Would an Indian call centre put you off an account?

oysterman

DawnW wrote: »

I have not had happy experiences with overseas call centres, as it is hard to understand what the operators are saying, and hard for them to understand us. I am not only talking about the different accents, I do think there are cultural issues as well. The Barclays one in particular is useless, and the people I have spoken to there have either given no information at all, or incorrect information, as they just do not seem to understand what the query is about.

Ditto, got the same problems with m&s

greenoak

With regard to citibank service in India, there are hopeless.

I joined the citibank card to get the free airmiles promotion. I phones the call centre numerous times.

The staff there do not even understand the phonetic alphabet. The phonetic alphabet should be a basic as it gets. One staff member did not ever know what it was and she did not understand what i was saying when spelling out the words !!!!

The only way I had my problem resolved was the write to the chief exec office in Uk.

Quite frankly if I get a call centre in India for an insrance quote etc, i will put the phone down rather than get annoyed by the misunderstandings that are so common. Example I have a rover car, they think i have a honda !!!

Forgetful

Yes to be honest I would be put off...
1. the safety side was highlighted on a tv program about selling our info to other people
2. I sometimes cannot understand them
3. They dont seem to know exactly wot u require

Spark

I had some problems not long ago with the Abbey call Centre.
It was when there was problems with online banking.
The first chap I had cut me off , probably because I knew to much how the Abbey online banking system works to believe the lies he tried to make me believe, and I was arguing my case (calmly and politely) with him.
I called straight away back, then I had a lady who at last recognise that the problems I had experienced were due to the changes on the website, on the contrary of the first chap, then she had transferred me to the cards department where they would tell me of my last transactions, as soon as I was on the other line, 10 seconds later I was cut off again.
What kind of customer service it this? :mad:
The only other ones who cut me off like that were British Gas :rolleyes:
I don't know how long the Abbey call centre has moved in India, but I remember years ago when I had call them for a problem, it was solved, and if the staff member didn't know the solution, he/she was putting me on hold and was asking a collegue, but the problem was solved.
Now when they don't know, they just want you to believe their bullxxxt, and if you don't they get stroppy:mad:
You should have a number that you would call if you didn't have any unsatisfactory answers from the call centre of if you have a complaint, that way it would be used to monitor the quality of the service within the company, and if too many calls are made, it should be taken further within the company.
Why don't they understand that if you give a bad customer service, people will leave?
And if the call centres are no different in the UK and in India, I still would rather have the call centre in this country, at least it would give more work to us, and maybe it would be easier to deal with bad customer service in here than in India, where they don't really have to care much because it's so far away anyway........

Revenge_of_the_Red_Devil

I couldn't care less where the call centre is located, as long as I get what I called for (and quickly).

Sagaris

My daughter has just been lied to by the Abbey call centre in India and as a result will now be closing her account with them - they were appaling.
Her current account card keeps being declined (although there's more than enough money in there to cover her purchases) and phoned the bank to arrange for a replacement card. She was told by the operative that she didn't need another card as a new one is due in a couple of months anyway, so she should wait till that arrives! When she asked what she should do as her card is 9 times out of 10 declined, they told her to carry cash or use another account!!!!!!! Unbelievable.
She left it a few days and was heartily sick of her useless card, so she rang again to order a new one - and was told (again by the Indian call centre) that they would order one for her and she should have it in 7 working days. 2 weeks later and no card so she rang and enquired where it was - oh yes, it was definately showing as ordered on the system and should be with her shortly. Another week passed and still no card - she was now worried in case it had been intercepted in the post or had been mislaid etc. Another call to India and yes, it's been dispatched and will be with you by the end of the week (this was on the Monday). Friday arrived and still no card - yet another call to India, this time they tell her no card has been ordered as her new one is due at the end of July and she can carry on using her current card!!! When she asked to speak to a supervisor (very politely, she's not a bit like me!) she was told most patronisingly that she didn't need to speak to a supervisor as there was not a problem, they had done nothing wrong!! Well certainly, they had done nothing, for sure!
Abbey used to be really good and efficient and I've banked with them for over 20 years - but I've had a couple of hiccups with them lately, and could well change my current account provider.
I thought I read somewhere last year that Abbey are moving all their call centres back to the UK? I've had nothing but problems since they were moved abroad, and have even registered for online banking as I can be sure if I want anything done with my bank account, I'll get it done!

Spark

Does anyone knows where you can get a list of companies and banks which have their call centre in the UK?

emma396

all the call centres r as bad as each other. i bought a nokia on contract with vodafone, spoke to call centre people in this country, they cocked it up.

also applied for a halifax credit card, also uk call centre, that's been cocked up too.

indian call centres r bad, but i am less frustrated with them since finding saynoto0870

Grade_A_Reject

How do you identify an Indian call centre?

Does an Indian accent mean it's an Indian call centre or could it be a UK call centre with someone woking in it who just happens to have an Indian accent?

Would a Geordie working in Bangalore be easier to understand? (apologies to Geordies)

youknowwho

Grade_A_Reject wrote: »

How do you identify an Indian call centre?

Does an Indian accent mean it's an Indian call centre or could it be a UK call centre with someone woking in it who just happens to have an Indian accent?

Would a Geordie working in Bangalore be easier to understand? (apologies to Geordies)

I think you will find that even in UK call centres there are alot of Ethnic minorities working in there,so how can you tell what country your in? the call centres in this country are usually full of temps, and if you go thru to an abroad call centre there are more people who respect their job, ANYONE can work in a call centre, even 16 yr olds are working in call centres, For the british its just a "gap job", not many of them will make a career out of it. If you go thru to india then i think your speaking to a more educated person, there are a few exceptions of course! the staff turn over in call centres is soooo high, cus they have to put up wuth so much unescersary crap from ppl with too much time on their hands, that they leave pretty quick!