Bag's Rants

Is abuse of call centre staff surprising?

Reading this article on abuse rattling Indian Call centre staff.

Well, I don't know about you but I think they are implying that the abuse is racially motivated and we are all racists. I for one don't agree.

For one thing this is not new. Read this about abuse in 2001.

What these people seem to forget is that poor saps like me don't like getting phone calls about double glazing and other such unsolicited calls. Everyone handles these in different ways including the customary 'Sod off!' In the past our guys hang up and go on to the next hapless 'customer'. That's one of the reason turnover is so high in these jobs it must be totally demoralising. These people are not racist. They are just fed up of being hassled.

Additionally a lot of people don't believe in moving jobs overseas. They vote in the only way that makes sense to the companies. Refuse to deal with these call centres and, if necessary, move their business to make a point. I know a few people that have done this. These people are also not racist.

The ones asking about electricity and carts are just ignorant. They see Indian on the TV and it's usually a small village with a few cows. They rarely get shown the cities with air conditioning, high tech equipment and well educated people. They don't equate the carts, squalor and cows with a well educated, nuclear capable society with space capability. These people are just ignorant and, I believe, not deliberately racist.

Finally, there is the support centre issues. The one I hit weekly. I for one get fed up with press 1 for this and 2 for that. Then you end up the wrong place anyway. Then 'You are 2nd in the queue you will be another two minutes' Five minutes later 'You are 2nd in the queue.... Aaargh!. Then having to spell phonetically almost everything we discuss because the operator does not understand that Manchester is not a suburb of London and that Wales is not a city in England. I get fed up repeating the phonetics because of accent difficulties and get fed up asking them to repeat themselves because I don't understand what they want me to do this end. Then when I get the call from the techies it's often been recorded wrong. It's not racist to get fed up with wasting more of your time than you need to. It takes more than twice as long to log a call now than it did when our call centre was in Luton. I don't have any choice as my firm made this decision but, just to make a point, I make all my calls on my mobile so I can point out how long it takes to record these faults. Our customers complain as well but none officially as they are scared of being classed racist. They have told me so.

So the automated systems that lead you round in circles, the queues with flexible times and, now, in addition, when you speak to someone they don't understand you. No wonder people are blowing their tops.

All in all. Not really surprising to read about this. It's not even surprising to find out they are using the racist card. It's pretty standard really. Welcome to the real world guys.

All this to save a few bob. Wonder how much they save on call centres anyway? Does it make up for the increases in complaints and the loss of customers. Nat West seem to think so if their latest adverts are any indication.

posted by Bag @ 12:33 pm