Do you refuse to use companies that....

Bes

Bes

Bes

Soldato
Joined
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..... Have their callcentres based in India/ similar area?

I am starting to get that way. I quite often have to ring these companies for various things, and I have just about had enough of them...

Whilst I am sure the staff are trying their hardest, they simply cannot speak enough English to be able to help me, and if I ever say anything that isn't on their script, they just don't have a clue. Sometimes their grasp of the English language (considering I am putting large amounts of money their way and a misinterpretation/ misunderstanding could scupper my plans) is really quite shockingly poor.

The whole reason I am ringing (rather than doing something online) is usually because my request/ query cannot be answered/ dealt with over the Internet and requires me to actually speak to someone, and usually ends up with me having to explain the same thing over and over again and be put on hold several times.

Whilst I would never shout at or get nasty with these people, I used to work at Norwich union and our Life department was based in Bangalore- quite often I would get annoyed people ringing through ranting about these offshore call centres, insisting upon speaking to someone in the UK and being quite downright rude... IMO there is no need for that, but I do see their point.

/rant over
 
Bes said:
..... Have their callcentres based in India/ similar area?
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No, as it tends to mean they have lower costs, and are therefore cheaper.

The fact that workers in Indian call centres are educated and motivated, even if there English needs improvement, means that I don't have to speak to some stoppy school leaver with half a GCE in Home Ec, who would rather be at home piercing their frenum, but to an individual that takes great pride in their work.
 
Depends what I'm buying. I've happily used Norwich Union car and home insurance products for years as they've always been the cheapest by a sizeable amount. Little/no telephone contact is required and the savings outweigh the frustration of having to spell simple words phonetically to the call operator :(.

Edit: I must add that I have the utmost respect for these people. I've got a basic grasp of German but if someone offered me a job in a German callcentre speaking to German customers I couldn't do it, especially with the amount of abuse these people receive.
 
I never used to pay it much thought, until it directly affected me.
HSBC recently completely hosed a simply international money order that I ordered on the phone from them. When I phoned back a few days later to inform them that they have got everything wrong, they tried to charge me for the process of making things right.
Long story short, I had to go to my branch in the end to rectify the mess.

Lesson learned? Don't bother with the foreign call centre number in future, just go into the branch.
 
I try to avoid them yes. I get them phoning me enough so i figure i dont need to call them.
 
AJUK said:
Yes and I go further I refuse to buy anything from foreigners where there is a British alternative.
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Really, thats interesting because it will mean you often end up paying more for inferior products. What car do you drive?
 
I would deffinately avoid a company if i needed to use a call center a lot and it was based in india.

I just dont see the logic in a help center where your self and the person in the call center need help to understand each other its just stupid.
 
Borris said:
No, as it tends to mean they have lower costs, and are therefore cheaper.

The fact that workers in Indian call centres are educated and motivated, even if there English needs improvement, means that I don't have to speak to some stoppy school leaver with half a GCE in Home Ec, who would rather be at home piercing their frenum, but to an individual that takes great pride in their work.
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I understand that net cost to a lot of people is paramount.

I'd hazard a guess more people in the UK calling Indian call centres will experience greater frustration compared to calling some layabout in the UK.

I don't really understand how pride comes into it in any significant way, these people aren't sewing our clothes.
 
the trouble is you never know who has outsourced their call centres until it's too late. Even the well regarded Nature magazine has just outsourced it's subscription dept after 100 of years being base in Oxford.
The real problem is that they do not have the cultural references to relate to. They can only follow a script and never vary from it I'm sure that a computer program could do equally as well. As for cost savings. I know that BT employ twice as many people in their Indian call centres which means that even though they work for half the U.K. wages there is no economic cost savings
 
[TW]Fox said:
Really, thats interesting because it will mean you often end up paying more for inferior products. What car do you drive?
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I drive Toyota Avensis, built in Britain. It even says so on the little sticker in the windcreen.
 
I actively avoid and try to move companies if I find out they have call centres abroad. Partly on a personal level because I’m a IT type tech support guy, so it’s my sort of jobs they could be taking away, but also because trying to describe a technical problem to someone who understands English can be hard enough, trying to explain a technical issue to someone who a) is just a call centre monkey and b) can’t even speak English well enough to understand if just a step to far.

Already had two calls from the same company today trying to get me to subscribe for a magazine, may have listened a little longer if the guy was based from the UK.
 
Bes said:
Do you refuse ....
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Yes and no.

I probably wouldn't refuse on the basis of the call centre location, if for no other reason than that I probably don't know where it is. A person with an Indian accent could equally well be working in a UK call centre.

If, on the other hand, service levels become unacceptable, I'm likely to change company regardless of where the call centre is. For me, it's about service level, not geography.
 
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