Virgin Media Tech Supprt in Manilla

Peter_ · 02-09-2012, 08:40

Virgin Media are now training Broadband Technical Support agents in Manilla which in case you are unsure is in the Philippines, so Virgin Media are keeping to their promise of not getting rid of offshore any time soon all they are doing is moving them even further from the UK.

So what are your thoughts on this little nugget.

I know this to be true as one of my more gullible ex colleagues who decided to go down to Swansea to work leaving his family in Liverpool has just returned from a training trip to Manilla and posted it on Facebook.

MalteseFalcon · 02-09-2012, 11:36

Disgusting. Just because they will work for a bowl of rice 3 meals a day, doesn't mean that service will be better than having it based in UK. I struggle to understand Indian call centre staff, so Christ knows how bad it will be in Philippines. Virgin Media sucks for outsourcing these jobs.

Peter_ · 02-09-2012, 11:48

Quote:

Originally Posted by MarkC1984

Disgusting. Just because they will work for a bowl of rice 3 meals a day, doesn't mean that service will be better than having it based in UK. I struggle to understand Indian call centre staff, so Christ knows how bad it will be in Philippines. Virgin Media sucks for outsourcing these jobs.

They have an americanised english accent so sound rather different but they tend to have very strange names which makes you rather wary such as a male may call themselves Princess Anne and other odd nicknames so making "Mike" from Pune sound more realistic.

Russ · 02-09-2012, 11:57

Awesome. Fake American accents with silly nicknames instead of 'Trevor' and his mates saying "Thank you please". I'm sure VM's aim is to reduce calls to tech support by making the service so bad that people will do anything but call them up.

Peter_ · 02-09-2012, 12:02

Quote:

Originally Posted by Russ

Awesome. Fake American accents with silly nicknames instead of 'Trevor' and his mates saying "Thank you please". I'm sure VM's aim is to reduce calls to tech support by making the service so bad that people will do anything but call them up.

Have you ever spoken to Virgin Mobile Sales or Billing as that is based in Manilla, the accent sounds very strange and you do ask them to repeat the name as you believe you must have misheard it first time round.

Russ · 02-09-2012, 12:09

I only ever spoke to them once when my mother was thinking of getting a mobile contract with them. The accent put me off completely but what sealed it for me was when I asked for the agent's name which she claimed was 'Baby Ruby'.

There's no way anyone in my family is going to sign a legal contract if the person offering the deal is going to use a silly nickname.

Mick Fisher · 02-09-2012, 12:46

I have absolutely nothing against outsourced support providing they can do the job.

It is possible, my time with BE proved that.

So what's up with VM's outsourced support for it to be the worst I have experienced by far.

I can only assume that the personnel are the scrapings from the bottom of the local labour exchange and the training provided is not fit for purpose.

It seems VM are not content with saving a bucketfull of cash by dumping as many UK staff as they can but continue to maximise their savings by purposefully degrading the pitifully inadequate offshored support.

What a disgusting state of affairs, VM's customer facing support is on a par with their not fit for purpose Superhub.

It seems that VM have not yet realised they are no longer the "only game in town" when it comes to fast broadband, or maybe they have, realised they can't compete and are resigned to being on the slippery slope to oblivion.

spiderplant · 02-09-2012, 12:48

Quote:

Originally Posted by Russ

Awesome. Fake American accents with silly nicknames instead of 'Trevor' and his mates saying "Thank you please". I'm sure VM's aim is to reduce calls to tech support by making the service so bad that people will do anything but call them up.

You may find this enlightening http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programme...nt/9435751.stm.
As for the accent - they speak with the accent of the people who teach them, as do we all.

Russ · 02-09-2012, 12:59

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mick Fisher

I have absolutely nothing against outsourced support providing they can do the job.

I have everything against it, especially from support based in Asian countries. I've never spoken to anyone from callcentres there who felt like they truly understood my issues. We have different ways of expressing things and they use words differently too.

When I've had to call them in the past and explained whatever the problem is they usually say "I'll surely look at that for you". Now that in itself isn't a major thing but they're getting the words 'surely' and 'certainly' mixed up but what they say doesn't really make sense, and they take offence when you try to correct them.

Again I stress that getting words like that mixed up isn't a huge thing but it doesn't inspire any confidence in me that they will understand why I'm calling.

Also they seem to stumble over themselves trying to be helpful. Again that's not a bad thing in itself but they seem to try too hard, so hard in fact that it becomes distracting. Everything is "I apologise for the inconvenience". Once when I pointed out to one Indian tech support agent that 'thank you please' didn't make sense, his reply was "I apologise for the inconvenience". I really didn't have the will to inform him that 'thank you please' was not inconveniencing me in any way.

They have this mentality of 'serving their colonial masters' so they are overly-loyal to their employer. This means regardless of the caller's situation, they rigidly stick to the rules and simply will not consider using common sense or discretion where people in UK callcentres often will if it means sorting a customer's problem. They believe they are doing right by serving their employer when in actual fact they should be serving the customer.

I love it when VM claim they are spending 'millions' on training their Asian staff to understand us better when they could be saving 'millions' by just using people that understand us here in the UK.

---------- Post added at 12:59 ---------- Previous post was at 12:57 ----------

Quote:

Originally Posted by spiderplant

You may find this enlightening http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programme...nt/9435751.stm.

That makes my blood boil - I have no issues with them using whatever nuances works for them in their own country but when they serve us they are to use our ways.

Quote:

Originally Posted by spiderplant

As for the accent - they speak with the accent of the people who teach them, as do we all.

Again, they should adapt to that of the country they are serving.

Peter_ · 02-09-2012, 15:18

The guy who was sent to Manilla was sent via Business Class with all the extras so his trip probably cost more than a years wages for a Filipino agent, and they probably sent more than one agent.

Sirius · 02-09-2012, 18:06

Quote:

Originally Posted by MarkC1984

Disgusting. Just because they will work for a bowl of rice 3 meals a day, doesn't mean that service will be better than having it based in UK. I struggle to understand Indian call centre staff, so Christ knows how bad it will be in Philippines. Virgin Media sucks for outsourcing these jobs.

I have to wear hearing aids which makes my life so much harder when talking to overseas call centres, the sound quality is far reduced because they use voip lines

---------- Post added at 18:00 ---------- Previous post was at 17:58 ----------

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mick Fisher

I have absolutely nothing against outsourced support providing they can do the job.

They are a waste of time for those of use with hearing issues if they use crappy voip lines to save even more money.

I had to talk to manilla the other day to arrange roaming for my phone for whilst i am in Tunisia, i gave up after 5 minutes because i could not make out what the woman was trying to tell me on the phone, all she was interested in was trying to up sell me a better contract.

The outcome is i will buy a local sim when i get over in Tunisia.

---------- Post added at 18:06 ---------- Previous post was at 18:00 ----------

Quote:

Originally Posted by Peter_

The guy who was sent to Manilla was sent via Business Class with all the extras so his trip probably cost more than a years wages for a Filipino agent, and they probably sent more than one agent.

Was it via Virgin airlines ?

Peter_ · 02-09-2012, 18:26

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sirius

Was it via Virgin airlines ?

More likely British Airways as he posted a picture of the Executive Lounge on his way out.

The agents are atrocious i remember upgrading a few years back and because I misheard they sent me a free pink Virgin Mobile branded handset for which I only paid postage unaware until it arrived that i had even ordered one, it was never used until we needed an emergency spare earlier this year

Sirius · 02-09-2012, 18:40

Quote:

Originally Posted by Peter_

More likely British Airways as he posted a picture of the Executive Lounge on his way out.

The agents are atrocious i remember upgrading a few years back and because I misheard they sent me a free pink Virgin Mobile branded handset for which I only paid postage unaware until it arrived that i had even ordered one, it was never used until we needed an emergency spare earlier this year

After the call i googled and found i can get a Tourist sim at the airport for Â£10.00 with enough credit to last me, If i had chosen to activate roaming it was going to cost me Â£1.75 a minute to make calls and Â£1.30 to receive plus i would have been billed for reciving a voice mail. Data would have been Â£5,00 per meg which is shocking

Thankfully because i ended the call as it was so bad i did not end up on roaming

Mick Fisher · 02-09-2012, 19:06

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sirius

I have to wear hearing aids which makes my life so much harder when talking to overseas call centres, the sound quality is far reduced because they use voip lines

---------- Post added at 18:00 ---------- Previous post was at 17:58 ----------

They are a waste of time for those of use with hearing issues if they use crappy voip lines to save even more money.

I am sorry to hear that.

I have normal hearing and struggle to understand them so I can empathise with you totally.

Sirius · 02-09-2012, 19:09

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mick Fisher

I am sorry to hear that.

I have normal hearing and struggle to understand them so I can empathise with you totally.

I imagine it can be just as bad for those on the other end of the phone when i keep saying " say that again please"