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Why do some companies still try and persist with outsourcing call centres to India these days? Surely, with the general customer experience of said call centres, whatever savings they make are outweighed by lost business?
I've tried making multiple calls to Three today to sort out my iPad contract, only to be frustrated at every step of the way by call-centre staff who can only stick rigidly to their script, and seem to be forbidden from using any form of independent thought.
Most of my issues with call centres have been with large companies like Vodafone etc. While the experience is usually hugely frustrating, will I get so annoyed that I am prepared to go through the hassle of changing my mobile provider, especially as there is no guarantee that the new supplier will have a better call centre? That's why they get away with it.
Indian Call Centres on 16:58 - Jul 15 by Radlett_blue
Most of my issues with call centres have been with large companies like Vodafone etc. While the experience is usually hugely frustrating, will I get so annoyed that I am prepared to go through the hassle of changing my mobile provider, especially as there is no guarantee that the new supplier will have a better call centre? That's why they get away with it.
Whilst, oddly enough, Now TV (who tend to get slated for their customer service) have a Scottish-based call-centre in which the staff are helpfulness personified.
But having lived and worked in India (in Gurgaon where hundreds if not thousands of call centres are based) the productivity level is awful.
You will see a lot of companies bringing them back as there has been a lot of research into cost per case by some of the big banks and home-based call centres are much cheaper in terms of resolving cases at point of pickup.
A good example (today) was calling a UK based call centre to change an account number for a direct debit. The whole call from pickup to resolution was 2 minutes and a few seconds. I can guarantee that in India it would take double, if not triple the time, and the call may be passed on if there was an accent clash.
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Indian Call Centres on 17:12 - Jul 15 with 2429 views
Previously, I have had the same experiences as you, but with the added problem of not being able understand a word of what they were saying due to heavy accents.
But in the last month, I have had occasion to have my calls transferred to an Indian call centre and despite my initial dread, they were positive experiences (amusingly it's in the same city that I am currently residing in).
As you say, it's probably that they have to stick to a script. Did you (politely) ask to speak to someone more senior? This always worked for me. ;)
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Indian Call Centres on 17:22 - Jul 15 with 2389 views
Indian Call Centres on 17:13 - Jul 15 by lightuser
Previously, I have had the same experiences as you, but with the added problem of not being able understand a word of what they were saying due to heavy accents.
But in the last month, I have had occasion to have my calls transferred to an Indian call centre and despite my initial dread, they were positive experiences (amusingly it's in the same city that I am currently residing in).
As you say, it's probably that they have to stick to a script. Did you (politely) ask to speak to someone more senior? This always worked for me. ;)
The BT Indian based call centres I have had the misfortune to use have been horrendous. However, every time I have called Barclaycard and dealt with their Indian call centre it has been a very positive and efficient experience.
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Indian Call Centres on 17:23 - Jul 15 with 2385 views
Indian Call Centres on 17:00 - Jul 15 by uefacup81
Whilst, oddly enough, Now TV (who tend to get slated for their customer service) have a Scottish-based call-centre in which the staff are helpfulness personified.
Go figure!
'Go Figure' 'You do the math' 'I was like' 'She was like' Answering a question with 'So ...'
Five things that make my pi55 fizz.
4
Indian Call Centres on 17:28 - Jul 15 with 2374 views
The main reason I changed my electricity supplier was because Green (who I am now with) have a system whereby all phone calls go straight, directly and almost immediately, to a human being who is trained properly to answer most questions & resolve account issues. No menu, no loops or hoops.
Had previously been with Ovo, whose customer service, whilst UK based (I think) was absolutely shocking with multiple loops, being passed around from pillar to post, & the next person down the line having no clue about the problem, therefore having to repeat it multiple times. They were also not averse to regularly bumping up your DDs without your permission, even when you were in credit & your forecast use was within the existing DD amount.
These days when having to change any utility, I'll always go with a company having a UK call centre. Apart from anything else, my hearing isn't great & understanding heavy accents is a problem.
Indian Call Centres on 17:22 - Jul 15 by longtimefan
The BT Indian based call centres I have had the misfortune to use have been horrendous. However, every time I have called Barclaycard and dealt with their Indian call centre it has been a very positive and efficient experience.
Exactly the same experience as you on those 2 fronts.
As for other times with other firms it really has been a mixed bag, but yes, know what the OP means he says it can be a frustrating experience with the person at the other end sticking religiously to the card.
Indian Call Centres on 17:12 - Jul 15 by monytowbray
Cheap foreign labour with less worker’s rights.
And then the right wing think the workers are the enemy for escaping the hell the West helped create and benefit from.
God forbid the plebs get angry at the right people and start punching up. Divide and conquer.
I would have thought the rise of the scammer call centres would be enough reason to move them elsewhere.
In addition to the points mentioned; cheap labour, less rights... India has a higher rate of degree holders per head of population all of whom speak English, though sometimes the accent, quality of line and onset of sensory neural hearing loss can get in the way.
Indian Call Centres on 17:00 - Jul 15 by uefacup81
Whilst, oddly enough, Now TV (who tend to get slated for their customer service) have a Scottish-based call-centre in which the staff are helpfulness personified.
Go figure!
Scotland is outsourcing.......before they start, I am joking......
I can hear the PC brigade sharpening their anger and rallying to call you out over putting down a foreign country.......
Again, Herbi keep you hat on, it's a joke.
I did a contract for the DWP a couple of years back and had to train a call center team in Bristol on how to deal and work with veterans. Teleperformance. Not the best pay but their workforce was the most diverse I've ever seen. People with disabilities properly supported, it was really good to see.
There is a cracking workforce in this country who are ready and willing, we just need to be more selfish with our contracts......
Assumption is to make an ass out of you and me.
Those who assume they know you, when they don't are just guessing.
Those who assume and insist they know are daft and in denial.
Those who assume, insist, and deny the truth are plain stupid.
Those who assume, insist, deny the truth and tell YOU they know you (when they don't) have an IQ in the range of 35-49.
Scotland is outsourcing.......before they start, I am joking......
I can hear the PC brigade sharpening their anger and rallying to call you out over putting down a foreign country.......
Again, Herbi keep you hat on, it's a joke.
I did a contract for the DWP a couple of years back and had to train a call center team in Bristol on how to deal and work with veterans. Teleperformance. Not the best pay but their workforce was the most diverse I've ever seen. People with disabilities properly supported, it was really good to see.
There is a cracking workforce in this country who are ready and willing, we just need to be more selfish with our contracts......
The idea of having a pop at the libtard soy boi beta cucks is you post before they’ve all replied in a thread saying the exact opposite.
Awww. Benters, Taxi and Grimboy would have loved this thread
Pronouns: He/Him/His.
"Imagine being a heterosexual white male in Britain at this moment. How bad is that. Everything you say is racist, everything you say is homophobic. The Woke community have really f****d this country."
But having lived and worked in India (in Gurgaon where hundreds if not thousands of call centres are based) the productivity level is awful.
You will see a lot of companies bringing them back as there has been a lot of research into cost per case by some of the big banks and home-based call centres are much cheaper in terms of resolving cases at point of pickup.
A good example (today) was calling a UK based call centre to change an account number for a direct debit. The whole call from pickup to resolution was 2 minutes and a few seconds. I can guarantee that in India it would take double, if not triple the time, and the call may be passed on if there was an accent clash.
As with a lot of outsourcing, it often ultimately costs you more than it appears to save.
I'm one of the people who was blamed for getting Paul Cook sacked. PM for the full post.
Scotland is outsourcing.......before they start, I am joking......
I can hear the PC brigade sharpening their anger and rallying to call you out over putting down a foreign country.......
Again, Herbi keep you hat on, it's a joke.
I did a contract for the DWP a couple of years back and had to train a call center team in Bristol on how to deal and work with veterans. Teleperformance. Not the best pay but their workforce was the most diverse I've ever seen. People with disabilities properly supported, it was really good to see.
There is a cracking workforce in this country who are ready and willing, we just need to be more selfish with our contracts......
What a weird post.
The critique was not of India, but of U.K. companies, that use India. So a put down of U.K. companies.
He didn’t put down a country, but rigid call-centre processes. Which are usually agreed with the company contracting the call centre, a U.K. company.
Can you breakdown and explain the joke part?
Were you going for a set– up/punch, a triple, a callback, list, simile, pun, what were you basically attempting here?
Maybe you can work it through so we can understand you a little bit better.
At the moment, it looks like you have tried to construct a joke about a PC person mis-interpreting a comment and re-acting to that.
But, the person that has mis-interpreted the comment, and more interestingly, associated the comment with negative connotations related to a foreign country, is you.
Hmmmmm, interesting, shouldn’t you really be the subject of the joke.
Or, are you attempting an exaggerated characterisation of a right wing buffoon, you know like a Paul Whitehouse character? Mixture of drunk bloke and the man and boy style character?
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Indian Call Centres on 21:16 - Jul 15 with 2026 views
The critique was not of India, but of U.K. companies, that use India. So a put down of U.K. companies.
He didn’t put down a country, but rigid call-centre processes. Which are usually agreed with the company contracting the call centre, a U.K. company.
Can you breakdown and explain the joke part?
Were you going for a set– up/punch, a triple, a callback, list, simile, pun, what were you basically attempting here?
Maybe you can work it through so we can understand you a little bit better.
At the moment, it looks like you have tried to construct a joke about a PC person mis-interpreting a comment and re-acting to that.
But, the person that has mis-interpreted the comment, and more interestingly, associated the comment with negative connotations related to a foreign country, is you.
Hmmmmm, interesting, shouldn’t you really be the subject of the joke.
Or, are you attempting an exaggerated characterisation of a right wing buffoon, you know like a Paul Whitehouse character? Mixture of drunk bloke and the man and boy style character?
"Mixture of drunk bloke and the man and boy style character?"
Nailed it!
Pronouns: He/Him/His.
"Imagine being a heterosexual white male in Britain at this moment. How bad is that. Everything you say is racist, everything you say is homophobic. The Woke community have really f****d this country."
I've also had the misfortune of dealing with BT. It's fairly obvious they are working from a script full of flow charts, if the answer to their questions doesn't quite fall in line with these flow charts you then end up going round in circles.
What really grinds my gears is " hello my name is Steve, how may I help?" Now come on mate I know you're name isn't Steve so let's try a bit of honesty to start with.
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Indian Call Centres on 11:10 - Jul 16 with 1738 views
Indian Call Centres on 08:15 - Jul 16 by emmaroyds
I've also had the misfortune of dealing with BT. It's fairly obvious they are working from a script full of flow charts, if the answer to their questions doesn't quite fall in line with these flow charts you then end up going round in circles.
What really grinds my gears is " hello my name is Steve, how may I help?" Now come on mate I know you're name isn't Steve so let's try a bit of honesty to start with.
I've spent the equivalent of a full working week over the past 5 weeks tearing my hair out trying to get any sense/logic/intelligence/competence out of BT/Openreach. Landline's been out of order 6 times incorporating 18 days totally dead in that time, since they dug thru their own phone cable (twice) while installing broadband cable down the road. They only do temp repairs each time instead of a proper fix, so every time it rains (ie every week) more water gets in.
Their online fault-reporting page doesn't work, just greys out & buffers every time I try to use it. The only way I've been able to get same-day contact with them is by tweeting them. Then despite my saying every time there's no mobile signal here, their response is always "use your mobile phone to call this number" Additionally, the last time they asked me on twitter to DM them my personal details (which they already had multiple times on a still-open DM convo) they then managed to post *openly* to the general public, my real name, thereby breaching every law re privacy, confidentiality, data protection etc. They only removed it 30 mins after I threatened to contact my MP re the whole sorry saga. They are a total, utter, shambolic pits of a company.
The main reason I changed my electricity supplier was because Green (who I am now with) have a system whereby all phone calls go straight, directly and almost immediately, to a human being who is trained properly to answer most questions & resolve account issues. No menu, no loops or hoops.
Had previously been with Ovo, whose customer service, whilst UK based (I think) was absolutely shocking with multiple loops, being passed around from pillar to post, & the next person down the line having no clue about the problem, therefore having to repeat it multiple times. They were also not averse to regularly bumping up your DDs without your permission, even when you were in credit & your forecast use was within the existing DD amount.
These days when having to change any utility, I'll always go with a company having a UK call centre. Apart from anything else, my hearing isn't great & understanding heavy accents is a problem.
I have been surprised to hear about your bad experiences with OVO, Ryorry. I have been with them for 4 or 5 years and had not a single problem. Their website information has always seemed very comprehensive to me.
I seem to have been in total charge of the monthly amount I pay by DD. I actually pay more than strictly necessay because they pay a rate of interest on the money on the account which is far better than any bank currently pays.
You can check daily (if you really want to!) how much electricity and gas you have used the day before.
I admit that I have never needed to use the call centre.
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Indian Call Centres on 11:26 - Jul 16 with 1709 views
I've spent the equivalent of a full working week over the past 5 weeks tearing my hair out trying to get any sense/logic/intelligence/competence out of BT/Openreach. Landline's been out of order 6 times incorporating 18 days totally dead in that time, since they dug thru their own phone cable (twice) while installing broadband cable down the road. They only do temp repairs each time instead of a proper fix, so every time it rains (ie every week) more water gets in.
Their online fault-reporting page doesn't work, just greys out & buffers every time I try to use it. The only way I've been able to get same-day contact with them is by tweeting them. Then despite my saying every time there's no mobile signal here, their response is always "use your mobile phone to call this number" Additionally, the last time they asked me on twitter to DM them my personal details (which they already had multiple times on a still-open DM convo) they then managed to post *openly* to the general public, my real name, thereby breaching every law re privacy, confidentiality, data protection etc. They only removed it 30 mins after I threatened to contact my MP re the whole sorry saga. They are a total, utter, shambolic pits of a company.
Must say I phoned BT last night with a view to renewing my soon to expire contract. Was fearing the worst while waiting the 20 minutes to get through in terms of likely price rise as I had been on a really good discount offered at my previous renewal. Got a UK based operator who listened to what I wanted (basically to keep Broadband and line rental low as possible and to see if there was a way to reduce my BT Sport subscription as I wasn’t prepared to pay the current tariff), went away to check options for a couple of minutes and then came back and said I could keep the current discount and that they’d knock 50% off my current BT Sport cost. Well happy with that!
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Indian Call Centres on 11:54 - Jul 16 with 1675 views
Indian Call Centres on 11:27 - Jul 16 by longtimefan
Must say I phoned BT last night with a view to renewing my soon to expire contract. Was fearing the worst while waiting the 20 minutes to get through in terms of likely price rise as I had been on a really good discount offered at my previous renewal. Got a UK based operator who listened to what I wanted (basically to keep Broadband and line rental low as possible and to see if there was a way to reduce my BT Sport subscription as I wasn’t prepared to pay the current tariff), went away to check options for a couple of minutes and then came back and said I could keep the current discount and that they’d knock 50% off my current BT Sport cost. Well happy with that!
I think that sums it all up perfectly.
UK-based call centres when they're trying to sell you something, and then shipped off to the sub-continent once you're signed up and locked in.
I think it is less to do with where and training, and more to do with the remit given to the customer service representatives. Eg, do everything you can to resolve the issue positively for the customer within these parameters... Or, do everything you can to not give the customer something that would cost us money.
I was with three about a decade ago and they changed their network relations and it meant that I would no longer be able to receive calls whilst at home. They refused to do anything, so I got my bank to block all requests for payment. In the end, they deducted the cost of a landline being installed and the monthly upkeep. took about a month for them to break though.
Left them asap and never consider them since. Not worth it.
I've had plenty of good experiences with offshore customer services teams.
Submit your 1-24 league prediction here -https://www.twtd.co.uk/forum/514096/page:1 - for the opportunity to get a free Ipswich top.
I've spent the equivalent of a full working week over the past 5 weeks tearing my hair out trying to get any sense/logic/intelligence/competence out of BT/Openreach. Landline's been out of order 6 times incorporating 18 days totally dead in that time, since they dug thru their own phone cable (twice) while installing broadband cable down the road. They only do temp repairs each time instead of a proper fix, so every time it rains (ie every week) more water gets in.
Their online fault-reporting page doesn't work, just greys out & buffers every time I try to use it. The only way I've been able to get same-day contact with them is by tweeting them. Then despite my saying every time there's no mobile signal here, their response is always "use your mobile phone to call this number" Additionally, the last time they asked me on twitter to DM them my personal details (which they already had multiple times on a still-open DM convo) they then managed to post *openly* to the general public, my real name, thereby breaching every law re privacy, confidentiality, data protection etc. They only removed it 30 mins after I threatened to contact my MP re the whole sorry saga. They are a total, utter, shambolic pits of a company.
I too have seen their temporary repairs. Several broadband lines got fused together by a lightning strike here a while back, To be fair they got it back up and running quite quickly, but the line is now running through grassy banks and hedges instead of being up on the poles. I am just hoping that no-one decides to trim said hedges and banks because that will be the end of my broadband if they do.
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Additionally, the last time they asked me on twitter to DM them my personal details (which they already had multiple times on a still-open DM convo) they then managed to post *openly* to the general public, my real name, thereby breaching every law re privacy, confidentiality, data protection etc. They only removed it 30 mins after I threatened to contact my MP re the whole sorry saga. They are a total, utter, shambolic pits of a company. 
