Why do BT use Indian people to answer the telephone.?

Answer 1

easy...cheap labour! its cheaper to pay 3 indian people than one brittish person!

Answer 2

It's true that they're cheaper to employ etc. It's also that when you shout down the phone to British Telecom employers back home, they threaten to hang up on you without resolving the query. Indians are a different breed, they truly are sorry for the damage BT may be causing you but they have no fix for anything because BT forgot to give them any training or access levels to sort out anything. In truth, talking by experience ofcourse, the operators have to always keep calling back England offices to authorise any little thing because the company obviosuly doesn't trust them to do what they're supposed to be doing. They are only there as devices to buy time for them to use that blasted 0870 something or the other number to make up a story about why they cannot provide us poor BT customers with the so called 'service'.

Sorry, I had a bad experience with BT, but I genuinely felt that the poor Indian chap at the end of the line who eventually left a voicemail message on my mobile phone after not being able to get through on the landline apologised for their inability to provide the necessary service.

Phew... now i can take a breath

Answer 3

Labour in developing markets like India is much cheaper than it is here in the UK and, because a great many educated Indians choose English as their second language, it makes such markets an attractive proposition.

Factor in the growth of VoIP (Voice over IP, or internet telephony), where the cost of communication on a global scale is largely negligible, and you'll find that many call centre operators will choose the route that drives the highest profit. In this case, Indian call centres.

The next logical step for such commercial endeavours is telecommuting. Now that ain't so bad, is it? ;-)

Answer 4

It's about money. The average CSR (customer service rep) in the US is paid $15-30/hr. In India and other countries, the CSR makes $6-12/hr. At the turn of the century many companies spent billions laying fiber-optic telecommunication cables across the oceans. So transferring a call to India is just as cheap as transferring it to Kansas.

You may be upset about the accent and the ability to communicate/understand English. India turns out many English-speaking graduates who will work for 1/2 of what high school US CSRs will work for. So as a shareholder for a public company, you want the company to save as much money as possible. It makes economic sense.

Unfortunately, the 'quality' issue is not as important as the cost savings - but it is also not a pervasive as many think. We in the US actually have just as many problems on quality (communication ability, attitude, competency, knowledge, speed, courtesy) as we do when it is outsourced - therefore, it's just about cutting costs. Then we trust the company will plow those savings into new products or lower prices for consumers.

The new twist to this story has been led by companies like Jet Blue, who is using stay-at-home moms who answer the phones in their own home. This is an untapped labor market where the women just want to contribute to the household income and are willing to work for low(er) wages. They are happy fo the interaction.

Answer 5

I have worked for a outsourcer for BT since January this year as a Broadband advisor. Around March, the BT Broadband Technical Helpdesk was moved to India, from the very building I work in now. The reason is obviously money!

Good news is - it is coming back to our building very soon - training has already started for the agents.

Answer 6

Its all down to cash. AOL do it as well. Its very annoying as so often the people have such poor accents. Recently I had a problem with my PC & got thru to India; I was told to reformat the harddrive & reinstall the software (gulp!)...I ended up ringing PC World who, even tho the warranty had expired, told me how to fix the problem...it took 10 mins & didnt involve anything like the Indian oke told me to do. They are rubbish. The worst lot are in Zimbabwe, but no UK ISPs use them, than God.

Answer 7

Because BT and all the other big business companies are greedy bast@rds and don`t want to pay out a proper living wage.
So they go to country`s who`s people will work for a very, very low wage. :-(

Answer 8

Cheap Labour. British Gas are in the middle of doing it, I know, because I'm losing my job to India. They get paid £3000 a year which is 4 times less than what we get paid.

Answer 9

Because they want to save money on employing us British people, in fact I found out that Lloyds Tsb divert your calls to india when you phone them up, as well as other mobile phone companies, Microsoft also employ themas well, I think it is bad when you have to talk really really slow, and spell it to them over the phone, i mean come on we just want to get the problem resolved, not to be wound up further bysomeone who cannot Bloody understand you properly, apart from if you mention curry then that willget there attention, we need operators that can understand English, and for us not to have wasted our money on a useless phone call, when they say me not understanding you, you be phoning back to someone else later, as me cannot help you!
I mean best of british please, as after BT is supposed to be british telecom, not indian telecom where they are munching on nam bread whilst taking your calls!

Answer 10

because BT thinks that not only is it cheap labour, also you might not call back because of misunderstanding of conversation, so whatever problems you have with BT, you are stuck with it.

Answer 11

because like most big firms they are using India as a call centre.. but hey you try calling India.. cost you a bomb.. so how can they make the calls cheaper via a call centre.. its mad and taking jobs away from the UK.......... disgusting!! Why doesn't GB just blooming move the whole of the country to India.. sheezz.. Banks are the same.

that one got me going..snigger...!!!