Indian call centres - why?

[AgaPanthers]

Jesus Christ. Just on the phone to Santander to close very old credit card.

Spell my name using phonetic alphabet.

Indian chap: "That's 'D'?" Me: 'No, B as in Bravo'

Give date of birth, Indian chap 'September?' Me: 'No, May'. (how do they sound even similar?)

Indian chap '1992?' Me: 'No, 1982'

Give address, accidentally say 'F for Freddie' instead of 'F for Foxtrot'. Indian chap: 'what is that?' repeat, using 'Foxtrot', and he understands.

Indian: 'I am sorry I have to transferring you to different department'

Me:

New person answers: 'Hello how can I be helping you?'

Me:

Eventually done, but not before he struggled to pronounce my very ordinary street name.

don't forget saynoto0870.com, folks - alternative numbers for the expensive ones, which are 0871, 0844 and 0843.

and if you are on a mobile and a non BT-tariff, also 0845, 0870 and 0800.

How odd. I bank with Santander and often ring Customer Services, NEVER get an Indian voice - usually Scottish.

why would you want to pay to use an expensive 0871 n.o. to call a bank. I wouldn't either.

I have never heard good things about Satander.

Don't mind the Indian call centres but prefer to deal with people here as they understand the nuances of language and how things work more ITMS especially if you use idioms.

Yanbu but due to the nature of my job I have to liaise with call centre workers, based in the UK and they often struggle to understand me as well.

An American call centre I deal with, well...absolutely no chance whatsoever. To be fair, I often don't understand them either (very strong Deep South accents)

how am i helping you today? is the line i was given when they rang me my first response was "i dunno who are you" this then followed an excruciating conversation where i was repeatedly told you were expecting this call "no" you asked for this call "no" i am calling you back as you requested "NO!" she would not give me any details as to why she was calling and i refused to give her any details about me she asked for my account number i asked her for which account? she said yours! i have several bank/catalogue/tv etc so which damm account no need to take offence mrs umm? (im still refusing to tell her my name at this point) to this day i really wish i hung up sooner

I've never had a problem. I do wish that they would use their real names too though. Not for one instant will I think they are a native of my own country so why pretend? - most of us can pronounce Rajesh etc.

I've never had a problem either and I'm Northern Irish.

I know my phonetic alphabet though :)

Well, maybe it's an Irish thing. I'm Belfastian on my mum's side too

What if you got through to an Indian person in a UK call centre?

I've been having problems with my mobile phone and have had to contact Virgin several times. They have a Philippine call centre and as pleasant as they are there it is extremely frustrating because they don't understand nuances of the English language so it takes 3 times as long to explain anything - and then I end up being transferred to the UK technical support team anyway

saint I used to work in the complaints department for a credit card company and one of my colleagues was British but his parents were from Pakistan. He took a call one day from some bloke effing and blinding as the offshore staff couldn't understand him and was basically ranting a load of racist abuse. When he had finished his rant my colleague smiled, put on his best Pakistani accent and told him that yes, he was through to the UK. Brilliant.

Lol to all the above except those who pint out its just people trying to do their jobs and no different to the myriad of misunderstandings, mishearings and mistakes that have always been a part of any human interaction.

It's called globalisation... And yes it's about profits for the companies / banks. They go where the labour is cheapest.

If you want something really serious to ponder today - think about the news that our children are at least three years behind Chinese children in maths. Globalisation means that its our/ yours / mine UK children who are destined to be the 'cheap labour' of the next ten years or so.

What will be the aibu's be then?

'Omg... DS 19 just home from work. Had a client in Beijing.. Shouting down phone ... Your name is not Wei, its Jason. You're in Maidstone and can you stop trying to say Gong Xi Fa Cai in that weird British accent because I know you celebrated new year a month ago. Poor DS it's so unfair why can't they just be polite and patient, don't they know he's only doing his job... Its put him right off the turkey twizzlers I've done for his tea'

Eyes roll. Grips all round.

If you don't make sure you ring the right number its your bloody fault if you end up speaking to the wrong department. Are you aware of how intolerant your posts make you sound op?

I was driven mad by BT's call centres. The Indian employees were charming and I have every respect for them. But they were unable to solve our problem which turned out to be ancient wiring with water in it. Much of it was really BT's fault because they won't actually send put an engineer if they can help it. However when you are dealing with someone with a script working in a second language this is a daft way of running customer service.

I recently spoke to a British Asian guy at natwest and he was brilliant. And the Scottish people at Sky were lovely. It's simply easier if you have shared language and culture.

This is when I would love to speak Welsh. You have a right to be spoken to in Welsh.

Sometimes if you ask them can you speak to a Welsh speaker they will transfer you and the lovely Welsh people don't seem to mind speaking to you in English.

Dreading the day the companies realise Patagonia would be cheaper than Swansea.

I only do this when there is a real problem though, I have had some very good customer service with an Indian accent.

Its irritating certainly but what worries me more is the fact that it is the bank and the credit card - if they get a single detail wrong it can totally fuck up your financial situation / have cards blocked etc. Regardless of whether it is strong regional accents or Indian ones I think there needs to be an emphasis on training to be clear, slow enough to enunciate clearly and in the case of overseas, to be taught idiom as well as basic language. Worst one I ever hd though was somewhere Scottish, runnning through car insurance so so quickly I couldn't make it out.

If it's any consolation (probably isn't), it must be even worse for them having to ask questions all day in their second language and not understand the answers.

I have often wondered if the savings in using cheap labour are offset by the number of pissed off customers these places must lose.

It's not necessarily the native language, it's the training they are given. My insurance company has it's customer services based in India but sales are based in Ireland. I now always phone the sales number and speak with someone that understands me and my query, is able to deviate from their script and able to solve my problem.
I don't care about where someone is from, I don't care about the native language they speak. I do care that they are able to process my requirements in a timely, straightforward and helpful way.

Exactly fieldfare the call centre workers are so polite and pleasant. I also phone the Philippine call centre for queries about my mobile and I am always polite.

It is sometimes the nuances of language and they won't really understand things in quite the same way especially if dealing with car insurance etc I feel.

I still don't understand why anyone would want to use an 0871 n.o. to call their own bank and I too would seek out a cheaper alternative

I hate speaking to call centres. For some reason I struggle to understand accents of any kind - Indian/geordie/Scottish - when on the phone. But in person I am fine. Good thing really as half my family are Scottish and my inlaws are from Yorkshire.

While I don't particularly mind Indian sub continent accent (I've taught lots of people from there so I'm used to deciphering them) my Kiwi accent stumps many of them. As does the fact that I don't use my husband's surname. It confuses them. Because they were set up before we were married or had even met, most of our accounts with the exception of the joint account are in his name but I'm the one that deals with anything technical.We always end up in circular discussions when they want to speak to DH then get confused when he passes them on to me and my name does not match.

The one thing that does get my goat though is the use of fake names. "Hello my name is Brian/John/David/Clare" said in a broad Bangalore accent irritates me. I'd far rather deal with the honest Javid at Virgin Media whose accent was difficult to decipher but was easy to track down again when I needed to call back.

I find overseas call centres very annoying. Its not funny when someone speaks at snail's speed and you also have to spell out everything - calls to these centres aren't free. Time is money.

Imagine working for solicitors in conveyancing when you have to literally SCREAM at the Barclays voice activation (because it doesn't recognise me and my colleague's voices!), then eventually after the process you get the Indian man who wants to YOUR first name, surname etc, how are you today?

I don't WANT to tell you my first name I work for a solicitors... and replay whole scenario for various other banks/building societies.