Bt interenet broadband customer care in !!!!! india !!!!!!!!!!?

Question

Firstly let me say im totally against racism thus this is not aimed at indian nationals............ Bt own 3/4 of the telecommunications market in the uk yet when i try and sort a problem out with my broadband i eventually get through to someone in india (its where bt like to direct there problems ) with whom i have incredible difficulty in understanding as there english isnt great so i find it an impossible task to undergo and give up. It isnt the indian nationals fault they've been given a job to do and do it to the best of there ability so they're not to blame but i guess people in india would'nt be very happy if english people were answering there problems in there native tongue. To make things worse my insurance company for my car also have indian people answering customer queries. I love all nationalities and have some great friends from all over the world and chat to them regularly but im surely not the only one that this happens to .......whats your angle on this?

Answer 1

You are absolutly correct that this has nothing at all to do with racism. This is about a company providiing their customers with proper customer support. When a customer can not understand the person on the other end of the phone, poor customer service is the result. While this type of technical support is inexpensive on the employee payroll division, the bottom line is it is way to expensive to NOT provide proper customer support.

There are three items a company has which are most valuable to success of a business. The first is the product of course. Without a product or service there would not be a business in the first place. Second is the customers. You have to have customers in order to sell the product or service. The third is employee's who sell the products, box and ship the products, provide the service, provide customer service, etc. If any of these three areas fail the business fails. It is as simple as that.

I see so many companies which do not have the intelligence to understand providing good quality customer service is vital in keeping customers using their products and/or service(s). If the customer has a poor experiance they will not only not come back they will tell their family and friends of their horrid experiance and those people will mentioned it if it comes up in conversation to their family and friends. Good quality customer service which keeps customers happy is the number one best form of advertisement. It is also the cheapest advertisment.

So, looking at this issue from a business stand point is it really cheaper for these companies to utilize poor english speaking individuals to perform customer service and/or give technical advice? I do not think so. It is in every companies best interest to ensure their representitives speak english or whatever language needed well enough for the native speaker to fully and completely understand the communication.

I know that Dell and HP uses those with poorer speaking skills, but good who have a solid understanding of writing english on the chat lines. These folks do not need to worry if their accent is too heavy or if they can't get certain words out due to their own language utilizing different sounds, like the rolling of the R in the Spanish language. Each language utilizes different sound combinations which result in the accests we hear in those who are not native speakers of a language. It takes leangthy submersion in the language to learn how to speak it nearly as flawlessly as a native. So, Dell and HP have these folks at the chat lines and it utilizes their abilities in the most productive manner.

I have not yet had an experiance with either Dell or HP where I could not understand what the person on the other line was trying to say. I have had this experiance with many other companies. Those who understand the importance of the customer will acheive success in business. Those who do not will not succeed well. It is as simple as that. I read a post earlier of an individual who changed is car and other insurance due to this problem. He told us about the problem and has told his family and friends who remember his bad experiance when the name of the company comes up in converstation. That is bad advertising for that particular company. No company wants bad advertising. Not one which wants to be successful that is.

Now, think of how this lowers the moral of the person on the other end of the line. How frustrating it must be to be placed in a position in which others have difficulty understanding what s/he is saying. This really is bad for a company too. It will have a high turn over rate of employees, as who wants to stay employed long in such conditions? So, this company will have to rehire on a regular basis and retrain regulary as well. They are also getting bad advertisement due to the bad experiances the customers are having. Two of the major areas of a successfull business have failed and/or broken down.

It matter not what type of product and/or service you have if these two areas are broken or dysfunctional. I know I would not do business with a company as poorly deployed as these. I have many choices in products and services here in the States. I am in a position to have my business fought over by several simular businesses. If I am not happy, the company is not happy.

These past several years I saw a steep decline in customer service. Recently I have watched as it leveled off, as companies realizes where they were failing. I have seen businesses fail due to an inability to recognize it is worthwhile to spend a few extra bucks in order to keep customers and employees happy.

I agree completely that this issue has nothing to do with racism. This is about business and the service customers receive. It is about time we all stood up and demanded the proper treatment we deserve as an individaul granting a company our money. I am sick and tired of businesses which think they are doing US a favor when it is the opposite. WE are doing them a favor by giving them our business or buying the product(s). We deserve to be treated with simple curtesy and receive the assistance we deserve. I am sick of service workers who think they are doing us a favor by doing what they are being paid to do. I am sick of the rudeness of many store clerks, assistants, and customer service reps. We, the customers are the life blood of any successfull business and those who are intelligent know this very well.

Do not continue to do business with one which fails to provide proper customer service and/or who are rude to you. If more of us stop frequenting businesses which act this way or fail to recognize our importance to the successfulness of their business they do not deserve customers.

I have recently seen a trend towards better customer service and support. If the first person you speak with either does not help your problem or is rude in any way or just plain does not attend you go to the next person above, then the next until you either resolve your issue of lodge a complaint and quit that business.

Thanks for this question, it was a really good one. We all need to stand up and demand our rightful service when we give a company our money. Without us they will not be in business long. Have a great day.

Answer 2

I'm sure hoards of people will agree with you, I'm one of them. I spent almost 5 hours being passed from one department to the next, each time having to repeat my problem to a new person. Even the Supervisors were unable to help me successfully.
I do, however, think the call centres should have been kept in the UK to begin with because the problem now is that they've given thousands of hopeful people in India jobs which they'll just whisk away when the company begins to lose customers. For some of those people their call centre job may have been the one chance to change their life for the better.
These companies (not just BT) have played with people's lives just because they want cheap workers. It's really quite sad.

Answer 3

When you have gone through 101 menus and phone nos to get to speak to someone you can't understand (and who can't understand you either!) to be asked all the questions you have already tried yourself it is mightily infuriating! You have to pay for this too! Add to that the fact that we do not receive the maximum speed broadband because we are too far away from the exchange/the line needs up grading and you have the right to be annoyed!

Its not the Indians fault, it would be better however to have call centres in Britain with native English speakers though!

Answer 4

Roy, I have a quick question for you. If you own a company and you realize that outsourcing your work to India will cut down your cost by over 50%, would you still continue to hold the work in your native place ? I dont think any common man would do that. But not trying to tell what they do is completely right, coz even few of your friends might have lost their jobs.

Even I work in a call center where we support end users. We have seen many instances where our fellow support members in US do really bad in technicals, atleast 75% people are good in technicals out here. We also get satisfaction surveys and we manage to maintain 75%-80% satisfied customers. Post any technical questions, ill answer them for you.

Answer 5

yes it is infuriating that we have to spend hours on the line wanting help with problems and trying to understand the advisor on the other end of the line.
and yes those companies that use india are doing it as it is alot cheaper.

and i know that the indian advisor are doing the best they can. before they even get a job for bt they have to have at least 2 degrees then go through extensive training. where as in the uk people only need to go to a temp agency proove they can type and can speak on a phone and they got a job.

i take my hat off to all those indian workers for going through what they have gone through just to get this type of job

Answer 6

It is a problem and looking at adverts many companies are now saying "UK call centre staff only" so it is becoming a selling point.

The way I get around this? Don't deal with a company with an Indian call centre. If customers leave they will soon change their tune.

Answer 7

So many companies are outsourcing their customer service to India. The biggest problem is that they speak very broken English and basically read from a script. You're SOL if your problem varies from their script. Try engaging them in conversation about something else and see what happens. And if you say you can not understand them they get very defensive and insist they speak "perfect" English.

Answer 8

You're so right,those companies who out-source are a bunch of cheap b*****D's,who will exploit any-one for profit.It's pure greed.It's not the fault of the Indians,they are being paid less than the job is worth.Isn't it infuriating that these companies fly the british flag,& then sell out their own workers.

Answer 9

In reality if BT moved their call centre back to the UK the chances are it would still be indians answering the calls cos they are cheap!

Answer 10

In recent months I have cancelled internet conections car and home insurance and a number of other small things through having to deal with people in far of lands who tell you their name is Smith and have not even a basic understanding of English.