The Call Center Agent 2

*Names have been changed. Again.

Automated outbound collection call, or what we call Vorely call after the subcontractor. Vorely’s computer system calls a delinquent borrower, then tells him that it’s a standard collection call and stay on hold until someone from the collections department becomes available. Then Vorely drops him into our inbound call queue, which never goes below 30 calls.

To us, it means no downtime after calls during which we can relax even for just a bit. For the poor borrower, it means staying on hold for perhaps an hour while waiting, then getting harassed by us even as the call itself was already an unwelcome intrusion. Those were the worst months of my life.

Anywho, all it means is that essentially, we loan officers working on the call center's CAMG Mortgage Collections account were servicing both inbound and, through Vorely, outbound calls, with no salary increase at all. We had a separate department that handled outbound collection calls, whose agents were earning about 30% more than we were. This was supposed to be their job. CAMG was just a lowballing asshole who couldn't resist the chance to cut a corner.

But about Vorely, it was once reported that a bug in its system was causing it to call the same number several times in one day. This obviously caused a lot of distress, aggravation, and bad blood for the already horror-stricken homeowners, as well as for us agents taking their calls, in one of the darker periods of the recent Great Recession. This call came in two weeks after CAMGC announced that Vorely had “fixed” their bug.

💻☎👿

“You’ve reached Karlo of Collections. Please be advised that this call is an attempt to collect a debt. Any information we obtain will be used for that purpose. This call is being recorded for quality and monitoring purposes. May I have the name on the account, please?”

“Sheila Farnham.” (On-the-verge-of-tears voice)

“And the account number?”

“1704-593-658.”

“Please state the property address.”

“24 Sepulveda Way, Sandy Village, Newport News.”

“Do you live on the property?”

“Yes.”

“Please state the phone number.”

“746-685-9802.”

“And the last four of your social?”

“8014.”

“Am I speaking to Sheila?”

“Yes.”

“Thank you, Sheila. Your account is owing for four months. Total amount due is $1,694.85, late charges for four months included. Breach letter has been sent and foreclosure proceedings can start any time. Credit report has been affected. Will you be able to pay the full amount today?”

“No.” (Still on the verge of tears)

“How about this week?”

“No.”

“How about the end of the month?”

“No.”

“I see your financials have been taken. Have these figures changed so far?”

“No.”

(Reaching the end of my spiel) “All right, I suppose that’s it, then. Collection calls and letters will continue until the account is current.”

“OK.” (She starts to break down)

“Is there anything I can help you with, Sheila?”

“Yeah.”

“Are you all right? Would you like to hang up now?”

(And now she’s really crying.) “Yeah. It’s j-just…you k-keep calling…and calling…”

“Yeah, Sheila. Like I said, collection calls will continue—”

(Screaming hysterically) “STOP CALLING ME! YOU CALLED ME THREE TIMES TODAY AND TWO TIMES YESTERDAY AND THE DAY BEFORE THAT AND LAST WEEK! STOP HARASSING ME OR I’M GOING TO CALL AN ATTORNEY OR OUR MAYOR OR THE POLICE OR SOMEONE FROM 60 MINUTES!”

“OK, OK, Sheila. Calm down…”

“YOU ARROGANT SCUMBAGS JUST WANT TO GET MONEY, MONEY, MONEY AND YOU HARASS PEOPLE AND WON’T STOP CALLING UNTIL YOU DRIVE ME CRAZY! JUST GO AWAY AND GO TO HELL AND DON’T COME BACK TO CALL PEOPLE AND JUST LEAVE ME ALONE! LEAVEMETHEFUCKALONE! GOWWAAAH! GOWWAAAAAAAAH!” (Slams down the phone. I realized she was trying to say, “Go away.”)

(For the benefit of the QA monitors) “Uhh…right. Thank you for calling CAMG Mort—”

(Sound of her handset lifting, then slamming.)

“Sheila? Are you still there?”

(Sound of her handset lifting, then a pause. She was feeling around for a presence on the other end.)

“Hi, Sheila. Sorry if I ups—”

“HANG UP YOUR PHONE YOU FUCKING IDIOT. I’M TRYING, TO CALL, ALBERTA!”

“Sorry, where?”

(In a pitch so high only dogs can probably hear her) “I'MTRYING TO SHE'S MY I WANT TO TALK TOMY NEIGHBOR YOU FUCKINGPIECEOFSHIT JUNKIE!”

“Gotcha. Thank you for calling CAMG Mortgage.”

“WAAAAAAAAH!”

(The QA monitor in charge of that call was laughing all the way through our coaching session. She said she'd "understood" that the call was difficult; however, she was still marking me down for saying "Thank you for calling CAMG Mortgage" – simply because technically, she didn't call us. We called her.)

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