More redundancies

[r00t]

Originally Posted by ceedee

Could one of you folks from VM stop your squabbling long enough to let us know what these eContact staff currently do?

E-contact answer your questions via e-mail, news groups.

[Florence]

Originally Posted by r00t

E-contact answer your questions via e-mail, news groups.

The one place where I managed to get help when India yet again failed to sort out my problem..

Sad to see this ending VM are a company led by bean counters who follow instructions from fools who can see nothing more than £££££ signs.. Unless they pull their heads out of (insert whatever you feel is appropriate here) and smell the coffee before they kill the goose that was laying the golden eggs..

[lostandconfused]

Glad i've given my 30 days notice now. I much rather jump than be pushed...

[PeteTheMusicGuy]

A lot of the companies that are plugging the fact they use "UK Only Call Centres". The Centres seem to be in Ireland or they are planning to open here

[ceedee]

Originally Posted by scoobadiva

people choose to buy those products albert, we dont choose or want to speak to foriegn call centres. I have no problem with virgin media selling there services abroad. So lose your lowest form of wit next post mate.

So it's okay for us to buy goods and services from outside our country and okay for a US company (Virgin Media) to sell their services overseas but not okay for them to outsource their CS to India?
You don't see the double standard?

It's your choice to use overseas call centres whenever you dial the number -- just use a different support method and let VM know why.
If you really want to get the message through, cancel your services and find a British company with British support. That's your choice too.

Oh, and I'll use whatever writing style I think is appropriate, thanks.
You're quite welcome to ignore my posts -- I promise I won't be offended!

[Tech_Boy]

Originally Posted by PeteTheMusicGuy

A lot of the companies that are plugging the fact they use "UK Only Call Centres". The Centres seem to be in Ireland or they are planning to open here

Well, as long as the Call Centres are in Northern ireland, then they are in the UK.

[ceedee]

Originally Posted by r00t

E-contact answer your questions via e-mail, news groups.

Thanks for the clarification, mate.

I guess that VM management are expecting more customers' queries to be made by phone after they drop the premium-priced calls on June 1st and so they won't need as many people dealing with them online.
A rather ironic repercussion of the protests against paying for the 0906 number, eh?

The quality of service offered via the support newsgroups is excellent -- I read them almost every day! -- and I dread the thought of ever having to call the helpline ever again.

I get more disillusioned with the direction VM is taking by the day...


Need help getting onto VM's Tech Support newsgroup?

[the-cable-guy]

Originally Posted by TraxData

From what i know this is only the *start of the redundancies to come.

*shrug* VM dont care about their staff though.

lol whats new they dont care about anyone only money.

[brundles]

Originally Posted by r00t

E-contact answer your questions via e-mail, news groups.

Just great!

The only reason I call tech support is for an outage. If I can get on the net then I'll use the newsgroup support - partially because it means it's not that urgent and partially because the qualityof support is 10 times better.

[BarFly]

Originally Posted by r00t

Wrong, they are adecco staff.

Wrong if were being picky, there IBM, Manpower and Addecco staff all put on notice.

[Rhyming Obituary]

I really do think it's time that the government started to get involved with the way that outsourcing is being used in this country today.

It's not even necessarily just a cost saving measure anymore - not one which it was originally designed to be anyway, that is to bring in temporary staff during times of high employment.

British companies are doing this type of thing purely as a method of denying their staff fair pay, while also denying them fair working rights and benefits.

Most of the staff in VM when they were TUPE'd over lost out hugely after the 12 month TUPE period in terms of working conditions and cost of living pay rises.

If you end up stepping on somebody's toes they can just say that "you're no longer required on that contract" and be told that you'll need to find work elsewhere with your outsourced employer which either magically never appears or is of so poor quality that it's just better to jump ship.

Hell, even my father was affected by this outsourcing malarkey and he's an engineering manager working in Liverpool (not for VM). They froze his salary and doubled his workload.

TUPE doesn't go far enough in ensuring that workers rights are protected, and if you ask me, it's time the government started introducing quotas detailing how much of a percentage of staff must be "directly" employed by a company, or at the very least, directly employed within the UK.

[ceedee]

Originally Posted by Rhyming Obituary

TUPE doesn't go far enough in ensuring that workers rights are protected, and if you ask me, it's time the government started introducing quotas detailing how much of a percentage of staff must be "directly" employed by a company, or at the very least, directly employed within the UK.

If the UK government dared to do anything like that then we'd be penalised by the World Trade Organisation for restricting the free flow of goods and services internationally. This would mean tariffs and restrictions on what we could buy and sell abroad that would not be welcomed by UK consumers.

Cut-price electronics from the Far East and cheap food imports from Africa are the flip-side of the new economics of globalisation -- what folks from Greenpeace and human rights organisations have been yelling for years.

By all means call for a return to protectionism (and I'd be one of the first to support you) but expect to be shouted down by every shopper out for a bargain, let alone the financiers who call the politicians' tune!

Apologies for the political rant -- you'll now be returned to the mass consumer market of the 21st century....

[scoobadiva]

Originally Posted by ceedee

So it's okay for us to buy goods and services from outside our country and okay for a US company (Virgin Media) to sell their services overseas but not okay for them to outsource their CS to India?
You don't see the double standard?

It's your choice to use overseas call centres whenever you dial the number -- just use a different support method and let VM know why.
If you really want to get the message through, cancel your services and find a British company with British support. That's your choice too.

Oh, and I'll use whatever writing style I think is appropriate, thanks.
You're quite welcome to ignore my posts -- I promise I won't be offended!

dumbest post of the day.

import and export of PRODUCTS is good, exporting british JOBS is bad, am i getting through to you, you see the difference here?

[NTLVictim]

Perhaps there will be more disgruntled people out there shortly to blow the whistle on certain, erm, VM practices?

[sparky621]

Originally Posted by Rhyming Obituary

It's not even necessarily just a cost saving measure anymore - not one which it was originally designed to be anyway, that is to bring in temporary staff during times of high employment.

British companies are doing this type of thing purely as a method of denying their staff fair pay, while also denying them fair working rights and benefits.

Spot on Rhyming, my whole department (facilities management) was outsourced, not as a cost saving but in order to reduce headcount and fit a template set out by head office to shed everything other than core bussiness. I transfered departments before outsourcing in order to keep my service (yes I'm lucky to have had that option, most workers affected by outsourcing don't). At the moment the outsourced employees are on the same pay and most conditions as they were, the unions faught hard for this and will continue to challenge any changes.Now whenever we need their services it must cost more as on top of their wages, parts etc their company adds a profit margin.

The one thing that keeps these jobs here in the UK is that there is physical equipment to be worked on. Call centres, online support staff etc by the very nature of their work can be, and are most often, located anywhere in the world. The only people who can affect this are customers who use the call centres. If you can't understand what "David", located somewhere on the Indian subcontinent, is saying make the fact politely known.
It must be said though, it can be just as difficult to understand "David" from Glasgow ( Renfrewshire! )