Good Customer

So, this one fine day, I was working midnite with one of my female colleagues. I got a call from one of the foreigners enquiring on his account. Apparently the customer was calling all the way from USA, and he was spending quite a lot during his trip back to the States. Without delaying anymore, here’s the conversation that transpired at 5:30 in the morning on that nite.

M: blur me
W: travelling foreigner customer

*usual call opening stuff*

W: I’d like to use my card but somehow the cashier here says that my card has been turned down by your card issuing centre. May I know what seems to be the problem here?
M: *this is goddamn polite speech from a customer. First time ever I received a call from a customer who got his/her card turned down at a cashier, and can still maintain such calmness* So sorry to hear that, sir. Allow me to check that out for you right away.
W: Yes, sir. Thank you sir.

Woah, he said “thank you, SIR” to me! A customer is actually addressing me as SIR! This is truly a rare occasion! Seriously, for those who are in this industry long enough, how often do you get a caller that will address you as such?!

Rite, bullshit’s over. After a thorough check on his account, apparently his total spending on the account has gone way over his average spending throughout the whole year, hence the disruption in his current usage, and I duly advised him as such.

W: Hmm. Is that right? Maybe I’ve spent quite abit much during this travelling period with my dad. Ok now. I can arrange for payment for that amount right after this call. I’ll call my dad’s secretary to prepare the payment for the full amount to be sent into my card account. Do you wanna speak to my dad? You can call him up for confirmation as I’m the additional card under his account though.
M: Most certainly, sir. But will it be possible if I were to call your dad’s mobile now? Is he convenient to speak now?
W: Yeah, yeah, yeah! It’s fine, it’s fine. Go ahead and ring him up.
M: Alright sir. Just gimme few minutes. I’m going to give your dad a ring and advise him of the current situation of the account, and I’ll get back to the very moment I got off the phone with your dad. Is that possible?
W: Yes sir. I’ll be waiting.

Now, this is one helluva polite customer, and the most co-operative customer I’ve ever handled in my tenure as an frontliner.

Soon after I got off the phone with his dad and had to endure few minutes of his thick Texas-ascent English, I called up the additional card member to advise him accordingly.

I explained to him on how the whole situation can be resolved by lowering down his total spending via making payment in advance even before receiving the statement. He understood and said he’ll be calling his secretary back in our country here to arrange for payment ASAP.

At the end of the conversation, he even told me in our local language here to get some sleep. Seems like he clearly know the time difference between us here and the States. This is one helluva goddamn good customer!

So, the whole case resolved within minutes. How wish all customers that call in for enquiries can behave. They talk nicely in whatever situation, they listen to what we, the agent has to say/offer to solve the matter at hand, and everything will be solved in just a matter of minutes instead of calling in and bashing non-stop like there’s no tomorrow like a retards.

Owh, I nearly forgot. It turned out that the caller's dad is just standing right next to him during this scenario happened. Why didn't the caller just pass his mobile over to his dad then? From my point of view, this mainly because of our security purposes and he understands it. And also, both of 'em are using local mobile phone numbers. The cost of the roaming must be damn high after this call. *gulp*

And I've check his account couple of minutes ago. He did keep his promise on the payment part. Payments were made & reflected in his account couple of days back, which virtually settled all his outstanding. Damn!