No call centre employee has bothered me with some brilliant scheme in a while now. I didn't miss them thank you very much. But today I got a call from IRCTC yes yes Indian railways fellows. They have been after me for over 2 years to get some railway card with lotsa brownie points for every ticket I buy and boy I have donated quite a bit of my money to them! But my problem with the scheme was that I had to pay for the card. Now why on earth will pay for a credit card (even if it is the railways) when every single bank is giving it away free. Of course these cold calling call centre employees have no rights to waiver the fees so they end up mumbling something and hang up, only to call again in six months time.
Today's call I knew would go the same way. But we didn't even get that far! Here's what I happened.
Call Centre Chap (CCC): Is it Mrs and so and so?
Me: Yes
CCC: Ma'am we are very happy to see that you have spent Rsxxxxx on your railway tickets in the last x years. so we are offering you a card.
Me: (Very surprised at the big number but recovering quickly say) ok....
CCC: Madam do you work for a company?
Me: No I don't work for one company. I work...
CCC: So you are like a housewife or something?
Me: (Very irritated) yeah something like that...
CCC: Then can I talk to your husband? Is Mr R your husband? (referring to my lastname which is my maiden name)
Me: No it isn't my husband.
CCC: Then who is your husband madam? Can you give me his number? We only talk to people working in a company.
It took all my energy to not shout abuses at the chap and I knew it was futile to explain how this was very offensive to me. And so I said "You find out who it is and call him" and hung up.
Where do these guys come from?
I agree that you cannot give credit cards to people with no cash flow in their bank statements. But to make an assumption that I cannot afford a card because I don't work for a "company" is something else. And come to think of it out of the zillions we have spent on railways more than half of it has come from my travels, that was paid for by not one "company" but many of them!
At my age I seriously have no time for people who refuse to use their brains!
And I wonder at this time of economic hardship when jobs are are so difficult to come by how such creatures survive?
UPDATE: This CCC is something else! He called me again next morning and this time V picked up the phone and CCC promptly asks for Mr R! V says wrong number since no Mr R lives with us! Then CCC brightens and asks for me. To me he tells, I called you yesterday. And I say yes you wanted to speak to my husband. So he says yeah so give it to him I want to offer him the card (exact words) I say I don't like the way you talk to me....He hangs up!
I hope someone's listening to this conversation (for QC they say right?) Again...JUST WHERE DO THESE GUYS COME FROM? grrrrrrrrrrrrr
Today's call I knew would go the same way. But we didn't even get that far! Here's what I happened.
Call Centre Chap (CCC): Is it Mrs and so and so?
Me: Yes
CCC: Ma'am we are very happy to see that you have spent Rsxxxxx on your railway tickets in the last x years. so we are offering you a card.
Me: (Very surprised at the big number but recovering quickly say) ok....
CCC: Madam do you work for a company?
Me: No I don't work for one company. I work...
CCC: So you are like a housewife or something?
Me: (Very irritated) yeah something like that...
CCC: Then can I talk to your husband? Is Mr R your husband? (referring to my lastname which is my maiden name)
Me: No it isn't my husband.
CCC: Then who is your husband madam? Can you give me his number? We only talk to people working in a company.
It took all my energy to not shout abuses at the chap and I knew it was futile to explain how this was very offensive to me. And so I said "You find out who it is and call him" and hung up.
Where do these guys come from?
I agree that you cannot give credit cards to people with no cash flow in their bank statements. But to make an assumption that I cannot afford a card because I don't work for a "company" is something else. And come to think of it out of the zillions we have spent on railways more than half of it has come from my travels, that was paid for by not one "company" but many of them!
At my age I seriously have no time for people who refuse to use their brains!
And I wonder at this time of economic hardship when jobs are are so difficult to come by how such creatures survive?
UPDATE: This CCC is something else! He called me again next morning and this time V picked up the phone and CCC promptly asks for Mr R! V says wrong number since no Mr R lives with us! Then CCC brightens and asks for me. To me he tells, I called you yesterday. And I say yes you wanted to speak to my husband. So he says yeah so give it to him I want to offer him the card (exact words) I say I don't like the way you talk to me....He hangs up!
I hope someone's listening to this conversation (for QC they say right?) Again...JUST WHERE DO THESE GUYS COME FROM? grrrrrrrrrrrrr
4 comments:
Can't you tell them "please take me off your list!"?
But yeah, sounds like a typical government clerk... "pati ka naam?"
Yeesh. I tell ya, if someone talked to Americans that way, they wouldn't get off so lightly... Then again, the CCC would already have known more about you. That's a good thing - and bad!
RS we never get that far into the conversation where I can say stop calling me!
I am thinking next time I gonna tell him I don't have a husband and see what his reaction would be :D
ha ha! the entire episode is so hilarious (if it were'nt so tragically stupid)
btw, i have yet to get a phone in 'my' name, because we have different surnames, and i am not waving my marriage certificate in Airtel's face
Yeesh.... I have heard that here in the US, two friends - not even related! - can get a "family plan"! Then again, unmarried couples are common here, in addition to the usual consumer-friendly conditions.
[I have been trying to get e-banking with SBI, but got a very uninspiring reply... I can picture a SBI clerk going "ha eee-nter-nayt kaay aahe?"]
A: Maybe you should tell the CCC "Which husband?" :-)
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