V+ : Question for VM (or other) Call Centre staff.

[RichardCoulter]

In another thread I explained how, like many people, I get irritated by companies answering their 'phones with press 1, 2, 3, 4..music etc.

I had assumed that this was done to direct customers to different members of staff with each one specialising in a particular business activity.

BUT, after speaking to a young man recenty, who works in a call centre for a mobile 'phone company (not VM), he said that after all the different menus that customers are forced through, the majority of them get through to exactly the same people!

I asked if they at least received notification at their work stations as to what the customer had indicated what the call was about, so they had a rough idea of what to expect even before speaking to them and he said not

So, what IS the point of all these menus? Is it to delay calls to help keep backlogs down at peak times?

How does this work at VM?

I'm genuinally interested, should anyone know the answer

[BenMcr]

Originally Posted by RichardCoulter

How does this work at VM?

It works the way you think it does

Answering the prompts directs you the appropriate team as well as providing them with details as to where you left the automated system

[danborini86]

Also, some of the options do come through to the same department, however on our computers/phones it will tell us what type of call it is, e.g. if a customer comes through to me in sales, the customer will have been asked a couple of things before they get through to me and it will come through to me as either a cable sales call or a national/offnet sales call and then our targets are determined by those options.

[Wild Oscar]

This has been on the news recently ...

Retired IT manager Nigel Clarke, from Kent in the UK, has launched a website listing the call centre menu sequences for accessing thousands of services.
He started the project after growing frustrated about the number of options and amount of recorded information on call centre menus.
Mr Clarke discovered that some automated menus have nearly 80 options.

http://www.pleasepress1.com/

[clayts]

We use a numbering system in our call centre (a housing association customer call centre) and the numbers do actually transfer through to people who are trained in the specific service areas available to the customer in the initial menu (I think there are now seven options).

What we don't do is have a second menu of further menu options as VM does. We tend to keep it simple.

There are some customer service advisors who are proficient in more than one service area, so they will receive different types of calls - the types of call they receive is determined by line managers.

The calls will flash up to tell the advisor what the type of call is (i.e. which menu option the customer chose) so they are prepared - it also flashes up on a screen so the whole call centre can see what calls people are on, or whether they're available, or on a break - it's a brilliant system and works well, as long as there are enough people trained in all the service areas answering calls.

Where the system can fall over is first thing on a Monday morning, but that's fairly typical for call centres only open Mon to Fri

[Doug P]

Pressing buttons before speaking to large companies is something that is here to stay....

[Ken W]

Originally Posted by Doug P

Pressing buttons before speaking to large companies is something that is here to stay....

My doctor's surgery has 7 options in their menu!

Originally Posted by Ken W

My doctor's surgery has 7 options in their menu!

And I bet they all end up at the receptionist

[spiderplant]

Originally Posted by Doug P

Pressing buttons before speaking to large companies is something that is here to stay....

I suspect it will be replaced by voice recognition. Some companies already use that.

[Ken W]

Originally Posted by martyh

And I bet they all end up at the receptionist

They used to have 10 options on their menu and used a premium rate number (09xx) but after complaints they changed to a geographical 01189 number.

Yes they all ended up at the receptionist.

[Helix]

Originally Posted by spiderplant

I suspect it will be replaced by voice recognition. Some companies already use that.

It doesn't really work that well though, as although it might be able to understand you it has to interpret what you said as well and correspond that with an option. Even Siri only works with a certain number of commands.

I had to phone Lloyds TSB the other day to get my online banking password reset, so I told the voice recognition that I wanted to reset my online banking password got put through to someone who then told me I needed the internet banking department and had to put me through to them.

[spiderplant]

Originally Posted by Helix

It doesn't really work that well though

I agree it isn't good enough yet, but it will improve. (I was responding to Doug's suggestion that button pressing was here to stay)

Voice recognition..it's got to get a lot better before I trust such a system to work.

I just press the any other option button in the hopes I get a live body at the other end and that applies to all the various CS systems.

[RichardCoulter]

Originally Posted by Ken W

They used to have 10 options on their menu and used a premium rate number (09xx) but after complaints they changed to a geographical 01189 number.

Yes they all ended up at the receptionist.

So while your busy pressing buttons running your 'phone bill up, the surgery is making money from you

I have just watched a programme from the 1960's that featured call centres. It said that each employee was given a 15 min break every 2 or 2 and a half hours.

What is the system today? Have modern health and safety requirements meant that staff get more breaks than staff in the 1960's, or have breaks decreased with the desire for "efficiency" and to meet targets?

I've found repeatedly pressing '0' usually makes the machine give up and simply put you in a queue to talk to a human.