work from home job, sounds horrible

[poetry_writer]

I had a phone interview today concerning a work from home position. I think I did very well on the interview. The job sounds...simply horrible. It would be taking calls from Direct tv customers and troubleshooting issues, working on multiple open windows, etc etc etc. The training is local, which is of course a plus. But the lady said its basically angry customers all day long, sometimes as many as 800! calls on hold , and customers may have to wait an hour and a half . (no wonder they are angry) . I would love to find a job at this point, but this sounds horrible. I would have to purchase some equipment. Pay is $10 an hour. Honestly, do you take something you consider horrible , in this economy?

[shadowmoss]

Sounds like they make money if you purchase the equipment from them. You buy equipment from them, get upset the first week/month and quit. They sell more equipment to your replacement. That is what jumps out at me. How long, at $10/hr, do you work to pay for the equipment, no matter where you buy it. Can you last longer than that, do you think?

That's the questions that jump out.

[H-work]

I wouldn't take a cold sales calling job for all the money on earth but a help line would be interesting. Actually, I had a short stint on a newspaper complain line and most people were courteous, the angry mad person was only a small percentage of the calls. And you could usually diffuse them by telling them you hear their frustration but you are doing the best you can to help them. (Of course, people are probably a lot more passionate about their tv service than their newspaper service, lol.)

An 800 backup, wow. I guess some people would be livid by the time you got to them, but some might just be relieved to finally have reached a real-live person.

[poetry_writer]

Sounds like they make money if you purchase the equipment from them. You buy equipment from them, get upset the first week/month and quit. They sell more equipment to your replacement. That is what jumps out at me. How long, at $10/hr, do you work to pay for the equipment, no matter where you buy it. Can you last longer than that, do you think?

That's the questions that jump out.

No. You dont purchase anything from them. Its a legit job with a legit company (i checked) They didnt ask me to buy anything.

[poetry_writer]

I wouldn't take a cold sales calling job for all the money on earth but a help line would be interesting. Actually, I had a short stint on a newspaper complain line and most people were courteous, the angry mad person was only a small percentage of the calls. And you could usually diffuse them by telling them you hear their frustration but you are doing the best you can to help them. (Of course, people are probably a lot more passionate about their tv service than their newspaper service, lol.)

An 800 backup, wow. I guess some people would be livid by the time you got to them, but some might just be relieved to finally have reached a real-live person.

It is satellite dish tv tech support. Very very detailed work (training provided but still...) Tedious. Angry customers etc etc. One option is to choose a 20 hr work week. I would be working weekends all the time. I can deal with that.

[JaneV2.0]

There are other customer service work at home jobs out there that are much less stressful than that one sounds. I say keep looking.

[sweetana3]

Direct TV has great customer phone service. We have had to call for some complex issues and either get a solution or are transfered to the correct technician. They are one of our brighter spots when we have had to make a call. However, having to deal with me, a total non technical person, requires the patience of Job. My husband is usually the one who calls and can answer questions in a much clearer fashion.

They had one software update that failed miserably and crashed lots and lots of their little computer systems all around the country. It was a very black time for Direct TV but maybe they learned a thing or two.

[Sad Eyed Lady]

I have always thought that would be a nightmare job for me too. I have some friends who have tried it and gave up. The training is really intense and complicated, from what I have heard, and then the job I can't imagine being rewarding in any way (other than working from home). Just my 2 cents worth as they say!

[poetry_writer]

There are other customer service work at home jobs out there that are much less stressful than that one sounds. I say keep looking.

Like what? If you know of some I would be interested.

[poetry_writer]

I have always thought that would be a nightmare job for me too. I have some friends who have tried it and gave up. The training is really intense and complicated, from what I have heard, and then the job I can't imagine being rewarding in any way (other than working from home). Just my 2 cents worth as they say!

I think that is the reason these type places always have openings. Suddenlink, for instance, is almost always hiring. I know people who have been hired and lasted only through the training. Nightmare jobs......work from home, great! Being driven crazy in the privacy of your own home....not good.

[Spartana]

I had a phone interview today concerning a work from home position. I think I did very well on the interview. The job sounds...simply horrible. It would be taking calls from Direct tv customers and troubleshooting issues, working on multiple open windows, etc etc etc. The training is local, which is of course a plus. But the lady said its basically angry customers all day long, sometimes as many as 800! calls on hold , and customers may have to wait an hour and a half . (no wonder they are angry) . I would love to find a job at this point, but this sounds horrible. I would have to purchase some equipment. Pay is $10 an hour. Honestly, do you take something you consider horrible , in this economy?

UGH - it DOES sound horrible (and a good reason I'd never get cable or sattilite TV - an hour and a half wait for customer service - YIKES - I'd be an agry customer too!!).

If you are still getting unemployment benefits or have another income source so that you can continue to support yourself, keep a roof over your head and aren't going to starve, I would recommend waiting for something better to come along. If you are in dire straits of being homeless or not able to eat, then you might have to take it until something better comes along. But I imagine that job has a high turn over rate and will probably be there in the future if nothing better does come along for you.

[Bastelmutti]

I think it depends on how much you need the money. For what it's worth, I have also had good experiences with DirecTV customer phone service (as a customer).

[loosechickens]

I think a lot depends on where you live, what other job prospects you have, your financial situation, etc. I'd certainly take being home, sitting in my pjs (or less) getting ten bucks an hour, even if having to deal with frustrated customers, than I would standing on my feet all day working at WalMart, or working outside in the heat, doing physically exhausting work in a loud factory, etc.

It doesn't sound like the best job in the world, but if not much else has floated past, if it were me, I'd reach out for that life raft, and ride it until something better came along, even if I opted for the 20 hour week instead of full time, if I thought I'd need lots of down time after frustrating work hours.

But.....not knowing your personal situation, it's really something you would have to decide. One thing......since people hang onto satellite TV even in the face of layoffs and past due bills, you'd at least probably have good job stability and not have to worry about being laid off. And you really don't have to let yourself become involved personally in other people's anger and frustration, only acknowledge it and let them know that you are doing your best to help them. From that point, if they yell too much, you can kind of turn a deaf ear. Because it really isn't about YOU, it's about them and their frustration. No need to take it personally.

I have a friend who did call center type work, and she said that often she could manage by picturing the person as a small child, in diapers, about two years old, having a major temper tantrum, holding their breath and turning blue while she watched them with amusement....she said it helped a lot, having that vizualization, and made it a lot easier on her nerves.

Good luck!

[JaneV2.0]

"Like what? If you know of some I would be interested."

Two I know of are ACD Direct and Arise. A friend has worked for both, and prefers the former. Neither one pays particularly well, but they are legitimate and as far as I know, no one has yelled at her yet!

[poetry_writer]

I think a lot depends on where you live, what other job prospects you have, your financial situation, etc. I'd certainly take being home, sitting in my pjs (or less) getting ten bucks an hour, even if having to deal with frustrated customers, than I would standing on my feet all day working at WalMart, or working outside in the heat, doing physically exhausting work in a loud factory, etc.

It doesn't sound like the best job in the world, but if not much else has floated past, if it were me, I'd reach out for that life raft, and ride it until something better came along, even if I opted for the 20 hour week instead of full time, if I thought I'd need lots of down time after frustrating work hours.

But.....not knowing your personal situation, it's really something you would have to decide. One thing......since people hang onto satellite TV even in the face of layoffs and past due bills, you'd at least probably have good job stability and not have to worry about being laid off. And you really don't have to let yourself become involved personally in other people's anger and frustration, only acknowledge it and let them know that you are doing your best to help them. From that point, if they yell too much, you can kind of turn a deaf ear. Because it really isn't about YOU, it's about them and their frustration. No need to take it personally.

I have a friend who did call center type work, and she said that often she could manage by picturing the person as a small child, in diapers, about two years old, having a major temper tantrum, holding their breath and turning blue while she watched them with amusement....she said it helped a lot, having that vizualization, and made it a lot easier on her nerves.

Good luck!

I am on unemployment but only bring home about $150 a week. I can manage for a while on that however, by the grace of God I am debt free. There are few job opportunities in my area, and I cannot stand for long periods or heavy lift so that limits my prospects even more. I have worked as a csr before and i do not mind the work. It can be interesting in many ways....but they basically said you will be dealing with dozens of calls, most of them from irate people. Not sure I want to do it. Will see what they say and go from there. Thanks for your thoughts on it!

[flowerseverywhere]

Just one more thought. If you are on unemployment and you turn down the job if offered, will you have to report that to the unemployment office? If you turned down the job if offered would you be comfortable not disclosing you could have had a job if it was required?

good luck with whatever you do.

[Gardenarian]

I honestly could not handle that kind of stress, and I especially wouldn't want that negative energy in my home. But I have taken really bad jobs before (Burger King, anyone?) and I know that sometimes there are no other options.

[Spartana]

I honestly could not handle that kind of stress, and I especially wouldn't want that negative energy in my home. But I have taken really bad jobs before (Burger King, anyone?) and I know that sometimes there are no other options.

Yeah but like Loose Chickens pointed out - working from home in your PJ's pretty much has everything beat :-)! If I had a choice I'd definetly choose to work a terrible job from home rather than a slightly less terrible job away from home. I've never done customer service of any kind but it seems like more of a headache then anything. I think if a person is relaxed and didn't let the crazy callers get to them, then it would probably be better than Burger King - where "having it your way" can be a huge pain in the butt for the employees :-)!

[Gardenarian]

Spartana - I'm a real homebody, and I've tried working from home and just hated it! It was a fun job, too (editing.) I just need to do my work AT work, otherwise I feel like I'm always at work.

[poetry_writer]

I thought back fondly on my first job, where I simply went in, talked to a person! and then received a phone call that I had been hired. Thanks for everyones thoughts on this. This particular job application took me almost 3 hours to complete! It involved downloading a progam which checked my computer to see if it could manage the job. I will have to buy faster net service, a landline and a headset and probably a desk. So there is some expense. I just cant see it, it sound like it would tear my nerves to shreds. I have worked in customer service before. not fun. I have not been offered the job yet, but i'm leaning towards saying forget it. If you end the day with a pounding headache from irate customers, which I have done before, it just isnt worth it. I couldnt believe her comment that sometimes 800 people were on hold (not sure how many reps are there to handle the calls, obviously not enough!) Thanks again

[frugalone]

I don't do well with angry people. When I worked at a newspaper, I dealt with angry customers who were upset because their son's or daughter's wedding photo didn't appear in the Sunday edition they had chosen it to be published in. It was simply a matter of volume and sizing; nothing personal. But they'd come marching down to the newspaper's office and demand to see me or my boss. That is why I think I could not do a job like you mentioned, or a call center type job.

[jp1]

My thoughts on all of this, just in case you haven't resolved things one way or the other.

One, I worked for 3 years as the box office manager for a non-profit performing arts organization. Not a work at home job (early 90s and it was considered a legit job). Hated it but got through each day. Mostly I learned to let the angry people's complaints roll of my back, but to this day i HATE talking on the phone. For about a year after I'd cringe and feel my blood pressure rise whenever I heard a phone ring anywhere anytime.

Two, we used to be directv customers. As a couple of other people have mentioned, their customer service was always great. Not sure if that's because the training's good, or because they have enough people on hand to do it right or whatever, but the few times we needed their service the customer service people always did a good job.

Three, working customer service phone is an intensely stressful job. If you're going to take things personally then don't take the job. If you can just accept that it's the job and not people yelling at you personally then you may be fine at it. But if you're going to get done with your shift and feel like you need to drink a 12 pack of beer to deal with the stress then you probably shouldn't take the job. (I survived it for 3 years with no long-term effects but wouldn't take another job like it again unless my life depended on it)

[poetry_writer]

Doesnt appear that it is going to be an issue. Never received an email to inform me that I was in the next phase of hiring. So I spent over 2 hours on the application, which iincluding downloading their program to my computer to check to see if it could handle the job( Fairly certain this caused some issues with my computer). A long and incredibly detailed phone interview. Herein lies the source of utter frustration for many unemployed.....You can waste hours a day on jobs that you dont want and probably are not going to get. Seems ridiculous......