to be annoyed at having to speak to someone in Bangalore about my insurance

[margoandjerry]

I just tried to make an enquiry about my Norwich Union policies (car, contents and travel) and each 0800 number puts you through to Bangalore. One of the people there told me my postcode was not a valid UK postcode (I have lived here for 10 years so I know my postcode...). Another one asked me if my bog standard UK surname was my first name or my second name. The third one kept getting my phone number wrong - every time I said "oh two oh seven..." he noted down "eight two eight seven". Obviously they use zero instead of "oh" and don't know that UK numbers just don't start with the number eight.

It's not their fault - I wouldn't recognise an Indian postcode or surname either - but really shouldn't Norwich Union do its customers the honour of getting someone in the UK to speak to them?

It's not even a question of accent - I don't mind speaking to anyone in the UK, wherever they come from, but they have to know the basics. And I don't mind if they farm out all their back office stuff to India but shouldn't customer-facing stuff be UK to UK?

So annoyed I am going to cancel all of them, when I can be bothered.

No, you're being perfectly reasonable and it pisses me off too.

Maybe you should write to them, not that it will make any difference but to get it off your chest.

you are not being unreasonable at all but you will probably find now that most call centres operate in this way.every company i seem to call put me through to some foreign operator,be it the electric company,insurance,even my bank.

just to clarify i am NOT in the least bit racist or prejidice but it really does my head in when you can't speak to someone who understands what you are saying,especially if its something as important as relaying your bank account number.

We with Norwich Union, car insurance. Totally shite. Their call centres in India are ATTROCIOUS.

I am going to change , asap.

There is a website isn't there that lists insurance companies/ banks etc etc , than only have call centres in UK - I 'm sure someone will tell us what that website is.

A firm I deal with at work has just outsourced their customer services to one of the major Indian operators - but to their Northern Ireland branch. The call centre staff haven't been properly trained in dealing with the rather complicated products (and difficult customers!) and it has been, so far, a disaster compared with the old inhouse customer service. I would suggest that you complain to Norwich Union that their call centre staff are not up to scratch and that you will change your insurance provider if no improvements are made.

Nope it annoys me too, the one time you really need someone to understand what you are saying is when you are talking to them about banking/ insurance etc.. If they get these details wrong it can cost you.

Its not about being racist and it irates me that people try to make out that it is, its about being able to understand someone and that they understand you.

I remember having to explain to an operator in India that the number that they were giving me to call in the UK was not a valid number - it must have been an internal number. They just didn't understadn that it had to start with a zero. This was M&S Money.

Really irritating.

complain

i bet you cant be arsed and the service will never change if you dont

I don't get this - I really don't.........

I understand that it's not good that people in the UK are losing their jobs to Indian Call Centres - but I genuinely don't get the "they don't understand me/I don't understand them" business.

Blimey I frequently speak to people in British Call Centres who have the same problem- infact I don't even have to pick up the phone - going to my town and talking to the staff in the shops can be difficult enough as not all of them are British...........perhaps we should stop this terrible thing in this country of allowing companies to employ ESL people.???

Call centres are annoying enough as it is, without having to talk to someone who doesn't know that UK phone numbers ALWAYS start with a zero.

It's not that we can't understand each other on a language level - they often have exceptional English.

It's other things they don't understand such as postcodes and the "rhythm" of a UK phone number. When you are talking on the phone there's a lot more than just the language that each side needs to understand.

To be fair - I made the point to the operator that I was talking to that this was a training issue - that they should know the format of geogrpahic numbers in the UK.

I agree with Fannieannie to a ceratin extent: even between Scotland and England there are differences that some call centres can't cope with. I know hwnever I am ringing around for house incsurnace, English based ones can't cope with the different way that "leased" or "shared" (as in a conversion) ownership is dealt with in Scoltand - ie in a "split" house, we both own the walls, roof and foundation. We don't have leasheold in the same way as England.

But Scottish and especially Glaswegian call centres are of course always the best! Knowledgeable, friendly....

It irritates me no end

"It's other things they don't understand such as postcodes and the "rhythm" of a UK phone number. When you are talking on the phone there's a lot more than just the language that each side needs to understand."

But surely the same could be said of foreigners working in British call Centres???

And as for the "rhythm" of a UK phone number - my mum, dad and brother all say numbers in different ways from each other!

The answer is not to deal with anyone who has call centres outside of the UK.

But I spent 40 minutes on the phone yesterday to Tesco Car Insurance with a bloke who - helpful and pleasant as he was - did not speak clearly, and couldn't spell words like "Cheshire." He also interspersed his conversation with "yeah, wicked!" and "yeah, wiv this new policy, right" and "right, this bit's dead boring but I gotta tell it you" - he was definitely British and didn't really have an accent (vaguely Southern) but sounded about 14 and mumbled a lot.

defines my point exactly DrMoo

I find a lot of call centres are in Scotland too - I can't understand the Scots either!

There are a lot of call centres in Scotland. We're supposed to be very helpful and as long as accents aren't too broad, the accent is supposed to be thought of as very trustworthy.

It bothers me too.

I've never been able to understand a really strong accent - dh's Scottish friend is a prime example - and I can't understand foreign call centre operators.

So now I only deal with companies with UK based call centres. Much easier for me with my weakish hearing.

I agree with this - when you are talking about personal stuff, you want to feel that the person understands where you are coming from. Best achieved if the call centre staff live in the same country.

not sure whose point this illustrates but it's funny anyway.

A friend of mine was once driving round London and broke down on Trafalgar Square. He called the AA and got through to a call centre in Scotland and had the following conversation:

friend: "hello, I'm in central London and I've broken down. I'm in the middle of Trafalgar Square"

call centre: "oh right. Can you see any landmarks nearby that might help our repairman to identify where you are?"

friend: "errrr Nelson's Column?"