Ninety-five per cent of respondents said foreign call centres were a pet hate and they would like to ditch service providers that developed them.
**Nine out of ten customers hate talking to India **
Overseas call centres remain one of the most hated aspects of dealing with banks and other companies, according to the latest research by Financial Mail. Our survey also showed the extent to which non-financial companies are sending their call centres abroad – with equally disastrous results. Almost 1,000 readers logged on to sister website thisismoney.co.uk to give information about companies whose foreign-based call centres caused problems. Big organisations such as HSBC and Norwich Union, with well-publicised overseas operations, inevitably attracted criticism. But so did other firms. Customers of computer company Dell (NASDAQ) vented rage about all aspects of the service provided by its call centres. Other non-financial firms complained about were BSkyB, internet service provider Tiscali and mobile phone operator-O2. Another big name to come under fire is BT. It says that only two of its 33 call centres are in India and its research shows that “service levels are the same or better.” Financial Mail readers disagree, with dozens citing problems when calling with billing queries and issues relating to broadband services. In fact, BT was one of the top four companies for complaints. Delays, incomprehensible accents, mispronounced names and lack of familiarity with UK geography were the most common hates. One reader told of a call centre employee who thought Cardiff was in Birmingham. Another Asia-based worker confused our Birmingham with the American town in Alabama. Several people found it especially distressing to talk to overseas workers about the death of a parent or spouse. “I had to explain again and again that my father had died,” said one reader, “but the man didn’t seem to know what that meant.” Most people also suspected that Asiabased workers who claimed they had English names such as Edward or Geraldine were lying, which they disliked.
Ninety-five per cent of respondents said foreign call centres were a pet hate and they would like to ditch service providers that developed them. Sixtynine per cent said such service was consistently poor. When they got through, 24 per cent asked call centre staff where they were based – and more than half said they were likely to be less polite than usual when talking to someone abroad because they were frustrated. Mike White, 53, works closely with colleagues in a small business near Halesowen, West Midlands, distributing nuts and bolts. “We can overhear each other battling with insurers and phone companies,” says Mike, who manages the family-owned business. "I just don’t like the feeling of talking about my financial affairs to someone on the other side of the world. “And why is it that when you place an order you talk to someone here, but when something goes wrong you speak to someone in India? Answer that.”
Re: Nine out of ten customers hate talking to India
Instead of doing something to counter this, it is sad that us helpless Pakistani Billiz try to comfort ourselves with such puny jokes to make ourselves feel better, whereas India continues to dominate the world.
Re: Nine out of ten customers hate talking to India
couldnt have said it any better. on one hand, billy is busy posting anti-west posts. and out of the blue comes a 9/10 westerners disapprove indians post.
Re: Nine out of ten customers hate talking to India
I've had trouble in the past. It's all good so long as they are understandable. However, at times there are communication barriers that make the entire process very cumbersome and painful.
I just think that they need to hire people more carefully, otherwise it's all good.
Re: Nine out of ten customers hate talking to India
HSBC made £10bn profit last year. I’m sure they can afford not to charge customers. I personally dont mind they generally answer the phone quicker and eventually do as you want.
Re: Nine out of ten customers hate talking to India
How many companies make that much profit and afford it. To make profit you have to cut corners, and in today's world of cut throt compition you have to have your prices low. if your compititor is saving money by outsourcing and is cheaper then u like or not u have to follow the suit too.
And moreover call centeres save them lots of money in a long run when they are not making profit too.
my friends company has a monopoly over printed maps and map books. they are the cheapest in louisiana. He is a red neck to the core but dont mind printing its stuff from canada. even after transportation it still costs him less then half.
do the math.
Re: Nine out of ten customers hate talking to India
haha.. whiny pakis love to quote this racist radio jockey. yet, they havent managed to untangle their bunched up collective panties at a silly cartoon.
Re: Nine out of ten customers hate talking to India
You’ve missed the point completly. Your freind could print books in China to the same standard for even less. Problem is do you want to be talking to someone end of the line who doesnt understand a thing?
