Callers to a customer help line frequently complained about the

Question

Callers to a customer help line frequently complained about the quality of service. Seventy percent of survey respondents cited the services agents' lack of knowledge of how to solve the problems they were calling about. To address the problem, management decided that each service agent should go through regular training. Each agent spent half a day each week in sessions covering how to respond to callers' problems. Nevertheless, after three months of training, the rate of caller complaints has not decreased.

Which of the following, if true, most helps to explain why the training failed to achieve its goal?

A) The training program created significant additional cost in running the help line.
B) Taking service agents out of the group answering calls at any given time causes the average wait time of callers to rise.
C) The ongoing training does not cover all possible caller problems.
D) The proportion of repeat callers to the help line is low, so callers have no way of observing that service agent knowledge has improved.
E) The company providing the help line has lost customers due to their dissatisfaction with the quality of service, both before and after the regular training began.

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bb · Accepted Answer

I am personally not thrilled with this question because to answer it, you have to assume that the increased waiting time would cause people to complain. And as we will see, that is NOT a reasonable assumption.

There are many unknowns. We do not know how many agents there were but for this to sort of work in the worst case scenario, you have to have five/seven agents so that each agent would be tied up one of the days (half a day per week) because if there was only one agent then the other four days or however many days they be providing the same support their time would be unchanged. Agents only do training half a day in one week or they spend 10% of their time. (4 hrs out of 40)

So now people would be waiting an extra 10% of the time... And instead of waiting for one minute they’re now waiting one minute and six seconds and that drives them crazy? Or let’s say they used to wait for 30 mins and now it would be for 33 minutes ...

This seems unreasonable. I don’t think this is a well thought through question. Nobody is going to Get bent out of shape because of waiting an extra 10% of time.

B is a pretty bad correct answer.

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A_Nishith · Answer

To determine why the training failed to achieve its goal, we need to identify which option most effectively explains why complaints did not decrease despite the training.

Here's an analysis of each option:

A) The training program created significant additional cost in running the help line.

While this points to an increase in costs, it does not explain why the number of complaints remained high.

B) Taking service agents out of the group answering calls at any given time causes the average wait time of callers to rise.

This is a strong option because it suggests that the training program itself caused a negative side effect: fewer agents were available to answer calls, leading to longer wait times. This could have led to continued or increased complaints, regardless of any improvement in the agents' knowledge.

C) The ongoing training does not cover all possible caller problems.

This directly addresses the content of the training, implying that agents might still be unprepared for some issues, which could lead to continued complaints.

D) The proportion of repeat callers to the help line is low, so callers have no way of observing that service agent knowledge has improved.

This suggests that improvements might not be noticeable to callers, but it does not explain why the overall complaint rate has not decreased.

E) The company providing the help line has lost customers due to their dissatisfaction with the quality of service, both before and after the regular training began.

This indicates a persistent issue with customer dissatisfaction but does not directly explain why the training did not reduce complaints.

The two  strongest options are B and C , as they directly address the effectiveness of the training and its impact on the complaints. Between these two:

Option B explains that the logistical aspect of the training caused longer wait times, which could overshadow any benefits from the improved knowledge of agents. This could lead to continued high complaint rates due to increased caller frustration from waiting longer.

Option C suggests that the training was insufficient in scope, leading agents to still be unprepared for some caller issues.

While both are plausible, option B more directly links the training schedule to an immediate negative impact (longer wait times), which would directly result in caller dissatisfaction and complaints.

Therefore, the  best option is:

B)  Taking service agents out of the group answering calls at any given time causes the average wait time of callers to rise.

Rance14 · Answer

How do you differentiate between B and C and pick one because both seem very logical to me

Rance14 · Answer

@Bunuel can you please share an official explanation of this question?

sdsaddwqe234234 · Answer

In option C, the training didn't cover all possible outcomes, but it might have addressed some problems. So, it would have decreased the number of complaints by a small fraction. However, the argument states that the rate did not decrease at all.

Bunuel · Answer

OFFICIAL EXPLANATION:

Reading the question: the prompt doesn't present an argument, but rather a situation. We're presented with only facts and no opinion. So it makes sense when we get to the question stem and see that we're asked to "explain."

Creating a filter: as we discussed in Osprey Prey, since we are explaining, we should identify a "mystery" with two parts. The correct answer will probably address both parts of the mystery, without contradicting any of the facts given. The mystery's two parts are that 1) the team has been trained, but 2) complaints are still high. A possible explanation is that there is a "new problem." For example, maybe the training was conducted in an insulting manner and drove away some of the best agents, so the remaining agents are knowledgeable but defective in some new way. We'll look for something like this in the answers... a "new problem."

Applying the filter: Choice (A) presents a new problem, but not one that would affect customer complaints. So (A) is out. Choice (B) presents a new problem: increased wait time. It's not just an explanation; it's an explanation that describes how the action in part 1) above could generate the problem in part 2) above. So (B) is in. Choice (C) is relevant, and plausible, but it doesn't generate a new problem, as we're looking for. Also, agents wouldn't have to be trained in every conceivable problem in order to be much better trained and for complaints to go down. In other words, it says something about part 1) of our mystery, but doesn't establish any connection to part 2). So (C) is out. Choice (D) fails to connect to part 2); if the help team is better trained, they should rate higher. Choice (E) also fails to connect to part 2); in fact, losing unhappy customers would be a reason to think complaints would go down.

The correct answer is (B).

lavanya.18 · Answer

I still feel that C would be ,ore realistically right answer to the problem.

Both B and C are very good options though. I think this is really weird question and not very well thought of. This type of question only confuses and wastes time.

Callers to a customer help line frequently complained about the

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