finally, someones seen the light

tuigirl · #1 06-16-2006, 03:43 AM

Good...at last, the public pressure has done some good.....this report from AOL today
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Powergen is switching its call centres away from India and back to the UK.

The move follows a number of complaints from customers, as well as a decision that it would be easier to manage and train staff in Britain.

The energy giant started using Indian call centres almost five years ago, but now all calls from this country will be answered at the company's five UK call centres in Bedford, Bolton, Leicester, Nottingham and Rayleigh in Essex.

Powergen managing director Nick Horler said: "Offshore call centres may have their place for certain industries.

"However, we believe that we can best achieve industry-leading customer service by operating solely in the UK.

"When customers contact us they need to be confident that their query will be fully resolved quickly.

"Although the cost of overseas outsourcing can be low, we're simply not prepared to achieve savings at the risk or expense of customer satisfaction.''
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........Can I just also say, HOORAY for all those women in the UK who fought for and won their battle for the cancer drug Herceptin to be provided on the NHS (it's very sad for those who lost their lives in the meantime, but this is a wonderfull victory for all the rest)

DavidMn · #2 06-16-2006, 04:33 PM

Somwone finally has some sense!

irishgrl · #3 06-16-2006, 07:51 PM

I wish the US corporations would follow suit...

macfanken · #4 06-16-2006, 08:47 PM

My company has a call center in India, I hear complaints about it almost every day.

gldstwmn · #5 06-19-2006, 10:08 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by macfanken

My company has a call center in India, I hear complaints about it almost every day.

It's ridiculous. I might as well be talking to a recorded message. There really is no conversation going on. They say the same things over and over, as if prompted.

DrummerDeanna · #6 06-19-2006, 10:18 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by gldstwmn

It's ridiculous. I might as well be talking to a recorded message. There really is no conversation going on. They say the same things over and over, as if prompted.

It's MADDENING!! MADDENING. I had an experience recently with an Indian call center - though the person on the other end of the line spoke English it was obvious they did not have any real command of the language - they didn't understand what I was saying and vice versa...

I was FUMING by the end of the call..it's ridiculous.

tuigirl · #7 06-19-2006, 04:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DrummerDeanna

It's MADDENING!! MADDENING. I had an experience recently with an Indian call center - though the person on the other end of the line spoke English it was obvious they did not have any real command of the language - they didn't understand what I was saying and vice versa...

I was FUMING by the end of the call..it's ridiculous.

Yes, isn't it though..ridiculous..but hopefully other companies will follow suit if we complain enough! I swear I also get Scandanavian girls ringing me on occasion as well, about kitchens or whatever..it's annoying!

SuzeQuze · #8 06-20-2006, 07:49 AM

Yeah, they're not invested in you so they don't care if your issue is resolved. Also, the Indian accent is one of the most difficult for Americans to understand, I would imagine that is true for English as well. The way they accent syllables and their pronounciation in general is so different.

We tried to outsource part of our helpdesk to India at my last company. What happened was issues just weren't getting resolved. So eventually we had to bring it back. When you only look at the bottom line without factoring in everything else you can really screw things up.

I had this one CIO, it makes me fume to remember this even, that decided to outsource our helpdesk to Ireland. I had been promoted into training so it wouldn't directly affect me but I helped build the group so it definitely felt personal on some level. This CIO was just awful and he wanted to make his mark right away by making cuts. Of course we had only 3 employees on helpdesk who's salaries couldn't have been any more than $130k combined. At any rate, we heard all about how great it would be for a couple of months and then it quietly disappeared. When I asked about it I heard that he had forgotten to include the cost of the high speed internet line to Irelend. Are you f____ kidding me?

Sometimes these execs are just trying to look busy and make such a big mess in their wake.

jannieC · #9 06-20-2006, 08:28 AM

I used to work as a Credit Analyst for American Express and we had a Customer Service call center in India (they still do, as a matter of fact), as well as in the U.S. What I noticed about the reps from India was that their English was actually quite good; it was the inflection that made it so hard to understand. You know, putting the em-PHA-sis on the wrong syl-LA-ble.

Very difficult and the customers used to get so (understandably) angry. What always cracked me up was their "names"! They'd have these ridiculous accents and introduce themselves as "Bob" or "Joe".

Obviously their names were too difficult to pronounce, so they just made up Americanized names.

The sad thing is that these people have such a hard time finding a job and the call centers are considered very important jobs to the people of India. They NEVER call in sick because they are so scared of losing their jobs. I've heard that the suicide rate is very high (among the people of India who have lost their jobs for whatever reason). And the reason we employ them is because they work very cheaply. It's all quite sad, actually.