call centre waiting times

lofty170366

many will say that this problem is just a way of life now.i was on the phone to scottish gas using an 0845 number which granted is not as evil as its bigger brother ie.an 0870 number.however is it really right to keep a customer waiting for seventy minutes without answering the phone.during the day time this call costs around £2.80.i consider this ridiculous.if call centres are going to keep people waiting this time surely there should be regulation such as insisting the customer doesn't have to pay for the call.if he/she is made to pay for the call surely the call centre should be forced to answer the call within a specified time period? all in all what right have these companies to "steal" so much of our time as well as charge us for the privilege of waiting?

TTT_2

Lofty - you are so right!
I work in a call centre myself and getting the staffing levels right is not easy but it is not impossible.
We use a freephone number and have an average response time of about 20 sec apart from January sale time when this can double.
The only reasons calls take so long to be answered is either inept management or not enough staff.Or both if you are really unlucky.
Please remember that the worker answering will have little influence in the running of the office- they will probably have a display somewhere which shows them how many calls and how long they are waiting. When you see more calls queueing than you have staff it is very easy to get into the mindset that you can't make a dent in the figures so why bother.
Be nice to the call handler , most people won't be and you will get far more help from them!

Astaroth

Well, with 0845 telephone numbers the call centre isnt getting any profit from it and so it is only the telecom companies that make the profit.

There are of cause other methods of communicating other than by phone (letter, fax, email) so it does really come down to personal choice.

One of the problems is that call centres are simply not seen as nice places to work and all the ones I did work in had terrible trouble trying to get staff and when they did a significant proportion each day simply didnt bother turning up. Combine this with an unexpectidly high number of calls (say if a major gas supply pipe ruptures) and the call centre get swamped.

I cant speak for Scot Gas but certainly in most call centres I have worked in the site managers (and regional managers etc) have all had a significant amount of their bonus (up to 50%) linked to maintaining an average waiting time of X and a lost call ratio below Y. Likewise call centre staff have bonuses/ pay rises linked to indicators such as the amount of time they arent available to take calls, what their average call handling time is, how much of the day they are "logged off" the phone etc. Ultimately there is only so much a company can do.

Of cause there is the option of building a new call centre - which is a multimillion pound cost associated to it when you are talking a blue chip company but then ultimately you will be paying for it in the price rises or off shoring call centres to the likes of India but there are plenty of complaint threads on that already.

Prehaps it should be the telecoms companies that should be forced to give a number which is totally free of charge to all parties (given the high costs associated with both 0800 and bulk line geographic numbers) as they are the only true winners with 0845 numbers.

lofty170366

thanks for the 2 replies so far and to hear a little about working on the "inside".could i possibly extend this debate and ask how moral or immoral it is to keep people waiting so long(during which time it is difficult although not impossible to do other things) when in general our daily lives tend to be so busy and stressful?

Sooler

I'd write in and ask for a refund of the call charge ... they may want proof of the call so a copy of the call itemised on a bill or online statement would help.

Astaroth

Hence why email is so convenient and online banking etc.

IvanOpinion

lofty170366 wrote:

thanks for the 2 replies so far and to hear a little about working on the "inside".could i possibly extend this debate and ask how moral or immoral it is to keep people waiting so long(during which time it is difficult although not impossible to do other things) when in general our daily lives tend to be so busy and stressful?

I think you started off correctly by saying it is a sign of the times. Not that long ago we didn't have call centres and therefore everything was handled by mail and you were happy if you got an answer back in 28 days .. today nobody has time therefore they want answers NOW. Often people are too lazy to read the terms and coniditons and other literature sent out which would answer their questions .. they decide to phone a call centre instead blocking the lines for those that really do need help.

The alternative is to provide an 0800 number and raise their underlying product prices forcing everybody to pay more. Lets say you contact a call centre once every year at a cost to you of £2.50 and a cost to the company of £5 ... would you be happy if they give you a freephoe number but they add £10 onto your underlying bill because the average person contacts the call centre twice per year.

It is a balancing act and one that there is no winner with. Either we pay significantly more and get our calls answered quicker or we pay less but we have to wait.

Ivan

webmasterpolo

Maybe there should be an 0800 number with a 30mins wait, an 0870 with a 20min wait and an 090 with no wait.

You more you pay the more the quicker you are answered.

In the end if the phone service is rubbish I email, but then most call centres do the email as well, and see calls as more important, so it's likely the email will take days to be replied to...not the usual 24 hour response which is the average. Usually ends in a complaint letter to claim back phone charges.

I have worked in call centres for years, and if you have the budget to hire the right number of staff there are virtually no queues, as a previous poster said if there are big queues it's usually due to an unxepcted event or more commonly useless management and low budgets.

-Web

Lady_S

I workin a call centre environment, and so many things can tip the balance to make sure that you have a queue its almost impossible to get right.

Speaking from the other side of the fence though, when you get through I would know you have been waiting, what is really frustrating is that the customer will then complain for 5 minutes about waiting, which increases the call handling time and therefore makes the queue even longer.

Whilst you might not beleive it we don't actually like having queues and will do all we can to get rid of them, but we do need help from the customers.

Lady_E

Various posters are right about the call waiting times. But isnt it funny that one bank (First Direct) can answer you call really quickly , deal with your call efficiently and have a personality , and yet another bank(Abbey National)just manages to wind me as I try very hard to get my query across. I think it reflects on the management , 1st Direct tell me that they do not have a specific time set for a customer, and do not read from a script. Guess which one I enjoy dealing with more?????

IvanOpinion

Lady_E wrote:

Various posters are right about the call waiting times. But isnt it funny that one bank (First Direct) can answer you call really quickly , deal with your call efficiently and have a personality , and yet another bank(Abbey National)just manages to wind me as I try very hard to get my query across. I think it reflects on the management , 1st Direct tell me that they do not have a specific time set for a customer, and do not read from a script. Guess which one I enjoy dealing with more?????

Its strange that, because the two call centres that I have always found to be excellent are Abbey and American Express ... maybe it is just the luck of the draw?

ivan