (Score:3, Insightful)
Ha (Score:2)
"grr...what's wrong with this stupid company..."
"stupid asshats, I'm never buying their widgets again"
"HELLO IDIOTS, I'VE BEEN HOLDING FOR HALF A FUCKING HOUR!"
*click* *boooooooooooooooooooooooooooooop*
*silence*
While on hold (Score:2)
I never call anywhere just to say "Hi! I'm so pleased with your product/service that I just wanted to call and say thanks!", when I call anywhere about something, I"m pissed and I make sure they are bloody well aware of it..
Like anything will change. But it does feel good to let them know how I feel about their crappy, offshored/outsourced product/serv
Re:While on hold (Score:3, Insightful)
Which often achieves little. The vast majority of the time we CSRs have no way of actually recording down complaints or even suggestions. (If you care enough, write a snail mail letter to the head of the company.)
Can you get your way by getting angry with the CSR? Sometimes, especially if they are new. Overall, however, I would say that you catch more fl
Your wait time is.... (Score:2)
I've always hoped that they listen while I am on hold. That way they get to hear my frustration of being on hold and calling their machines stupid and a bunch of other names. They also hear that I want to talk with a crazy person and not a machine. Bring on listening to while I am on hold, I don't care.
I had to do this (Score:3, Informative)
Heck, I once got a super-irate customer yelling & screaming at me, and told a coworker(who had supervisor priveledges too), and he asked me "What's your extension?", and I gave it to him so he could listen in on the fun. When you work tech support, you have to make the job fun.
This is not a surprise (Score:2)
Transfer me... (Score:2)
They've gotten ridiculous.
Please Terminate The Call (Score:3, Funny)
You can often opt-out (Score:2)
As to whether they actually do stop any recordi
Re:You can often opt-out (Score:3, Interesting)
Kinda.
This varies state-by-state. Some states are One-Party Notify, some states are Two-Party Notify.
Generally, the legal limitation is on the party doing the recording, not explicitly either the calling or called party. No, I don't know if this is a limit based on where the company is incorporated, or where the phone support personnel are located. 3rd party and Offshore phone support probably make this all kinds of complicate
True story (Score:2)
After a time the person came back on line and provided the information that was needed and then told her that she had hea
I used to listen-in on phone calls at the bank... (Score:2, Interesting)
Call monitoring is a quality control function of the customer service department of t
listening in. (Score:2, Interesting)
Other than that, mostly it is employee review, etc.
News to me! (Score:2)
Also, remember that most people think of hold as the hold that you have on your phone at home -- you can't listen to someone while they are on hold, they are just sitting there
Can lead to unexpected results (Score:3, Funny)
So he went to a local store and bought a bunch of casette tapes, took them back to the office, and put a tape in each recorder.
After that, about once a month, he'd go through the office to pick up the old tapes and put in fresh tapes.
He would then put the tapes he collected in a box in his car trunk. While driving around Houston, he'd listen to the tapes to see how his employees were dealing with the customers.
His wife actually ran the office. He acted more as an idea man and met personally with the customers whenever necessary.
One day his wife borrowed his car. She picked up the tape off the seat and put it in the tape player.
It was her telephone calls.
She thought her husband was spying on her and filed for divorce. As part of the divorce settlement, she received $1,000,000 paid in equal monthly installments over 5 years.
His lawyer screwed up royally. He didn't include a stipulation that she couldn't use the money to compete against his company.
So she used the money to start up a company that competed directly against him.
Without her running his office and without him delegating the authority very well to an employee to run the office, her company pushed his into bankruptcy in five years. At the time they filed bankruptcy, he had only one remaining payment of the $1,000,000 left to make.
Turing test - phonesex (Score:5, Funny)
I did this (Score:2)
We had listen-only handsets we could plug into the modular sockets on the front of any of a row of several dozen cards and listen to calls in progress. We did this while debugging systems in the field so we could see if the system was working, what s
and in other news... (Score:2)
fuck off.
Financial calls (Score:3, Insightful)
On the other hand, if it really isn't my voice, then the recording protects me.
Am I supposed to have a problem with this? I don't...
Mute Button (Score:2)
Advice for calling Tech Support/Customer Service (Score:4, Informative)
A general rule of thumb is that the nicer and more reasonable you are on the phone, the better the quality of support you will receive, and the faster you will be off the phone with your problem solved. Its fucked, but thats reality. Also, most call logging systems have a section for "Technician comments", which can be anything from "customer follows directions well" to "customer is an asshole". This can influence greatly the way you are treated by future technicians. Sometimes I've escalated calls for a callback (in 1-2 days for one company I worked at) just because I won't deal with a rude fuck. At one company, this was unoffical policy.
Re:Advice for calling Tech Support/Customer Servic (Score:4, Interesting)
I have worked in various kinds of tech support for 6 years and it's just simple human nature; if people are nice to you - polite and helpful you are much more likely to be the same with them.
Whenever anyone in the office got a call from a particulary abusive, annoying or arrogant customer they would make sure everyone got the name so regular callers did get very definite widespread reputations.
People who were constantly annoying got a pretty awful service from us since no one saw any reason to help those people whilst people who were polite and helpful would have everyone going out of their way to be helpful to them - they could even have the odd tantrum but we'd understand because usually they would apologise afterwards - unlike the assholes.
Just remember it costs you nothing to be polite to people and you will always be able to find out a lot more about what is happening with your query if you are polite than if you spend your time cursing the person you are talking to, their company and life in general.
one reason why.. (Score:2)
The reason? The young guys making the calls like to cheat the system.
They usually get bonusses based on 'sales'..
marketer: would you like to sign up for this free credit card?
person: for the last time, NO!
so.. they pick random succesful calls and listen to them after the fact to make sure their employees aren't
The only non-obvious thing is when you're on hold (Score:2)
Sometimes don't mind it (Score:2)
Survey results (Score:2)
Saw this happen second hand once at a job site (Score:3, Interesting)
That action led to this particular guy's firing. He was a typical arrogant MCSE who's shit was ice cream and nobody could tell him anything he didn't already know - unless it was wrong and he would certainly let them know without hesitation.
Dell experiment (Score:3, Funny)
This wasn't a once or twice thing, I probably called tech support 100 times while my laptop was under warranty for 4 years. I was very rough on it and finagled a warranty repair for everything I did to it. I ended up with almost 10K in repairs on a $3500 laptop, and at one point got a whole new laptop for a fried mobo with cracked plastic
All these techniques stopped working when dell switched to Indian support near the end of my warranty. Last thing I called in for was more cracked plastic... the nice, yet clueless Indian man suggested I check my hard drive for errors and possibly have it replaced... That said, no more Dells for me!
I worked for Microsoft & HP (Score:3, Informative)
There's also the practice of "jacking in", where an agent allows a trainee or a supervisor to hook a headset into the agents phone and listen in to the call. During my stay with the company, it was very routine for agents to be on a call, press mute, and talk about the customer without them being able to listen.
Call centers are a tough, tough job. They have a high turn-around because of the stress. If you get angry with a support agent, chances are they will hit the record button on the phone so they can keep a record of your call should there be a need to follow up a complaint.
Bottom line: be polite, be patient. Support techs are just people. If you're rude, then chances are you'll be laughed at or mocked behind your back.
Re:Here We Go Again (Score:3, Interesting)
I assume if I tell their on-hold-music-machine "I'm recording your call too" that would be OK.
Use it to your advantage (Score:5, Interesting)
I bought a handy device [vidicode.com] to do just that, and it's already paid for itself: I foolishly signed up with what turned out to be a fly-by-night phone company. Our phone lines would cut out every morning for between 5 and 20 minutes - no outgoing calls, and incoming calls would receive a message saying "could not be completed as dialed."
I reported the problem to them many times, and they could never fix it, so I tried to cancel the service. They refused, claiming the contract hadn't been fulfilled. So I switched to the old phone company and all was fine with the service.
A couple months later I get a letter from a lawyer demanding $1200 for the cancelled contract. I played the totally legal recordings (after all, they said "this call may be monitored or recorded") back of me reporting the shitty service to their techs, and voila, the lawyer went away!
Re:Use it to your advantage (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Use it to your advantage (Score:3)
Re:Use it to your advantage (Score:3, Insightful)
They're stuck on hold. Why the hell should they have to be courteous to you?
Re:Use it to your advantage (Score:3, Insightful)
Yeah, the last thing they want is a level playing field.
Because this is normally someone trying to catch a company screwing up, either by accident or on purpose.
Which, IMO, should be something they are quite permitted to do: the number of times I've run into situations where things agreed or sorted out over a phone line suddenly become unsorted or different from what was agreed when black-and-white proof turns up weeks later in
Re:Here We Go Again (Score:2, Funny)
"Dammit, Bob, that's not how you make crystal meth! Hold the phone for a sec, Janice. Eugene! Put that blunt away, it's mine dammit!"
Why even bother? (Score:2)
What our beloved and svelt Mr. Simms doesn't understand (because he's never worked in any customer support capacity; ignorance=strength), is that this is not news. Calls have been recorded for um, a long, long time.
.
Maybe mikey can post my new sumission: This just in: THE GOVERNMENT CAN NOW RECORD WHAT YOU SAY OVER YOUR PHONE LINE!!!!1111 8r4
Re:Here We Go Again (Score:2)
Re:Here We Go Again (Score:2)
I have two problems with this. (Score:2, Interesting)
When I'm on hold, and can't hear them, I have an expectation that they can't hear me, because that is how 99% of phones work when you press the hold button. And there's no reason they should be recording stuff when on hold and I'm not talking to their guy.
Two:
"The call may be monitored." is NOT the same thing as "This call may be RECORDED." If I hear that the call may be monitored I have always assumed that meant that someone might be listening in on the call AT THAT MOMENT. And monitoring != record
Re:Here We Go Again (Score:5, Insightful)
Perhaps if you RTFA you'll see that the issues are more complex than this. For me, two parts of the article that disturbed me are
1) That the monitoring itself even captures what you say while on hold. Despite the 'please hold' and you listen to music, they are recording what you say. That was a reminder for me. I kinda thought the monitoring would be done while you were communicating with someone, not while listening to muzak. I wonder how many times they have heard me say 'If you are so concerned about your customer, don't make me wait on hold' or perhaps 'Thanks for my patience? Do I have a f'in choice?'
2) The monitoring itself is being outsource. Third parties, sometimes in other countries, are listening in when the rep asks you for you account number, mothers maiden name, etc. Thats a privacy issue about how my data is protected/not protected.
I think you are focusing on the wrong parts of the article.
As far as how does this relate to online? Hmm, its a stretch, more about affects of technology. TFA does mention VOIP.
Re:Here We Go Again (Score:3, Funny)
Or worse: how many times they caught you humming along to the muzak. Next time they'll sick the RIAA onto you for this illegal public performance of copyrighted work!
Re:Here We Go Again (Score:2, Interesting)
Recently, Pike stumbled onto a call where a young male customer was flirting with a female service agent at a cell phone company. After some giggles and banter, the woman relented and gave her personal phone number to the customer. Pike quickly alerted the cell phone company to the phone date.
Notice here that the phone monitor dude, Pike, is not calling the cell phone company to
Re:Here We Go Again (Score:3, Insightful)
So is it wrong for a waitress to spend a little time flirting with a customer? Or agreeing to go out on a date with him?
Re:Here We Go Again (Score:3, Insightful)
You shouldn't date co-workers as it might interfere with business.
You shouldn't date customers as it might interfere with business.
Shouldn't meet people online, you never know if you can trust them.
Get a date a bar gets older after 25, long term relationship it isn't.
That leaves what? Church (for the religious), a few sports (where it's mixed groups) Or some additions group or something.
If anybody actually listened to all the advice the human race would have ceased to exist a few thousand years ago.
Re:Here We Go Again (Score:2)
Re:Here We Go Again (Score:2)
US Fed is 1 party consent (Score:3, Interesting)
Notifying someone is mostly a courtesy, but can be used to imply consent.
Re:Duh! (Score:2)
What I don't get if that need to listen to muzak, because there is not enough people... why are there people to listen in on? Verrückte welt.
Re:Legality? (Score:2)
Also... all other reps have an "emergency" button on their phone they can press to record the conversation in case a caller starts threating to come down and start shooting people.
Re:Legality? (Score:2)
Re:Can I record their calls too? (Score:2)
Re:Can I record their calls too? (Score:2)