Call Centre - put through to handler WFH

[Harvestfestivalknickers]

Just had to renew my insurance today. I needed to make a small amendment so rang their call centre. The call handler I was connected to was obviously WFH. I gave her my details but she had to clarify them several times as there was what sounded like a dog barking. The line was so bad she said she'd call me back. She did so but the barking continued. I made the comment that the line was still really bad and I could hear a dog barking. She didn't respond to that but carried on talking. As she came to the end of the call, the dog started barking quite clearly again. I was surprised that a large insurance company would tolerate this, surely this isn't acceptable, calls are recorded aren't they?

Sorry you were offended by a barking dog

Its really not a big deal - flexible working.

I would likely have started a conversation about the dog, name, breed etc. 😂sorry not helpful.

It is a big deal, when you can't hear clearly

did she manage to make the change you wanted?

I’d say it’s more of a big deal that all your personal information is being accessed and repeated in this environment?

What environment are you concerned about? Someone working in their own home?

I once had to call the IT department at work.

The guy I got through to kept arguing with his wife as he was doing something to my laptop through remote access.

I actually asked him if he was aware I could hear every word, and he just said "Yeah, sorry about that", then continued the row! 🤦‍♀️

I could hear a social worker washing up once 😳
It can be awkward from home - I’ve had my cat getting loud and angry about food (he was greedy!) and people can knock at the door. It is for the worker to do their best to ensure a professional service to colleagues and clients but also hopefully the client can be accommodating if they apologise after an interruption, or advise of potential disruption in advance.
To be fair I find in office call centre workers to be hard to hear with background noise and maybe it’s better systems they need to invest in. I’ve had really loud council mowers outside but apparently the rest on the call couldn’t hear it though it massively distracted me.
Basically I would have expected an explanation but not think they should be in the office because of this. You could give feedback though.

Of course it's acceptable. What do you want her to do? Turn the bark off on the dog?

Yes, barking dogs are well known for giving out personal information.

If she was in the call centre, you'd have all the background noise there, as well.

However, in the same way that you need to get childcare if your children are too young to entertain themselves, you need to get doggy daycare to WFH if your dog barks while you are doing calls.

I have been in offices with ridiculous amounts of background noise sometimes, nothing to do with WFH.

I have also, painfully, struggled with calls to actual call centers where the line was horrendous - there was no WFH then.

you've assumed that no one else was there! Anyone could have been there.

At my place of work no one with access to personal information is allowed to wfh. And we are not allowed to discuss certain things on calls and we are absolutely not allowed to do meetings from cafe etc

You'll get flamed OP, but I'd be annoyed if a company can't deliver a professional service.

All you can do is complain though.

Yes and the other people there who are not bound by contracts etc. anyone could be listening.

I'm sure the dog is up to speed on GDPR 😀

I wonder if call handlers are distracted by what’s going on around them when they’re wfh and I would imagine a frequently barking dog would be distracting.

Thanks, I thought it was really unprofessional too, having to repeat things multiple times because of a dog barking.

Put the dog in another room if it is prone to bark when a customer is trying to hear the information being given.

I agree. It's not a professional service and you have grounds for complaint.

I did an insurance renewal by phone this morning. There was no background noise and I have no idea whether the handler was WFH or not.

It’s incredible how many people are willing to practice cognitive dissonance to make the OP feel bad about correctly raising this issue

the call couldn’t be properly handled because of repetitive and excessive noise from a home worker’s environment

DOES IS MATTER that it is a cute little doggie? No!

relax

the change was made. No biggie

The dog is unlikely to repeat any sensitive info.

Might be an office where a customer has come in person (we had those sometimes, no matter how much we didn't want them) with a pet, could be an assistance dog alerting or just somebody trying to get by.

Don't think it's worth getting somebody fired for, really. But I use email due to wanting an audit trail for anything financial.