INDIA CALLING !!

[cheyenne]

Dont think in anyway im being prejudice, but i have recieved several calls lately regarding insurance,banking etc from call centres in india.and for the life of me i cant understand half of what they are saying.has any other answerbankers had this problem?i do stay on the line and im never rude to these people,but after what seems like half an hour i still havent got a clue what they are saying.

[SGKelloe32]

Yes and what always makes me laugh is that when they start speaking to you, they can hardly speak a word of english yet they tell you they've got a name like fred! For example, i had to phone a bank call centre the other day and when the girl answered the call in broken english she said "Hello, thank you for calling, my name is RACHEL!" Yeah, ok, whatever!!! 

[BUNNY]

Oh I  am glad someone else feels the same way!!I have been tormented with these calls recently and have really tried to be patient.However,after a long long call one night as I was ready for going out( and was subsequently late) I was woken out of sleep following a night shift by the same people calling back because they had mispelt something.I lost my temper and shouted down the phone,but the guy was so apologetic and so polite I was riddled with guilt for ages afterwards.

[FP]

I actually work in a Call Centre (in Britain).  A lots of callers are really relieved when they find out they are speaking to someone they can understand and who understand them.

 

Someone from a call centre left a message on our answerphone the other day about a parcel that needed delivering.  Apart from the name of the company I couldn't understand a single word and the caller didn't leave their name.  It took me about half a dozen phone calls to try and work out what was going on.

 

Ugh, Call Centres I hate them, and as I say, I am a call centre advisor!!!!

[FP]

Vinny, I thought you would be out with your fireworks tonight!

[cheyenne]

hi Fakeplastic,the fireworks were last night,just as well its peeing down at the moment.

[apricot2]

Don't get calls at home as we're ex directory but I did get one at work.  I was interested in the product but couldn't catch much of what the guy was saying so I asked him to send me the information through the post.  Whilst initially reluctant he did eventually agree.  I was particularly concerned that this company thought I should give my bank and credit cards details over the phone.  Errr NO!  I did buy the product which was amazingly good value.  Not a good experience though.

[paulz]

yep - I had a call from WH Smith, after ten minutes I simply said I'm sorry, I don't understand what you are selling, but I'm not interested, goodbye [I must've had an Anne R. moment!] the person was still talking as I put the phone down.

[bernardo]

There was a documentary programme on TV recently about such call centres - they tend to employ highly-educated professional people (who are still cheaper that UK workers even though they have degrees) and are well-trained, so I am surprised if the managers don't check properly their ability to speak English.  Whenever I get an unsolicited call trying to sell something, I usually just put the phone down (off the hook) and walk away, so that they are still paying for the call after I have given up.

[katreeen]

Blue Peter ran a very interesting story on this topic actually...not that I'd watch that instead of writing essays or anything.......

The Indian call centre workers are given elocution lessons and English-sounding names so people in Britain don't get intimidated or something.....if I were one I'd be somewhat offended at this. Having said that, I do have quite a lot of fun with junk callers by trying to engage them in conversation about the weather, test match, latest film releases etc. If they keep talking I just walk away from the phone (like bernardo) and hope they waste as much of their employers' money as possible!

[enigma]

Having previously worked in call centres , it does irritate me more than slightly that a lot of big companies are slashing jobs in the UK by outsourcing to countries such as India to save money and also hiring trainers to aid employees in India with language problems such as getting their tongues around some troublesome addresses , surnames etc. I had to laugh when I read in the paper that one company was showing employees episodes of Eastenders , Coronation Street , Rab C Nesbitt etc to help them cope with regional dialects. As a Scottish woman , I can think of many classic Scottish surnames and towns which would really give them a headache ! I had to speak to someone from the technical dept in BT recently and was subsequently put through to an adviser in Bangladesh who spoke very basic English and it left me feeling really frustrated as he kept leaving huge pauses in the conversation , and I had to keep checking that he was still there. I am not a rascist by any manner of means but I firmly believe that if companies are to outsource to other countries , then they should at least be ensuring that their employees have more than a basic grasp of the English language as otherwise it infuriates a lot of customers by the fact that the conversation is very time consuming having to explain everything over and over and it is in my opinion , a sloppy form of customer service. The cheaper option isn't always the best option.

[enigma]

The worst I ever experienced was when I worked for a leading travel agency call centre who's headquarters - although not widely publicised - are in Bangladesh. When we needed authorisation over bookings , had to refer queries , complaints etc , we had to call through to Bangladesh and nine times out of ten we would get an adviser who spoke in broken English and could not even understand how we were pronouncing letters of the alphabet ! I used the phonetic spelling in one call - C for Charlie and the girl didn't understand me. I thought that it was the second part which was giving her trouble but in fact , she didn't know how to write the letter C ! Dear oh dear !!!

[FP]

What I don't understand Enigma, that working in a call centre in the UK we are closely monitored for our communications ability and our speed at getting the information over to our customers.  How do they monitor advisors in India when they can hardly speak our language.  I am so frustrated by all this outsourcing.  I am not racist either, but I find myself becoming very rude to people who cannot understand me when their whole purpose is to help me.  If they can't understand me (I have a fairly accentless voice and am told I communicate very clearly) how on earth do they deal with all the various accents in the UK.  

When I am talking to someone about my financial affairs and banking, I expect to be able to hold a fluent conversation with them.

 

 

[enigma]

I totally agree with you Fakeplastic and find this so infuriating too. I am presuming that as well as having your calls monitored/recorded , you may very well have been scored on your calls for greeting , identifying customer's needs/ matching needs , tone , pitch etc - standard stuff really. I would be very interested to know how these individuals in question fare in call monitoring. Like you , I have a rather accentless voice and I am well aware of the fact that a lot of people find the Scottish accent particularly troublesome at times - mainly because a lot of us tend to speak too quickly ! However , I have been praised for my clarity in calls and was even chosen as the voice of the company answering machine for the hold message in one call centre where I worked  because they said that I had the best voice , which was a good accolade. It beats me how companies demand excellent standards of customer service from UK employees , bombard you with endless talks in training about identifying and matching your customer's needs , being an effective communicator etc , when a lot of the time non UK employees can barely cope with the calls which they are receiving due to language barriers. I try not to get angry with the advisers but it really can test your patience , especially when you don't have time to go over and over the same ground again and again. It just boils down to cost - saving money at a cost of the company's reputation and greed for more money on their part. I mean to say , is Vera Duckworth or Rab C Nesbitt for that matter really a good role model for them ?!!! I'm just thinking about the Thai bites advert now - you know the one where a couple are in an authentic Thai village but the locals speak like half of Corrie. I shudder to think what they'll learn from watching Rab C Nesbitt , Corrie etc.

[cheyenne]

Excellent Answers from people like you ,who no what their talking about.yes it comes down to penny pinching companys.Ive got a west country accent,between me and the indian chap we could have spent all day on the phone.Next time they call me,I will just say the person they want to talk to is not at home!!

[indiarules24]

SGKelloe32, actually rachel is a very common Indian name.