Faults Desk

hedgie · 20-12-2010, 13:32

Firstly I must say my broadband, TV and phone have been generally very reliable

so luckily for me dealings with the faults desk have been infrequent.

In WA5 yesterday we had an outage which hit broadband and VOD services. When I called up the faults desk I was routed through to India. Now what really bugged me was that before the agent had taken my details and given me confidence she understood what my fault was she was already banging on about "is there anything else we can help with"

I would have thought that on a faults desk you would be able to work out that people are going to be frustrated, and want to be on the phone for as little time as possible

a, because their service is not working properly
b-because they have been hold for ages
c-becuase the agent can barely speak English

So why delay the agony by going off on a tangent before you have solved my problem? In the end all I got was a vague statement that there was a fault and it was going to be fixed "today". As a customer experience it was totally frustrating, vague woolly statements by someone who seemed totally focussed on running though a script, rather than having a dialogue with the customer or providing timely, credible technical information.

I do not know how much cheaper these offshore call centres are but they really do undermine customer confidence with a very poor approach. When I have got through to UK call centres people seem to listen more, perhaps it is because they can speak, and more importantly think in English and not simply follow a script.

Rant Over.

Sorry

Mick Fisher · 20-12-2010, 14:00

No need to be sorry. What you report is, unfortunately for us, the truth.

In my recent experiences with support practicly all the conversations revolved around them desperately trying to prove I did not have a fault. It took a call to thinking of leaving before I got to speak to someone who had a clue.

It would seem, for most of the off-shore crew, that identifying and setting wheels in motion to fix your issue takes a very back seat to just answering as many calls as possible and just trying to fob you off the line.

pip08456 · 20-12-2010, 14:08

VM's entire board of directors should be made to use offshore for any fault they experience.

That's of course if VM is their ISP.

moony1234 · 20-12-2010, 14:54

I must admit I do loathe the "anything else I can help you with today sir" at the end of a fault/complaint type call...

hedgie · 20-12-2010, 15:15

Quote:

Originally Posted by moony1234

I must admit I do loathe the "anything else I can help you with today sir" at the end of a fault/complaint type call...

Yeah, because in my recent case she had not helped me with the matter I called about .....

Peter_ · 20-12-2010, 15:44

Quote:

Originally Posted by hedgie

Now what really bugged me was that before the agent had taken my details and given me confidence she understood what my fault was she was already banging on about "is there anything else we can help with"

We do not get a choice in the matter as all Virginmedia call centres must ask that question as it is a requirement insisted on by Virginmedia, and we get marked down if we do not use the phrase when we are recorded for Quality Purposes.

No use letting it annoy you as it must be used by the agent on every call you make to Virginmedia.

pip08456 · 20-12-2010, 15:59

It wouldn't be so annoying if offshore was actually helpful in the first place.

qasdfdsaq · 20-12-2010, 22:39

Well I've seen quite a few stories about on-shore being even less helpful at times...

Peter_ · 21-12-2010, 06:24

Quote:

Originally Posted by qasdfdsaq

Well I've seen quite a few stories about on-shore being even less helpful at times...

I wish.

Russ · 21-12-2010, 07:34

The "problem" is in India they are trained to be "hyper-helpful" which in theory is a good thing. In practise however it can be annoying, frustrating and time-consuming. The one line that really gets my goat is when you tell them what the problem is, they say "I can certainly help you with that".

Well duh.....

The problem with all Indian callcentres is they are trained to serve their employers - which is very wrong. They are there to serve the customer. So instead they serve their employer by rigidly sticking to their instructions, even if as result they end up frustrating the customer. Most UK callcentres have staff who will use common sense and will try to bend the rules were possible in exceptional cases. But as that is not in the flow-chart that Indian staff get, it simply does not occur to them. Most of the time it's like speaking to a computer. As long as what you say is on their list of commands and instructions you'll get along fine. But say anything not on their instructions and all you get is "Syntax error"...

hedgie · 21-12-2010, 10:35

Quote:

Originally Posted by Masque

We do not get a choice in the matter as all Virginmedia call centres must ask that question as it is a requirement insisted on by Virginmedia, and we get marked down if we do not use the phrase when we are recorded for Quality Purposes.

No use letting it annoy you as it must be used by the agent on every call you make to Virginmedia.

It is hard not to be annoyed when you feel that you are not being listened to or taken seriously.

I get that VM want to standardise part of the "customer experience", but on the faults desk at least wait until the initial fault is dealt with, use it as a signing off if you like, "now that we have sorted that out is there anything else I can help you with". What do you expect people to say in response to that anyway, yes post me £50 please

They way my call was handled was along the lines of OK you have told me you have a fault, now "Is there anything else I can help you with" there was a total lack of customer engagement.

Sorry but the simple flow chart approach alienates customers. Staff need to have the nouse, and authority, to listen and make a judgement.

Rik · 21-12-2010, 10:58

Its soo simple to rectify this problem and make customers happy its unbelievable.

Just abandon offshore call centres.

Whenever I get through to a English/Scottish or Welsh centre the service is 4/5 Star.

I salute you guys!

I always fill in the survey questionaire I get emailed shortly after making a call to customer service/tech support and report my disgust with the Indian call centre quality, no idea if they actually read these or log the complaints regarding offshore call centre quality, nothing seems to be happening.

I would even be willing to pay a few £ extra on my bill to keep call centres UK only.
Now theres a thought......

qasdfdsaq · 21-12-2010, 12:29

I've always wondered how O2/Be manage to operate a 24-hour UK faults desk while charging half as much as VM does...

Mick Fisher · 21-12-2010, 15:33

Quote:

Originally Posted by qasdfdsaq

I've always wondered how O2/Be manage to operate a 24-hour UK faults desk while charging half as much as VM does...

I was under the impression that Be's support center was off-shored. Rumania or The Phillipines spring to mind.

However, my experience of Be's support, wherever it's from, has been first class.

Maybe I have been lucky but on the few times I have called I have been connected to a knowledgable agent who spoke excellent English and for whom,fixing my issue, no matter how long I was on the phone, was his paramount interest.

Absolutely World's in front of the miserable 3rd rate (dis)service obtained from VM's off-shored support.

VM's off shored support is, in every respect, the worst support service I have encountered from any location.

Jeez even my Bank's support knocks spots off 'em.

Peter_ · 22-12-2010, 16:29

Quote:

Originally Posted by hedgie

It is hard not to be annoyed when you feel that you are not being listened to or taken seriously.

I get that VM want to standardise part of the "customer experience", but on the faults desk at least wait until the initial fault is dealt with, use it as a signing off if you like, "now that we have sorted that out is there anything else I can help you with". What do you expect people to say in response to that anyway, yes post me £50 please

We are supposed to ask the question at the beginning of the call not at the end.