Is it inbound or outbound? I've done both, and while outbound is soul destroying, I loved my inbound job. It really depends on the actual job though, some are interesting and some are just really stressful. I worked in an inbound call centre for 3 years and it was a great way to make money - I earned a lot more than other students I knew and it was really easy work.
Working in a call center?
- Thread starter firthy15
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As has been said it will vary greatly from company to company and even campaign to campaign within the same company. I worked at an inbound call centre and it was very easy if dull as I just had to enter about three numbers, confirm that the client wanted their points transferred and that was it, the pay was also surprisingly decent.
+1
Mine was inbound, and that was bad enough; the very idea of outbound fills me with horror.
Again, depends what you are doing really. It can be staggering how rude, ignorant and foolish the general public can be at times.
Luckily I have 5 big customers who are the only people I speak to and have excellent relationships with all of them.
As mentioned, inbound is a lot better than outbound, but it also makes a big difference how good the company you are answering calls for is to their customers. I worked for a company that was pretty much bottom in its industry, so you would get people that had been in a queue for half an hour, and had big problems that no one had been sorting out for months, so they were obviously not very pleasant.
Its also not so bad if you’ve been trained to actually deal with the queries you are getting, but the call centres I’ve worked in have had very poor training programs, so people tend to find it very stressful for the first few months whilst they work out what they are doing. If you can sort peoples problems, then they usually stop shouting and swearing at you.
There is also the issue of pressure, in particular – call times. You tend to be given targets you have to meet for average call time, and average wrap up time (time spent writing notes at the end), and these are not always very realistic.
Its also not so bad if you’ve been trained to actually deal with the queries you are getting, but the call centres I’ve worked in have had very poor training programs, so people tend to find it very stressful for the first few months whilst they work out what they are doing. If you can sort peoples problems, then they usually stop shouting and swearing at you.
There is also the issue of pressure, in particular – call times. You tend to be given targets you have to meet for average call time, and average wrap up time (time spent writing notes at the end), and these are not always very realistic.
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Amen to that, simple instructions seem to take on the status of Herculean tasks to some people - something as simple as "have your bank card ready" which repeated on a loop while people were on hold was routinely ignored even by the people getting through to the right department. And as for "can you read out the 16 digit number on the front of your card for me please?" - I could be almost certain that half these people couldn't count.
That's interesting to hear, because you just worked in a different department for the same company I did, and we've obviously had very different experiences. Regarding call times, my boyfriend actually got told off for his calls being too short, yet they said there was nothing wrong with anything he did on the call and nothing was missed out, so targets can be stupid.
My department was very relaxed before we merged with the one Redrum worked for, and most of our customers were friendly or at least didn't shout at anyone. The training was going majorly downhill by the time I left though, I had 70 hours and a lot of new people were lucky to get 5 before being thrown on the phones and it makes a massive difference.
70 hours is good. We have 40 hours over 1 week, followed by going live for 1 week in a "Nursery pod" with floorwalkers and advisors on hand. Then new starters get split into their respective teams and cover Domestic enquiries only for a couple of months, before going back into the training environment for a further 40 hours of training on International and then back out onto the floor again.
We are also Investors In People champions and have a strong "Home-grown timber" policy which really does seem to make huge a difference compared to companies where people are almost dragged off the street, have a phone thrust in their hands and get told to "Get on with it"
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I used to work in 2 call centers, HSBC and NTL... Were both okish... lol!
Basically, i liked the work, most train ya quite well (HSBC 3 months, NTL 6 weeks)... i did really like HSBC, as solving peoples problems was quite nice
Only thing was, they wanted me to upsell products, i dont like and cant do sales... so i moved to NTL. Same again, i liked the helping nature of the job but the company was totally messed up, so many customers gettin messed about... most would come on the phone shouting and swearing before i even said hello!!
So i recommend it, its a nice wee job... just find out everything about where you are going to work... make sure your happy with every aspect of the job and the company itself
Basically, i liked the work, most train ya quite well (HSBC 3 months, NTL 6 weeks)... i did really like HSBC, as solving peoples problems was quite nice
Only thing was, they wanted me to upsell products, i dont like and cant do sales... so i moved to NTL. Same again, i liked the helping nature of the job but the company was totally messed up, so many customers gettin messed about... most would come on the phone shouting and swearing before i even said hello!!So i recommend it, its a nice wee job... just find out everything about where you are going to work... make sure your happy with every aspect of the job and the company itself
Thats impressive if you managed to work out what company I worked for because I didn't mention it and didn't give much detail. I don't want to say who it was because I don't like to publicly **** off a previous employer, but it was an ISP and Telcomms company based in London, although one of the call centres I worked at was an outsourced one at a Garlands call centre.
Regarding the calls being too short, I've never heard anyone say that. At one point when I was working as a sort of supervisor/consultant, we were actually told it doesn't matter if we can't reasonable get the staff to get the calls down to the target, just do what we have to, even if it means not really helping the customers much.
Ah sorry, I'm getting confused between you and someone else whose name starts with Red who discussed working in the same office as me in other threads
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just started in a bailiff call centre....and right now am not liking it to be honest 
, and its only the second week haha.
Some of the grief you get off people, i know with it being a bailiff company you'd get some stick, but some of the things people will say when your trying to help is simply no need for
like said earlier i guess you do need hard skin or be able to detach your self away from it all.
if i knew it was gonna be like this i would have prob stayed at my old job
, and its only the second week haha.Some of the grief you get off people, i know with it being a bailiff company you'd get some stick, but some of the things people will say when your trying to help is simply no need for
like said earlier i guess you do need hard skin or be able to detach your self away from it all.
if i knew it was gonna be like this i would have prob stayed at my old job
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LOL I'ma team leader in a CallCentre, I do think I'm not a hilter on a powertrip.
Having worked for the call centres, it's all down to the people you work with, and the management structure above you.
Powerhouse call centre - great, we were relaxed, all got on great, being part of the management team was great, we used to take out the staff bi-monthly for a good old pi$$ up town, all paid for by the Director.
B&Q Call Centre - staff ok - systems crap, couldn;t help customers well - lack of tools
Nightfreight - staff crap, being a team leader, where my boss, the call centre manager has no clue - well no point? - staff all evil, some resent me for coming in and getting the senior position after being with the company < 2months, when other have been there 2 yrs when they applied!
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Ah sorry, I'm getting confused between you and someone else whose name starts with Red who discussed working in the same office as me in other threads
That would be me then
Yeah I worked for RBS with Vixen. Worked in the Digital Banking Sector which was awesome, then merged with lost and stolen cards (Vixen's department) which was pretty boring.
Left shortly afterwards to work in the Inland Revenue call centre for the construction industry and whilst the customers were mainly nice the pressure on stats (call times etc) was horrendus. Luckily this was only a stop gap in between switching uni courses.
Now I am back at RBS in the fraud department and the training was the worst I have ever recieved in any job but the money is excellent and the job is ok. Not the best call centre I've worked in, but certainly not the worst.
Call centre work is ok if its just part time but I wouldn't dream of doing it for a career.
Soldato
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Same here, though for lloyds, I dreaded going in on my last days.