Indian call centre- laugh or cry ?

wigginsmum

I spoke to the Delhi call centre for Ebookers this evening - we got along without much trouble until she asked for our surnames for the tickets, and I had to spell Constantinou-Stygal ...

Jules

nelly_2

wigginsmum wrote:

I spoke to the Delhi call centre for Ebookers this evening - we got along without much trouble until she asked for our surnames for the tickets, and I had to spell Constantinou-Stygal ...

Jules

Id change my name anyway if i was you you must get it every time.

ozvaldinho

http://www.themillsfansite.com/showclips/phonegames.shtml

Anyone on here heard the 'takeaway game' on radio 1's teatime show? Caller orders a takeaway, then asks the takeaway to repeat the order back. Meanwhile, he connects the call to another takeaway, resulting in exactly the same confusion you get with these call centres.

denise38

having had an accident and having had to deal with Indian call centres I made a choice that I would not take out insurance wether it be house or car from any company that uses an Indian call centre.
When you have had an accident and you are stressed it makes things worse having to deal with the language difficulties. I wouldn't want to have to struggle either if I was distraught at having house broken into.
I was asked by company when I phoned to cancel and I told them the reason why. I now have 2 cars and house with a company who has local call centres. So nice to phone and speak to someone with a Glasgow accent.
Luckily the company was the cheapest anyway.

Mandles

I know you dont want to be rude either as you may sound racist. I went to hospital to check whether i had cancer. I had absoloutly no clue what the doctor from india was saying to me . i had to keep asking him to repeat what he was saying & i still didnt understand. Thankfully i was able to speak to a counseller after who explained it in simple clear english.
phew!!

Savvy_Sue

Mandles wrote:

I know you dont want to be rude either as you may sound racist. I went to hospital to check whether i had cancer. I had absoloutly no clue what the doctor from india was saying to me . i had to keep asking him to repeat what he was saying & i still didnt understand. Thankfully i was able to speak to a counseller after who explained it in simple clear english.
phew!!

My mum regularly has this problem as she is quite deaf and struggles to understand people with strong accents, whether regional or foreign. She HAS been called racist, and has been met with frustration and annoyance from the people she can't understand.

Janner

I've had mixed fortunes with overseas call centres, ranging from very good to One-Tel!

The most common problem seems to be overcoming the language barrier, where half the phone call is spent trying to understand each other (I would guess that my broad West Country accent is probably as hard to understand for somebody in India as their accent is for me).

wobbley wrote:

I usually choose not to deal with companies that have overseas call centres.

I see that in addition to www.saynoto0870.com we now have www.saynotooverseascallcentres.com (a call centre location directory sort of thing).

Dora_the_Explorer_5

My mum regularly has this problem as she is quite deaf and struggles to understand people with strong accents, whether regional or foreign. She HAS been called racist, and has been met with frustration and annoyance from the people she can't understand.

I'm in the same position as your mum so as soon ascan't understand what the other person is saying I explain I'm deaf and unable to understand them and get the call escalated until I get someone I can understand. You'd be amazed how many people I speak to before that happens! The trick is to stay cool and keep repeating "I'm deaf, I can't understand you because you have an accent please put me through to your senior colleague". Very rarely I've had a hint that I'm being racist but a reminder of the disability discrimination act fixes it.

110frankie

I dunno, spectacles, scissors, satellites, you put them down and then can't find them again, happens all the time.

sleepy

mike_the_bike wrote:

I've stopped using Norwich Union, HSBC & British Gas & Scottish Amicable recently because of this

I don'tknow about the others, but the British Gas call centres are all still based in the UK. I should know, I work in one in Leeds. They've actually made a pledge not to move any of their call centres overseas.