How may I help you?
I am not a racist by any stretch of the imagination, I would not discriminate against any one due the colour of their skin or even on religious beliefs [which is more than I could say for some religious fanatics, however, I digress].
What I can say is that I am becoming increasingly frustrated by companies that insist on moving their call centres overseas, especially to India. Frequently I have to speak to someone who gets annoyed and frustrated at not being able to understand either what I am saying or nor I him/her.
This has happened on so many occasions that I am now considering moving any business I have, be it motor insurance, mortgage, internet provider, to companies that make it a policy to keep their customer services in the UK.
The cultural differences can be noted even during the short time it takes for me to make an inquiry with just such a call centre. I cannot believe how arrogant they sound, even though this may not be the case.
I was intrigued to see that a behind the scenes programme has been made about call centres, [Channel Four tonight at 21.00 pm] entitled Phone Rage. I only hope the programme makers show a typical call centre in India to prove my point, otherwise it will be full of wise-cracking Geordies, who are infinitely better at answering phones than any group of people I know. At least they treat me like a fellow human.
In fact I think we should move all call centres to the north of England as any rage will be taken out of a call the minute a northerner answers the phone.
Our IT department at work places all its calls through a centre in Newcastle and at the end of the call when asked ‘Is there anything else we can do for you today Paul?’ wouldn’t it nice to be able to reply ‘Actually, whilst I am on the phone I have an inquiry regarding my Car Insurance’ ‘Sure, I will put you through to Michelle who deals with Insurance, thank you for calling’ [Obviously omitting the infuriating phrase, ‘have a nice day’].
As it is I have had to speak to three different operatives to obtain a seven day drive away insurance cover note from the same company I have my current motor insurance with, which has resulted in me have two insurance policies running side by side for the period of seven days and means I have to go through the call centre again to cancel one of them. Not only that but also one department could’ve sent the cover note but only via fax, which meant the car could not be taxed, whilst the other could send it via post, with a four to five maximum postal period, whilst a third could sent it via email, but could not comprehend the idea that the Car Dealership I wanted it all sending to began with the Number O for Oscar and not 0 [Zero]. If the note arrives on time tomorrow it will be due to my persistence and not through any supposed efficiency on their part.
The next time I am informed that my call may be recorded for training purposes I may have to ask what form of training they are referring to, probably endurance training for the caller.
What I can say is that I am becoming increasingly frustrated by companies that insist on moving their call centres overseas, especially to India. Frequently I have to speak to someone who gets annoyed and frustrated at not being able to understand either what I am saying or nor I him/her.
This has happened on so many occasions that I am now considering moving any business I have, be it motor insurance, mortgage, internet provider, to companies that make it a policy to keep their customer services in the UK.
The cultural differences can be noted even during the short time it takes for me to make an inquiry with just such a call centre. I cannot believe how arrogant they sound, even though this may not be the case.
I was intrigued to see that a behind the scenes programme has been made about call centres, [Channel Four tonight at 21.00 pm] entitled Phone Rage. I only hope the programme makers show a typical call centre in India to prove my point, otherwise it will be full of wise-cracking Geordies, who are infinitely better at answering phones than any group of people I know. At least they treat me like a fellow human.
In fact I think we should move all call centres to the north of England as any rage will be taken out of a call the minute a northerner answers the phone.
Our IT department at work places all its calls through a centre in Newcastle and at the end of the call when asked ‘Is there anything else we can do for you today Paul?’ wouldn’t it nice to be able to reply ‘Actually, whilst I am on the phone I have an inquiry regarding my Car Insurance’ ‘Sure, I will put you through to Michelle who deals with Insurance, thank you for calling’ [Obviously omitting the infuriating phrase, ‘have a nice day’].
As it is I have had to speak to three different operatives to obtain a seven day drive away insurance cover note from the same company I have my current motor insurance with, which has resulted in me have two insurance policies running side by side for the period of seven days and means I have to go through the call centre again to cancel one of them. Not only that but also one department could’ve sent the cover note but only via fax, which meant the car could not be taxed, whilst the other could send it via post, with a four to five maximum postal period, whilst a third could sent it via email, but could not comprehend the idea that the Car Dealership I wanted it all sending to began with the Number O for Oscar and not 0 [Zero]. If the note arrives on time tomorrow it will be due to my persistence and not through any supposed efficiency on their part.
The next time I am informed that my call may be recorded for training purposes I may have to ask what form of training they are referring to, probably endurance training for the caller.
Labels: call centres
posted by old enough to moan @ 3:31 pm
2 Comments
2 Comments:
ohhh,man! do i agree with you..i have been so mad at service people from india that i was nearly in tears...once after saying 'im sorry i cant understand you, or what did you say, or can you repeat that, i didnt understand a fucking word you said...that i said look mother fucker..if im going to have to talk to an indian, i want an american indian ...one with feathers and not a dot..then i actually had a brilliant idea..why doesn't my country give those indian jobs to our indians...they need work..they can do the work..and they can speak fucking english...
sigh*...crawling off my soap box ...sorry, but i feel so much better now..
Yellowdog, I think you missed your vocation in life, have you ever thought about working in a call centre dealing with Asian caller inquiries?
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