Customer Service Reps Who Lack Basic Knowledge Need to Transfer Call to Another Rep

[rosevelyn]

When I contact ebay and the rep does not know how to answer a question, there is no expedient means for them to transfer me to someone who can answer the question and they resist doing so upon my request. As a matter of fact, they more often than not will disconnect you rather than connect you to the someone who can help. This happens way too often in which the rep will out me on hold over and over because they do not have the experience to handle an issue.

[divwido]

It's too bad that one thing eBay really doesn't value is the satisfaction of it's sellers.  Customer service answers can range from right to wrong to stupid all in one day.   If they were trained and understood how the site works-it would really help.   I'd be willing to bet that none of them have ever sold on eBay.

[duchess-at-speakeasy]

Most call centers do not allow a call to be transferred. The phones can accept an incoming call, put it on hold and release the call. There is no transfer button.

In my long and varied career, I have worked in several stateside call centers, primarily selling products but also handling customer service. If I needed a supervisor, I had to raise my hand for assistance. The supervisor walked over to my console and used my handset or plugged his/her headset into the console. If no supervisor was handy, I had to wait. Only when the call center was effectively an answering service did we have multiple lines and the ability to transfer a call.

The outsourced eBay CSR's probably have single-line phones for incoming calls only. The equipment limits what they can do. They must continue to take calls and cannot tie up the line -- so they disconnect and allow you to try again.

~~C~~

[mam98031]

---

@duchess-at-speakeasy wrote:

Most call centers do not allow a call to be transferred. The phones can accept an incoming call, put it on hold and release the call. There is no transfer button.

In my long and varied career, I have worked in several stateside call centers, primarily selling products but also handling customer service. If I needed a supervisor, I had to raise my hand for assistance. The supervisor walked over to my console and used my handset or plugged his/her headset into the console. If no supervisor was handy, I had to wait. Only when the call center was effectively an answering service did we have multiple lines and the ability to transfer a call.

The outsourced eBay CSR's probably have single-line phones for incoming calls only. The equipment limits what they can do. They must continue to take calls and cannot tie up the line -- so they disconnect and allow you to try again.

~~C~~

---

What?  I've been transferred many times when I've called.  In fact to the point of irritation sometimes.   Wanting to talk with a supervisor isn't the only reason to need to be transferred.  I've been transferred to so called "specialists" many times depending on the problem I'm calling in with.

[mam98031]

---

@rosevelyn wrote:

When I contact ebay and the rep does not know how to answer a question, there is no expedient means for them to transfer me to someone who can answer the question and they resist doing so upon my request. As a matter of fact, they more often than not will disconnect you rather than connect you to the someone who can help. This happens way too often in which the rep will out me on hold over and over because they do not have the experience to handle an issue.

---

What is your question, maybe we can help!

[odditiesandantiquities1]

---

@rosevelyn wrote:

When I contact ebay and the rep does not know how to answer a question, there is no expedient means for them to transfer me to someone who can answer the question and they resist doing so upon my request. As a matter of fact, they more often than not will disconnect you rather than connect you to the someone who can help. This happens way too often in which the rep will out me on hold over and over because they do not have the experience to handle an issue.

---

 I was transferred three times recently, and this was the US site. Each CS I ended up with didn't even look to see if a message had been passed along. I finally asked the last one to check and see if there was any information for them about why I was calling. Well Well....there it was and I had to tell them. 

[sharingtheland]

Every. Single. Time. this topic comes up I get an immediate visual of the call center in Slumdog Millionaire.  

Would that be an eyeworm?  a brainworm?

[geotouloupos]

I am seller living outside US but always communicating through skype calls with ebay customer service since i sell mostly to US or Europe and sometimes internationally to a limit number of countries. This transition from one person to another is happening almost everytime especially when the customer service does not know how to handle international cases since they do not face them to often.

I understand that when you are new to any workplace you need some time to adapt.

The problem here is that either new employees are not well trained  at first (ebay should improve their training techniques) either the wrong person works at the wrong place.

A new employee can answer simple questions. Since every department is deferent they should use new employees only in the least demanding departments where the possibility of a complicated case is low. After they prove their knowledge promote them in higher rank and change department.

In addition ebay should automaticaly send to the caller an  email to rate the employee (now the employee decides this- if iam not wrong) so that we can rate them.

Unfortunately the way things are now.. employees which may not deserve to promote are promoted 

because rating are confusing may not represent the truth.

[omgitlightsup]

What you're describing doesn't just happen on eBay. It's everywhere. People who work at call centers don't make a lot of money and they aren't given basic resources needed to do their jobs. Added to that, nobody likes to admit they don't know the answer, and probably worst of all, most of them don't speak much English. 

[geotouloupos]

Speaking English must be requirement. (in papers and with proof if is not the native language) Why someone hire a person in such place when does not understand the language?

[omgitlightsup]

---

@geotouloupos wrote:
Speaking English must be requirement. (in papers and with proof if is not the native language) Why someone hire a person in such place when does not understand the language?

---

They are required to speak English. They're not necessarily required to be any good at it. They are trained to listen for specific "buzzwords" and look up boilerplate solutions in a binder, or sometimes assisted with computers, even possibly voice recognition software. 

Sometimes the person you're talking to is just barely qualified to serve in that position. It's like getting a toddler on the phone and trying to find out where Mommy and Daddy are.

I don't know a polite way to word it, but you kind of have to formulate your questions in a way that maximizes their effectiveness.