Interactive Intelligence (News - Alert) is continuing to count down to the closing date for submissions to its “Outrageous Interactions” contest. The contest will be open for submissions through Aug. 31, at which point a panel of expert judges will select the finalists to be voted on by the public. The contest is highlighting some of the strange occurrences that are commonplace in the call center industry, and Interactive Intelligence will be rewarding one deserving agent with the grand prize when it announces the winner at INTERNET TELEPHONY Conference & EXPO in September.

 

Call center agents and managers have been submitting their wildest stories from interactions with customers, including this submission: “Years ago, while working as a customer service representative with a major senior citizen's mail-order pharmacy service, I was diligently placing a lengthy order for an elderly gentleman. After placing an order for another over-the-counter item, the customer asked if the item came "in other flavors." When the item displayed, I was shocked. The item ordered was for 24 suppositories. The caller stated the last ones "went down well, but tasted terrible."”

 

Another contest submission stated: “Another interesting set of [wrong-number] calls came from people calling our call center for basically the Maytag repairman. This took a little investigation and again we started asking callers where they found our number and after drilling a couple of the callers and having them read back the number they were trying to reach we discovered that the number they were reading to us didn’t contain a toll free number such as 1-800 but an area code instead. After explaining to one of them that they were calling 1-800-XXX-XXXX instead of the area code they were reading off to us, the caller said, yes, but I didn’t want to have to pay for the long distance so I used 1-800 instead of the area code.”

 

Interactive Intelligence is still accepting submissions and counting down on TMCnet until the closing date: August 31. Keep watching TMCnet for more outrageous stories from the contest. The winner will receive airfare and hotel accommodations for a trip for two to Hawaii.

 

If you think you have the winning story with one of your crazy interactions, you can submit it and find more information at http://www.outrageousinteractions.com, or e-mail your entry to: [email protected].