Useless foreign call centre

[gmc]

I just received my Virgin bill which was for £131.20 which covers, VIP, an additional V+ box and voicemail.

I thought it to be too high although impossible to work out properly by myself from the information on the Virgin web site due to the additional V+ box clouding the issue.

Yesterday, I phoned to query the bill:

The first person I spoke to who was from a foreign call centre refused to believe that there was anything wrong with the bill and when she still refused to take my word that there was something wrong came back with the solution; the prices had recently gone up and that was the reason. I was not impressed and but couldn't see the point of going any further with her. What aggravated me here was also that she still went through the script they obviously have to read when finishing calls as if they are your best friend and really want to hope you have a great day etc.

The second person was also from the foreign call centre and she did eventually see that something was wrong but couldn't work out what. After several sessions on "hold"; she told me that she would have to investigate further and would phone me back within 30 minutes. She didn't.

This morning I phoned again and spoke to someone in the UK who was able to diagnose the problem in about 30 seconds flat. After about a minute she told me I should have been paying £97.75 and not £131.20. She also told me I had been overpaying since May and should be getting a refund of £104.85 which would be applied to my next bill(s). She was very helpful and the conversation at all times was chatty, not forced or scripted in any way.

These foreign call centres are a complete joke, half the time you can barely understand what they are saying; they slavishly follow the script, don't listen to what you are saying and are frankly an embarrassment.

[chuzzlemonkey]

Trust me when i say this...there are people just as useless working in the UK...their ethnic origin has nothing to do with the incompetance.

[Paul]

Totally agreed Haggis23 lol

[chuzzlemonkey]

[ichiban]

the only problem i have with foreign call centres is that I usually need to repeat myself or ask to the other person to repeat the question so the phone call takes twice as long as usual.

[Paul]

Works the other way round too, having worked in a support role it is often difficult to understand any heavy accents clearly enough to be able to handle the call as quickly as you would like.

[chuzzlemonkey]

I find it far easier to speak with the Indian call centres than the Scottish centres...lol...i suppose it differs for each person.

Its true people blame the other person maybe they cnt understand you, dont forget the UK centres have been here years and the offshore have just been opened for maybe just over a year they have the same training as us

[moaningmags]

Originally Posted by Haggis23

I find it far easier to speak with the Indian call centres than the Scottish centres...lol...i suppose it differs for each person.

Is that because the Scottish agents won't KYA ?

[scrotnig]

Originally Posted by darthlinux

Its true people blame the other person maybe they cnt understand you, dont forget the UK centres have been here years and the offshore have just been opened for maybe just over a year they have the same training as us

Hard luck. I pay my bills every month, and I expect to be dealt with by somebody who has some sort of idea what they are doing.

I despise foreign call centres with a vengeance, I have never used one that hasn't been totally incompetent and utterly useless.

Originally Posted by scrotnig

Hard luck. I pay my bills every month, and I expect to be dealt with by somebody who has some sort of idea what they are doing.

I despise foreign call centres with a vengeance, I have never used one that hasn't been totally incompetent and utterly useless.

What if its because you cant talk and people cant understand you, I kind of agree on that english companies should uk centres but it aint gonna change so deal with it and no need to be soooo nasty

[Tech_Boy]

I had to call Faults on monday due to missing channels on one of my boxes, as a staff member I had to ring the staff accts line, which is currently based offshore.

I cannot fault the service I recieved, I had my channels back within 3 minutes, and the member of staff I spoke to was polite and knew exactly what to do to resolve my issue.

[chuzzlemonkey]

Originally Posted by moaningmags

Is that because the Scottish agents won't KYA ?

No.

[Thunderballs]

Originally Posted by ichiban

the only problem i have with foreign call centres is that I usually need to repeat myself or ask to the other person to repeat the question so the phone call takes twice as long as usual.

You need t ospeak wit ha slight indian accent then youll be understood perfectly.

This isnt a joke and i am not being racist/rude but practical.

Just imagine it working the other way round with a particular non english speaking nationality trying to be more easily understood in england by empahasising a slightly characatured paradied English accent. It automatically makes theui efforts more easy to tune your ear to becasue while it isnt perfect it is relatively easy for people to do when the yare not specifically trying to think of the correct pronounciation for every word rather thinking in a sound "style"

It is great fun too !

I wish we dealt with French call centres in the UK - it would be a joy ringing them up and saying "listen very carefully - I will say this only once" and "It is I - (Leclerc)" etc. Well for about 5 minutes anyway.


German even " you started it" no I didnt it" "yes you did - you invaded Poland !"

Jamaican Call centres "Can I take the your name sir" "it is I and I Rastafar I"

[chuzzlemonkey]

lol that is both the funniest and most stupid thing i have ever read on this forum!