Virgin Media Trowbridge call centre to close?
 

Just saw this on Twitter

http://twitter.com/#!/ITVWestcountry...75946225025025

Not good news for all those staffers :(

Re: Virgin Media Trowbridge call centre to close?
 

Just announced internally at VM as well, bad news day indeed.

Re: Virgin Media Trowbridge call centre to close?
 

Re: Virgin Media Trowbridge call centre to close?
 

I know a girl who has been given Gardening Leave from the Bellshill centre, dunno if that is signs of maybe cut backs there also.

Re: Virgin Media Trowbridge call centre to close?
 

Sad news indeed :(

Re: Virgin Media Trowbridge call centre to close?
 

l am afraid a lot of good people are going to lose their jobs in the next 12 months.

Re: Virgin Media Trowbridge call centre to close?
 

Bad news, of course, for those it affects. Really wish they'd close the overseas ones and bring all their call centres back into the UK but I don't suppose that's ever going to happen :(

This is not the first one they've closed either, I don't think; is it?

Re: Virgin Media Trowbridge call centre to close?
 

Thats going to be another really bad end user experience for people on vm then, with the offshore support being one of the most off putting things ever to grace vm i expect this to come back and bite them on the bum in the future.
Sorry to hear of those job losses.

Re: Virgin Media Trowbridge call centre to close?
 

Yes l have to totally agree with you on that one as when l have talked to a overseas call centre they cannot understand anything you say to them and l cannot understand their words when they are speaking.

Re: Virgin Media Trowbridge call centre to close?
 

So Virgin are going to add to the UK Unemployment figures some much for the government claiming that the Private Sector will provide the jobs.

Perhaps instead of closing Trowbridge, they should look at closing overseas call centres which are much detested by customers for their lack of customer service.

Re: Virgin Media Trowbridge call centre to close?
 

Trowbridge is a Virgin Mobile call centre as per the link below but still a loss.

http://www.thisiswiltshire.co.uk/new...om_Trowbridge/

Re: Virgin Media Trowbridge call centre to close?
 

Why not close overseas call centre and keep UK ones open, seems like Virgin Media/Mobile have little respect for their UK workforce.

Re: Virgin Media Trowbridge call centre to close?
 

I think it's a matter of cost; and always has been. Overseas CCs are cheaper to run.

Re: Virgin Media Trowbridge call centre to close?
 

They don't have to pay for as many tech visits either, as the Indian call centre just fobs you off when you have signal level problems. Took me 5 attempts to get through to the UK and straight away they saw my signal levels were too high and sent someone out the following morning and it hasn't disconnected since.

Re: Virgin Media Trowbridge call centre to close?
 

That's annoying, I've always found Virgin Mobile's call centre to be top notch. Bah.

Re: Virgin Media Trowbridge call centre to close?
 

It is all about money! These corporations do not seem to care about the UK workforce or the customer experience. I hope decisions like these comeback to haunt them.

Re: Virgin Media Trowbridge call centre to close?
 

I would point out that they are closing the site, not the UK Call Centre

The existing UK Call Centre at Wythenshawe will take over dealing with the calls that are currently dealt with at Trowbridge

They also have the Sheffield UK call centre that also takes Mobile customer service calls.

Re: Virgin Media Trowbridge call centre to close?
 

Fair enough, Ben. However, still doesn't answer the wider issue of overseas call centres v UK ones :)

Re: Virgin Media Trowbridge call centre to close?
 

Cost - if they hire all UK call centres, it will cost more, which will put our bills up.

Re: Virgin Media Trowbridge call centre to close?
 

You're probably right about VM. There are a few organisations, particularly in finance and insurance who are turning their back on overseas centres.

I suppose they have to balance call centre savings with lost business because of the poor quality of customer service experienced.

Re: Virgin Media Trowbridge call centre to close?
 

Hmmm I don't remember off shoring measures ever reducing our bills. ;)

Re: Virgin Media Trowbridge call centre to close?
 

I'd tell them where to stick their 5 rupees. ;)

Re: Virgin Media Trowbridge call centre to close?
 

There,s only one word to describe overseas call centres and that is awful.

---------- Post added at 16:00 ---------- Previous post was at 15:58 ----------

Maybe our bills might rise but l believe if all their call centres were in this country the customer service would be far better thus l suspect saving them money.

Re: Virgin Media Trowbridge call centre to close?
 

Well it would certainly save a load of modems being needlessly sent out.

Re: Virgin Media Trowbridge call centre to close?
 

But if you end up with more calls, less customer satisfaction, and more work for the support team is it really worth it??

I would pay a bit extra if VM committed to close the overseas call centre.

M

Re: Virgin Media Trowbridge call centre to close?
 

Well we should expect to see some of these savings they are making through using foreign call centres. Most likely not!

3 is probably has the highest use of foreign call centres, they seem to be ok, the acutal call centres are in fact owned by 3's parent company Hutchison Whampoa through an initiative by the company called Hutchison telesales, the call centre is used by other Hutchison Whampoa businesses including 3-Ireland,Vodafone-Hutchison austrailia ltd.

3 does pass the savings onto customers, well they have to, who would stay! They must be doing something right they leaped from 3 million customers to 6 million in just a few years, soon they will overtake Vodafone.

My experience with Virgin Media's foreign call centres lately hasn't been very good in comparison with 3's. I can't hear a word they are saying! and they miss a lot of things so you have to keep repeating yourself.

The thing that gets me is, Cable services in comparison to 1997 is extortionate and Virgin Media avoid many costs by using foreign labour and VAT, they use Virgin Media entertainment, a business registered in Luxembourg to cut VAT, but we still pay the full wack and both Sky and Virgin charging like up to £199 for Set top boxes such as Tivo, when in reality they are made in third world countries for like a tenner!

And both Sky and Virgin the amount the charge for pay tv is crazy! most of the stuff is constantly repeated and there is never anything on, if people soon abandon the pay-tv market, you'll soon see the cost drop and fresh content appear.

In germany, Sky does not fit in well because most channels you get free through cable services provided by Deutsche Telekom. Imagine if Virgin Media,Smallworld Media and Wight Cable started doing that here offering the top TV package including related HD channels for free when you take unlimited calls and 50MB/100MB broadband, it would certainly attract customers, something that Sky,BT,TalkTalk,Orange,Demon and Plusnet are miles from offering, and don't even mention BT Vision with BT's 100MB infinity rubbish, BT Vision is so lacking in content, Ofcom doesn't even class it as a pay-tv service!

But back to the main subject, if Virgin Media want to remain successful, they must get the idea of foreign call centres out of there heads, customer service is the main function of a business. Online customer services with a premium rate telephone number is also another one they should avoid, you can't run a business and not give a stuff about the customers, they will walk simple as that!

Re: Virgin Media Trowbridge call centre to close?
 

I don't think it's matter of our bills going down because they're saving by using overseas call centres more than our bill might have to rise if they brought them all back to the UK :)
Is this just what you think or can you actually prove it?

Re: Virgin Media Trowbridge call centre to close?
 

There have been other redundacies this year too, sadly my last official day is tomorrow after 10 years of service. Ho Hum :shrug:

Re: Virgin Media Trowbridge call centre to close?
 

I disagree, uk call centre staff are much better at correctly diagnosing issues, overseas can all too easily incorrectly diagnose a problem and send out new hubs, modems, router's and engineers.

Typical example, at home I must have 3 or 4 modems, 3 routers, and had a dozen engineer visits, most of which has been the result of overseas support being too hasty in their diagnosis.

Uk call centre may cost more in labour but I would not be surprised if in the long run, it would lead to much improved customer support/loyalty/perception, save money (in equipment) and time spent by engineers driving up and down the country screwing attenuators on the back of modems etc.

Re: Virgin Media Trowbridge call centre to close?
 

I have said in the past 1 UK agent is worth 25 of the Indian's. Now lets say 2000 indians are employed, thats 80 UK agents. I would prefer the 80 who understand good English skills and do not follow a check list, do not lie and just don't order you things even when you say no to them.

Re: Virgin Media Trowbridge call centre to close?
 

You think, just because they're in the UK they wouldn't just do the same job, checklists and all? :confused: The job's the job. The location is irrelevant.

Re: Virgin Media Trowbridge call centre to close?
 

Yes l totally agree with you on that british people understand the problem much quicker than the staff in these foreign call centres.

---------- Post added at 15:07 ---------- Previous post was at 15:05 ----------

Thr fact is that the foreign call staff do not understand what you are telling them and l certainly do not understand what they are saying.

Re: Virgin Media Trowbridge call centre to close?
 

Absolutely, but that wasn't what DABhand said in the bit I quoted.

Re: Virgin Media Trowbridge call centre to close?
 

My mistake then.

Re: Virgin Media Trowbridge call centre to close?
 

Carl is as usual trying to nitpick things.

Carl, in my experience over the years, with C&W up to VM, there has been a couple of times where the UK staff have been a bit mouthy or understand some things, but they have never once lied to me.

The Indians however have... And multiple times in the space of a month. As seen from the other thread I did.

1. Supposed to get a VMNG300 replacement modem, which I had some inkling I wouldn't get, but got a 20mb one instead.

2. When offered a measly £5 compensation for 3 bad weeks of net service, I clearly said NO I will call customer services in the UK the next day and get a proper compensation, she added it anyway, which caused problems the next day and with my bill I got recently.

3. Even when you say you have done what they are going to ask, they ask you anyway, you feel like strangling them over the phone. A UK tech would realise ok you have done that lets try this and that, Indian staff don't do this and that cause it aint on the list, therefore just say "I am not sure Sir, have a good day" and the phone goes down.

I suppose if I can remember months and months before I could pull out more examples.

But it is plain fact the Indian staff is rubbish, and there is a possibility any one of them could be selling personal information to 3rd party buyers or bank/CC details. They should be scrapped and the tech support brought back to the UK where you get someone who knows what they are talking about and you feel like you are getting service and professionalism that you are paying towards.

Damn I even remember the couple of months they tried to make us pay £1 per minutes to phone India... didn't last long of course lol

Re: Virgin Media Trowbridge call centre to close?
 

No. As usual I wasn't

I was actually referring to the use of scripts and stuff like that. Perhaps better snipping would have been in order.

The job is exactly the same, whichever country you are in.

Re: Virgin Media Trowbridge call centre to close?
 

Its the offshore call ctrs they should be scrapping!!!! i have nothing but praise for the Trowbridge operation, on numerous occasions they have sorted out quite complicated problems, and have always done as they said they would i.e. returned calls within the time period agreed - not once has the offshore call ctr managed to resolve an issue for me!!! In fact they cause more problems then they resolve!!!!!

The reason VM have such high call rates is the number of return calls that people have to make, in my case it is normally about 4 calls to the offshroe call ctr then a 5th to the UK and it is resolved by the UK call ctr, so 4 wasted calls, and that is cost effective is it????

I wish VM would actually look at how many calls it takes to resolve an issue, and then look at where that issue was resolved!!! But there is no way they are going to keep these types of figures!!!!! Accountants running businesses never works!!!

Re: Virgin Media Trowbridge call centre to close?
 

:hugs: :hugs: :hugs: :hugs:

It's really not nice being in that position :(

Good luck for the future x

Re: Virgin Media Trowbridge call centre to close?
 

Of course the job is the same. But the staff aren't.

Tell me when have you phoned tech support in India and got things sorted? If it ain't on their checklist they won't deal with you or try the "We can call back within the hour" excuse just to get the phone down.

Oh but Lo, I forgot your service is excellent so you probably haven't had the need to phone India. Good luck when you do.

Think about the poor people on Mac's or a PC with a Linux OS on it, Indians are like "OMGZORZ GET OFF THE PHONE"... while a UK tech if your lucky to get one will help you no matter the OS.

You may think that to remove the entire offshore support and get the same cost in UK staff may be tough for them to keep up, I say the opposite, it is more likely they will fix issues and keep people happy.

And also would be good for the sake of my wall, it has been unsure if it is safe these last couple of months, I have come close to putting a hole in it and im not a violent person, but that is how you feel after getting off the phone from the Indians.


As for Nitpicking, of course you were, you knew exactly what I was saying but you manipulated the quote yet again to suit yourself. Same old Same old.

Re: Virgin Media Trowbridge call centre to close?
 

Yes carl is good at nitpicking l can see him there like some great professor.

Re: Virgin Media Trowbridge call centre to close?
 

Linux is totally unsupported as the are to many variations plus we are not trained to use terminal, so as long as you know where everything is as per a windows machine and do not mention that you are using Linux you will get support as it should just work.

Now if you tell us you are using Linux and we cannot get you to do certain checks then you will be advised to borrow a windows computer and to callback.

Also all non English versions of Windows are unsupported again unless as above you can follow instruction to the letter and go to the areas on the computer as requested.

Re: Virgin Media Trowbridge call centre to close?
 

Well duh!

And UK staff will? Or will they just be told to follow the script?

I think you're making a lot of assumptions.

Correct.

If VM do not officially support Mac or Linux then no-one will be allowed to officially help you. A UK tech might be able to, un-officially. but that's not the same thing.

How is quoting exactly, word for word, a single paragraph "manipulating" anything? :confused:

Also, I look forward to your trying to tell "Masque" that he's nit-picking, or whatever, now that he has disproved a lot of what you posted as the nonsense I thought it was :)

Re: Virgin Media Trowbridge call centre to close?
 

Cheers DF, pretty sure I'll still be lurking around here. ;)

Re: Virgin Media Trowbridge call centre to close?
 

They do officially support Mac. If they didn't then surely they would just say so, rather than when you get through to India they just panic and either give you Windows instructions anyway, go on hold for ages whilst they try and look it up then say they will have to call you back and never do.

The UK call centres may take a little while to look it up but they do actually give out the correct support.

Re: Virgin Media Trowbridge call centre to close?
 

Well there you go then. I didn't know, which is why I qualified my statement. Now I do. And so does DABhand. He'll be disappointed, of course, as it's one less stick to beat VM with and more proof that he hasn't got a clue what he's talking about :)

Re: Virgin Media Trowbridge call centre to close?
 

Depends on the tech I suppose. I had a triple booting system once, one HDD was on a linux partition with Debian I think installed. The tech was more than happy to run through some init 3 commands to see if it was indeed the modem or UBR at fault. This was a while ago though.

I know the official stance is to not help people with Linux, but unfortunately they need to start supporting soon, more and more cheap Linux PC's are starting to flood the market just for the use of business, schoolwork and general browsing of the net.

---------- Post added at 14:27 ---------- Previous post was at 14:22 ----------

Not at all, I am basing this on experience. UK staff will actually try to help, if they do not understand they will go check. If they can't find the answer they say we will call you back soon, and they do with the answer. India do not, and use the call back as an excuse just to get the next person on hold.

But how can you say they don't when you never call them much for help, wait till your service is so bad for months that you have to deal with both sets of technical help and I guarantee every time you call you hope for the UK staff.

See previous post.

There is a difference Carl, Masque actually keeps things in context, while you miss out a few key words from the start of a sentence and use it in another context. Hence why you can't quote a complete sentence when you do or else your entire fabricated context won't work. And this you have done plenty of times in various forums etc.

Re: Virgin Media Trowbridge call centre to close?
 

Which is what I mentioned previously. Even though the OS is not officially supported some techs (whether here or abroad) may have the knowledge to help.

You may well be right. Does VM Business support Linux? The problem of the huge variation in distros is still an issue.


I edit quotes to the bits I want to respond to. In this case the start of the sentence was irrelevant to the point I was making.

Re: Virgin Media Trowbridge call centre to close?
 

You have finally admitted it. The point here is your point is not valid since you cut up a sentence to suit your own point. If the start of the sentence did not suit it, perhaps the whole sentence in its entirety is not compatible with your point.

You can't dissect a sentence and use choice words like a bleeding Journalist, doesn't work like that.

Re: Virgin Media Trowbridge call centre to close?
 

As the are many many variants in the Linux stable that would be doubtful as we would likely only support one version and considering the many versions out there it would not be a viable option, just think about how many browsers are out there and we only officially support IE and Safari as browsers at present.

As for an agent supporting you over the phone that is fine as long as he does not try taking you into terminal or any other settings as the O/S is totally unsupported and any agent found supporting a customer with an unsupported issue would be disciplined.

Re: Virgin Media Trowbridge call centre to close?
 

No. I only quote relevant bits. There's a big difference.


The whole quote, with the bit I used in bold, was:

Now, give that my point was that, whether in the UK or Overseas, tech. support people would still use checklists, was the rest of the sentence absolutely essential to understanding my point? No, of course it wasn't. The numbers were irrelevant, the "understand good English" was irrelvant. my comment was only regarding the use of check-lists.

Perhaps I assumed a level of understanding of use of English Language that is beyond you. If so, I apologise.

No. It was just not absolutely necessary to include it.

---------- Post added at 15:20 ---------- Previous post was at 15:19 ----------

Now now. Don't start using logic and common sense on here. You know how it confuses some people ;):D

Re: Virgin Media Trowbridge call centre to close?
 

It is not a matter of knowledge it is just an unsupported O/S and not worth the potential hassle from management.

Most Linux users should know their way around the O/S and should have no problems following instructions intended for a windows user.

Re: Virgin Media Trowbridge call centre to close?
 

Well I was just trying to be generous to VM's Tech Support staff ;)

Re: Virgin Media Trowbridge call centre to close?
 

I run Windows 7 at present but prior to this I had my previous machine running Linux for a few years and have quite a few distros around so can run or install about 6 different types if required as I have enough space on my drives, but I am still not able to support Linux.

Re: Virgin Media Trowbridge call centre to close?
 

I work on firstline for an ISP and I'm really glad that we don't have our hands tied like that, we are actively encouraged to do everything we can to help the customer.

It doesn't matter if they are using Windows/Mac/Linux with any combination of browser, we should do as much as we possibly can to assist them with their issue. Often using terminal etc. to help diagnose problems and then resolve them.

I'd feel pretty rubbish if i was disciplined for helping a customer out!

Re: Virgin Media Trowbridge call centre to close?
 

How can we honestly support all the different variations of Linux out there, we would spend more time googling each version so it makes sense not to support those operating systems.

We also only officially support IE on a PC and Safari on a MAC, but we can usually get people back online with most browsers.

Re: Virgin Media Trowbridge call centre to close?
 

Yeah I understand that, it wouldn't be viable supporting every version of Linux but if we have used the particular OS they are using then we are encouraged to help as much as possible, go the extra mile etc.

My point was more the fact that you can be disciplined for helping a customer if you were helping them with an "unsupported issue", I can see the reasons having such rules implemented, but wouldn't like to work under those kind of guidelines.

Much like how some other ISPs have strict rules for getting customers off the phone within 3 minutes and other nonsense - difficult to deliver good technical/customer support if you are pressured to keep to guidelines like that.

Re: Virgin Media Trowbridge call centre to close?
 

@Masque - The Linux Kernel has been up to now been the same for most builds of Linux Operating Systems. The only difference between say Debian, Ubuntu, redhat etc is the GUI, the core system commands are global. Like INIT 3 and 5 and so forth.

Re: Virgin Media Trowbridge call centre to close?
 

It is not for me to say that we should support other O/S's as it is Virginmedia who set the Support Scope not us and we have to abide by what they require us to work with, most ISP's work in a similar way.

If you use Linux and need to ring us I expect that you would not be stupid enough to inform the agent of that fact as some agents would say they cannot help as your O/S is out of scope.

Re: Virgin Media Trowbridge call centre to close?
 

Just to add my voice, sorry to hear your news, hope you get sorted soon.

Re: Virgin Media Trowbridge call centre to close?
 

You do realise that this thread is more than a year dead?

Re: Virgin Media Trowbridge call centre to close?
 

The irony of the post did make me smile, which, after the day I have had, was a welcome diversion. :)

Re: Virgin Media Trowbridge call centre to close?
 

Re: Virgin Media Trowbridge call centre to close?
 

It's so funny he joined just to make himself look a right fool :LOL:

Re: Virgin Media Trowbridge call centre to close?
 

I think one of those words should start with a T.:D

Re: Virgin Media Trowbridge call centre to close?
 

Indeed

Re: Virgin Media Trowbridge call centre to close?
 

Oh Sirius everytime you say Indeed, I just imagine you as Teal'c from Stargate SG-1

Re: Virgin Media Trowbridge call centre to close?
 

Dam my secret is out ;)

Re: Virgin Media Trowbridge call centre to close?