All entries tagged with “legal”

On the Line: The New Recording Battle

Posted by Yasmin Parsloe on Thursday Jul 31, 2014 12:07 pm

 “Why is it that you don’t want the faster speed? Help me understand why you don’t want faster Internet?”

It is streamed across the internet, humiliating one of the largest contact centers in the world as Ryan Block, vice president of product at AOL attempts to disconnect his Comcast service. To the chagrin of listeners who share similar service call experiences, Comcast reportedly released an internal memo to its employees undermining the recorded employee and shunning his customer treatment. To avoid crisis –Comcast’s senior management is directing all further questions to media contacts. As the habit of customer’s recording service calls is becoming more and more common, what can other contact centers learn from one exasperated rep’s mistakes?

While companies often say they record service calls for future training purposes, experts say recording calls is beneficial should legal scenarios arise. Glenn Conley, president and CEO of Metropark Communications Inc., tells Market Watch that most calls are archived and used in the case of a legal or policy dispute. “It’s more in line with covering what legal issues might arise down the road,” explains Conley.

To the dismay of large telecommunication companies, experts are now advising consumers to record calls too. While permission to record is often required, experts warn consumers that there are fewer legal reasons for the second party to seek recording permission to record if one party is already recording, particularly if the conversation is no longer considered confidential.

While some companies, like American Express, have set processes to prohibit consumer call recordings, the Digital Media Law Project by Harvard University reports most state wiretapping statutes permit recording if one party to the conversation (the consumer) gives consent. These laws vary by state, California and Washington being two states that require two-way consent.

As contact centers battle to stop two-way recordings, technology is making it easier for callers to do just that. Google voice is just one app that records all incoming calls and while Apple makes recording more difficult, placing a device on speaker phone makes recording easy for any device user.

Lessons to be learned from one failed retention rep? Customer treatment is key, especially when you’re not the only one recording.

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