Indian call centres.

[Tortington]

and English names. really winds me up. Just had a call from 'Ricky' i think it must be bloody horrible to change your name cos the English don't understand.

i think i would be a bit put out if i had to change my name to Aadarshini if the roles were reversed.

Plus i get this 'dumbing' down feeling about it all.

what do you think?

Do they have to have false names? That's awful!

My friend was asked to do this in a UK call centre - we were temping at BT. Surname was very english, but bit of a mouthful, so they shortened it!

Hate it. They only have a script. You need to get on the user forum and find out the UK number.

i think its to make the person they are talking to feel more at home. it is dumbing down, and it is awful, but i think its more awful for us. the people there are doing a job in a language that isnt there own, talking colloquially to people from a place they have never met, and probly never will.

probably better qualified too stitch, i understand a lot of university graduates work in call centres.

I agree. I absolutly hate it. I don't want it to be done, in my name iyswim.

Hello, my name is Martin. NO IT ISN'T.

There's a scene in Slumdog Millionaire where they all catch up on the latest goings on in EastEnders too isn't there? I wonder do the workers really throw snippets of goss about Albert square into the conversations with people in Britain???? Would that work???

and how many UK jobs have been lost so that these companies (who are coining it in anyway) can save money.

I hate indian call centres with a passion and will avoid doing business with companies that use them.

agree wannbe, its the companies who are at fault. not the people who work there, and have to change their names, or appear to have changed them anyways

I ahd a call from "Steve" and I really wanted to say "But your name isn't Steve, though is it".

My mum would have asked him what his real name was, and where he was calling from, and tell him all about her trip to Inida. They ahve to talk like real people then, coz their script can't cope with that type of conversation.

You can have an english name and be from India. However, it does annoy me incredibly too. When we were with Tiscali we had so many problems and managed by fluke to get a number for the uk. It was only then were we able to sort an ongoign problem out as they understand what we were saying.

WHen my identity was stolen and I was on teh phone to someone about it at the same time my bank account was beign emptied, trying to stop it happening, at the end of an unsuccesful call they said they hoped I'd have a great day! Great day! I was in the process of being robbed!

They must change the names because they feel British people will be more receptive to a person with a British name than an Indian one. Quite sad really.

But why shouldn't jobs go to India in multinational companies?

I've had hours worth of phone calls to a job centre in India and they always gave me their real name. It is odd to have to change your name i agree, have never heard of it before.

Hate calls centers full stop.

Had one call us clearly not in the UK and a man with a very thick Indian accent who claimed be be caller Hamish McDoogle

Dh works in a (UK) call centre and often has staff accused of being in India.

No. Pollokshields (which, if you know Glasgow you'd know has a large Asian population). "I don't believe you. I want someone who speaks English" they yell at Rajiv who's probably 3rd generation Scottish.

I was thoroughly intimidated by a British Gas collections person in India (I'm assuming) recently though. She absolutely wouldn't let me get off the phone and I wondered if the fact she wasn't in the UK somehow allowed her to be so aggressive.

Have a look at www.saynoto0870.com (or .co.uk). Type in the name of the company you want to contact and you'll find a UK, geographical number to call, ie 0208, 0131 etc. Most often you'll get through to their UK departments.

You ask the person what their real name is? You then tell them that you would love the name and it is a real shame that their boss thinks the that english people are stupid and will not understand their naems which are beautiful...

If you keep doing it and tel others to do it eventually they will stop, they do listen to the calls to monitor

Mind you, they tell dh (who's probably 100 generations Scottish) to "speak English, you Jock ***".

The general public are luvverly.

Hehe, my mum got Elvis a couple of times, she couldn't stop laughing.
There is a real security risk though with these call centers. DH works for a telecoms company with call centers in India, stepmum gave him her brand new card details for a new phone contract and within 1 week (and no other useage) fraud was comitted on her card! Was fun explaining that one, luckily she understood and the card company stopped it all.

how does one know that one is connected to a call centre in another country?

well, I ask them where they are. They usually tell me. But otherwise you don't really know do you?

This is one of my top rant topics - someone with a heavy Indian accent rings up and tells me he's called Kevin. It insults me - do they really think I will react differently if he tells me he's called Sanjay? Do they assume we're all either thick or racist?

It is annoying and I dread talking to someone from India on the phone. For one, they often find it hard to understand you when there's somethinc complicated to explain (which is not surprising and not their fault at all) and for another, I hate talking on the phone to strangers anyway and trying to decipher the accent makes it worse.

Having said that, I once had to ring HSBC for a online banking problem, which turned out not to be a problem with the online service at all but with my call, and a lovely Indian woman sorted it all out for me, even though it was nothing to do with her department in the end, and was so helpful and patient. I was really impressed.