More bullshit from Massive Shithead

[dizzy]

WHAT WORKS:

Here it is.  You are getting advice from The Master.  ...

* dizzy takes notes

[morriganrant]

As annoying as it can be to have people treat me like a child due to my rather childlike voice, it really is a blessing when dealing with people who are angry. It takes a special breed of asshole to yell at someone who sounds incredibly sweet and innocent.

I have a friend with a voice like that, really sweet and innocent, barely five foot tall. Her name is Pixie, seriously. She has just passed her exams and is now a lawyer. How I yearn to see her while she is working.

I'm very understanding when at a restaurant now, I worked as a hostess for several months and a cook\buss-er\dishwasher at another. Some waitresses are just bad, but others can only be as good as the kitchen is. It is usually not the wait staffs fault that something is wrong about your plate. Undercooked, overcooked, missing something. So forth and so on. So when complaining I try to be as polite as can be. I have experienced absolute bitches before and I have no desire to be like that. Anyway, why would you piss off someone who handles your food?

WHAT WORKS:

Here it is.  You are getting advice from The Master.  ...

* dizzy takes notes

Indeed, I just linked a user on LJ to that post, she's having EA problems.

[starrling]

Everyone should work retail for one holiday season.  I think there'd be a lot of nicer shoppers in the world after that.

I second that, but would like to add that everyone should work an office job, the kind where you type things and answer the phones. Two weeks should be enough.

Yep, did that for 27 years.  Nine of those 27 years were also spent training people on new software AND (here's where it gets ugly) on customer phone support.  GAH.

[Skadi]

Always late to the party...

As a retail slave for 9 years, 4 of those years in a Tech Bay/refund counter I can tell you this: the more of an ass you become (yelling etc) the less I will be motivated to help you. Legally in Australia, we don't have to return computer software once it's been opened, unless the disc is faulty and doesn't read.

My store had big signs advising of this, along with the "please read system requirements" signs. I got perverse pleasure in telling all those screaming asshats no, I will not refund you your money, cause your 3 year old system couldn't play Neverwinter Nights / latest release FPS. I got even more pleasure when the store owner would come out to see what the fuss was about and then yell at them for yelling at me, and kick them out.

BTW never yell at a tech when you are giving them your computer for extended warranty repair. We will browse your hard drive, laugh at your photos, copy your 10Gb of porn/mp3s/etc and then format the drive and tell you that the data was unrecoverable. We will point at the sign and at the waiver you signed when you booked the computer in that we do not make any guarantees about data recovery, and that rebuilt systems will be reformatted when rebuild is completed.

If you're polite and nice however, your data will be on cds for you to install, and you may even have some more 

I've had to return stuff and never had a problem, and after 9 Christmases is retail, I'm super nice to everyone this time of year.

[nil]

MaxoidSam should be happy now when much less care about his craps.

But, Doc Doofus's psychopathic game is just so cool as long and well as the corporate didn't hire spy agency to investigate nice frequently complaining customers who happen to think it worths to spend so much time and efforts for their causes.  Yet, should they do so, one can still befriend with the critics of the related fields and say what they have to say for more audiences.

After all, all the nice clerk/office experiences are also nice notes for me to take.

[dizzy]

On the contrary, nil, corporate is too busy spying on their own employees to ever investigate their customers. Investigating customers is something a failed business does (the RIAA, for example). Check out the want ads, and I'm sure you'll notice some "secret shopper" jobs available from corporate for your average retail. 

[nil]

Indeed, I should thank to the "secret shoppers" business, or I'd be well kicked out of a store for my badly-tasted clothes-up. 

[millahnna]

For whatever it's worth, being nice to the peons is always the way to go.  Bonus; it works on most (intelligent) annoying phone type people as well such as telemarketers and political opinion poll people (both jobs I've been stuck with recently).  Just cut them off, apologize for not being interested, ask them to not to call again and tell them you hope they make their quota.  Won't help you if you get the idiot overly pushy phone types, alas.  And much like waitresses (I did graveyard shifts for years and refuse to use the word server as most customers think it means "servant") who see your food before you do, you really don't want to tick off a person who is likely looking at your address. 

I haven't followed the gamer vs. company drama on this game since just before Uni came out, but I'm not surprised that it's going down the way it is.  Most distributors don't really seem to care about the product they put out anymore, and rely on the fan community to fix (I mean make mods for) the game after it's release - NWN, The Movies, The Sims, etc.  Sigh.  At least there are bigger nerds than I out there, figuring out how to fix all the implied crap.  With rocket launchers.

[J. M. Pescado]

I'd suggest just not buying anything. I have religious objections to this entire "spending money" thing, anyway. Spending money is a sin.

[witch]

...Just cut them off, apologize for not being interested, ask them to not to call again and tell them you hope they make their quota. 

I just hang up. Saves us both time and energy and gives a very clear message. No mucking round. It's not mean, it's efficient and saves my temper.

[J. M. Pescado]

I just never answer the phone. I don't actually know my number, and thus cannot solicit incoming calls on my dodgily acquired phone line, anyway. This automatically makes anyone who calls me here, rather than at the payphone I use, a telemarketer finding my number by random dialing. Naturally, you must have an appointment if you want to call me, or I simply will not be at the phone to receive it.

[millahnna]

Both of those work too.  My advice is just for the repeat telemarketers (easy to spot with new automated telemarketing weirdness) that you either want to get rid of or accidentally answer the phone for.  Most people with annoying peon jobs are more willing to help out when they think you're one of them (implied by my quota comment).  Depending on the place doing the calling, the phone person may be able to do a little something extra to pull you from calling lists not covered by do-not-call laws.

[dizzy]

I used to be nice to telemarketers, but they've gotten wise to my kind and started using scripts rather than engage in real conversation. So really, there's no point in listening to them. Just hang up.

[FourCats]

In regards to telemarketing:

1)  I've done it before.  The managers/business isn't very nice to the people who actually do the work (the telemarketers who are on the phones)

2)  We have a telemarketing block on our phone provided by the phone company.  You call our number and hear this message that we don't take unsolicited called and you are told to press 1 plus the #.  Since most telemarketers face a computer wearing a headset with no controls to the phone they can't get through.  Our phone company offers that for an extra $2 a month.  But we pay for a "global communication package" which includes all the special phone features + dsl for one low price!

 

[Liz]

Soon after we moved to Hong Kong, one of the first things I learned to say in Cantonese was "Sorry, I don't understand Cantonese." Dead useful phrase, even/especially when I do understand what's being said but just can't be arsed to listen anymore.

[J. M. Pescado]

The other hilarious thing to do with telemarketers is, before they can begin their spiel, immediately start with your own pushy telemarketing spiel, like you called them instead.

[TaWanda]

My father-in-law loves to play with telemarketers. He gets all excited sounding, asks lots of questions about the product or service being sold, then gives a sob story about how this has been a rough year, he lost his job, etc., and how he would love to buy whatever, if only he had the money. Then asks the telemarketer if phone sales is a good job, starts getting all personal about how much money are they making and eventually asks if they are hiring. It's quite a long, drawn out performance, very entertaining for the family, probably not so much for the poor telemarketer.

 His other favorite tatic is to do the same bit about getting all excited and asking questions, and then tell the telmarketer to hold on while he asks his wife if it's okay to buy whatever. Then he puts the phone down and just walks away .

Frankly I'm surprised he's still on anyone's call list.

[Shivani]

I despise phones in general, which is why I only own a cell.  It's set up to play custom ringtones for three numbers, I think.  My husband's cell, my parents' landline, and my brother-in-law's cell  (maybe the cells of my parents, I dunno).  If I hear the default tone, I thumb the side button to shut the ringer off and ignore it.

I don't know my number, either, but I have it written down somewhere.

The other hilarious thing to do with telemarketers is, before they can begin their spiel, immediately start with your own pushy telemarketing spiel, like you called them instead.

My husband once managed to (ostensibly) convince a telemarketer that it wasn't actually necessary to ever file taxes.  Though, she might have been playing along in the hopes of getting things back on track to him purchasing something.

[Skye]

Which would be how he keeps his job.

This isn't MaxoidSam's fault. It's EA and Sony's fault; and he's right, if people want things to change, bitching on the BBS isn't going to do much. He's saying what they tell him to say and what will cover EA and Sony's asses.

MaxoidSam is assuming that bitching on the bbs is all we've been doing there.  It's not.  I for one have written the EA execs., complained to the FTC, the BBB, and my State's Attorney consumer protection.  I am fairly certain at least a dozen others have done likewise.  And I have gotten some results doing these things (except the EA execs. notta), but more people need to contact them. It's going to require more than one complaint to get people to act.  The FTC informed me that they are collecting information about this, but they need enough consumers to complain before they can request a federal investigation.  With the BBB, they told me to contact the FTC, but I already had done so.  EA failed to respond to my BBB complaint and will be getting another "unresolved" mark against them for what that's worth.  I've heard nothing from my State's Attorney General, but according to the FTC they send all their information to the State's Attornies themselves.  Now all that's left to do for me is to keep bitching on the bbs.   People do watch the bbs and look to it for information.  It's about being there to inform people more than believing it will do anything to change EA.  But the fact is, MaxoidSam has been worried sick about all this, and my reading between the lines of his message is telling me he is telling us what he thinks will be more effective action.  Now why would he do that unless he wants us to be effective?  I think he wants SecuROM off the game almost as much as we do.  He just has no say about it.    Oh and btw, bugging the HELL out of them is effective! 

Hiya hon! Skye here *waves*  yeah, I did the bbb, and the ftc, and also wrote to the legal company who sued sony before (it was a link i found on the bbs). The BBB case came back as unresolved, the FTC I haven't heard from, and I guess the other one is just gathering information right now. 
I have put up with a lot, just by giving my information and telling folks I have problems with my pc. I guess protesting isn't very popular, but why do those folks who take delight in insulting us who have problems even stay in that area? They like to butt in to put us down.
I still have the securom in my pc even after the "fix tool" they brought out. I am looking into how to fix this myself...computarded as I am.....lol
hugs,
Skye

[Skye]

Hiya to Celesta, that is...lol

[morriganrant]

Hiya to Celesta, that is...lol

Hi there dear, if you haven't read it already, please read the FAQS
And  a little posting tip for you, double posting is frowned upon here as bad forum etiquette. You have a little "edit" post button, on your posts, use that instead.

[rohina]

I love how all the clerkly types are acting like no clerk was ever rude to a customer with no justification. That's hilariously luzy. Where I live, minimum wage jobs are a dime a dozen, so shop minions can get away with being lazy, rude and generally having a "fuck you" attitude because every shop has a "Now Hiring" sign. Yes, customers can be assholes, but sometimes we are goaded into it.

I think complaining and making a scene are both tactics that can be effective; being rude can have its place, but you always need to weigh up your desired outcome. Making a scene can be satisfying, but it is also risky. If there's no chance you are going to get what you want, hell, yeah, cut loose. Persistent, polite, but FIRM complaining is usually the best way to go when you actually want some action.

On the other hand, speaking as someone who worked in places where we were told to refer to students as "clients," sometimes complaining is a lose/lose situation. An example:

I worked in a Learning Skills (i.e. tutoring and editing) Unit in a University. I pretty much hated my job, and so if students were annoying or gave me a hard time I wouldn't help them. Most days I was there on my own with no supervision, and my boss would yell at me if I thought of new ideas or tried to be innovative in my work. It was pretty joyless. One student complained about me to the Dean because I was 5 minutes late to her appointment, and when she was shitty about it I tossed her. My boss, who hated me anyway, left me a note. The next time the student had an appointment on a day I was working I refused to see her. She went to the Dean again. He came to me and said "What gives?" and I said "She is rude and she complained about me, so I don't think I need to deal with her," and he said "Fair enough." When she came back to me to complain again (slow learner), I pointed out to her that she should be thanking me for the life lesson.

[eevilcat]

I allow the now rare telemarketer to introduce themselves then cut them off with the line "Are you aware we've signed up to the TPS?", to which I get a grovelling apology and a promise to immediately remove our number from their database. I highly recommend the Telephone Preference Service to anyone in the UK. There is a similar thing for the post to cut down on junk mail. We now get a telesales call perhaps every other month and no junk mail.

[Lana B]

Doesn't always work.
We signed up last year some time and still get calls. My tactic with them is to make sure I get their name, the company name spelt correctly and ask them to tell their manager that I will be reporting the company. It took months to get the calls down even though TPS says it should take one. The report form is really tedious and demands heaps of information so I don't always follow up. Simply saying I signed up to TPS doesn't put them all off.

[dizzy]

The next time the student had an appointment on a day I was working I refused to see her. She went to the Dean again. He came to me and said "What gives?" and I said "She is rude and she complained about me, so I don't think I need to deal with her," and he said "Fair enough." When she came back to me to complain again (slow learner), I pointed out to her that she should be thanking me for the life lesson.

Funny, but in my experience, that always gets you fired. In fact, at the university I went to even the appearance of being difficult (without any evidence whatsoever) is enough for them to hand you a pink slip. On the other hand, the registrar always seemed to be able to keep her job despite being a racist bigot and a complete bitch.

You have blackmail material on the Dean or something?