Hanging up on a rude customer?

Question

I just want to get a second opinion on this, if you a customer service person and you get a rude person on the phone, my understanding was you can hang up on them after politely telling them to cool off, in this situation, someone who is not working for my company called (wife of an employee) and was yelling and rude on the following, I politely told her twice that Im going to hang up if she doesn’t calm down and I did when she continue to yell.

Was I right or I could have handle it better.

Answer 1

You were right.

Answer 2

You were right in this situation....I have done the same thing as you. First I give them a few warning that if they continue speaking to me in that manner that I will hang up and if they don't listen then it's clicksville for them.

Answer 3

"The customer is always right" has been allowed to be taken too far.  The customer is not right when they are being rude, abusive or threatening.  A CSR has every right to hang up in a situation like this.

Answer 4

You were right-I would talk to the fellow employee & explain the situation chances are he already knows that she is rude and obnoxious.

Answer 5

If it is YOUR company, you can tell her to not call....or even block her number.  If you work for someone else, I suggest telling your boss what happened. The husband of the caller needs brought into the office and told that what his wife is doing is inappropriate and if it continues he will lose his job.

In my opinion, you handled it fine.  Tell your boss what happened and ask for a number which you may forward the calls to so that it can be handled by management.  

Answer 6

You should have offered her an opportunity to speak with a supervisor.  

Answer 7

You handled it the right way.You don't get paid enough to listen to peoples c**p over the phone.I can't stand people that think they can talk to you any kind of way over the phone.

Answer 8

All you can do is ask they speak to you in a nice way and if they don't, CLICK!

Answer 9

right

Answer 10

I would have done the same exact thing.  

Answer 11

Where I work we are not allowed to hang up on rudes.We hear them out THEN ask what we can do to help them.If that doesnt work we transfer to a Super,if the call is dropped-ooops.BUT,a fellow employees wife?SHE should know better but appears the think shes "entitled" to have her way.You really should have transfered her to a superviser or their voice mail.THEN youve covered your tail.Let her scream at a supervisor!I know its tough but you just have to let it roll off they ARE rude to you,but are probably mad at the icemaker(: and take it out on you.Jerks are every where in every feild of employement

Answer 12

If you manage to get a word in, then tell them you will not tolerate abuse in that manner, and hang up!

Answer 13

It depends on the company you work for..

a few years back I worked in a call centre and under no circumstance were we allowed to hang up on someone. We would have to get a supervisor or manager. Sometimes it would seem like forever before you could get a supervisor so sometimes employees would hang up. If caught they would get written up.

I do not blame you for hanging up. Some people are just so rude that no matter what you say to them all they want to do is yell. Double check about your companies policies about this just to make sure that next time you have a rude customer you don't risk your job by hanging up on them.

Answer 14

Yes - say excuse me - I need to place you on hold.

And don't pick up again.

Answer 15

eh don't take it personally.

she probably kicks the dog when she comes home everyday.  hence, she's miserable.

Answer 16

you were right. ive been hung up on ALOT

Answer 17

i was a CSR for 10 years. that is exactly how i was told to handle the call. if you warned them twice and they didn't calm down, you could tell them you were disconnecting the call and hang up. if you had the room to explain the situation (like a comments section) we were to do leave note as to why the call was disconnedted.  

Answer 18

You can always handle it better than just hanging up but I think if you warned her twice that you were going to hang up you are all right.

The only reason I ever hang up on customers is if they start swearing.  The only exception to that has been this time a guy called the store I was working in at the time (this was a big box retailer) in the Electronics department.  I was the only one in the department at the time and had been working there for about three years.  He balked when I answered the phone, saying he would much rather talk to a MAN about this.  When I told him I was the only employee in the department he repeated that he wanted to talk to a man.  So I hung up.  There were no men in the department for him to talk to so it wasn't like I had any alternative.  ^_-

The best part is that when he called back to complain he got my super-feminist manager.  Couldn't have worked out better for me.

Answer 19

I understand your situation and it must be hurting to you when they're rude. But you have to know that customers are always right and in that instance, no matter how much it hurts you, just tell them politely that you're going to transfer him/her to your supervisor and they'll handle the situation from there on.

Hope this helps.  

Answer 20

When someone is out of control to the point where they actually start screaming, you can give them a warning and if they continue, then you are perfectly within your rights to hang up esp if it's the wife of an employee. He needs to get his wife under control before she puts his job in jeapardy.

Answer 21

I worked as a customer service rep for about 5 years and the degree of rudeness would determine what I would do to the customer.  If they were just being a little naughty, I would just put them on hold for a while.  If they were being really rude, I would transfer them to another department without letting them know first.  If they were being full on verbally abusive, I would tell them that if they did not stop I would hang up on them.

Answer 22

Contact your hr department.

I think you should have gotten a manager to handle it.

Answer 23

you were in the RIGHT completley!!!

i work on a call centre aswell and so long as you warn the customer politely that if they dont stop swearing/shouting etc themn you will terminate the call, so long as you explain this and warn them its fine! just dont hang up without waring them though.

we arent paid to be shouted and sworn at by any fcuker, so dont feel bad at all x*x

Answer 24

yes you were right.  Tell your line manager.  

Answer 25

I have worked in customer service for 12 years now.  If the customer has completely lost it and is acting offensive to others, you have the right to tell them exactly what you did.  They need to calm down or you will terminate the call.  

You're supposed to put the customer first, but when they're offending others, it's more than acceptable to warn them first and, if the problem continues after the first warning, to hang up on them.  I totally think you did the right thing.

Answer 26

Well it all depends.  Did you try to find out why she was angry?  Did you try to help her and she  continued to yell or did you not give her a chance at all because of the yelling?  Was there a supervisor you could put her through to if you were not able to help?  If you tried to help her and she continued to yell, then I can see your point.  However, if you're in customer service you shouldn't just hang up on someone without first trying to help them.  There are usually (but not always) positive ways to diffuse their anger and get to the root of the problem.

Answer 27

You did warn her to stop her bad behavior so I don't think you were wrong at all. There is no need to yell. Someone hung up on me and I called back. I told the next person that I was calling back because the woman I had just spoken to was rude to me and hung up on me and I didn't appreciate it. She was mad that I called asking a question because they weren't open until 10 am. I said, I know but I thought maybe you had an automatic message. We don't. Ok. I didn't know. She hung up. I wasn't trying to be rude or annoying. I didn't expect anyone to answer. I think you were right. Some people are out of control.  

Answer 28

As someone who has dealt with rude customers and someone who has been one, I say good for you no one deserves to get yelled at for no reason.  If you are not to blame or get mouthy first then you should not be catching c**p from mistakes by the higher ups.

Answer 29

You handled it fine. There is no reason for you to have to sit there and take the verbal abuse of someone in a pissy mood, no matter who they are.

Answer 30

I could never do customer service cause I would treat you the way you treat me. You yell and cuss at me I'm gonna yell and cuss back.