100% British Service

Chrisorganist26 · 06-03-2007, 18:49

Hi there,

This maybe a difficult question to ask but does anyone know of a telephone and broadband company that is 100% British ie ALL of its call centres are in the UK including sales, technical support, customer service, billing?

Its not that I am prejudiced or racist but I am someone who is very concerned about the increase in offshoring call centre work when there are plenty of people in the UK who are up for the job.

Therefore, I want to "practive what I preach" and try and give my custom to a company that has ALL of its call centres in the UK.

BT has its customer service in the UK but broadband in India and what a wonderful service they provide. For example, I had problems with my modem and I was told to "place the modem on a piece of wood"!!!!! Needles to say, it made no difference. Whatever you say you dont get a relevant answer back. Clearly because there is a language barrier.

As an unhappy BT customer I am looking at moving my phone and broadband to a different provider BUT it must be where all of the call centres are British. Im not so bothered about what I am paying - within reason of course!

Virgin Media and talk talk have most of their call centres in the UK but broadband technical support in India. Again, not a lot of help to me!

So if anyone can tell me where I could get phone and broadband with 100% British service then let me know!!!!! Plus, if you can advise me on other things like banks and insurance then that would also be most helpful!

I read in the Manchester Evening News tonight that barclaycard is shifting 600 jobs to Inida. Shame on you Barclaycard! However, fair play to Lloyds TSB who have finally seen the light and shifted work back to the UK. At last, a company that LISTENS to their customers.

I look forward to hearing what people have to say.

Chris.

Paul K · 06-03-2007, 18:51

Think you will find that all types of calls go to the Indian call centers during the day, it's just the ratio of calls that changes (in the evening 90% of call center staff online is via India)

Jason1 · 06-03-2007, 18:58

Try these http://www.keconnect.co.uk/ you may need to confirm residental support is UK based. I have used their service for a business package since 2002 and have only ever spoke to uk based staff in all departments

Kellargh · 06-03-2007, 19:03

Unfortunately Virgin Media offshore for all departments, and it's all down to chance who you speak to. It's not the best, and I would prefer it if us guys didn't have offshore centers. Calling though to another department, and trying to explain a situation to offshore is extremely difficult!

Have a good look, but I personally cannot think of any.

(Hehe and I've never had anything resolved first time with broadband faults in India, through BT!)

AndyIggs83 · 06-03-2007, 19:07

Is there any number possible that I could use to get through to a British based consultant at VM or is it really luck of the draw?

Locky · 06-03-2007, 19:37

luck of the draw as far as i know, hopefuly they will bring em home ! them call centres are disgusting and quite insulting to the paying customers!

Justy · 06-03-2007, 19:45

Quote:

Originally Posted by Locky

luck of the draw as far as i know, hopefuly they will bring em home ! them call centres are disgusting and quite insulting to the paying customers!

AOL provide a UK only based service do they not??????

Locky · 06-03-2007, 22:38

i do not know

addycarra · 06-03-2007, 22:46

I was with AOL a while and when i wanted to cancel, i got through to an india call centre who were most unhelpful, then called back during working hours and got someone in Ireland who resolved my query!

Tod · 07-03-2007, 09:31

To be fair, since NTL has become Virgin I have only spoken to Brits when I have called them.

Nevermind1994 · 08-03-2007, 01:00

same here, i also think it depends on what time you call.

Mr Clean · 08-03-2007, 01:09

It's unfortunate, but all call centres in any company, not just ISP's, are being outsourced to india now. When I worked for BT a while ago it started happening. People from my call centre went off to train them.

Fair enough, people had to earn and live and companies need to save money but the language barrier can sometimes become unbearable.

That being said. I spoke to a very helpful gent in India about a year ago when I went up to 10Mb and he knew exactly what he was doing. Got me sorted in minutes. So tarring all workers with the same brush is a definite no no.

Don't know what else to say. Drunk!

Kevin Shirley · 08-03-2007, 14:40

Quote:

Originally Posted by addycarra

I was with AOL a while and when i wanted to cancel, i got through to an india call centre who were most unhelpful, then called back during working hours and got someone in Ireland who resolved my query!

Yep AOL definitely does use Indian call centres. I called last year to get a MAC code and got through to India and what a complete waste of time it was as I was told they couldn't give me the code there and then as there was a problem, then I heard nothing more from them about it....anyone surprised?

I'm using Virgin (currently 4 meg considering upping to 10 meg) and am happy there's only been a couple of problems the first was on the day of installation seems there was a registration problem at the time and the other was the news server hiccup.

I prefer British call centres.

Kevin

grimwau · 08-03-2007, 15:06

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chrisorganist26

<SNIP> For example, I had problems with my modem and I was told to "place the modem on a piece of wood"!!!!! Needles to say, it made no difference. I look forward to hearing what people have to say.

Chris.

What sort of wood did you use? A decent hardwood from the Indian sub-continent or a cheap piece of MDF?

Chrisorganist26 · 08-03-2007, 23:58

LOL Now I do like that!!!!

I will remember that one!!!!

Yep, I think it's virtually impossible to find a company that has all of it's call centres here in the UK. It's very sad really. Perhaps what is amusing though is that Indian banks etc are coming over here to set up call centres. I'll never understand.

I have narrowed it down to two companies to take my Broadband and phone line service to. Virgin Media or Pipex Homecall. I have applied for jobs with both of these companies so that will be the deciding factor. Im aware I will get a bit of a disocunt if successful in getting a job with these companies.

Just out of interest, I have recently walked out of o2 mobiles working at the Bury call centre. There were several reasons but the main reason was that when I started back in May 2006 they had this "Thanks a Million" campaign. If the company made an extra million customers then EVERY employee got ÃƒÆ’Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ãƒâ€šÃ‚Â£1000 in their pay packet on 31st March 2007. However, a couple of weeks ago they changed the policy and in order to be eligible you had to have an APR score of 3 or above - 4 being at the bottom and 1 being at the top. Your APR is governed by call obs, stats, AHT, attendance, right first time etc etc. Like most new starters I got a 4. I wouldnt have minded so much if the company had been honest from the first place. However, me and some of my ex colleagues think it was a way of trying to retain staff by making them believe they were getting extra cash.

Cheers,

Chris.