I had an interview at BellSouth today. They do a crap load of testing and after about 3 miserable hours the woman comes back and tells me "Congrats! You have the job. Then my nightmare begins...she goes on to say BUT we believe that you are over qualified for a customer service position. She then says welcome to BellSouth, you are a newest collections supervisor. Oh god, I about died. I told her I would sit on it. How in the HELL can I be someone I hate? LOL
well.. you could use it as an oppy to not only learn but to teach responsible collections techniques... plus, the inside information for us would be invaluable
Look, there's nothing wrong with working in collections for Bellsouth. They offer a service, and people agree to pay for that service. Nowadays, they even have other alternatives if they don't like Bellsouth -- some people use cell phones as their primary phone these days. This really does contrast with the days of the Bell system monopoly. Anyway, customers choose Bellsouth service and then agree to pay. Then some of them don't for whatever reason -- sometimes because of no fault of their own and others because of sheer irresponsibility (and, I think, most of us have been "both kinds of people," lol). Regardless, it is not a dishonorable thing for Bellsouth to ask, "Hi, when can you pay your bill?" Where things get dishonorable is when collectors become abusive or use harrassment in order to effect another payment. As Marie, javan, and Charlie said, use this as an opportunity to teach your supervisees ETHICAL and RESPECTFUL collection techniques. If you discover that the culture there doesn't support ethics and respect, then of course you go do the right thing and seek another job. There's a very good chance, though, that you'll have the power to influence things for good if you enter the picture as a supervisor. You won't change the world, but at least you can influence your piece of it. Doc
I used to work in Bellsouth collections. All we did was let people who have past due or disconnected service call us and negotiate payment arrangements to keep their service on or get it back on. The sucky part was the 75 year-old grandmothers calling, only getting $300 a month in SSI, with a relative that ran their bill up to $1200 by accepting collect calls from someone in jail, and she is about to get disconnected and the script is telling you to tell her you need $800 ASAP to avoid disconnection by Monday, next week. Of course she does not have that kind of money and she lived alone, so you know she needs a phone. I hated that job. Oh, I could go on and on about the stories that I heard at that job... I did not have the heart for it. Lies or not, I could not bear it. I had one lady call and rat on another lady on her block. She would make up SSNs and get phone service with the fake SSNs and then sell the 'account' to someone who could not get service for say $25-40. The 'informant' told me her name, phone number, what street corner she meets her 'clients' on. I reported it to the fraud dept. Ok, I have vented about my Bellsouth days. Thanks if you have read this far.
You've already decided to take the job, even if you won't admit it. The position looks good. And if they like you, you're not going to stay in collections forever. Good luck! Saar
Take the Job! Scenario 1: You start working there and enforce the FRCA and FDCPA requirements, counseling and firing those who won't change their abusive ways. This keeps the ones who aren't jerks from being tempted to become jerks. You will have helped many customers retain their dignity during tough financial times. That's a good thing. Scenario 2: You start working there and enforce the FRCA and FDCPA requirements, counseling and firing those who won't change their abusive ways. Your bosses give you a hard time about doing the right thing. You then start keeping your black book of violations by collection agents and approval of these illegal tactics by the management (supported by your memorandae for record) and get the FCC and FTC involved. Your bosses give you more hard times. Enter the Federal Whistleblowers Protection Act. ;-) When it's all over, Bellsouth will have a huge black eye and you'll own a large chunk of BellSouth. That's a good thing. Either way, its a good thing. Good Luck, Dancer
Generally, the FDCPA does not apply to inhouse collection departments. And as a new supervisor, one would be well advised to be nice to his new employees, learn from them and listen to what they have to say, rather than start firing people. Saar
Thank you for the correction. The way I figured the FDCPA might come into play is when the new supervisor decides not to do business with CA's that violate it on the premise it might give BellSouth a bad name. That way you'll get to "punish" bad CA's. Hmmm, "bad CA's". That's sorta redundant don'tcha think?
When I filed for CH 7 a few years back I owed over 1200 to Pac Bell. Part of it was somebody other than myself was using my calling card, but since I was a partner in a fledgling new business I covered those business expenses. Unfortunately my "partner" pulled a fast one and booted me to the curb and left me holding the bag for a lot in collect calls and calling card expenses. To make a long story short I listed Pac Bell on my filing. They not only reinstated me AFTER BK, but didn't ask for a deposit. When their collections people used to call and mail me for money, they were nothing but professional. It's scum like Gulf State, American Agencies and Circuit City's collection department that bring down the whole collecitons process with their lies, attitude and flagrant breaking of laws to get the end result...
