UK Call Centres...

[Sean-H]

Here's an idea.  Why not have UK call centres with people who can speak and understand English fluently and who have been trained in proper customer service and not read the script, talk over customers and accuse them of being liars!?

Just an idea. British Telecom

[scaz]

why is this unsuitable?

it is a real problem, the advisors do not understand what is being said to them. I have frequently been asked if I have asked one question, when in fact I have asked a totally different question. 

[ChefHilary]

I happen to think that most of the operators in foreign locations have been trained really well and in the main they do a great job....

but...

unemployment in the UK is dire - bring back UK jobs!!

[grahamdxb]

BT have farmed out their Customer Service, arguably the most important aspect of their business, to a third world country.

Although the guys there are intelligent and well educated, there are language issues (not so much of a problem) but there are significant cultural differences as their belief system operates on a 'pride & shame' basis which our western belief system interprets as lying: ie. Rather than admit BT is at fault or if they don't know the answer they will make something up.

That's why I've given up and am changing provider.

[forbesk]

Sean-H, I totally understand where you are coming from. I have had the misfortune of having to phone these call centres about 4 times a week for the last 5 weeks while BT drag their heels over fixing my phone line. Most of the people I have to speak to just do not speak or understand plain English, surely for call centre staff this is a vital skill! Before anyone starts playing the race card, I don't care where the staff are from or where they live, just that they are able to speak English.

[forbesk]

NigelE, why have you marked this idea as unsuitable? Is the notion of good customer service to much of a wild and crazy a concept for BT? Come on Nigel try some "blue sky" thinking.

[DavidM]

Hi Guys,

Thanks for posting. The idea of this is board to improve the general functions of the Forum and not BT as a whole, though any service affecting issues that are posted are passed on as feedback.

Cheers

David

[Intrepid777]

I generally (generally-not always)find the foreign ones have less attitude and unlike other posters only very occasionally don't understand me. Only strange thing i find is they're conversation attempts are quite awkward like they're being forced to make conversation. anyway, its not just BT, but same for O2, and HSBC.... Directline has uk call centres and it took 4 calls and 1.5 months to fix the address after I moved. Not saying that uk call centres are worse, just that they're about the same to me. Having said that, foreign or local, they're call centres, they are usually not aspirational jobs hence high attrition rates means you get new employees all the time who are learning the job. Thinking about it- bless them, wherever they are, I wouldn't do it out of choice.

[db218]

BE's Romanian call centre staff, may have had language problems at times but were at least interested in providing some customer service, and pick up reasonably soon on the technical expertise. The Indian sub-continent call centre bods just are not interested and are just bums on seats crawling through the bad scripts, with little or no understanding. But contacting them with some British accents and you might as be trying to teach them Swahili, Serbo-Croat or ancient Egyptian or Greek. Sometimes I think it might be better going and learning Punjabi or Urdu from some of the residents in some parts of my city before attempting to converse with the indian sub-continent. Indian sub-continent call centres are just not fit for purpose.

[KenSharp]

I would say the problem lies with underpaid call centre staff not knowing the first thing about how telecommunication infrastructure works. I know, I ran a team of them, and that was in England.