Customer support interview questions: a troubleshooting exercise

Use these customer support interview questions and troubleshooting exercise to test how candidates use new information, explain uncertainty and hand a case to a colleague.

Assess the conversation, not just the opening answer. The staged billing problem reveals whether the candidate adapts after the customer replies or simply repeats a sensible first response without using the new evidence.

How do you assess customer support skills in an interview?

Use the channel the person will work in. An email-support role needs written replies; a confident spoken explanation does not show the same skill. Supply the customer message and company policy, then introduce the next message only after the applicant has answered the first.

This exercise is not a validated selection test. Adapt it to the role and agree the scoring with your support manager first. Tell applicants how much time they have, which tools they can use and whom to contact for an adjustment. Give them this brief, but keep the sample replies for the interviewer:

A customer writes: “You charged me £49 twice. I need the money back today.”

Your account screen shows one completed £49 payment. The customer sees two £49 entries in their banking app. You can ask for each entry's date and whether it says completed or pending. Do not request full card details or a bank statement showing personal information.

Billing investigates payment problems and approves refunds. You cannot approve a refund yourself.

Ask for a first reply of no more than 120 words and a short explanation of the next action. Continue with the customer's reply and handover problem. Reserve the optional variations for a skill you still need to assess.

Use the sample replies to agree the assessment standard, not as a script applicants must reproduce. Prepare answers to likely policy questions with the support manager so candidates receive consistent information.

First reply: investigate without promising a refund

A useful opening acknowledges the urgency and asks for the information billing needs:

I understand you need the money today. I can see one completed £49 payment on our side, so I'll need billing to check the second entry.

Please send the date of each entry and whether it says completed or pending. Don't include card details. I'll pass that information to billing.

Contacting billing immediately while asking for those details is also reasonable. Ask why the applicant chose that order. If they have already opened a billing request, their next action should update it rather than start the same case again.

Second reply: use the answer the customer gives you

Continue the conversation:

“Both say completed: 21 September and 23 September. I've checked because the last person already told me it was probably pending.”

Ask for the next customer reply and a note to billing. The customer has supplied both dates and confirmed that both entries say completed; use those answers rather than asking again.

For this part of the exercise, tell the applicant it is 1 p.m. and they can contact the customer by 2 p.m., even if billing has not finished checking. That gives them an update they can promise without inventing a refund decision.

A reply could say:

Thanks for checking both entries. I'll ask billing to compare those dates and statuses with the payment we can see.

I know you need the money today. I can't confirm a refund yet, but I'll update you by 2 p.m., even if the investigation is still open.

The billing note should explain what doesn't match:

Please check this payment. The customer reports two completed £49 entries, dated 21 and 23 September. Our account screen shows one.

They need the money today. No refund has been approved or promised. Please confirm what action is needed and when you can update us.

Include the case reference so billing can find it. The note should say what the customer sees and what your screen shows, not claim that a duplicate charge has already been confirmed.

Ask “What would you do after sending that reply?” Look for a clear request to billing and a plan to follow it up. The applicant should not tell the customer that billing is already investigating until that has been confirmed.

Third reply: update the customer while billing investigates

At the 2 p.m. update, give the applicant a new fact: billing has accepted the request and promised an update at 3 p.m. The support team can contact the customer again by 3.30 p.m., even if billing is late. Ask the applicant to send the promised 2 p.m. message with this next update time:

Billing is checking the payment and is due to update us at 3 p.m. I'll message you by 3.30 p.m., even if we don't yet have an answer.

Hand the case over without making the customer start again

Now tell the applicant that their shift ends before 3.30 p.m. A colleague needs to take over. Ask them to write that colleague a note:

Can you take over case [case link] and update the customer by 3.30 p.m.? Please confirm you can cover.

They report two completed £49 entries, dated 21 and 23 September; our screen shows one. Billing has accepted the investigation and is due to update us at 3 p.m. The customer needs the money today, but no refund has been approved or promised.

Please update them by 3.30 p.m. even if billing is late. They have already supplied the dates and statuses.

“Duplicate payment. Billing to refund” would change the facts: neither the duplicate charge nor the refund has been confirmed. Shorter is not better when the next agent inherits the wrong explanation.

Replace the case-link placeholder, then read the note as the colleague receiving it. They should be able to find the conversation, identify the unresolved payment question and see which update they are being asked to cover.

Then say that colleague cannot cover. Ask: “What would you do now?” A useful answer seeks another available colleague or the team lead's help. Until someone accepts, the handover is still a request and the customer promise still needs an owner.

Optional follow-up: billing has not replied

Now confirm that cover has been arranged and the covering agent is available until 5 p.m. It is 3.15 p.m., and billing has not replied. Ask what the agent should do before the 3.30 p.m. customer deadline. After chasing billing, they could write:

I don't have billing's answer yet, and I'm sorry I can't confirm what happened. I've asked them for an update. I'll contact you again by 5 p.m., even if the investigation is still open.

The covering agent has time to send the 5 p.m. update. Ask what they would arrange before leaving if the case remained open. Check the sequence too: they must contact billing before telling the customer they have asked for an update.

Separate follow-up: how would a pending entry change the reply?

After the main exercise, give a different customer response: “One entry says completed and the other says pending. But I still can't use the money.” Ask how that would change the next reply; do not carry it back into the completed-payment case.

The agent should acknowledge the unavailable money and arrange the appropriate billing check. The brief provides no release time, so they should not invent one. Use the same additional question for applicants you intend to compare.

What does a strong customer support answer look like?

Consider three responses to the customer's second message:

Warm but inaccurate: “I'm so sorry. I've arranged your refund and the money will be back today.” This acknowledges urgency but invents approval and a payment time.

Accurate but unhelpful: “Our system shows one payment. Contact your bank.” This does not make a false refund promise, but it ignores the discrepancy the exercise asks the agent to investigate and leaves the customer to restart elsewhere.

Accurate and useful: “Thanks for checking both entries. I'll send the dates and payment statuses to billing so they can compare them with our account. I can't confirm a refund yet, but I'll update you by 2 p.m., even if the investigation is still open.” This uses the customer's answer, preserves the unconfirmed refund and gives the update the agent can provide.

A warm tone helps, but extra apologies do not fix an inaccurate promise. The customer needs to understand what happens next and whether they need to do anything.

Use a scorecard for accuracy, judgement, care and follow-through

Agree the scorecard standard with your support manager before interviewing:

Judge what the response does for the customer, not how closely it matches the sample's style. A brief greeting may be suitable; an unsupported refund promise is consequential because it changes what the customer expects.

Record that promise as one observed error. Use the rest of the exchange to assess the other skills rather than count the same sentence as four independent failures. The debrief should explain both the mistake and the work the applicant handled correctly.

Keep the first answer and any correction after help distinct:

Used the customer's dates and statuses in the second reply. The billing note was accurate. The handover preserved the deadline, but the applicant needed a prompt to confirm who would send the update.

The note identifies the missing confirmation without erasing the accurate replies and billing note. “Careless” or “naturally empathetic” would replace that evidence with an unsupported character judgement.

Ask two reviewers to score the three replies before using the exercise in hiring. Compare the reasons, not just the totals. One may reward the warm refund promise while the other rejects it as inaccurate. Resolve that difference now, rather than after they have rated real applicants.

Agree which mistakes change the hiring recommendation and which your training can address. One missed handover confirmation may lead to a different decision from repeatedly promising money the agent cannot authorise. Record the actual pattern rather than attaching a personality label to either applicant.

Which customer support skills can you teach after hiring?

Separate company knowledge from how someone uses the instructions supplied. Your refund process may be new to the applicant. Promising a refund after reading that only billing can approve it is a different problem.

The exercise supplies the policy so you can assess how the applicant applies it, not whether they already know your business. Agree which gaps the team can train before comparing applicants.

Set the assistance rule before the exercise. For AI-assisted work, ask the applicant to explain what they checked before accepting the draft. For unaided writing, say which other tools are permitted. In either case, assess the final reply against the customer's information and the supplied policy.

In Monzo's 2018 Customer Operations account, Hind described worrying that her pharmacy background would leave her behind. She said “our training assumed no prior knowledge.” The hiring process included drafting a customer reply. That combination matters: assess the relevant work, and be specific about the support you will provide after hiring.

Ask about relevant work in other settings too. Helping a hotel guest or pharmacy customer can show how someone works within limits, gets the right help and keeps people informed.

Judge speed only when the role needs it and the task was designed to assess it. A careful answer under unfamiliar conditions should not lose to a quick answer that invents a refund.

Finish with the work you observed: “Accurate second reply and billing note; needed a prompt to confirm cover.” The manager can judge whether the team can train that gap. “Good with customers” leaves them without the evidence to decide.

Leave time for the applicant to ask how your team handles urgent billing requests and cover between shifts. The exercise asks them to make a reliable handover; explain who would help them do that in the real role. They need an honest view of the support available, just as you need evidence of how they would use it.