Indian Call Centres Now Call You!

Paul_Varjak

Given the annoyance of many MSE regulars towards unsolicted phone calls from marketeers and the increasing use of Indian Call Centres as Customer Service centres what about the apparently new breed of 'animal', the Indian Call Centre that calls you for marketing purposes?

Today (Sunday) I received a call from a young lady with an Indian accent. When I answered the phone she asked if she was talking to the homeowner. I asked who she wished to speak to. She just repeated herself.

I asked what was the name of the person she was calling. She then, reluctantly, gave a name which was not mine and I told her so! She then repeated her initial question as to whether I was the homeowner. I told her, politely, that it was of no concern to her as I was not the person she had named so the question was irrelevant.

I also told her that the phone number was new to me and had not been used for about two years before I obtained it. She still wanted to know if I was the home owner! I then asked what company she represented and she said 'Simply Mortgages'. I then terminated the call.

Given her Indian accent, the poor line quality, the line delay and the fact that my Caller Display showed 'International', I strongly suspect that the call originated in India!

Now the questions is, are UK based companies (or overseas-based companies) that sell to the UK, bound by the rules on unsolicited phone calls, or are we going to be plagued by a new marketing menace outside the realms of the law?

margaret_3

The latest thing is for the phone companies to phone you up

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from India

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and tell you that theirs is the cheapest available after they have established that they are talking to the homeowner. They seem to have a series of questions to ask before telling you what they want!
Grrrrrrrrr!

rushnowt

I've had many of these calls and its really irritating, perhaps im to soft with them, i answer many of their questions before i get really pee'd off with them. Its annoying cos they just go through a script over and over again without even listening to anything you say.

How the hell do these companies get your number to start with we're ex-directory and are registered with the telephone preference service

aeuerby

rushnowt wrote:

I've had many of these calls and its really irritating, perhaps im to soft with them, i answer many of their questions before i get really pee'd off with them. Its annoying cos they just go through a script over and over again without even listening to anything you say.

How the hell do these companies get your number to start with we're ex-directory and are registered with the telephone preference service

If you ask them that they will probably tell you it's sequential dialing. Thats the answer we usually get!!

geo555

I have contacted the Telephone Preference Service regarding overseas callers. This was their reply:


Thank you for your e-mail. I can confirm that companies calling from abroad
into the UK should also abide by UK legislation. You can log such complaints
via the web site at https://www.tpsonline.org.uk and I will investigate for you.

Kind regards


Lynn Freshwater
Complaints Officer - TPS

So if you have regisered with the TPS, get on and file a complaint.
Companys can now also register to stop the junk calls.

Paul_Varjak

Well, it's nice to know that companies calling the UK from overseas are also bound by the TPS rules!

So, if that overseas company breaks the rules how will the TPS fine them?

rushnowt

all well and good if ya can understand what there saying, most of the time when i ask who's calling i cant tell a ruddy thing theyre on about :eek:


but i'll make a note of this for future reference

Grumpy_Old_Duffer

I have no intention to offend anyone, but I just cannot understand the Indian accent over the phone ..... maybe that's why I'm a Grumpy Old Duffer!!!

Personally, I think it's the worst thing Companies could have done. I have read elsewhere (not on MSE) that UK residents get irritated because the people in these faraway Call Centres just don't understand the UK way-of-life, especially when you're trying to explain a particular situation.

sunflower_2

grumpy_old_duffer's signature:

When I die I want it to be in my sleep, like my Grandad ............ not screaming and shouting like his passengers!!</FONT>

Austin_Allegro

I have received a few of these calls. I simply say 'this number is registered with the telephone preference service - it is not to be used for cold calling'. They've always been polite and apologised after that.

I recently met with the head of a well known online bank who said they had considered farming out their call centre to India but had decided not to in the end because of concerns over the level of service.

The problem is this: call centres have become big business in India, so more and more are chasing the same amount of work. All the really good English speakers go to the top call centres for big British companies (the ones that we ring ourselves), but the ones who can't speak it very well join the dodgier firms who get involved in cold calling.

Pal

Our phone is both ex-directory and it blocks our number from appearing on the displays at the callers end. We also only ever put down mobile numbers on any forms we fill in.

As a result we never get unsolicited calls. The only ones we have ever received were a couple of years ago from each of our two banks. After a few calls we told them never to call again or we would report them under the data protection act for misuse of our information. They have never called since.