Disgrace of india - call centre disrespects us!

[dazzer89]

Originally Posted by Maggy J

With all due respect I think some of us are over reacting particularly as the OP got his problem fixed.

Ermmm excuse me but I'd be kicking the door down of the CEO if I were anywhere near close enough to the Head Office. That is not acceptable in any way shape or form.

Originally Posted by dazzer89

Ermmm excuse me but I'd be kicking the door down of the CEO if I were anywhere near close enough to the Head Office. That is not acceptable in any way shape or form.

quite right ,half assed attitudes to jobs is why companies get such a bad name

Originally Posted by dazzer89

Ermmm excuse me but I'd be kicking the door down of the CEO if I were anywhere near close enough to the Head Office. That is not acceptable in any way shape or form.

The OP had his issues sorted out and was not abused or lied to.Neither was the agent rude to him..also he wasn't left on hold or passed between departments and he wasn't promised a call back that never materialised.

As for the bit about paying their wages as stated in the original post well that's not true.VM pay their wages and provide a customer service to us as part of the overall service.Some of you are talking as if a rape or murder has occurred and you should try and apply a sense of proportion to the situation.

[Russ]

I think what they're trying to say (and is something I'd agree with) is it doesn't exactly inspire confidence in their ability to be focussed on the customer and paying attention to their needs. Not the most grave crime but when you're trying to get important issues resolved I don't think you want to be given the impression that the CS agents are watching cricket.

Originally Posted by Russ

I think what they're trying to say (and is something I'd agree with) is it doesn't exactly inspire confidence in their ability to be focussed on the customer and paying attention to their needs. Not the most grave crime but when you're trying to get important issues resolved I don't think you want to be given the impression that the CS agents are watching cricket.

I know Russ and if the OP hadn't had his issue sorted then I'd be right with everyone...

Originally Posted by Maggy J

The OP had his issues sorted out and was not abused or lied to.Neither was the agent rude to him..also he wasn't left on hold or passed between departments and he wasn't promised a call back that never materialised.

As for the bit about paying their wages as stated in the original post well that's not true.VM pay their wages and provide a customer service to us as part of the overall service.Some of you are talking as if a rape or murder has occurred and you should try and apply a sense of proportion to the situation.

Quite frankly Maggie i find your attitude bizarre.
Given the amount of threads on bad CS from the VM call center in India that you have moderate Maggie i'm surprised you are so blase about an extremely rude agent .I could understand a 1 off experience of bad CS but it would seem that there is a very real lack of professionalism in the call center and the ops post is just another example

Originally Posted by martyh

Quite frankly Maggie i find your attitude bizarre.
Given the amount of threads on bad CS from the VM call center in India that you have moderate Maggie i'm surprised you are so blase about an extremely rude agent .I could understand a 1 off experience of bad CS but it would seem that there is a very real lack of professionalism in the call center and the ops post is just another example

Excuse me..but having read the original post I see nothing about the agent being rude.Distracted yes,rude no.

Plus my actual own real life experiences with VM CS has been absolutely fine on those occasions I have had to phone up.

You forget that you are bound to see complaints here about issues of poor CS and other issues but this is the exception as those with complaints will gravitate to sites like this.. The vast majority of VM customers probably never have a complaint about CS at all.

[Peter_]

Originally Posted by dazzer89

Ermmm excuse me but I'd be kicking the door down of the CEO if I were anywhere near close enough to the Head Office. That is not acceptable in any way shape or form.

Now that is an over reaction to say the least especially as you have only read about it, a lot of people find they have long calls with offshore anyway so the cricket may not have had any impact on the call length.

We have televisions on all day every day with sport or music playing and most customers never even notice among the background noise.

The issue was sorted out to the OP's satisfaction but he was amazed at the noise in the call centre more than anything, I expect anyone who calls in when Liverpool or Everton are on TV will be unaware that the agent is also watching the match because it is called professionalism.

Originally Posted by Maggy J

Excuse me..but having read the original post I see nothing about the agent being rude.Distracted yes,rude no.

Plus my actual own real life experiences with VM CS has been absolutely fine on those occasions I have had to phone up.

You forget that you are bound to see complaints here about issues of poor CS and other issues but this is the exception as those with complaints will gravitate to sites like this.. The vast majority of VM customers probably never have a complaint about CS at all.

You don't see that watching a cricket match at work whilst you are supposed to be helping someone with a problem as rude ?

[BenMcr]

Originally Posted by martyh

You don't see that watching a cricket match at work whilst you are supposed to be helping someone with a problem as rude ?

Personally I think they probably should have been a little more focused.

However I have seen UK agents just as unfocused when the Football has been on, even when it's something like Manchester United or City games, let alone a World Cup

So the thread title is a bit OTT, as the comments specifically about 'we in the UK pay their wages' etc

[Pierre]

I think this whole thread is a little self obsessed. There's no major burning issue here. As for "disgrace of India" there's much much more important other issues that India should be maligned for, such as poverty, infant mortality rates etc.

Who really gives a toss about your poor call centre experience whilst the final of the cricket world cup was on?

[Ignitionnet]

The title of this thread has some wonderful undertones.

I have to wonder if there would be this level of indignation had it been an unfocussed Airdrie based agent watching Scotland playing football.

Sorry, I forgot, UK based agents are never unfocussed.

This doesn't, of course, excuse the experience.

You asked for advice on your first post so it is simply to suck it up and get on with life. You would have likely had a similar experience from almost any company in the world at any contact centre in the world under those circumstances.

[Russ]

I have to say I'm slightly on the OP's side here - slightly.

OK the issue was dealt with and although the agent was distracted (something which really winds me up regardless of where they're based) if that was me and it was the first time I'd called the company I'd have very little confidence in the company to sort any subsequent issues out if they're unprofessional enough to be cheering at the tv in the background.

When I was at NTL (as it was then) yes there were TVs scattered around the place and when any sporting event came on we would not be cheering or anything like it. In fact I'm pretty sure we'd have been up for a warning if something like that happened.

I admit I'm very anti-Indian callcentre but I'd find this very unprofessional no matter where in the world the callcentre was based and I'd be inclined to write a letter of complaint to the company - although I'd stop short of booting the door down or whatever the OP said.

Saying that however, VM and other companies seem very unwilling to ask employees in their off-shore callcentres to stop behaving in certain ways if it's deemed to be "part of their culture". When 3 first started it took them two years to get their callcentre staff to stop referring to customer as "Mr/Mrs *first name".

[nutellajunkie]

Having read all of the above, Its certain replies that are a wee bit out of proportion, my OP is perfectly adequate thank you. Can always rely on some posters for the high-biasing, I shan't name drop, we know who they are.

Had anyone been in my shoes, you too would have felt the guy was being 100% rude and disrespectful. Half an hour to complete a call, indeed I was left on hold while he was distracted. A call that shouldn’t have taken 10 minutes at most!

We pay monies to VM, if we never, then the staff wouldn’t get wages. Simple as. They should work for their wages, regardless where they are in the world, and follow rules and regulations. Staff don’t run the show!

As for other responses, its always each to their own, I tend not to disagree and with the replies, I will go ahead will be writing to head office, after indeed I see responses over on the official forums.

incidentally, Ill be turning off subscription to this thread now. :P

---------- Post added at 22:02 ---------- Previous post was at 22:01 ----------

Originally Posted by Russ

I think what they're trying to say (and is something I'd agree with) is it doesn't exactly inspire confidence in their ability to be focussed on the customer and paying attention to their needs. Not the most grave crime but when you're trying to get important issues resolved I don't think you want to be given the impression that the CS agents are watching cricket.

here here!

[Ignitionnet]

I think you expect a higher standard of service than VM on occasion provide. I'd recommend perhaps paying a premium price if you expect a premium level of service, I would be happy to suggest alternative suppliers who charge just such a premium for such a level of service.