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speedfreak
26-02-2010, 22:55
Why is everyone so negative about offshore support? Ive rang them quite alot and to be honest they are always polite and helpful. Fair enough one time after explaining my problems a guy said please hold whilst i do a line test, after a few minutes of silence i realised i had called from my mobile and he hadnt asked me any account details so he couldnt possibly be running a test lmao but theres good and bad everywhere, some UK staff arent any better, infact offshore seem to understand what point im trying to make better than some uk staff Ive spoken to, go figure! Whenever Ive rang they havent made me do the usual thing of make sure the modem is plugged in to the mains etc and have just sent a tech out :D

At the end of the day they are just doing a job and are probably made to follow a script, its not their fault and if all support was to be in the UK, I reckon they to would have to follow a script. Us Brits seem to have a thing about complaining about offshore support purely for the fact they are a foreign call centre. Ive had good and bad phone calls, both with UK and foreign call centres. This isnt some random rant lol, seeing this...

"What's the point of having an Indian callcentre, it just makes us Brits hate Indians! Because they don't understand us and we don't understand them..."

in someones sig on VM forum got me thinking.

So take it easy on them, they are just doing a job

Russ
26-02-2010, 23:18
Why is everyone so negative about offshore support?

Oooo, where to begin *rubs hands*

I cannot stand the fact that no matter what you do or say, they simply will not deviate from their training. In the UK call handlers usually use common sense and discretion to get around issues but the Indians think they are there to serve the company - that aren't. They are there to serve the customer. Rarely will they use common sense, instead sticking to their training like little jobsworths.

This makes it very frustrating when trying to get a point across to them that they don't understand.

Also there've been occasions in the past where I've needed to call them and spoken to 7 or 8 different people there only to get nowhere. I then post my issue on CF and one the people here (UK based, obviously) sorts it out straight away when they have the same tools as the indian lot.

I could go on and no doubt will as this thread progresses.

Hiroki
26-02-2010, 23:23
They don't listen, repeat themselves and stick to the script. They can't understand you most of the time and they just pass you around which is annoying as hell.

They are as much use as a chocolate fire guard.

Mick Fisher
27-02-2010, 03:33
If you happen to get connected to someone you can communicate with and who happens to know the answer to your issue then they would be the bees knees no matter where their call center happens to be situated.

But their in seems to lay the problems with VM's offshore support. Generally Poor communication skills and poor support skills. Usually top marks for politeness though.

Could all be down to poor training though as I have dealt with other offshored support, Be's and TMobile's for example, who were decidedly right on the ball and determined to get to the bottom of the issue no matter how long the call took. Quite surprising and refreshing really. But on the other hand maybe I just got lucky. :dozey:

Spectato
27-02-2010, 18:24
The offshore call centres are the final declaration of these big companies' contempt for their customers.
The vast majority of times I've used any of them, there's been NO help but shed-loads of frustration, and I've needed to call back again and again, department after department to get anything solved (or not solved).

The amount of money that these big corporations suck out of our pockets, you would think the least they could do is keep on some British staff (who actually comprehend and can relate to your issue) to answer questions and resolve your issues, rather than just fobbing you off with some appeasement in simulated English and that ridiculous, robotic over-politeness.

VM are by no means the worst, but they're bloody terrible nonetheless.

General Maximus
27-02-2010, 19:56
my VM line is pretty much 100% all the time but once year for whatever reason there will be a major fault and I will lose my connection. When this happens I expect to be able to ring tech support and they say "don't worry, we know there is a fault and we are working on it". Instead I get the indian dudes who are overly polite and know sweet fa. They run a test everytime and everything is always ok so naturally the problem is my pc, yet 2 - 4 hours later my modem gets it's signal back and everything is magically working again. 1st tier tech support is completely useless imho

calmpitbull
27-02-2010, 20:05
Oh dear, I bet you regret posting Speedfreak!!!

I think on average the Indian call centres are far worse than the UK ones. However looking at it from a business point of view you have to consider:

A: Cost savings for being offshore

B: Potential losses from having slightly worse customer service

If A is greater than B then you will be calling India I'm afraid. The trouble is that B is very difficult to quantify

Russ
27-02-2010, 20:10
my VM line is pretty much 100% all the time but once year for whatever reason there will be a major fault and I will lose my connection. When this happens I expect to be able to ring tech support and they say "don't worry, we know there is a fault and we are working on it". Instead I get the indian dudes who are overly polite and know sweet fa. They run a test everytime and everything is always ok so naturally the problem is my pc, yet 2 - 4 hours later my modem gets it's signal back and everything is magically working again. 1st tier tech support is completely useless imho

It seems they place more emphasis on politeness than the ability to satisfy the customer.

calmpitbull
27-02-2010, 20:13
Ask yourself this, would you pay £5 more a month to speak to UK only call centres?

I would

Ed2020
27-02-2010, 20:30
Ask yourself this, would you pay £5 more a month to speak to UK only call centres?

I would

I absolutely would. If it weren't for the support available from the VM newsgroups then I would have given up on VM years ago. The offshore call centres have never been of any use to me whatsoever. The UK call centres are much better, but I'm simply not prepared to keep ringing back until I get through to somebody who knows what they're talking about.

It's nothing to do with what country they're in. I work closely with employees of both Wipro and TCS as part of my job: I am used to the accent and their technical abilities are exceptional. The problem is lack of knowledge and the resultant sticking rigidly to a script. When you know that what you are being told is nonsense but it is impossible to get your point across it is incredibly frustrating.

This lack of knowledge is not the fault of the call centre staff, so I try my best to remain patient with them on the rare occasions I do speak with them. Admittedly I'm not always successful. :)

The day VM offshore all of their support (and I very much suspect that day is coming) will be the day that I give VM my 30 days' notice.

Ed.

Sephiroth
27-02-2010, 20:42
Ask yourself this, would you pay £5 more a month to speak to UK only call centres?

I would

I'd rather there wasn't the need to for the poor suffering sods to need to speak to the call centre.

Less suffering = no need for offshore call centre = UK call centre justification

speedfreak
27-02-2010, 21:09
Oh dear, I bet you regret posting Speedfreak!!!




Not at all :D maybe Ive been lucky with them or maybe some of the poor UK phone support Ive had (billing issues) has portrayed the indian call centre in a better light. Infact when I ring them they do a line test and say they can see a fault yet uk support cant :confused:





Regards

Mohammed, offshore support ( :p: )

Spectato
27-02-2010, 22:15
Ask yourself this, would you pay £5 more a month to speak to UK only call centres?

How about them providing competent support for their already ample prices?

Peter_
27-02-2010, 22:20
Not at all :D maybe Ive been lucky with them or maybe some of the poor UK phone support Ive had (billing issues) has portrayed the indian call centre in a better light. Infact when I ring them they do a line test and say they can see a fault yet uk support cant :confused:

It all depends how you feel about the possibility of the so called line test being a fob off tool making your call a quick one rather than the possibility of the UK agent actually using the tools at their disposal and genuinely finding no issues.

The choice is yours.;)

speedfreak
27-02-2010, 23:00
It all depends how you feel about the possibility of the so called line test being a fob off tool making your call a quick one rather than the possibility of the UK agent actually using the tools at their disposal and genuinely finding no issues.

The choice is yours.;)

Maybe but then it would be odd that they requested a principle tech to visit and offered me compensation, though admittedly the compensation never appeared lol :confused:

Dont get me wrong, I have had some excellent UK support over the phone, one girl even giving me her direct line to get in touch. Id rather it was all UK based but it wont happen. Im just saying from what ive experienced so far, offshore hasnt been as bad as what I expected, no doubt that time will come though and I'll be back on here to eat my hat and to have a good grumble about them :D

Peter_
27-02-2010, 23:12
Maybe but then it would be odd that they requested a principle tech to visit and offered me compensation, though admittedly the compensation never appeared lol :confused:


I take it you spoke to someone outside of the 50Mb UK support hours and got offshore, as yet not aware of anyone there being 50Mb trained but they have to take your calls.

If they say that your getting credited then that is what they should have done and also stated that in your account notes, if they have not done so then you will have to ask again.

Russ
27-02-2010, 23:16
I take it you spoke to someone outside of the 50Mb UK support hours and got offshore, as yet not aware of anyone there being 50Mb trained but they have to take your calls.

If they say that your getting credited then that is what they should have done and also stated that in your account notes, if they have not done so then you will have to ask again.

I've often found that if you need to call back because something promised by one of the indian techs fails to materialise it's always "there's no record of that being offered".

Peter_
27-02-2010, 23:19
I've often found that if you need to call back because something promised by one of the indian techs fails to materialise it's always "there's no record of that being offered".
Thatis because they have not even entered your account or left notes because of that as well.:erm:

Russ
27-02-2010, 23:24
Thatis because they have not even entered your account or left notes because of that as well.:erm:

You can't fault the Indians for politeness but it seems that if you persist in doing or saying anything that's outside the scope of their script, they have no problem in cutting you off, fobbing you off or simply just saying whatever you want to hear. They seem to think they're serving the company that way as if that's the right way to work. They don't seem able or willing to use 'common sense' in situations. Over here they'd be called jobsworths.

speedfreak
27-02-2010, 23:27
I take it you spoke to someone outside of the 50Mb UK support hours and got offshore, as yet not aware of anyone there being 50Mb trained but they have to take your calls.

If they say that your getting credited then that is what they should have done and also stated that in your account notes, if they have not done so then you will have to ask again.

Yep thats what happened :) was promised £15 i didnt even ask for it, spoke with UK few days later and no mention of it on my account, I think they thought i was trying it on as they were already sorting out the fact id been billed incorrectly (£99) was told the policy with compensation is it is sorted once the fault is resolved.

Ignitionnet
27-02-2010, 23:58
It seems they place more emphasis on politeness than the ability to satisfy the customer.

Precisely. Their apologetic nature and excessive politeness is actually quite annoying, especially given their uselessness with anything the script doesn't cover. Having one of them trying repeatedly to get me to reboot the modem when I only phoned in to ask for a status update on a network fault was a highlight.

Russ
28-02-2010, 00:03
Precisely. Their apologetic nature and excessive politeness is actually quite annoying, especially given their uselessness with anything the script doesn't cover. Having one of them trying repeatedly to get me to reboot the modem when I only phoned in to ask for a status update on a network fault was a highlight.

Yes. That. Exactly :tu:

Ed2020
28-02-2010, 00:42
... especially given their uselessness with anything the script doesn't cover. Having one of them trying repeatedly to get me to reboot the modem when I only phoned in to ask for a status update on a network fault was a highlight.

Maybe that's the reason why so many people in this forum are so dissatisfied. The offshore call centre script covers the basics, and my guess is that the majority of regulars here, whilst certainly not all being network engineers, are savvy enough to do all the basic checks themselves. When we then phone for support we expect to find somebody who knows more (or at least appears to know more) than we do. I have never got the impression I'm speaking to somebody who knows the first thing about how the technology works.

Most of VM's customers don't know the first thing about it either, so the trick works.

From a business point of view I suppose the offshore call centres are a great success. Sure, the service is nowhere near as good as you get from a lot of the UK based people, but I bet it's a shed load cheaper. And providing customers aren't leaving in the droves because of it they're onto a winner.

Ed.

Sephiroth
28-02-2010, 01:04
Maybe that's the reason why so many people in this forum are so dissatisfied. The offshore call centre script covers the basics, and my guess is that the majority of regulars here, whilst certainly not all being network engineers, are savvy enough to do all the basic checks themselves. When we then phone for support we expect to find somebody who knows more (or at least appears to know more than we do. I have never got the impression I'm speaking to somebody who knows the first thing about how the technology works.

Most of VM's customers don't know the first thing about it either, so the trick works.

From a business point of view I suppose the offshore call centres are a great success. Sure, the service is nowhere near as good as you get from a lot of the UK based people, but I bet it's a shed load cheaper. And providing customers aren't leaving in the droves because of it they're onto a winner.

Ed.

A shrewd assessment.

Ed2020
28-02-2010, 01:43
Coincidentally I've just stumbled across this thread which, even more coincidentally, was started almost exactly twelve months ago. It appears in my list of positive feedback I've given

http://www.cableforum.co.uk/board/12/33646289-vms-indian-callcentre.html

Post number 64 sums up precisely how I have felt after every encounter with the offshore support teams.

Much as I hate misusing the Newsgroup guys as '1st line' support better to use them and get issues resolved than to waste my time with the guys in India. Every time I've spoken with the tech support agents in India I've always ended up having a disagreement with them, from them saying that even though my STB was transmitting at 61dBmV it was all fine because it was connected (for the first time in a while) through to my most recent entertainment with them, a simple password change to fix my non-functional self-care and that took 3 calls...

They are abysmal and clearly not really trained in any technical way. They are trained in a bit of customer service and run through flowcharts, they have no idea what they are actually supporting nor how it works.

They are bluntly a liability, they waste customer's time, lower customer satisfaction levels within Virgin Media, and need to either be much better trained or support needs to be brought back onshore.

Someone needs to get through to VM in no uncertain terms that offshore support at its' cheapest does not work, this isn't just my opinion this is official and proven both by studies into customer satisfaction and value along with companies that have brought support back to the UK after finding it a false economy to outsource.

That they had the gall to charge for this at one time is absolutely astounding.

The final sentence made me chuckle a year ago and it made me chuckle again when I re-read it tonight.

Ed.

frogstamper
28-02-2010, 04:37
I seem to remember VM putting out a page on their web-site about complaints customers had, along with more HD channels was the biggest bug-bear Indian call centers.
VM had accepted that there had been problems with the overseas call centers but now it had been sorted and they were as good as any UK call center.
If this is the case why do VM advertise "reassuringly based here in the UK" for their business broadband.:confused:

http://www.virginmediabusiness.co.uk/products__solutions/broadband__internet_services/business_broadband.aspx

gandalf999
28-02-2010, 08:49
I had a recent problem with my BB and had to endure the Indian call center. What a nightmare. He couldn't understand my problem (not on his script) and I couldn't understand his accent.
Everything had to be repeated 3 or 4 times.
The only way I could get some sort of result was to email the CEO, which I will be doing for any future problems.
I will never, again, sign up for any other companies with Indian call centers.

And NO, I would not be prepared to pay any more for UK call centers.
What I would like is to be offered, without asking, any deals that are being given to new customers....But that's another subject !

jgrove
28-02-2010, 12:13
This one will make you laugh, a long story short.... i ended up with the famous off shore call centre, my problem was simple, the cable into my house had split, the coax and the phone (i called on my mobile) I explained that the service was broken and i needed a team to join it back together or re-pull etc.

Ok sir let me see what the problem is, please re-boot your modem... :-)
Er it wont matter because there cable is broken,
no sir i am going to send some test signals to your modem
er you don't seem to understand the cable to my house is broken, nothing works because the wire that connect me to you in broken in half
i see sir, so maybe if i get you to re-boot your pc....

forget it , i 'll phone on monday

in the end, i had seen a van on the side of the road, the guy explained what to do, and by the end of the day it was re-joined.

But i would rather not have a so called support line at the weekend if it means dealing with un trained people. It does vm more harm than good because it becomes frustrating.

ozsat
28-02-2010, 12:23
I find that the support person is helpful when they have a good idea of thew equipment you are using.

It doesn't matter where the support staff are - if they use the kit then it helps.

It is just that the offshore staff do not use the kit at all. UK based staff are just as helpless if they don't use it either.

Russ
28-02-2010, 13:46
Another thing they seem to do a lot when you ask them something and they clearly don't understand what you're asking, is go "mm-hmm" rather than "sorry I don't know what you mean" or when they don't want to commit to a yes or no answer.

Presumably because "I don't know what you mean" isn't in the script.

speedfreak
28-02-2010, 14:37
Another thing they seem to do a lot when you ask them something and they clearly don't understand what you're asking, is go "mm-hmm" rather than "sorry I don't know what you mean" or when they don't want to commit to a yes or no answer.

Presumably because "I don't know what you mean" isn't in the script.

LOL Ive got to agree with that one, it does make me laugh :D

Ignitionnet
21-03-2010, 19:39
I thought this (http://forums.thinkbroadband.com/virgin_cable/t/3820581-holding-down-shift-for-a-new-route.html) was a good one.

Today I have spoken to 4 staff members and the best fix has just from Abhi who asked me to hold down the shift key on my keyboard while unplugging the Ethernet cable from the router. This apparently moves me onto a different route and would fix my speed problems. I asked him to repeat his suggestion and back it came.

speedfreak
21-03-2010, 20:11
I thought this (http://forums.thinkbroadband.com/virgin_cable/t/3820581-holding-down-shift-for-a-new-route.html) was a good one.

hmmm I'll have to give that a try :D

I heard if you hold alt and F4 it actually moves you onto a different UBR :p:

Mick Fisher
21-03-2010, 20:49
Today I have spoken to 4 staff members and the best fix has just from Abhi who asked me to hold down the shift key on my keyboard while unplugging the Ethernet cable from the router. This apparently moves me onto a different route and would fix my speed problems. I asked him to repeat his suggestion and back it came.That's got to be in the running for the All Time Fob Of The Day Trophy and induction into the All Time Fob Of The Day Hall Of Fame. :D

ferretuk
22-03-2010, 13:57
hmmm I'll have to give that a try :D

I heard if you hold alt and F4 it actually moves you onto a different UBR :p:

Ssh, we don't want everyone to know :)

Other key combinations:

CTRL+ALT+F2 gives you 20Mb
CTRL+ALT+F5 gives you 50Mb

Holding down CTRL+E and dialling Support takes you straight to the UK Call Centre (CTRL+I takes you to India)

Peter_
22-03-2010, 14:02
Holding down CTRL+E and dialling Support takes you straight to the UK Call Centre (CTRL+I takes you to India)
Is'nt that only with a Skype connection.;)