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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

to wish call centre workers would use their real name

54 replies

moogster1a · 27/09/2011 10:19

being able to get through to customer services to be able to actually speak to a person is frustrating; to find it's based in India and you can hardly understand the accent is more annoying; but the most annoying thing is when an obviously Indian man tells you his name is Steve. NO IT'S NOT!!!
I now refuse to engage in conversation till they tell me their real name. I also tell them that I'm complaining that the staff aren't allowed to use their real names ( that would really pmo if it was my name).
last week, I was told by "Steve" that my 'phone wasn't registered to me as it was registered to someone else. Ater lots of trying to figure out the name he was saying, he spelt it. The name of the mysterious use of my 'phone..." nonameset".
Please stop pretending these people are based in London. we are not stupid.

OP posts:

EggyAllenPoe · 27/09/2011 11:19

it isn't annoying. i don't see why it is degrading - it isn't because their indian name isn't thought 'good' enough. It isn't to give you the impression that the call centre is in the UK (although possibly, if you are calling a Bradford call centre, you might think incorrectly it was in India, although normal practice is to give real full names to give the impression of accountability (the call centre can readily identify who is on each call without this)).

there are cultural reasons for choosing an english name for your english-speaking job as well as practical ones (it is lucky).

and some of them do give their genuine names (i mean, where the call centre is in , e.g Columbo, is it really that unbelievable that Abhilatia Irwin is giving her real name? Plenty of European-descended Indians on the sub-continent.)

and frankly I sometimes have long call-centre to call centre conversations -where we are both working to our own scripts - the 'giving full name' bit is just another part of the script. Why make it harder?

given the choice, i would change my name to Jane Smith for work purposes. Short, readily understood, very few ways to spell it.

IrmaLittleteapot · 27/09/2011 11:23

I worked in a UK call centre and every person had to have their own individual name so we also had a pseudonym register. Bizzarely most of those with the more common names (Sarah, Claire, Emma, David, Mark etc etc) would go for quite unlikely names, often with weird spelling like Krystelle, Shannel, Patreece, Kandi, Laylah, Kurt, Tyrone, Kai, Reece, Butch

Did I mention they were taking calls from the over 50s so they were often met with baffled silence when given one of those names?

aldiwhore · 27/09/2011 11:25

To be fair, I have difficulty understanding some UK based telephone operators.... regional accents can be quite hard to understand.

I don't mind about names so much, I don't care what they're REALLY called as long as I can identify them in some way when I call back for the 10374238th time to chase aprevious call.

slug · 27/09/2011 11:27

Ephiny · 27/09/2011 11:28

I really don't understand why people get upset about this. Obviously if you have difficulty understanding their accent, or they don't/can't deal with your problem competently, then that's another manner. But don't get why it's so essential to know their 'real' name. People can call themselves whatever they like, and there's nothing wrong with using a different name for professional purposes than you use in your personal life - for example some women use their 'maiden' name at work and their married name at home.

niceguy2 · 27/09/2011 11:37

Well my real name isn't English but I've adopted one. Most wouldn't be able to pronounce my given first name correctly so I gave myself an English name when I was 4. I guess OP you won't be talking to me then unless I give you my full name at which point you would fail to be able to say it correctly. Great! Thanks!

My job involves setting up call centres so I have a lot of experience with working with people from other countries and especially India.

Quite often their full names are simply not pronounceable for us and to save time we shorten their names anyway. So what difference does it make to call them Steve or otherwise?

Bramshott · 27/09/2011 11:37

Many UK call centre staff also use false names - DH used to work for a company where staff who worked in the phone teams weren't allowed to have the same name as someone else, so if you were called "Aloysius" and there was another "Aloysius" you would have to be "Bob" or something instead . . .

Ephiny · 27/09/2011 11:42

I do know lots of people (mostly from East Asian countries) who use an 'English' name for work etc in the UK. None of them work in call centres, so it's not specific to that, it's a perfectly normal and common thing to do. It's never occurred to me to challenge anyone about it, or refuse to 'engage' with them until they tell me their original name . That would be quite rude and odd behaviour.

MissTapestry · 27/09/2011 12:07

I had a 'Steve' yeah right cold calling me the other day. He asked for my address, so I asked why? His response- I don't know why madam, but it's my duty to call you. I was . Then he hung up when I asked to be removed from the company records. Yeah, cheers Steve!

carabos · 27/09/2011 12:15

Here's a tip - if you ring a call centre and the accents are American (often happens with IT and techy type things, also airlines) the chances are that the person you are speaking to is in prison. Almost certain if its a woman.

NotADudeExactly · 27/09/2011 12:26

I seriously don't see why on earth people care so much.

If they're capable of resolving whatever my issue is and I understand their English, I don't care if the agent is a two headed leprechaun from Malaysia who has a South African accent.

If on the other hand they can't help I won't be any happier just because it is the queen herself who's being incompetent.

So long as the agent is uniquely identifyable and qualified to do the job, names, locations and circumstances don't matter at all.

Starboo · 27/09/2011 13:02

I have many colleagues in India who have so-called Western names such as Monica, Matthew, Juliana, Paul, Mary etc. They haven't taken on an alternative name to please anyone else or to hide the fact that they work in India, but were named by their Christian parents 20, 30 or 40 years ago.

Tenebrist · 27/09/2011 13:09

"if you ring a call centre and the accents are American (often happens with IT and techy type things, also airlines) the chances are that the person you are speaking to is in prison. Almost certain if its a woman."

Gosh, I was put through to an American woman a while back while phoning a car hire company. It must be particularly galling to hear about people booking their holidays and going places when you, err, can't.

"all had Irish counties as their surnames and an awful lot of them were called Mary!" -
that would be a fun conversation: 'Well look at that, Mary Galway' 'What is it, Mary Louth?' 'There's Mary Donegal with Mary Limerick and Mary Mayo' 'Well I never, and last week I saw her out with Mary Offaly and Mary County Dublin'. Etc.

purplemurple · 27/09/2011 13:30

For anybody who banks with Barclays. If you use telephone banking don't put your card number in and it will transfer you to an British Call Centre rather than the Indian one.

StealthPolarBear · 27/09/2011 13:36

carabos, really??

LaWeasel · 27/09/2011 13:38

I don't know why it's impossible for someone from India to have a 'western' name like steve . A lot of my friends with Sri Lankan parents, for eg, have Portugeuse names, as Sri Lanka has a long history with Portugal, would you demand to know their 'real' names?? Because that's really what they are!

My BIL also has an assumed English name as no one would ever be able to pronounce/spell his real name correctly. (It was even spelt wrong on legal documents recently) If he worked in a call center and you wanted to be able to contact him again it would be a hell of a lot easier to know his English name than your incorrect interpretation of his real one.

TobyLeWolef · 27/09/2011 13:40

It would never cross my mind to think these people were lying about their names

Ephiny · 27/09/2011 13:42

There are plenty of Indian people living and working in the UK anyway, so calling a UK-based call-centre doesn't guarantee you won't end up speaking to an Indian person (though I still don't understand why that's such a problem anyway!).

I just find this whole thing really odd. If you have poor service from a particular company/centre/employee, then complain about that, surely no need to make generalisations about entire countries and nationalities.

carabos · 27/09/2011 13:43

Stealth - yup , and don't get me started on the stuff that goes on here under the guise of "Home Office contracts" (otherwise known as work carried out by prisoners for next to no money to undercut the market).

5Foot5 · 27/09/2011 13:50

NotADudeExactly "So long as the agent is uniquely identifyable and qualified to do the job, names, locations and circumstances don't matter at all."

DooinMeCleanin post sums up why it matters to me:
"It doesn't bother me that Indian call center staff use English names. It does bother me that English companies are taking their business elsewhere to avoid having to a pay a liveable wage in England "

Not just call centres either. Outsourcing software support to India and China has indirectly led to two redundancies for me and a business that DH had to fold.

Kladdkaka · 27/09/2011 13:52

I talked to an Indian directory enquires call-centre guy once who had psychic powers. I wanted the number of the Woolies in the town centre.

"Can I have the number for Woolies in Towncentre please"
Tap, tap, tap
"How are you spelling Woolies?"
"W.O.O.L.W.O.R.T.H.S"
Tap, tap, tap
"There is no Mr Woolworths in Towncentre"
"It's a shop"
"There is no shop called Woolworths in Towncentre"
"Yes there is, I can see it out of my office window."
"There is no shop called Woolworths in Towncentre"
"Okay, can I have the number for head office then?"
Tap, tap, tap
"Where is head office?"
"Dunno, just give me any number for any Woolworths anywhere in Britain"
Tap, tap, tap
"There are no Woolworths in Britain"

SPOOKY!

Goodynuff · 27/09/2011 13:59

I spent many years working in call centres here in canada, for both Canadian and American companies.
When we had American clients, we were not allowed to saw where we were located, we had to say we 'were in a northern state'. We were not allowed to use surnames either, and customers would get very rude, demanding to know our full names, our home numbers, where were located...
I got quite cross on day when a customer was demanding all of this from me, and pointed out that he wouldn't behave that way with a customer service person in a department store or such.

I don't understand the sense of entitlement by some people.

Yes, the worker is ther to help you, no, you don't have the right to pry into their life just because they are helping you!

Original poster

moogster1a · 27/09/2011 14:20

it's not "prying into their life". They lie about their name and lie about where they are based. the companies concerned think it sounds better that they are based in UK so they are told to lie to that effect. That's what annoys me.

OP posts:

purplemurple · 27/09/2011 14:53

@ Ephiny There are plenty of Indian people living and working in the UK anyway, so calling a UK-based call-centre doesn't guarantee you won't end up speaking to an Indian person (though I still don't understand why that's such a problem anyway!).

There is a big difference IMO, I can only speak from my own experience but call centres abroad tend to struggle with regional accents, if you deviate from the norm they struggle to understand what I am talking about.

I can tell the difference when I am speaking to an indian (or any other race) residing in this country compared to a call centre abroad they don't mention Coronation street

For the record I have no problem speaking to anybody of any race as long as we can understand each other and they can help resolve my problem:)

Mandy2003 · 27/09/2011 15:08

I was once told by a Chinese hotel waiter called Albert that Hong Kong (at least) Chinese choose a Western name when they go to High School (about 12 years old I guess) and stick with it as required for the rest of their working lives.

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