Overseas Call Centres

gregg1

looby75 wrote:

I had exactly the same problem with my daughters account at HSBC. She got a letter saying her new card was at the branch for her to collect but she needed to take photo id and a recent utilities bill in her name as proof of identity. She's 13 she doesn't have utilities bills!

I called the help line and explained the situation but they wouldn't speak to me, only my dd. I had problems understanding the Indian ladys very strong accent so my poor dd had no chance. Eventually, after 40 mins on the phone, at least 10 of which was spent trying to explain why my dd didn't have a driving licence (the cs woman insisted this was the only form of photo id they would accept) or utilites bills, I was told that I could go and pick up my dd's card for her as long as I took proof of my id and address. I went into the branch the next day and was told that was a load of rubbish and dd would need to come herself, with proof of id (talk about going round in circles!) to collect the card.

I lost it, I know I shouldn't have but I really did get mad. I wasn't abusive or violent but I did raise my voice and did refuse to leave until something was sorted. In the end the branch manager said they would send the card out in the post! WHY THE HELL couldn't they just do that in the first place? :mad:

My dd is now opening a Halifax account LOL

Also had exactly the same thing with HSBC and my daughter's account. I sent a strong letter to HO about it and they credited her account with £30 as a goodwill gesture - I still closed her account with em though.

lionpops

EdBrown wrote:

I have no doubt that many of you have like me spent many time consuming and frustrating hours speaking to people in overseas call centres of supposedly UK based firms.
Many don't understand the problem you are trying to relate to them, you may get transferred several times (often being on hold for long periods in between and even cut off in the transfer), and more infuriating you might have to call back several times about the same thing because nothing is done. To add insult to injury it is often a 0870 number where the company get a kick-back and you're having to call it because of the failings of the company anyway.
Quickly the apparent good deal you might have got from this company pales into insignificance because of poor customer service and increased call charges!!
Does anybody know of a published info board showing major companies trading in the UK who use these overseas call centres so that I might avoid them in future??

After a few frustrating experience with AOL and Sky and having heard the same complaints from friends, family and collegues I've started collating a list of companies who use UK based call centres only, the site is still very much in its infancy but all the companies listed in it have been contacted and have confirmed that you will always speak to a UK based operator if you call them. The site can be found at http://www.callukcentres.co.uk

If anyone has any comments or suggestions on the site and what else they'd like to see included feel free to get in touch.

lionpops

After a few frustrating experience with AOL and Sky, who use overseas call centres, and having heard the same complaints from friends, family and collegues I've started collating a list of companies who use UK based call centres only, the site is still very much in its infancy but all the companies listed in it have been contacted and have confirmed that you will always speak to a UK based operator if you call them. The site can be found at http://www.callukcentres.co.uk

If anyone has any comments or suggestions on the site and what else they'd like to see included feel free to get in touch.

paulie558

tinamaria wrote:

Last year we booked our xmas holiday direct with Virgin, little did I know at teh time that most of their calls are taken at their call centre in Bangladesh! I cannot tell u the difficulties it caused, one day I was on the phone for FOUR HOURS trying to sort out why our pre-booked seats had been booked out to someone else! Never did get to the bottom of it!

We had a similar problem with Virgin Holidays,who changed a daytime USA internal flight into a nightime one but did'nt inform us.We found out when we picked the tickets up.
We then spent an entire evening on the phone to India.Favorite line used was 'I only wish I could help'.
Promises to get a supervisor to call us back disapeared like a magic carpet.
Finally,the intervention of our travel agent sorted it out,but they are impossible to deal with.