wendy mcilroy, at 8:51am 4th Oct 2008, wrote:

I had reason to be put through to a call centre,god it was hard work the guy didnt speak a word of english ,i might as well banged my head against the wall

ericka kemp, at 7:37pm 4th Oct 2008, wrote:

i have had nothing but stress from 3's call centre. They have over charged me on my phone bill by £95 and I have given up trying to get my money back!This was 9 months ago and I can't go through the call centre hasell any more. The fights and down right rudeness are unacceptable. If i treated my customers in this way i would loose my job so quick my feet would not touch the door on the way out. Becaouse we are on the phone they seem to think they can speak to us any way they please. 3 have lost my business and I will never have a phone with them ever again even if they are the cheapest deal around i would rather pay more and know someone can help me if I have a reason to need it.

[unsubscribed], at 11:41am 6th Oct 2008, wrote:

I had major problems with ScottishPower for over a year. The laugh of it is they were all English! They were rude and unhelpful. They seemed to listen to what I was saying but then acted like they had not heard a word. Eventually I was so annoyed I wrote a huge letter of complaint detailing all my points and explaining how badly I felt I had been treated. I received an apology letter and a cheque for the money they owed me (they had told me for about a year I owed them double that amount which was nonsense). If they had sorted it out on the phone at the beginning it would have saved so much hastle.

beckypoole, at 8:49pm 6th Oct 2008, wrote:

spare a thought for those of us who work in a call centre. You seem to take it personally as if its me saying I cannot do something.

its not me, I get paid to do my job and I need my job to pay my lifestyle and mortgage.

Its my senior managers who dont give two hoots about you all.

resolving issues takes too long, I have to have said certain things and then have to have a decent handling time, if I take time to actually sort the problem, I get it in the neck. If a customer wants to speak to a manager I get marked down even if its nothing to do with me and they have had shoddy service in the first place -how is that right, so it puts me off putting them thru. I am not saying who I work for but this a major provider not a tin pot organisation. Its crap they just want your money and they dont care - and I know it and cannot say it, but I feel like sometimes!!

[unsubscribed], at 9:32am 7th Oct 2008, wrote:

Becky, my problem started when I called ScottishPower to give them my meter readings. I decided that rather than use the automated service I would wait and speak to a customer adviser. That way I would know I had given the readings personally and that they had definitely received them. When the lady took the readings (there were 3 readings in total)she accidentaly put reading one where reading two should have been and vice versa. I didn't realise her error until I received my bill a week or so later. I immediately called to have it amended and had nothing but problems after that. No one understood what I was saying and just kept telling me my bills were correct when clearly they were not. At one point they were telling my I was £180 in credit then at the next they were telling me I was £180 in arrears to them when in actual fact, they owed me £44. One man told me, after half an hour of not listening to me that he would look into it on Monday since he should have been away half an hour ago (I had been on hold waiting to get through for 20 minutes before I even spoke to him). The frustration was almost unbearable.

I didn't even bother asking for a manager at any time in the year. They are always at lunch or not on the floor or not on duty or don't call you back. Or is that just what call centre staff tell us because they don't want to put us through?

If we were helped properly in the first place then it wouldn't come to that.

ann marie brown, at 8:30pm 12th Oct 2008, wrote:

E ON ARE CRRRRRRRRRRRAAAAAAAAAPPPPPPPPPPP

stella cooke, at 3:55pm 15th Oct 2008, wrote:

I had reason to phone Sky Tues I so wish I hadnt.I was on for a total of 2 and a half hours, the 1st time I was on for 35 mins and was cut off, 2nd time got through after 21 mins put on hold for 40mins then cut off, eventually talked to someone who I hope has sorted problem out spoke for nearly 1 hour

sue, at 9:46am 16th Oct 2008, wrote:

i also work for a call centre. i know its frustrating for the customers. but it is also frustrating for us too. we try to help but are occasionally held back by protocol. in my real world customers are the most important thing to us and they should be offered as much help and assistance as they need. all their problems and queries should be answered at the first call and those calls should be answered quickly. in my area we are trying hard to achieve this but it is taking time. we are held to targets daily and we do need to pass on calls to managers.All i can say is sorry it could work better. If you ever get to speak to me i hope i can help and not annoy.

jaime, at 8:48pm 17th Oct 2008, wrote:

You do, in all fairness, get the occasional call centre staff member that actually knows what they are talking about and can help you out, but unfortunately the number of people you get through to that actually don't care about their attitude or the customer is a lot more common.

I've had experience of both good and bad service with the last 2 calls I had to make. One member of staff was polite but did nothing they said they were going to do and nothing that I asked them to do, meaning I had to call up and go through the whole call again. I know there are protocols and procedures, but it doesn't excuse someone just not putting an alteration on an account when they said they had done it whilst you were on the phone.

On the other hand, the other company I had to call had failed to deliver some sale items I had bought, despite telling me they would be with me within 5 days. Without me even having to ask, the member of staff apologised and offered replacements of almost identical items out of the new seasons collection but gave them to me at the sale price I ordered the last items at. She could have easily said 'sorry, the items never reached the courier, oh dear, so sorry' but she went that extra bit further on her own accord and I was incredibly impressed.

John Watkinson, at 11:56am 21st Oct 2008, wrote:

3 is the worst call centre going, they cant speak english, you cant understand the ones who do.

It is about time us britsh people made a stand on this issue and leave the companys that employ forieng call centres

Steven Luckham, at 2:24pm 23rd Oct 2008, wrote:

Call Centre's are a nightmare most of the time when i call them i know more about there job than they do, they try to tell you its this and that and you know that the things they are telling you are not true.

All i ever end up getting out of the call is a pricey phone call and a bad mood or a headache because it was such hardwork trying to explain the problem too the person on the other end of the phone call.

theservicecoach, at 9:59pm 24th Oct 2008, wrote:

I read with interest both sides of the story - whether it’s a call centre or a shop or whatever, you get bad and good in all - however, call centres are like cars - people feel invincible when they can’t see you and this counts for both the employee and the customer.

Sadly it is the attitude of the company that uses call centres not the call centre itself that is to blame for poor service. Conflict arises because we are on the phone and the systems they allow us to use contribute to the frustration and adds to our anger.

The use of overseas call centres just exacerbates the situation not because we are xenophobic but because they just don’t understand what UK service is and what we like.

So all in all the use of service centres to deliver has its place but sometimes the service becomes impersonal distant (no pun intended) and process driven.

I have just had the displeasure of dealing with BT (which stands for Bloody Trouble!) and found myself being patronised and passed around and got more and more frustrated with every minute I spent explaining again and again why I was unhappy and I was the one doing all the work. It’s a shame they don’t allow their employees to help me rather than departmentalise their business making it difficult to solve problems created by the company itself! To be fair I did speak to someone who wanted to help me, however, BT's processes prevented her from doing that which is so ironic!

I like to deal with people who care, I don’t care where they are or what language they speak as long as they understand and take responsibility for my complaint!

SpampMan, at 12:05pm 25th Oct 2008, wrote:

Pay peanuts, get monkeys. It's not a job I would like to do. However, as with all other aspects of life there are good and bad call centre staff just as there are good and bad callers. For what it's worth, there are come British accents that I find as hard to understand as an Indian accent. I must also admit to a prejudice: I loath scouse.

Matt, at 11:25am 27th Oct 2008, wrote:

I made contact with Tesco contact centre and they were fantastic. Dealt with my enquiry very well and treated me as an individual. Quick turnaround and managed my expectations very well. I'll certainly recommend them to my friends.

Kerry Fearnley, at 1:16pm 27th Oct 2008, wrote:

I will go out of my way nowto only deal with companies that have english/english speaking customer service call centres.

One of the worst was AOL & Capital One Bank - both kept me on the telephone line for nearly half an hour as the person on the other end couldnt understand me and vice versa. Ridiculous! Even more frustrating as a currently unemployed, excellent English speaking customer services potential employee......

Anita Yandell-Jones, at 7:11am 28th Oct 2008, wrote:

I'm the Operations Manager of an Insurance customer service centre in Bristol and was very disappointed to hear everyone's negative comments on call centre's. The call centre's we have here are not cost centres therefore the staff are not targeted to handle so many calls within certain times, however what we do measure is the quality of the call and the first tiome call resolution. You will always speak to an human voice within 30 seconds as well. The problem is not with the call centre agents it is with the company that cares so little for you as a customer that they are willing to provide you with an under-rated service. The only way to tell them that you wont tolerate being dalt with like that whether in the UK or Offshore is to move away from them and send them a letter explaining why. Too often companies move offshore to save costs - to provide you with a more competitive product however unless you compain and move they will continue to do so.

As a customer you deserve to be treated as an individual and have the time to resolve your problem without feeling rushed, please remember call centre agents also have to phone call centres themselves so don't tar them all with the same brush as they wouldn't last 5 minutes in our call centres if they didn't want to help and provide an exceptional service.

Chas, at 11:51am 29th Oct 2008, wrote:

I work in a call centre. It's not a bad job, but I'm fed up with managers concentrating on statistics and budgets and completely overlooking the "management" of the people who work for them. We seem to get nothing but criticism from above so I can understand why some people give the impression that they don't care about their customers and just want to move on to the next call so their statistics look good. It's ironic that bad customer service can actually get you praise from management!

Shamrock, at 8:41am 30th Oct 2008, wrote:

I can see both sides here. I used to be a Call Center Agent for an American Based Client years ago. But sadly, it's the management that puts the pressure on the call center agents like making sure we're not on the phone too long, and in the nature of the client I'm dealing, make sure to close the sale! I do feel bad for those call center agents that have been over pressured by their managers, as some of them who don't reach the target, got sacked. On the other hand, there are some call center agents who are just hot tempered that really fights back to clients. I had a bad experience once with SKY TV when I had to cancel my plan, and this man, was arguing with me and even blaming me for subscribing in the first place when I'm just going to cancel it.

Mary Chennell, at 11:18pm 1st Nov 2008, wrote:

The worst aspect of most call centres is the ridiculous phone menu you have to trawl through before you even get to speak to a human being, wherever on the planet they are. My greatest peeve is people telling me they can't give me information because of the Data Protection Act. They seem to use this as an excuse not to do things that have absolutely nothing to do with the Data Protection Act. I am familiar with this as my company deals in security, and I know exactly what is and is not acceptable. Refusing to deal with a problem by quoting it is the coward's way out.

I have to say that I have had the most wonderful, courteous help from people in call centres, and also the most abysmal. That's people for you!

Maverell, at 1:30pm 2nd Nov 2008, wrote:

I telephoned a large British company

whose call centre was in India. I couldn't understand what the operator was saying and she eventually put me through to someone else.

I still couldn't communicate effectively.

The next girl was just reading a script which had nothing to do with what I wanted.

She clearly could not understand me or maybe she was just a robot ! In the end I gave up and they lost a customer. Overseas call centres should be banned ! Its not the operators fault its the company that employs them who are at fault.

Hayleigh, at 4:41pm 2nd Nov 2008, wrote:

This is in answer to ericka kemp. I was with 3 mobile about 4 years ago now me and my husband had a contract mobile each. our bills where wrong. my husbands by about £50 and mine over £100. We got know where with 3 or there complaints department. I remember one of many times ringing them and being put on hold while on hold i put the phone on loude speaker washed up my tea dishes ran the kids bath got them sorted nd into pjs. A hour later the phone was answered and quess what i was back at the begining they just put me back into the system. On another day on a phone call to 3 i was asked if i understood the laws in england well that one was to funny to even answer as i had spent half an hour trying to understand what he was saying!!

In the end i went through offcom to try and get it sorted with lots of evedence to show that my account was wrong and after months of fighting it still didnt get the answer i wanted. I then took a deal that 3 offered me as i didnt have the strength to carry on They took a small amount off of each bill. Hense to say i then terrminated my contract. The funniest thing was i had bill sent to a debt collecter and when i rang them they said the account had been frozen by 3 when i asked why they said it is usually because they can see there has been a mistake and guess what not heard a thing since. I did also email watch dog about them. I am not the only person with this complaint not that it helps much but you are not on your own. good luck!

Maverell, at 2:57pm 3rd Nov 2008, wrote:

Has anyone ever been offered a survey about call centres overseas ? I would be interested to know. Or perhaps the companies who have them already know what the response would be ?

Barry White, at 9:08pm 8th Nov 2008, wrote:

Parkstone

What so many people don't realise is that when you phone 'the company' you are actually often just talking to a call centre business. I have a relative who worked for one such business in West London who answered the phone as any one of 90 companies. When the you phone the 'gas company' they would answer 'Joe Bloggs, Gas Company, how can I help you?' and your complaint would be logged and answered according to set responses on their screen.

The next call could be answered 'Joe Bloggs, Electrical Retailer' or 'Joe Bloggs, Something Else'which is why you are often told 'the manager' or 'the engineer' will call you back so that if Joe can't answer your query with the set responses he can forward your message on to the company.

Graham Smith, at 12:58pm 24th Nov 2008, wrote:

In reply to Mary Chennel:

What you must understand about the Data Protection Act, is you have to answer certain questions asked by the call centre advisor. You cannot volunteer information to them. The reason is to try and catch people out who may be trying to obtain information by way of deception, and possibly ultimately prevent you from having your identity stolen. If an advisor gives information out without completing the DPA checks, they themselves can be sent to prison! The best thing you can do is have information to hand such as bills etc.... when you call a company so that you can answer the questions asked.

And in reply to various other comments:

Its management not staff you should be angry with. Working in a call centre myself, we are targeted on having a low call handling time. If you give the best service, take time to ensure problems are resolved and do a good job, but your handling time is too high, then you get marked as a poor performer. However if you have a low handling time, you get good marks, lots of praise and a pay rise (thats how our targets are geared), no matter how poor you are at the job or how many mistakes you make!! Its ludicrous to say the least!!

Some call centre staff where I work have great stats, but when you end up clearing up after there mess, as they dont have good basic maths skills or any common sense, its annoying knowing they are getting praised and you are made to look like you're a poor performer. The whole call centre structure is poor, and is all about number crunching, instead of delivering a good service.

Also at some companies, they have so many different systems on their computers it makes it impossible to deal with things quickly, certainly at the company I work for. Instead of having all information to hand on one system, information is dotted around all over the place. This makes is difficult for advisors to find the correct information quickly, unless they are very experienced and have worked there a long time.

On the other hand, people who call up should take the time to understand the issues, instead of just insisting there is a mistake and shouting at an advisor when in fact there is no mistake! i.e. an overcharge on a bill. What I find is people dont listen when you tell them what will happen if they say, change a tariff, remove a service etc.... then complain about an overcharge.

There's a whole lot that can be done to improve the whole experience for employees and customers, unfortunately the people responsible for doing this have no experience of using the systems and silly procedures and targets they put in place, and thats the management.

Nicola Robinson, at 3:25pm 27th Nov 2008, wrote:

I used to work in a call centre and i hated it.

I wasn't permitted to give my own opinion and often ended up being shouted at for matters which were out of my hands.

I cannot say who it was i worked for but it was for a benefit which many peolple rely on.

The organisation had a ridiculous computer system that often stopped paying people for no particular reason. The adviser has absolutely no power what so ever over when the payments are made all they can do is tell you what they can see on the computer system, which, more often than not, did not make sense.

Again it was upto the people at 'head office' to rectify the problem and the only way to get in touch was through a special kind of email developed by the organisation. If there was just one small mistake on this email it would be rejected b head office causing unnecessary delays.

I feel sorry for customer service advisers as i realise its not their fault and its their managers who come up with these silly rules as they know they won't have to take the stick for it!!

lisa, at 10:47am 8th Dec 2008, wrote:

Call centres, call centres...oh how i love them!! So far call centres have cost me over £71,000!!!!!!

I took out a life insurance policy 7 years ago and completed the form over the phone, i gave all the details in great detail of a health complaint i had previously and was advised by a rather disgruntled employee ( i was obviously interupting her playing solitaire or gossiping!) thay she would put a note on 'the system' and if there were any problems they would contact me for more details.

The policy stasrted and no further questions were asked. Unfortunately i got diagnosed with MS last year and needed to claim on my critical illness part of the policy. My claim was refused after they received my doctors notes as they said i had not disclosed the previous medical condition!!!!! They have also said that apparently they do not have space on 'the system' for putting information that i had given!!!!!

I am fighting the decision, but always put everything in writing!!! Never trust anyone who says the will put a note on 'the system'!!! Writing may take longer, but it could save you a lot of time and money in the future!!!

Stephanie Humphrey, at 9:18pm 8th Dec 2008, wrote:

I have had to speak with EDF Energy customer service department on a couple of occassions. What can i say except they are probably the best call centre i have dealt with. You can understand the staff, they appear to be listening and offer solutions. They are friendly and do not rush you off the phone. 10/10 in my opinion.

Michael Draper, at 7:48pm 12th Dec 2008, wrote:

I had a problem with Vodafone....

OMG! this went on for 5-6 months, they got my bill wrong, my name, my DOB, even the tarrif wrong,i mean you expect a few things wrong like maybe a letter in your name or they didnt add on the unlimited texts.

These places should have some sort of company looking over them for our protection...

simon, at 10:14am 9th Jan 2009, wrote:

with regards to sky, i have had the exact same problem... Ring consumer direct on 08454 04 05 06 for advice on solving any consumer issues.

Zilla, at 12:34pm 22nd Jan 2009, wrote:

I must say i agree with being sick of being treated like im an idiot. Call centre: Have you checked your phone cord is plugged in?

Me: Well obviously when its been working for 2 years! lol.

I have had some awful service from BT on the phone. On a positive note by far the best service i have been given is with my broadband company Eclipse. UK call centres that pick up the phone very quickly and have REAL trained technical support staff who will know exactly what your trying to explain and tell you what their going to do next. Hell they even text me when it was done and gave me a ref no. so if there was still a problem i wouldnt have to go back 2 square 1 and re-explain all over again. Nice :)

Zak, at 10:21pm 9th Feb 2009, wrote:

Scottish Power

There customer service is non existent I waited 20 minutes on Saturday then hung up. I emailed them instead.

pauline mcgaughey, at 6:05pm 18th Feb 2009, wrote:

if you ring an english company you should speak to an english person not someone who you cant even say there name.

does my head in, when some sort of asian person answers the phone. i aint racist but god talk english.

Roger reed, at 2:06am 19th Feb 2009, wrote:

i work in a call center for major banks and people always moan about how rude the agenst are but eyth they never think about how rude the customers are to us! i mean if i took it seriously how many times i had been told to f of i would be miles away pluto even and they jus cant handle the consequnces if u dont pay you are going to get some one chasing you for money next time you ring into a call center a british one jus spare a thought about what the poor person on the other ned of the phone has been through calling people all day most people who have bad attitudes for you !!!

fushan, at 2:56am 22nd Mar 2009, wrote:

Really incompetent company

glenys, at 1:36pm 3rd May 2009, wrote:

i have found brighthouse to be a right pain, not just for call centres but mainly for their call-in shop service.

Around ayear ago i had quite a large tv on pay weekly, i paid nearly double the amount for the tv for service plan and extra cover and interest. They failed to tell me if i paid my contract early all my cover and supposedly extra service cover expired at the same time. I paid the tv off around 2 month oe so early. A week later the tv screen wouldnt work. Iphoned brighthouse they tell me im not covered anymore, obviously iv paid all this extra cover and i want to know why im not covered anymore when this isnt what they said when i took out the contract. After around 3 days of argeements with them stating its their place to look at the goods which it does state in my contract they finally agreed to look at it as a good will gesture! They come and collect my tv and give me 1 in replace, a shabby tv thats cracked with no remote until they fix mine. 8 weeks later no reply, i should have heard within 6 weeks. I phone brighthouse but they have heard nothing. Fair enough, so i ring the number on my docket slip which utnred out to be the printing company for brighthouse leaflets etc. They give me th head office number which no-one answered. So finally after around another 2 weeks of nothing i ring brighthouse back, they then tell me my £800 tv is not fixable and i can have the cracked tv with no remote in replace.

The total cheek of it, then we threatened with trading standards it was not acceptable behaviour. Which the manager of the shop gives my partner a complete earful how brighthouse have given us a free tv as replacement which might be true,but its cracked and not even got remote and worth a measley £50 if your stupid enough to pay that amount. So we asked for our broken tv back to get a second opinion for ourselves, but apparently we cant have our tv back, that we paid for etc with no explanation. Finally we ring trading standards but because they did give us a run dwn tv as a replacement it was still a replacement and we didnt have a leg to stand on. I dont think its fair or right for customers to be treated like that, not jsut the fact that they run you round and round before you getany answers, but when you do get answers give you verbal abuse because your not happy with the services,its an outrage!

David, at 9:28pm 9th May 2009, wrote:

What I do now if I have to contact a call centre is play Freecell on the computer to pass the time. One time with BT I finished 3 games before I got through to talk with anyone, then I got cut off.

wendy clark, at 9:18pm 17th May 2009, wrote:

the worst call centre i have had trouble with is vigin media you get people that you dont understand then i start to sware at them and they seem to understand that and threaten to cut my line off i only wish they would

wendy

Mr. Philip G. Coggin, at 10:59am 19th May 2009, wrote:

It is bad enough to have a problem with a company, service or utility company.

It is even more frustrating to call to resolve a problem or dispute and find, that you cannot even understand the person who is supposed to help resolve the matter.

Even if after some time has passed you do manage to get your message partially accross, you then come to a brick wall because either the operative does not have access to the information needed, or he/she does not have the necessay authority to deal with the matter under discussion.

If business wants to keep its customers then consider two things - - - -

(1) Use local labour for local people enquiries whom we can understand.

(2) Local people are not happy about sending employment elswhere when ther is a job shortage in the UK.

Clearly it is about profitability with businesses but it too is also a serious false enconomy, many people like myself will eventually take our business elsewhere.

Maxine Bell, at 3:38pm 14th Jun 2009, wrote:

I hae to agree with Erika Kemp! I was overcharged on my mobile bill with 3 aswell. I called them and I was told this would be rectified. They still took the money and 4 weeks later still had not sorted it. I called again and was put through to someone who clearly struggled to understand basic English. After 20 minutes or so of trying to get her to understand I eventually hung up and decided to contact them by e-mail instead. The next morning my phone had been cut off!! I called back again only to be told that I myself had called the day before and cancelled my contract and that a bill for the rest of the contract would be sent out to me! It took me 1hr and 25 mins to get to speak to a supervisor who eventually sorted the whole thing out and I recieved a months free usage for my troubles.

All this because the person I was speaking too was thousands of miles away and did not understand the language of the people they are employed to help.

Kate Thomson, at 9:28pm 14th Jun 2009, wrote:

me too.

I had a bill for calls and services, including broadband, with a major mobile phone supplier. It was crazy, I spoke to the indian call center umpteen times, but if I needed anything done, I had to write. Still no reply, bills kept coming, I didn't even have internet. Sent mail to head office recorded delivery. Still no reply. All this went on just after I broke both my legs and my back in a car accident. Talk about stressful. I ended up reporting them to OFFCOM, waited for a reply, 12 weeks I think. Then it was handed over to CISAS. They acted for me and they were found to be negligent and were ordered to pay me compensation. BUT, This could have all been sorted out in the beginning, if only I could have spoken to a manager!

Danielle Phillips, at 10:45am 17th Jun 2009, wrote:

I totally agree. It is so frustrating to call Call Centres and have someone on the other side of the world to you try and sort out your problems who can barely speak English. And the amount of times you get cut off is just so frustrating!!!!

micheal, at 10:04am 26th Jun 2009, wrote:

I had major problems with ScottishPower for over a year. The laugh of it is they were all English! They were rude and unhelpful. They seemed to listen to what I was saying but then acted like they had not heard a word. Eventually I was so annoyed I wrote a huge letter of complaint detailing all my points and explaining how badly I felt I had been treated. I received an apology letter and a cheque for the money they owed me (they had told me for about a year I owed them double that amount which was nonsense).

Joanne Whitehouse-Logan, at 9:12am 5th Sep 2010, wrote:

Virgin media is murder... I have had so many problems with them, and even when I speak to a manager I don't get an answer! The other day I had and issue with my bill and he woman tried to tell me the difference between £18 and £22 was £15!!!!!!!!

Also, I have noticed that British Gas use foreign call centres at weekends, bank holidays etc. and British ones during weekdays - this may be similar to other companies so worth calling during a weekday if you can.