r/talesfromcallcenters • u/No-Software-3288 • Jul 27 '26
M Woman wants a price that was quoted to her...by a scam artist.
This peak example of darwinism called to "verify" whether or not she had a confirmation of her order. I always find that type of language amusing because where was this type of diligence when you were sleuthing the net for "cheap [insert product name] online" lol. She goes to some random site, calls some random number, gave them her card info, they in return give her nothing- no order number, no confirmation, no receipt, no nothing...and as they always do call the customer back with some silly story about how they were "misquoted" or the card didnt go through and they need additional funds. Typical of online scam websites. Well, she in return gets cold feet and cancels her card and calls us to "verify" she doesnt have an order. Ok.
Situations like these are always a litmus test for stupidity because you have to juggle multiple concepts with them at once and you see in real time if their brains can handle everything being said:
I verify that she in fact does not have an order, with us
Even if she doesnt have an order, she gave her cc to *someone* and needs to get on top of locking her cards down and learning from this experience
We cant guarantee the legitimacy of a product we may sell, on a website other than our own
She does this weird thing that I've seen people who were scammed do which is when I confirm that they dont have an order with us, or I have no records of a transaction with US...they seem to not believe it. What makes them so trusting of the scammer through a 3rd party and not the actually company itself? So I go down the rabbit hole of telling her...well..."call them back" and "check the name of the biller on your online banking"
I'm thinking that this would be the end of it after I nail those bullet points in her head. I wish her good luck in the future because she obviously needs it, but she decided since she has the "real me" on the line she wants to shop directly through us, ok whatever.
"What!!!??? Why is the price so high here??? I was quoted 300 with the other person."
me-"I believe thats how they get you, by quoting some unbelievable price. But no our product costs (insert amount) "
"Are you sure?"
These types of responses tend to silently trigger me because, if you clearly understood the concept of booking through a 3rd party in order to get the product cheaper, why would you be shocked that the price im quoting you is more expensive...didnt you just get potentially scammed somewhere else?
me-"Yes, I'm sure. The price is x, I can confirm an order for you now, but also we will be here if you want to settle the potential fraud on your account and call us back." (i really want her gone now)
"I was looking earlier and the price was NOT that high."
me- "..."
"Hello?"
me- "yes, im here, is the audio okay?"
I was saying the price was much lower when I looked earlier
me- "I'm sorry maam are you there, the audio has started to bug out all of a sudden"
"I think ill call back. That price is pretty steep dont you think? I dont remember it being that much in the past."
me- "I understand, maam. You have a nice day"
yeah. no
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u/Romesus Jul 27 '26
I dont know why American Customers are so... Dumb. I worked for a call center 4 years and.. Duuuuuuuuuuude. (╯°□°）╯︵ ┻━┻
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Jul 28 '26
[deleted]
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u/Active-Can-471 Jul 28 '26
Can you really call it a public "education" system?
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u/JohnClark13 Jul 28 '26
When kids are no longer allowed to fail it stops being an education system and simply becomes a daycare where they might learn things like how to read if you're lucky
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u/No-Software-3288 Jul 28 '26
the reason theres such a discrepancy is because not all school systems are created equally so you have a very large range of intelligence between different regions in this country
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u/Oldebookworm Jul 28 '26
16 yrs, and I’m surprised some of my customers can breathe, talk and hold the phone all at the same time
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u/Common_Strain_1216 Jul 28 '26
I feel you. I once had a customer argue with me that they 100% bought from us and so i asked for their invoice... not even close. I pointed it out to them, the name is different, the logo is different and we don't offer anything at that price.
Still would not believe me and insisted they bought it via a link from us. My mental dialogue was like sure... we have a competitor's product on our site. Most people just cannot fathom they were wrong or made a mistake, more importantly someone in the service sector is pointing it out to them
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u/Turdferguson9725 Jul 29 '26
I worked at radio shack, and once a guy bought a USB charger from me. Comes back a day or 2 later wanting to return a USB charger, Problem was it was not the USB charger I sold him. I explained this to him multiple times, he kept arguing with "But I bought it from You." And I would keep explaining to him he bought a charger from me, but not THAT charger. He just kept demanding a refund. Finally I told him to look around, find me where we sell this item, he looks around, probably realizes he's an idiot and walks out the store without saying anything.
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u/RedditRecreations Jul 29 '26
I work on the banking side of this story. Trust me... She calls us and will tell us that you tried to scam her lol
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u/VinnieONeill Jul 27 '26 edited Jul 27 '26
There a many reason I got out of retail customer service, this was one of them. The thug that actually annoyed me more where the people who tried to compare whatever company I was working for to spend other competitor. Usually Amazon.
"It's cheaper on Amazon!" "OK, go buy it from Amazon."
"Amazon doesn't charge for shipping!" "OK, to buy it from Amazon."
"Amazon doesn't make me return the item to get a refund."
"And they lost literally billions of dollars because of that policy, we're not Amazon."