Talking to the CEO of a $30 Billion Company

[kwelch10377]

Would any of you actually call into the Customer Service line of a $30 Billion company to complain that we no longer carry the pens that you love so much and think that you would be able to speak to the CEO. Part of the team that I work on are Customer Service reps who handle escalated calls/emails/letters from customer from our retailer stores. Everyday we get numerous people who actually think they are going to call in and speak with the CEO. We have even had customers who have figured our CEO, CFO and CFO home phone numbers and have called them at home.

What the heck is wrong with people!?

 

[scrapbookworm]

<insert sarcasm> What I just love are the telemarketers and in person solicitors who call/walk in and think that they are going to talk to the president of the company.</sarcasm> Now granted, we are a small company, but the president has much better things to do than to listen to the latest and greatest sales spiel. We would be changing phone service providers, credit card processors, printers, every.single.week if I let these calls/solicitors through!

Then, what is even better, is when I tell them that we are not interested, they tell me that they must speak to the president or manager who makes those decisions. I'm thinking, let me get this straight. You called us (or walked in my office), UNINVITED, want to sell us a product/service, I tell you we aren't interested, and then you demand to see a higher up ???

 

[Mrs. Charming]

Would any of you actually call into the Customer Service line of a $30 Billion company to complain that we no longer carry the pens that you love so much and think that you would be able to speak to the CEO. Part of the team that I work on are Customer Service reps who handle escalated calls/emails/letters from customer from our retailer stores. Everyday we get numerous people who actually think they are going to call in and speak with the CEO. We have even had customers who have figured our CEO, CFO and CFO home phone numbers and have called them at home.

What the heck is wrong with people!?

Oh dear... um, no, I definitely wouldn't. Pens? Seriously? If I called and demanded to talk to the CEO (yeah, as if he's there, and you have his number,) I'd be put in the nuthouse. Everything I like gets discontinued!! lol.

Some people need their meds upped.

 

[daughtersrus]

After months of trying to get things straightened out, I asked to speak to the president of a large children's hospital about a bill that we were getting from one of the doctors. Having worked in customer service for years, I never really expected to talk to him but to my surprise, I was connected to his secretary. I spoke to her briefly and then she put him on the phone. We discussed the problem and he said that he would take care of it. He called me back the very next day to tell me that he had resolved the problem.

 

[kwelch10377]

After months of trying to get things straightened out, I asked to speak to the president of a large children's hospital about a bill that we were getting from one of the doctors. Having worked in customer service for years, I never really expected to talk to him but to my surprise, I was connected to his secretary. I spoke to her briefly and then she put him on the phone. We discussed the problem and he said that he would take care of it. He called me back the very next day to tell me that he had resolved the problem.

There have been some instances that a customer has been able to speak with one of the very higher ups, but it is few and far between.

You would not believe how riled up people get about office supplies.

 

[kim929]

I work in customer service and I am always amazed at the people who call thinking they are going to talk with the CEO. I had a women call our 800 # at 7 pm on a friday night and then get upset when the CEO wasn't there to take her call.

 

[daughtersrus]

There have been some instances that a customer has been able to speak with one of the very higher ups, but it is few and far between.

You would not believe how riled up people get about office supplies.

I can! I worked for Spiegel Catalog in the 80's and 90's and some people were pretty upset if their napkins didn't arrive as expected.

My situation with the hospital was a little different. We were getting collection notices from a doctor that almost killed my DD. The problem was that there was a credit balance on the bills. Our insurance company had double paid for DD's contact lens (after cataract surgery) but apparently we hadn't paid our portion of the bill (I think that it was about $19.00) We tried for MONTHS to get the doctor to refund the overpayment to our insurance and they never did. When I got a letter threatening to take legal action and my family members were getting phone calls from the collection agency, I lost it. I'm sure that when the president pulled DD's medical records, he knew that there was a very good chance that his hospital was going to be sued along with the doctor. Although he had no control over the doctors billing(only the hospital), he cut a check from the hospital account to refund our insurance and took care of the balance that we owed.

I was just surprised that I was actually connected to his office when I called the switchboard and asked to speak to him.

 

[bicker]

Mass-market consumers, especially American mass-market consumers, often hold utterly unreasonable expectations.

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

No. Not for a pen. Maybe if it was a Mont Blanc?

In any large company--I'm sure heads would roll if the chain of command at some point couldn't satisfy a customer over a pen.

 

[kwelch10377]

No. Not for a pen. Maybe if it was a Mont Blanc?

In any large company--I'm sure heads would roll if the chain of command at some point couldn't satisfy a customer over a pen.

The problem is that sometimes the person will refuse to tell anyone in the chain of command what the issue is. They think everyone below the CEO are little peons and their issue is too important to be delt with by anyone else.

 

[Luv Bunnies]

I used to be the executive assistant to the CEO of a bank. We moved into a temporary office space for a few months while the bank contructed a new headquarters building. My boss ended up in a first-floor office with a window that faced the parking lot. We never thought it would be a problem until an angry customer came by. The guy was peeking in windows looking for the CEO. Apparently he had defaulted on his business loan and all of his assets were seized by the bank that morning. When he spotted my boss, he came into my area and demanded to see him. Luckily, the department that seized the assets was right behind me and the VP in charge of the account was a big, burly guy. He heard the guy's voice and came charging into my area and told the guy to leave. We decided from then on that my boss should keep his blinds closed!

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

The problem is that sometimes the person will refuse to tell anyone in the chain of command what the issue is. They think everyone below the CEO are little peons and their issue is too important to be delt with by anyone else.

While that is a problem--a savvy employee at some part of the chain will find out what it is.

A CEO isn't going to want to here "but they refused to tell me the problem".

In fact, those types of calls--probably won't garner much for the stubborn caller who attempts that tactic.

Unless of course it was some big name with clout who actually can have Fast Pass to the CEO.