Foreign call centres

[Von Luck]

What are your feelings on these?

- A sign off globalisation, providing much needed jobs for workers in foreign countries?

- A blatant cost-cutting measure by big business desperate to obtain every last penny of profit for their shareholders, irrespective of how that may impact their level of customer service?

Personally I fall into the latter camp. I'm aware we live in a global society where there is no technological reason why our customer service reps shouldn't live in France, India or Atlantis, however this scrimping on the part of large corporations really gets my goat.

I want the organisations that I deal with to spend my money on providing jobs in this country, not abroad.

I want to speak to CS reps who have accents that I don't have difficulty undertanding (regardless of how excellent the English of many foreign reps may be).

I want the reassurance that my bank details aren't being bandied around Mysore for sale to organised crime gangs.

Am I being small-minded and very 'Daily Mail'? Perhaps, but it's my money goddamit.

Is anyone aware of any websites that provide details on which companies have outsourced their call centres? I'd like to know so that I can make sure I vote with my wallet and move my business to other organisations.

Edit: in answer to my last question - http://www.callukcentres.co.uk/ lists organisations which have UK based call centres.

 

[Von Luck]

Having thought about this more, I've realised that it's not even the fact that call centres have been outsourced abroad which gets my goat (so sorry Visage, the right-on sarcasm is going to be wasted ), it's outsourcing itself.

In the same way that I disagree with privatisation of core services (water, power, public transport), I also dislike the trend for organisations to longer want to take responsibility for the 'grubby' aspects of their business, like customer services.

Good customer services may not make money directly, but indirectly it contributes to the lustre of any company - which in turn must have an impact on turnover. It seems short-sighted to me to opt for short-term savings by outsourcing the work, when you would be able to deliver a more tightly integrated service by keeping things in house.