One common theme is misinformation. Agents might give wrong details about plans, features, or prices to make a sale. Another theme is poor customer service. They can be rude or unresponsive when customers have issues. Also, security problems like information leakage are common in these stories.
A phone agent once took a customer's personal information during a call to upgrade their phone service. Later, the customer started getting strange calls from unknown numbers and realized their information had been leaked. When they contacted the phone agent's company, they were given the run - around and no one took responsibility for the security breach.
A couple once booked their honeymoon through a travel agent. When they arrived at their so - called 'luxury resort', it was a run - down place with dirty rooms and bad food. The travel agent had promised them a five - star experience. Turns out, the agent had never actually visited the place and just went by the pictures on the website which were clearly very old and misrepresented the actual state of the resort.
There was a case where a literary agent took on an author and demanded a large sum of money upfront for 'editing services'. After getting the money, the so - called edits were minimal and the agent did very little to actually market the book to publishers. It turned out the agent was more interested in getting quick cash from authors than actually representing them properly. This left the author in a difficult financial and emotional state as they had not only lost money but also wasted a lot of time.
I received a call from a number that seemed normal at first. But when I answered, a distorted voice started whispering strange things like 'you're not alone' over and over. It gave me chills all over my body. I checked every room in my house just to make sure there was no one there.
I've heard of a case where a customer service agent was extremely rude. A customer had a simple question about a product's warranty, and instead of answering politely, the agent made the customer feel stupid for asking. The agent used condescending language and didn't actually provide any useful information. It was a really bad experience for the customer who was just trying to get some basic help.
One common element is misrepresentation. Agents may over - promise what they can do for an author, like getting a huge book deal, but in reality, they don't have the connections or skills to deliver. For example, they might claim to have great relationships with top publishers but actually have no real influence.
Well, a common 'call center agent horror story' is getting prank calls. Some pranksters waste the agent's time by pretending to be interested in the product or service but then start making jokes or just being silly. Agents also face horror when they are transferred a call from another agent who didn't handle the initial situation well. So, the new agent has to deal with an already frustrated customer. Moreover, there are times when the call quality is so bad that the agent can't understand the customer, and the customer gets angry because they think the agent isn't listening.
One common horror story is dealing with difficult landlords. For example, a landlord may not want to make necessary repairs but still expect the leasing agent to find tenants. Another is tenants who damage the property severely. I knew an agent whose tenant painted the walls in crazy colors without permission and then moved out, leaving the agent to deal with the cost of repainting.