Another case of Call Center Stupidity!  

If that had been me, I probably wouldn't have been able to answer all of the questions. I don't keep track of the exact date that I make payments. I try to keep the confirmation number that they give me, but it always disappears. And I never know my exact credit limit. I know the round about number, but not the exact one. And I WOULD NOT give them my salary. It is none of their business how much money I make. That is between me, my employer, and the gov't. I would have done the same thing that you did....demand to speak to the person's supervisor. Usually, that stops the other person right in their tracks.

This just happened quite recently to me, when I wanted to enquire about my NAVs (Net Asset vAlue)of my private insurance policy. It is always a case of 'deja vu' when you press a call center number. You feel everything has been experienced earlier and left with only a sense of irritation. If it is going to be a maiden atempt to a call center, the irritation is manifold. When you are seasoned to speaking to call centers, you get yourself armed with the exercise and you ae better geared up to give them the requisite information.

The explanation that they offer is that they want to ensure the privacy of the account holder and avoid unanimous calls which is also acceptable.

God, that's plain stupidity they'll lose their clients! Well, I also experienced something like that, and it pisses me off everytime the rep asks a myriad of stupid questions and says a mouthful about their offer on this and that, and it's never ending. One time I was so busy, and when it seems that there's no end to the endless blabbing, I just simply put off my phone. He calls me again and again, and I never answered and ignored the call completely. I learned later on that the call center rep called our landline, but since I was working, he could not reach me. God, they blab a lot of things and hold us hostage at the time when we're soooo busy. I guess they got the message because I never received anymore call of that nature.

I hate call centers. I wonder sometimes if they are just doing things for meaness or if it's really their job. I think that sometimes they have bad day and take it out on the next call.

JEeez thats a lot of damn questions to verify who you are. And what the hell does Do you have a christian name mean? When I worked for cingular customer service we had to ask a lot of stuff but nothing like that lol.

Oh my goodness, that was very stupid of the agent! I never could imagine myself answering someone's question, they are too personal and I do not see the point why they need to ask you those kind of questions! In my case I was a call center agent before but verifying an account does not need to ask too much question but just limited to two to three. More than that is no longer allowed and is already too much. I never thought that part of verifying something is the need to ask their salary which is the last thing that a person should ever divulge! And asking all those questions to you is already disgusting, annoying and ridiculous! You better talk to the supervisor because I do not believe that there will be a company that develops the script like that. Maybe the agent wants more information from you and he will use them for personal gain or bad intent. So better do a complaint because you were only asking for a balance and not applying or something. And the hell with those kinds of stupid questions. You should seek help and appropriate action so that the agent will be given disciplinary actions.

Hi there, I used to work as a call center agent for a few years. In our kind of work, we have to do the authenticating process in every call to assure that the caller is the customer itself as its the standard operational procedures in our work or else, we will be kicked off from our job. We do this process to avoid fraud. However, some questions are not allowed to ask during authentication. We don't questions like credit card numbers, SS numbers, not even your occupation. As soon a call comes in, we know which number you are calling from... we know the customer's name and account already (including billing history and payments). Maybe the call center agent who got your call is trying to get some informations from you so that he/she can use your details and credit card. This has happened in some of our agents before and they were terminated from the job so please be careful next time. Not all call center agents are quite efficient with their job, it depends how they were being trained and their exposure to the calls. I also call the customer service of my mobile provider, there are times that the agent doesn't know what he/she is doing or saying. When I tell them that I have the same job as them (but I used to work for AT&T), thats the time they become aware of what they are doing. Some of them are either new or tenure employees so you need to have a lot of patience with them sometimes.

lol =D To tell u the truth, all the operaters are just following SOPs.. All of them will have a standard list of questions right in front of them, for verification purposes.. haha =D

And thus when u suddenly question them back, they will be at a loss of words.. lol =D That's the reason i hate to call any call centre to ask for anything.. IF possible, i will rather go online, and even visit that place in real.. Calling is way too troublesome and a total waste of time, especially when they put us on hold.. lol =D

What stupidity! I would suggest to the bank it's more versatile and efficient if they can track their customers via satellite and their online activities, than asking stupid questions over the phone. If they are so intelligent why don't they ask, "When and where was the last time you access the ATM right to the accuracy of hours and minutes?" or "What is the transcation reference of your last transcation?" Aren't these better in verifying whether you're the person on paper? The person who is inconsistent is obviously the call agent, on one hand he know your name, date of birth, address etc are correct but changed his mind and said it's inconsistent. I'd say to him hey FSOB, can you please make up your mind? Or next time you can play along with that person if he uses the same old technique. When asked for name, you should say, "oh sir, I'm so sorry but I can't tell you my name before you tell me your name. It's for the purpose of recording call quality."..."Salary? If you're so desperate I'd suggest you make an official inquiry into IRAS, talk to their call agent and they'll try their best to help you. I've the time for your nonsense, but do you have the time?"