VM's Indian callcentre

There are some companies who are returning to uk shores from india,a few of the utility companies i think,my bank only uses uk call centres and so does my gas/electricity company,if they can i am not sure why vm cannot!

Another interesting fact is whenever you place a call to order a product be it with vm or my mobile phone company "3",when you ring up to place the order its always a uk call centre funny that,its only later on you find out if you have any problems its overseas for you. Could it be the companies involved realise they are not popular and if you had to order through overseas call centres you may well give up or is that me just being cynical.

[m419]

I think the only reason why people dont like the indian call centre is because its outside the UK and it has nothing to do with the quality of the actual service.

[Russ]

You say that in the face of all the examples of bad service posted in this thread?

[xpod]

I think the only reason why people dont like the indian call centre is because its outside the UK and it has nothing to do with the quality of the actual service.

I think you thought wrong then.

[Peter_]

Originally Posted by m419

I think the only reason why people dont like the indian call centre is because its outside the UK and it has nothing to do with the quality of the actual service.

Hava read through this thread and check out the result at the top of the thread over 80% of the people voted against offshore call centres.

Originally Posted by m419

I think the only reason why people dont like the indian call centre is because its outside the UK and it has nothing to do with the quality of the actual service.

Hmmmm why do you not try because the the dialect it can take a lot longer for any problem to be resolved! or because they do not seem to be able to do a lot over in india, as regards resolving problems ie very often they fob you off i have expierienced this in the past,whilst the uk call centres are more willing to help because they find it easier to understand what you want.

One of the utility companies got so many compliants from customers the retuned to the uk,surely that cannot be just coincidence can it?.

[DJ_Nik_Gnashers]

I have just voted in the poll.
I am the most none-racist none-judgemental person you will ever meet. I have worked for local charities welcoming imigrants into my city, and also helped out ilegal imigrants suffering hardship in my local area. Many of these are none english speaking.
I have also setup many internet radio stations over the past 7 years, the DJ's playing from every different country you can imagine, every race, creed, religion, & colour are always welcome.
I also have had to phone up VM's indian call centres many many times, and I have never EVER been satisfied. It is NOT the fact they are in India, and the staff are Indian, it is not even the dialect barrier, it is not anything other than the fact they are not capable of doing their job its that simple.
I have never yet had a resolved outcome from any issue by means of the indian call centres, and I have had to phone up 50+ times so far.....

[Kursk]

Originally Posted by Moldova

I do not see the point of still trying to defend the off shore call centres when according to the above poll 80% have voted negatively against them, you cannot defend a defeated vote.

Lol, of course I can. Before the poll was even set up, everyone knew what its result would be. This isn't exactly a place full of happy shiny people. The poll was to be used as a tool to prove a point but let's look at the stats: only 182 people have voted (which means well over 3.5m other VM customers haven't) and frankly, it's not even the resounding success you seem to be implying - I mean, even here in grumpyville, 20% of customers are either content or don't care.

Not even Russ, who set up the poll, has referred to it as 'successful' because it's pretty meaningless.

[Russ]

Originally Posted by Kursk

Not even Russ, who set up the poll, has referred to it as 'successful' because it's pretty meaningless.

No, it's because the poll hasn't closed yet. When it has then you'll get my summary.

[Kursk]

Originally Posted by Russ B

No, it's because the poll hasn't closed yet. When it has then you'll get my summary.

Fair point, but it wasn't me who started to quote poll figures as 'proof' of anything. When the poll closes it will show about 150 people are known to be unhappy with the call centres. My word.

[Ignitionnet]

Originally Posted by Kursk

Fair point, but it wasn't me who started to quote poll figures as 'proof' of anything. When the poll closes it will show about 150 people are known to be unhappy with the call centres. My word.

When did polls deal in absolutes? They are always samples and percentages as far as I know.

It shows more that 80% are unhappy. Frankly I couldn't care less, I'm unhappy with them to the extent that after wasting my time with them a few times I've only sought support through the newsgroups since.

Unsure why you're trying to belittle either the poll or the overwhelming feeling of posters that VM's offshore centre is unacceptable. That they are taking the axe to thousands of UK staff while continuing the offshoring of jobs leaves a sour taste too.

[Peter_]

Originally Posted by Kursk

Fair point, but it wasn't me who started to quote poll figures as 'proof' of anything. When the poll closes it will show about 150 people are known to be unhappy with the call centres. My word.

It is just a cross section of Virgins customer base but then many polls are non too dissimilar to this one and if you apply the results across the board in the way pollsters do then it would be a high percentage.

I work on the other end of the phone and quite often the relief in peoples voices are palpable when they hear a voice that is obviously not from offshore and many comment on that fact.

Now I know that we have good agents offshore but they get tarred with the same brush and the customer often hangs up and calls again till they hear one of us answer.

[Kursk]

Originally Posted by Broadbandings

When did polls deal in absolutes? They are always samples and percentages as far as I know.

It shows more that 80% are unhappy. Frankly I couldn't care less, I'm unhappy with them to the extent that after wasting my time with them a few times I've only sought support through the newsgroups since.

Unsure why you're trying to belittle either the poll or the overwhelming feeling of posters that VM's offshore centre is unacceptable. That they are taking the axe to thousands of UK staff while continuing the offshoring of jobs leaves a sour taste too.

Originally Posted by Moldova

It is just a cross section of Virgins customer base but then many polls are non too dissimilar to this one and if you apply the results across the board in the way pollsters do then it would be a high percentage.

I work on the other end of the phone and quite often the relief in peoples voices are palpable when they hear a voice that is obviously not from offshore and many comment on that fact.

Now I know that we have good agents offshore but they get tarred with the same brush and the customer often hangs up and calls again till they hear one of us answer.

Ok. Look, there's no harm in our having differing viewpoints based on our differerent experiences. I'm certainly not trying to belittle the poll or the views of others; I'm simply presenting an alternative view that we've discussed in a civil manner. As I have no wish just to troll or wind anyone up, I'll leave it at that.

[Peter_]

Originally Posted by Kursk

Ok. Look, there's no harm in our having differing viewpoints based on our differerent experiences. I'm certainly not trying to belittle the poll or the views of others; I'm simply presenting an alternative view that we've discussed in a civil manner. As I have no wish just to troll or wind anyone up, I'll leave it at that.

I know what you are saying but I work on the sharp end and what I put in my previous post is correct and any other CSR's that read this will verify what I put in that post.

The is only one viewpoint that matters and that is the customer on the other end of the phone and as I said above the relief in their voice when they hear mine tells a story.

[Retrovertigo]

I defy anyone to defend the Indian cell centres after this experience I have just had.

I get through to an Indian lady who spoke very good english. I explain how I have been unhappy for a while as the speeds have been getting progressively worse. But that this evening is the final straw as I am on the newsgroups and getting less than 50k download speed - I kid you not.

She then goes on to explain that I have to expect slower speeds in the evening as lots of people use the internet and so speeds slow down somewhat!!!!!!

I try keeping calm and explaining why 50k speeds for £30 a month is simply not on. So she tries talking me through some steps. I decide to see where she is going with this and so admit I have a wireless router (who doesn't these days?) and she asks me to connect my PC straight to the cable modem. (Oh yeah, she has said she has just done a test on my modem while we were talking). I humour her but leave my PC connected through the router as per usual.

She then says to bear with her while she does another test. She restarts the modem from her end and comes back with this "what I can see from my end is that your router is causing a bad signal to your PC and you should but a new one or just connect your PC straight to the modem (seriously, how many people still do that?) - now that you have connected your PC straight to the modem, my test shows that you are getting the full signal (a lie as she obviously hasn't tested for that at all)". She suggests I junk my router and just use wired from now on because routers block the internet signal. So if you are with VM you are screwed if you want wireless it seems

She then asks if there is anything else she can do for me after "solving my problem" and that she hopes I am happy now I have full speed back - I don't of course.

This is where the problems lie. They don't care about lying to customers. They certainly don't grasp that 50k speed is totally unacceptable. Someone from here would have known that even with a busy evening, that speed from a 20meg line is ludicrous. Plus they would have taken it far more seriously when I said I was checking out then best alternative supplier in my area. Which seems to be BE - only 8 meg, but a few friends who are local say it is rock solid after leaving VM themselves.

A total shambles all round really. And disgusting that they lie through their teeth about whatever tests they claim to be doing at their end. That's is the inherent problem when customer service is based in a country not even familiar with the actual service they are supposed to be providing backup for.

I'll be speaking to retentions tomorrow and getting as much as I can get knocked off my bill until I sort out a new provider. I have had enough of this joke of a company.