Why they should have more English based call centres

toon_mad

toon_mad

toon_mad

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So I was on the phone to my bank yesterday (LLoyds TSB) and to my amazement was actually speaking to some English woman. The phone call was just about sorting out some payment some company claimed to have payed me which they hadn't, not important really.

Anyway the woman was easy to talk to, friendly and most importantly I didn't have to repeat myself 5 times like I normally do to Indian call centers. She understood what I was saying and I understood what she was saying - the way it should be.

At the end of the call she said she would be putting £5 in my bank to cover my phone costs. The gesture alone was worth more then the fiver.

If I spoke to some Pakistani Indian call center, I would have not understood them, they wouldn't of understood me, the issue would never be solved and I would have wasted time and money on the phone.

Speak to an English person and you get the problem solved, with some courtesy and generosity to go with it. I know not all English call center representatives are this useful, but its always a good thing if you can at least understand them!

That is all really :p

PS, All you companies out there stop using Apu Nahasapeemapetilon as your call center workers! :p
 
Its obviously all about cost.

Why pay people decent wages in the UK when they can employ whole teams of people in BongoBongoLand or wherever at a fraction of the price.

They dont really care about customer service.....
 
Hrm I can normally understand accents quite well in all honesty, but I agree, I prefer local call centres. Anything complicated gets you passed to someone in England anyhow, usually. Just make sure you call in business hours! :)
 
Most Indian call center reps speak better English than our English council estate residents :-)
 
I really don't mean this in a rude/mean way but sometimes I really struggle to explain myself when calling help lines overseas. Sometimes I think that the person I'm speaking with doesn't understand me either :P

While I prefer speaking to call centers based here I can undestand that costs involved would probably be huge.

It also annoys me when you can't email certain companies/organisations.
 
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I wasn't aware that there were many call centers in pakistan. Maybe you have them confused with indian call centers?

Personally I dont have a problem with understanding an indian accent, but not everyone has spent time around indian people speaking english I guess.

In future, if you do have trouble understanding someones accent on the phone (regardless of where they are from) I suggest you politely just say so and ask to speak to somebody else.
 
Agreed somewhat, I have a lot more confidence in what is being done if speaking with a brit (race/color/religion etc does NOT matter before that presumption is made).

I feel they are more on my level and understand any frustrations and concerns, and have a conversation with them, as opposed to it feeling like the person on the other end is reading from a script.
 
I'd say 50% of the time with foreign call centres there's a problem. Out of that, 50% of the time it's a language problem, 50% of the time it's a dire, dire, dire connection problem, you can barely hear what they are saying.
 
It's not really anything to do with where the call centre is located it's due to the training that the person has received.

Many call centers based in other countries are outsourced and do not get the same training as the UK call centers. I for one don't have an issue with any accents as I live in a pretty multicultural place and can understand people perfectly fine.

I would not put the blame on the person you are speaking to but the training the company has provided them to do their job.
 
FWIW I stay away from companies who employ pakistani/indian call centers etc...

I think they are trained to respond to trigger words though. One day I lost it and started using the F-word quite loudly and repeatedly.

About 5 mins later my isssue was fixed lol
 
Its a lottery when you call - wherever the call center is located.

Ive dealt with rubbish Brit customer service and stellar Indian call center service.

But the next time its the other way round.

Its luck of the draw ya know? - depends on *who* you speak to. You could end up with the tool while the person who calls after you lucks out and gets someone nice.
 
What most foreign call centres have is a yes no style answer system, so the operator has the questions lined up and they get to a scripted response.

It does no favours to the business' that use them. Just a way of saving money and fobbing people off.
 
Money. Their wages are lower than ours, their costs and overheads are lower than ours and their workforce is more flexible than ours.

30 years from now, we will be running their call centres.

@SKYNHEDD - how do you know if a company uses an offshore call centre?

I would put money on every major corporation in the FTSE 250 having offshored to India/China/Phillipines/Argentina at least some of their backoffice functions. Or they've moved their employees employment contracts en-masse to a company from one of those countries.
 
skyripper said:
@SKYNHEDD - how do you know if a company uses an offshore call centre?
Click to expand...

Do you mean because even if you phone a UK call centre you still get a pakistani or an indian?!

Lol... just kidding (or am i?!)

In all seriousness, when u get an indian callcenter, the lines bad quality, and their accents are really strong, and the english is worse than a London rioters. (or a Newcastle supporter)
 
Never really had a big problem with any call centre, possibly due to every job I have ever had involves communicating with other teams around the globe.

Really is luck of the draw as to who you get.
 
The majority of call centres for technical support use scripts regardless of where the call centre is based. it also greatly benefits the businesses that use this system as they can ensure all customers with specific issues are dealt with in a way that is proven to fix 99% of the issues.

These systems are in place to perform a uniform level of support not to save money or fob people off. I don't think many people realise how difficult it can be for these people to do their jobs when certain close minded people hear a foreign accent and automatically assume their service is going to be crap.

i have taken escalations from customer both on and offshore from advisors with 'accents' and some of the abuse they recieve is terrible. in fact one of our favourite games used to be to put the one of the managers on escalations who is polish when people wanted to speak to someone 'english'

Race, colour, location, accent these are all irrelevant when it comes to getting support from a customer service advisor. If you get a good agent you will have a good experience regardless.
 
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