Disgrace of india - call centre disrespects us!
 

There I was in quite a fluster because as usual the communication was not being understood between myself and the Indian guy.. The call lasted half an hour to get the problem fixed.. (32 minutes).

During the call there was shouting, cheering and applause. Why? Because the cricket was on!

I’m sorry but there is a time and a place, and if we were to watch sport at work, I’m sure there would be reprimand, in fact, surely there would be serious consequences of watching anything during work??.

Further more, the guy on the phone kept being distracted, so he was obviously more interested in the cricket than his job. I know they probably have monitors to see what the services are like, but I take this as complete disregard to what they are being paid to do and why i was calling in the first place.

This is the height if sheer disrespect, and yet another reason for that large list of why we have no patience for overseas call-centres, as they just seem to have no quality or pride to work.

We as customers in the UK pay their wages! How far should I take this? a gripe on here, a moan to the supervisor, an email to CS or a strongly written letter to mister boss-man.. After-all, I have paid thousands of pounds over the years, and this is the respect and thanks I get?

Re: Disgrace of india - call centre disrespects us!
 

May I make a suggestion, that you also post this on VM's own site also, I.e.:

http://community.virginmedia.com/

This may add greater impetus to your experience in this case. In addition, I would contact VM again (between 9 to 5) and formally complain to someone in the UK.

Worth a shot.

Cheers ans Si thee. :Sprint:

Re: Disgrace of india - call centre disrespects us!
 

If this happened as you say then yes it is completely unacceptable. It reminds me of a few years back when some famous Bollywood actor died and tens of thousands took to the streets in mourning, including hundreds of callcentre workers who downed-tools and took part in it all. Loads of UK companies that used Indian callcentres were left crippled as large parts of their customer-facing staff simply got up and left their desks. No serious action was taken against them as it would have meant disciplining hundreds of staff who couldn't see the wrong in what they did.

Re: Disgrace of india - call centre disrespects us!
 

Like employees watching sporting events in the UK?


Well obviously if that's what you thought it must be correct!

As above.

I doubt call centre staff would be allowed to watch TV while working unless they were given permission before hand by their superiors, it's pretty hard to hide the fact and coupled with the 'distracting' noise you were hearing it seems obvious they were given permission, they might even have been on a break. The same happens in this country too. It's rare and tends to only happen during very important sporting events but it keeps moral up.Happy and motivated workers tend to be better workers....oh and how the hell is this current affairs?

Re: Disgrace of india - call centre disrespects us!
 

I had exactly the same problem with 3 this week.

I phoned them to talk about a contract phone I have with them and after having to repeat myself several times because of all the cheering etc. going on, and because the idiot wasn't listening to me, I cancelled the contract instead.

That scenario says more about mismanagement than I ever could. :rolleyes:

Re: Disgrace of india - call centre disrespects us!
 

We have televisions on all the time as we need them as part of our job but we would never have the volume racked up or cheer a football match.

Re: Disgrace of india - call centre disrespects us!
 

It shows a terrible disrespect for the customer and a very non caring attitude to the issue the customer is phoning for

Re: Disgrace of india - call centre disrespects us!
 

With all due respect I think some of us are over reacting particularly as the OP got his problem fixed.:erm:

Re: Disgrace of india - call centre disrespects us!
 

so you'd be happy with a call center staff paying more attention to a cricket match than fixing your problem and giving you their full attention .The point the OP is making is not whether or not his problem got fixed but how the staff member handled it and the length of time it took because the staff member was paying more attention to a cricket match

Re: Disgrace of india - call centre disrespects us!
 

Are you saying that if England were in the final of the footie World Cup for example your entire contact centre would remain the epitome of professionalism during the game?

I must admit to having doubts.

Re: Disgrace of india - call centre disrespects us!
 

maybe not but we would be complaining about it and rightly so

Re: Disgrace of india - call centre disrespects us!
 

As that is very, very, very unlikely to happen then I would say yes.:D:D:D

We had all the matches on during the World Cup last year and I doubt any customers even noticed on a call even when that guy knocked a goal in with his knee.:shrug:

Re: Disgrace of india - call centre disrespects us!
 

I'm sorry but I think you are over reacting..

Re: Disgrace of india - call centre disrespects us!
 

Correct me if im wrong but arnt most UK CS baised in wales (and if its still running scotland). So they probelly woulnt have cared.

Re: Disgrace of india - call centre disrespects us!
 

Have you not checked under my Avatar recently as it does say Liverpool.;)

The are many call centres around the country including Sheffield, Teeside and Newcastle which are also English.

Re: Disgrace of india - call centre disrespects us!
 

Ermmm excuse me but I'd be kicking the door down of the CEO if I were anywhere near close enough to the Head Office. That is not acceptable in any way shape or form.

Re: Disgrace of india - call centre disrespects us!
 

quite right ,half assed attitudes to jobs is why companies get such a bad name

Re: Disgrace of india - call centre disrespects us!
 

The OP had his issues sorted out and was not abused or lied to.Neither was the agent rude to him..also he wasn't left on hold or passed between departments and he wasn't promised a call back that never materialised.

As for the bit about paying their wages as stated in the original post well that's not true.VM pay their wages and provide a customer service to us as part of the overall service.Some of you are talking as if a rape or murder has occurred and you should try and apply a sense of proportion to the situation.

Re: Disgrace of india - call centre disrespects us!
 

I think what they're trying to say (and is something I'd agree with) is it doesn't exactly inspire confidence in their ability to be focussed on the customer and paying attention to their needs. Not the most grave crime but when you're trying to get important issues resolved I don't think you want to be given the impression that the CS agents are watching cricket.

Re: Disgrace of india - call centre disrespects us!
 

I know Russ and if the OP hadn't had his issue sorted then I'd be right with everyone...;)

Re: Disgrace of india - call centre disrespects us!
 

Quite frankly Maggie i find your attitude bizarre.
Given the amount of threads on bad CS from the VM call center in India that you have moderate Maggie i'm surprised you are so blase about an extremely rude agent .I could understand a 1 off experience of bad CS but it would seem that there is a very real lack of professionalism in the call center and the ops post is just another example

Re: Disgrace of india - call centre disrespects us!
 

Excuse me..but having read the original post I see nothing about the agent being rude.Distracted yes,rude no. :confused:

Plus my actual own real life experiences with VM CS has been absolutely fine on those occasions I have had to phone up.

You forget that you are bound to see complaints here about issues of poor CS and other issues but this is the exception as those with complaints will gravitate to sites like this.. The vast majority of VM customers probably never have a complaint about CS at all.

Re: Disgrace of india - call centre disrespects us!
 

Now that is an over reaction to say the least especially as you have only read about it, a lot of people find they have long calls with offshore anyway so the cricket may not have had any impact on the call length.

We have televisions on all day every day with sport or music playing and most customers never even notice among the background noise.

The issue was sorted out to the OP's satisfaction but he was amazed at the noise in the call centre more than anything, I expect anyone who calls in when Liverpool or Everton are on TV will be unaware that the agent is also watching the match because it is called professionalism.

Re: Disgrace of india - call centre disrespects us!
 

You don't see that watching a cricket match at work whilst you are supposed to be helping someone with a problem as rude ?

Re: Disgrace of india - call centre disrespects us!
 

Personally I think they probably should have been a little more focused.

However I have seen UK agents just as unfocused when the Football has been on, even when it's something like Manchester United or City games, let alone a World Cup

So the thread title is a bit OTT, as the comments specifically about 'we in the UK pay their wages' etc

Re: Disgrace of india - call centre disrespects us!
 

I think this whole thread is a little self obsessed. There's no major burning issue here. As for "disgrace of India" there's much much more important other issues that India should be maligned for, such as poverty, infant mortality rates etc.

Who really gives a toss about your poor call centre experience whilst the final of the cricket world cup was on?

Re: Disgrace of india - call centre disrespects us!
 

The title of this thread has some wonderful undertones.

I have to wonder if there would be this level of indignation had it been an unfocussed Airdrie based agent watching Scotland playing football.

Sorry, I forgot, UK based agents are never unfocussed.

This doesn't, of course, excuse the experience.

You asked for advice on your first post so it is simply to suck it up and get on with life. You would have likely had a similar experience from almost any company in the world at any contact centre in the world under those circumstances.

Re: Disgrace of india - call centre disrespects us!
 

I have to say I'm slightly on the OP's side here - slightly.

OK the issue was dealt with and although the agent was distracted (something which really winds me up regardless of where they're based) if that was me and it was the first time I'd called the company I'd have very little confidence in the company to sort any subsequent issues out if they're unprofessional enough to be cheering at the tv in the background.

When I was at NTL (as it was then) yes there were TVs scattered around the place and when any sporting event came on we would not be cheering or anything like it. In fact I'm pretty sure we'd have been up for a warning if something like that happened.

I admit I'm very anti-Indian callcentre but I'd find this very unprofessional no matter where in the world the callcentre was based and I'd be inclined to write a letter of complaint to the company - although I'd stop short of booting the door down or whatever the OP said.

Saying that however, VM and other companies seem very unwilling to ask employees in their off-shore callcentres to stop behaving in certain ways if it's deemed to be "part of their culture". When 3 first started it took them two years to get their callcentre staff to stop referring to customer as "Mr/Mrs *first name".

Re: Disgrace of india - call centre disrespects us!
 

Having read all of the above, Its certain replies that are a wee bit out of proportion, my OP is perfectly adequate thank you. Can always rely on some posters for the high-biasing, I shan't name drop, we know who they are.

Had anyone been in my shoes, you too would have felt the guy was being 100% rude and disrespectful. Half an hour to complete a call, indeed I was left on hold while he was distracted. A call that shouldn’t have taken 10 minutes at most!

We pay monies to VM, if we never, then the staff wouldn’t get wages. Simple as. They should work for their wages, regardless where they are in the world, and follow rules and regulations. Staff don’t run the show!

As for other responses, its always each to their own, I tend not to disagree and with the replies, I will go ahead will be writing to head office, after indeed I see responses over on the official forums.

incidentally, Ill be turning off subscription to this thread now. :P

---------- Post added at 22:02 ---------- Previous post was at 22:01 ----------

here here!

Re: Disgrace of india - call centre disrespects us!
 

I think you expect a higher standard of service than VM on occasion provide. I'd recommend perhaps paying a premium price if you expect a premium level of service, I would be happy to suggest alternative suppliers who charge just such a premium for such a level of service.

Re: Disgrace of india - call centre disrespects us!
 

I'm surprised they were there to answer the phone at all. I certainly wouldn't be if England made it to a football World Cup Final.

Re: Disgrace of india - call centre disrespects us!
 

I don't see why Nationality has any relevenace in this thread.
Just imagine:

World Cup Final,
England playing,
Scouse call centre.

Lets just say you picked a bad time to sort an IT problem. ;)

Re: Disgrace of india - call centre disrespects us!
 

It does insomuch as cricket is huge in India. Had their national basketball team been playing I doubt there would have been a similar reaction.

Re: Disgrace of india - call centre disrespects us!
 

LOL. I blame Virgin for charging what they charge. if they charged us more they probably wouldn't be allowed to watch the cricket. but they are allowed to watch the cricket because Virgin set the prices low enough so they can.

crafty buggers :)

Re: Disgrace of india - call centre disrespects us!
 

what a terrible attitude,it's no wonder that companies get away with shoddy CS and shoddy work

Re: Disgrace of india - call centre disrespects us!
 

You don't expect the same level of service from Asda as Harrods, why expect the same level of service from a budget mass market provider like Virgin Media as you'd receive from a supplier such as Andrews and Arnold?

---------- Post added at 18:19 ---------- Previous post was at 18:18 ----------

They don't have a lot of choice, we as a nation refuse to pay much for broadband and would rather pay next to nothing and whinge about the level of service than pay more for better.

Re: Disgrace of india - call centre disrespects us!
 

i have no idea who Andrew and Arnold are but i expect a basic level of professionalism and courtesy from anyone i deal with .How far in my business do you think i would get if i was rude and discourteous to customers who didn't pay as much as the last customer .The idea that this type of behaviour should be excused because of the cricket world cup is ammature to say the least .Management should have insisted on a different channel being on or non at all

and yes i expect the exactly the same basic courtesy from Asda as i would at Harrods .If i went o asda with a faulty product i would expect the assistant to give me 100% of there attention untill the matter was resolved not looking over there shoulder at something else or texting a friend

Re: Disgrace of india - call centre disrespects us!
 

LOL LOL LOL

You're joking. surely?

Re: Disgrace of india - call centre disrespects us!
 

i don't think he is :shrug:

Re: Disgrace of india - call centre disrespects us!
 

I don't think he is either.

Re: Disgrace of india - call centre disrespects us!
 

I'm not joking in the slightest. If unhappy with the service provided, including the level of support provided, pay more for a better one.

As already noted this case wasn't good enough, however some allowances could have been made. If OP wants a gold plated service 24x7 they should pay a gold plated price, otherwise there can, and will, be variations in the standard of service provided. Sometimes excellent, sometimes just fine, occasionally not good enough.

---------- Post added at 18:53 ---------- Previous post was at 18:51 ----------

Here's hoping that in the course of your business you don't accuse people of being ammature. The suggestion that they haven't finished puberty may vex them a bit.

Re: Disgrace of india - call centre disrespects us!
 

That's ok now. it's just that before you were coming across as saying we should expect rude sloppy behaviour from this and any company because they happen not to be the snobby ones.

Re: Disgrace of india - call centre disrespects us!
 

No, no, not at all. Quite agree that this wasn't good enough, just disagree that it's worth going emo over given the budget nature of the provider.

Re: Disgrace of india - call centre disrespects us!
 

Basic courtesy is not a gold plated service by any stretch of the imagination ,thinking that you could get away with a lesser level of courtesy because you charge less is very amature ...In my business we call them cowboys

---------- Post added at 18:07 ---------- Previous post was at 18:03 ----------

Thats the mistake you are making ,budget has nothing to do with a CS agent who is/is not courteous

Re: Disgrace of india - call centre disrespects us!
 

Hmm! I see we disagree about what is or is not discourtesy.

I count discourtesy as rude,offensive,abusive and impolite behaviour.However I have yet to see that being distracted is discourteous or disrespectful.

Re: Disgrace of india - call centre disrespects us!
 

He was distracted, he didn't tell the OP to go forth and procreate. I'm making no mistake, I don't regard it as discourtesy.

Just FYI the word is 'amateur'.

Re: Disgrace of india - call centre disrespects us!
 

he wasn't distracted at all ,he was watching cricket when he was supposed to be doing his job .I give up, your idea of good customer service and mine are totally different you have a much lower standard than i .

Re: Disgrace of india - call centre disrespects us!
 

I didn't suggest it was good customer service and I'm pretty sure that this case is pretty much the dictionary definition of distraction.

I'm merely suggesting that writing to head office, etc, is an overreaction and speculating that the reaction would have been quite different had it been a call to the centre in Airdrie and the operator been distracted by a Scotland game.

Re: Disgrace of india - call centre disrespects us!
 

I have to admit, while I don't think this was good customer service, it's worth noting that a lot of UK call centres allow their staff to watch England/Wales/Scotland/Ireland games while they are at work. So, it's entirely possible that an English call centre worker could have been just as districted had it been during and England game.

Re: Disgrace of india - call centre disrespects us!
 

We have the television on all day but you are unlikely to notice anything on a call otherwise they would disallow sport on the them.