Why I hate VM's Indian tech support

[General Maximus]

Originally Posted by Skie

It makes me wonder if this is just part of the Virgin "experience". I sent a letter to claim compensation for train tickets to Virgin rail, after myself and my team were delayed by over 3 hours. According to Virgins passenger charter they will fully refund the affected portion of the journey for a delay of 2 hours or more. This should have been £600+ worth of tickets.

Yesterday I got a letter back with a £50 rail voucher. The letter was amazing in its contempt for their own customers: "As a company we are always looking to learn from customer feedback regarding the style and speed of our responses. Therefore we are currently trailing new ways to respond to our customers. As part of this initiative we will not be answering the specifics of your letter in this reply, in order to ensure that we are able to respond swiftly to you. While we have not fully addressed your complaint on this occasion, I can assure you that we will do all we can to ensure that whatever happens in the coming months, we will strive [to] maintain the high standards that you and we have come to expect."

It's the equivalent of a fob off by India. I'm £500 down. Though apparently you get the exact same response (including vouchers) for just moaning about the 1st class lounge not having enough coffee so 10 of them might cover it

If they are going to do stuff like that then I would gladly take them to a small claims court to recover the full cost. They'll soon learn a lesson as they'll end up spending more money by having to actually look at the complaint and then pay for solicitors etc

[Qtx]

I use the VM forums even though it can take 3 days to a week to get a response and even then its is often a standard copy/paste response. This is still preferable over talking to the indian tech support who have never been able to help me or understand what I am telling them. You lower your expectations to rock bottom and VM still fail to meet that level.

Originally Posted by Mick Fisher

There was a time when the Virgin Brand meant something good.

However nowadays, in spite of having already made so much money he couldn't spend it all even if he wanted to, Branson is still so greedy that he will lease out the Brand to any tin pot Company that can afford to line his ass pocket.

To be honest the Brand is now so devalued that it is probably good practice to give anything "Virgin" a wide berth.

You are so funny mr murdoch

---------- Post added at 22:01 ---------- Previous post was at 20:37 ----------

Originally Posted by Mick Fisher

There was a time when the Virgin Brand meant something good.

However nowadays, in spite of having already made so much money he couldn't spend it all even if he wanted to, Branson is still so greedy that he will lease out the Brand to any tin pot Company that can afford to line his ass pocket.

To be honest the Brand is now so devalued that it is probably good practice to give anything "Virgin" a wide berth.

How odd that a discussion on Indian call centres turned into a lets bash the virgin brand, mmm, didn't sky's major shareholders phone tap into a number of people's phones?

Play nicely, boys and girls, or the Loving Mallet Of Correction™ may have to be unholstered....

[Coffeeguy]

Why do VM still outsource to these foreign call centres where our calls are answered by headless chickens? They are merely no more than a TAS. Surely they must be causing more grief and costing VM in terms of unnecessary replacement 'Super'hubs & engineer visits?

Are you VM boffins listening? Do you care?

Originally Posted by Coffeeguy

Why do VM still outsource to these foreign call centres where our calls are answered by headless chickens? They are merely no more than a TAS. Surely they must be causing more grief and costing VM in terms of unnecessary replacement 'Super'hubs & engineer visits?

Are you VM boffins listening? Do you care?

Headless chickens or a human being who happens to live in India and is trying to provide for his / her family and also happens to have a degree. Oh what did you not realise that? To get a job in an Indian call centre you have to have that level of education!!

[Russ]

Originally Posted by Top banana

Headless chickens or a human being who happens to live in India and is trying to provide for his / her family and also happens to have a degree. Oh what did you not realise that? To get a job in an Indian call centre you have to have that level of education!!

That myth has long since been debunked. It was useful when Indian outsourcing companies were trying to sell their service to the UK but most people moved on 10 years ago from falling for it.

[thenry]

Originally Posted by Top banana

Headless chickens or a human being who happens to live in India and is trying to provide for his / her family and also happens to have a degree. Oh what did you not realise that? To get a job in an Indian call centre you have to have that level of education!!

could've fooled me.

Originally Posted by Russ

That myth has long since been debunked. It was useful when Indian outsourcing companies were trying to sell their service to the UK but most people moved on 10 years ago from falling for it.

Missing the point Russ, they are not headless chickens, they are human beings trying their best. How can a so called civilised race be so demeaning to a fellow human?

Originally Posted by Russ

That myth has long since been debunked. It was useful when Indian outsourcing companies were trying to sell their service to the UK but most people moved on 10 years ago from falling for it.

Not a myth - I have set up outsourced call-centres in Pune and Mumbai, and the minimum qual was a degree, and over a third had post-grad quals...

[Russ]

Originally Posted by Top banana

Missing the point Russ, they are not headless chickens, they are human beings trying their best. How can a so called civilised race be so demeaning to a fellow human?

I think I addressed the point perfectly. You were incorrect in your assertion that a degree was required.

If I'm paying for a service I expect that service to be good. If I am able to identify a common denominator in each of the bad experiences I've had then I'll point it out. This is not an exaggeration - every time I've spoken to some from VM who was based in Asia I have come away from the call having been lied to, fobbed off or given 'computer says no' responses. Case in point, the two examples I've given in this thread.

Whatever their lifestyle is like in their own country may well be a legitimate concern. However when I'm trying to get the level of service that I'm paying for then it becomes business.

And VM using these Indian callcentres evidently bad for business as the people simply cannot provide the right level or service.

[ferretuk]

Originally Posted by Top banana

Missing the point Russ, they are not headless chickens, they are human beings trying their best. How can a so called civilised race be so demeaning to a fellow human?

To defuse some of the feelings in these posts...

The issue is that VM employ poorly trained staff in call centres who are, through no fault of their own, unable communicate effectively with the customer base or provide an adequate triage process to pass calls onto 2nd level support.

It so happens that the call centre is situated in an area that can provide a cheap workforce that culturally like to be seen to be helpful...

http://www.kwintessential.co.uk/reso...y-profile.html

See the section "Just can't say no"

[Russ]

Originally Posted by Hugh

Not a myth - I have set up outsourced call-centres in Pune and Mumbai, and the minimum qual was a degree, and over a third had post-grad quals...

I'm sure it may be correct for some callcentre work. But not all, as was stated.

---------- Post added at 23:31 ---------- Previous post was at 23:29 ----------

Originally Posted by ferretuk

It so happens that the call centre is situated in an area that can provide a cheap workforce that culturally like to be seen to be helpful...

Which in itself is not a bad thing - however they usually try so hard to be nice that it becomes a distraction and can detract from the purpose of the call. It's the "yes we have no banana" thing.

---------- Post added at 23:40 ---------- Previous post was at 23:31 ----------

Originally Posted by ferretuk

http://www.kwintessential.co.uk/reso...y-profile.html

See the section "Just can't say no"

That makes my blood boil. If it is indeed correct then they need to be firmly taught that being so evasive with the truth in our culture (ie the culture they ought to be serving) is indeed going to be seen as dishonest and untrustworthy.

I don't see why we should be expected to change the way we perceive the call when we are the customers. It is they who need to change if VM wants us to accept their service. I love how VM once said they were "spending millions of pounds training" their Indian callcentre staff about our customs and ways. Well clearly that lump of cash was not an ideal investment.

[General Maximus]

Sounds like typical VM if you ask me dude. They would rather waste millions on rubbish customer service just like they like to waste a fortune on dishing shubs out willy nilly instead of investing in decent cpe. The irony is that although VM try to economise at every opportunity, it costs them more in the long run.

Originally Posted by Russ

I'm sure it may be correct for some callcentre work. But not all, as was stated.

---------- Post added at 23:31 ---------- Previous post was at 23:29 ----------



Which in itself is not a bad thing - however they usually try so hard to be nice that it becomes a distraction and can detract from the purpose of the call. It's the "yes we have no banana" thing.

---------- Post added at 23:40 ---------- Previous post was at 23:31 ----------



That makes my blood boil. If it is indeed correct then they need to be firmly taught that being so evasive with the truth in our culture (ie the culture they ought to be serving) is indeed going to be seen as dishonest and untrustworthy.

I don't see why we should be expected to change the way we perceive the call when we are the customers. It is they who need to change if VM wants us to accept their service. I love how VM once said they were "spending millions of pounds training" their Indian callcentre staff about our customs and ways. Well clearly that lump of cash was not an ideal investment.

They need to be firmly taught????????? Good lord this is the year 2012