'I found a better job and quit': Lab technician forced to work in the call center after their entire staff quits, gets payback by transferring angry customers to his swindling manager's office line

Author image for Jesse Kessenheimer
Jesse Kessenheimer • Writer and Editor
Aug 3, 2023 7:00 AM EDT

Companies that thrive on shady dealings rarely pay the price. But when a business is being sketchy and ripping off its customers, it feels pretty dang good to see it all go up in flames, watching them get exactly what they deserve. In this case, a lab technician for a scammy company gave his boss a taste of his own medicine instead of helping them pick up the pieces after their skullduggery schemes backfired. 

The company was misleading its clients about their warranties and equipment sales, claiming they would offer refunds in up to 6 weeks, but in reality, the business was pocketing the cash without ever intending to refund their clients. Managers told the staff to put off the clients– saying they lost their paperwork or that they needed to get in touch with the bank, etc.– until the clients gave up on their refund. The call center that handled client-facing conversations caught wind of the scam, and all quit on the same day, not wanting to be affiliated or working alongside the swindlers. 

In comes a heroic lab tech…

Working as a lab technician for the company, he had never dealt with customers until the fateful day that the boss walked in and forced him to work the phones in the call center. With nobody else to fill the boots of the customer-facing role, OP quickly grew tired of working with a sketchy company and got sweet revenge against the manager. 

Scroll for the full story on how a lab tech made management face the facts of their shady dealings. For more, check out this story of a retail manager that got revenge on a vindictive supervisor by getting enough promotions to become their boss's boss.

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  • 01
    Font - Posted by u/HaElfParagon 22 hours ago Don't Want me to Cold Transfer Picted Off Customers to the Manager? Okay Then... MOC
    via HaElfParagon
  • 02
    Font - I was a technician, working in a lab. My job was to repair car parts for this third party repair company. The company made such monumentally stupid decisions in a very short span, than over 50% of the call center all quit within 3 days of each other.
    via HaElfParagon
  • 03
    Font - So, the company started dragging employees from other departments kicking and screaming into the call center. Every day, I'd walk in and ask the building manager "What's up today? Am I doing my job? Or am I answering phones?"
    via HaElfParagon
  • 04
    Font - And he'd sigh and say "answering phones". Well, I quickly learned what made alot of the call center quit. You see, at this company, we had a really good warranty policy. Lifetime warranty on
    via HaElfParagon
  • 05
    Font - the part, regardless of who owns it at any given time. If it has our sticker on it, and the sticker hasn't been defaced, we will service it for free. If you aren't happy with the quality,
    via HaElfParagon
  • 06
    Font - you can ask for a refund if you were the original person who sent it in for work in the first place. Well. It turned out we were losing money because when stuff would come in for
    via HaElfParagon
  • 07
    Font - warranty repair, some of the sales people would grab it, rip our sticker off, throw it in the junk pile, and call the customer saying we couldn't
    via HaElfParagon
  • 08
    Font - fix it, but we have a perfectly good one here that they can sell at a discount. They did this so much that customers started just asking for refunds instead.
    via HaElfParagon
  • 09
    Font - We got so many refund requests that the building manager told the call center that we would not be honoring the warranty anymore, but not to tell the customers that.
    via HaElfParagon
  • 10
    Font - Lead them on. When they ask for a refund, tell them it's being processed and will take up to 6 weeks. 6 weeks from now, when they call asking where their refund was, tell them it was in the wrong stack
    via HaElfParagon
  • 11
    Font - of paperwork, or there was an error at the bank, whatever excuse you can think of, and tell them it'll be another 6 weeks. Keep doing this until they stop calling.
    via HaElfParagon
  • 12
    Font - Well, the call center revolted. More than half quit. When I found out this is what happened, I told them they don't want me on the phones, because I will not lie to customers. Building manager
    via HaElfParagon
  • 13
    Font - said tought, till they can hire more people for phones, I'm stuck there. So, when someone called, pired off that they haven't received their refund, I profusely apologized, let them know I'm sure there is a good
    via HaElfParagon
  • 14
    Font - explanation, let me get you a manager, and I cold transferred them to the building manager. He'd come back to his desk, find like 30 people on hold in his que. He got red, told me to stop cold transferring people. So, I
    via HaElfParagon
  • 15
    Font - stopped cold transferring people. Every 3 or 4 minutes, I'd let a new customer know I can get them the manager. I'd transfer them, get up, walk over to the managers office, and tell the manager "Hey, so and so from X company is on
    via HaElfParagon
  • 16
    Font - your line, pis :d off that you're refusing to give them a refund. Have fun!" Eventually I got pulled into a meeting with him and the CFO, and was told in no uncertain terms that if I continued to do so, I would be fired. I
    via HaElfParagon
  • 17
    Font - reminded them that the only reason this is happening in the first place is because A, they came up with this shooty plan in the first place. B, They're making me answer phones instead of doing my job. And C, they can't keep anyone, because whenever they hired
    via HaElfParagon
  • 18
    Font - someone new, the rest of us would fill them in on what's happening, and they would subsequently quit after their first day. In the end, I found a better job, and quit that he ole, and
    via HaElfParagon
  • 19
    Smile - on my last day, filed a complaint with OSHA, filling them in on all the illegal/dangerous sit they'd make us do in the lab.
    via HaElfParagon
  • 20
    Font - TL;DR: Was forced to work in a call center for about 3 months, despite it not being my job. Went against company policy and cold-transferred irate customers to the manager, because they did not pay me enough to deal with preventable bullsoot.
    via HaElfParagon
  • 21
    Font - Red_Cathy +2 22 hr. ago Lol, nice one, they'd not want me in a call center either, no way would I keep my mouth shut "ah well, your main problem is you bought it form a bunch of shysters who don't honour their warranties, you really ought to have gone elsewhere"
    via Red_Cathy
  • 22
    Font - DaenerysMomoDragons +1 · 20 hr. ago I imagine telling them the truth, that they've been scammed would get them off the phone faster than trying to give them the run around. Mission accepted.
    via DaenerysMomODragons
  • 23
    Font - HaElfParagon OP 22 hr. ago Yup. His thing was to tell the truth. He told them he's under orders not to process any refunds at all, he apologized and advised the customer call their credit card company to issue a chargeback.
    via HaElfParagon
  • 24
    Automotive lighting - TONE 0 "I was told that if I continued to do this, I would be fired" MUTE FLASH REDIAL
    via u/canva

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management shady call center manager job malicious compliance refund clients work customers petty revenge scams scam reddit thread Reddit company business working out
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