Why when i phone BRITISH gas and BRITISH telecom have i not yet spoke to anyone british and have had to leave the reason i phoned as we could not understand each other..ps the technical support teams are the worst...
2006-11-10 03:24:30 · 13 answers · asked by emmamo 2 in Society & Culture ➔ Other - Society & Culture
I have had the same problems as you, it makes me want to scream!!!!!!! I had to phone through a money order, and the asian woman got annoyed with ME because I couldnt understand her??? I was furious right back to her and told her what I thought of her bad manners, and bad english followed by a very poor impersonation of an asian accent, but I'm sure she got my point heh! We all have to have an uprising and abandon these companies who cannot give us the best of british service.
Mind you......what is truly british anymore???? Check out the following:
Being British is about driving in a German car to an Irish pub for a Belgian beer, then travelling home, grabbing an Indian curry or a Turkish kebab on the way, to sit on Swedish furniture and watch American shows on a Japanese TV.
And the most British thing of all? - Suspicion of anything foreign.
Sad eh?
2006-11-10 04:39:40 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Yes, it can be a real problem.
I recently phoned Prudential about a problem with my policy. I got a young woman who I believe was Indian (certainly wasn't British). She was very nice and friendly and all, and her English was pretty good, but she knew absolutely nothing about anything at all - she just had a script to go by, and no back-up for awkward questions (like mine!).
The strange thing is that Prudential's headquarters are about 7 miles from my house! So I wrote a letter to them there, and someone called me from the headquarteres and we got it all sorted out very quickly.
Call centre jobs (and IT jobs too) are increasingly be outsourced to overseas companies because they can pay people in India or wherever much less than they have to pay here.
I wouldn't mind it so much if they at least had some back up. If you call a UK-based call centre and they can't answer your question, at least they can put you through to someone in the organisation who might be able to help.
2006-11-10 11:37:15 · answer #2 · answered by mcfifi 6 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Because Britain has outsourced most of its major public service call centres (gas, electric, rail) to Asia. You can't blame the companies in Asia for trying to undercut British companies, they are just trying to be enterprising, but you can blame the companies for being tight and miserly by sacrificing quality information for cheaper employees. The fact is you can't put a price on product knowledge. I was on the phone to National Rail, based in India recently, and the guy on the phone had a very strong Indian accent. I'm lucky to have been to India many times so I could understand him, but the fact is, many British people won't. It's maddening!
2006-11-10 11:30:35 · answer #3 · answered by JoKnowsThisOne 2 · 2⤊ 0⤋
I hate it!! It winds me up big time!! I won't go into detail and bore you but the other day I wanted to transfer some money from my bank to pay off my credit card. I ended up speaking to some bloke called Daniel with the thickest Bangladeshi accent I've ever heard!!! Anyway, he didn't understand me and basically he got the transfer the wrong way round and I ended up going over the limit on my credit card and getting charged. Infuriating. Basically, a lot of companies have moved their call centres to other countries because its cheap labour and cheaper to run. However, whats the point in having a customer service department that can't understand you?!?!
2006-11-10 11:39:18 · answer #4 · answered by ? 6 · 1⤊ 0⤋
I know what you mean - I had to call BT customer services and I was put through to a call centre in India. The guy spoke broken English only and yet introduced himself as DAVE !!! HAha - whats the chances he was making that bit up ???????
2006-11-10 11:29:04 · answer #5 · answered by starlet108 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
i know what u mean.everything ive ever spoke about has bin misunderstood or taken in a different way. why r they called british gas/electric if they cant employ people that speak ENGLISH? u try n try to bring it up with them and all u get is some1 that doesnt speak ENGLISH they need to fix up
2006-11-10 11:41:01 · answer #6 · answered by the one and only 2 · 1⤊ 0⤋
I agree it is just awful what is going on has the British Isles been invaded or what.
2006-11-10 11:32:41 · answer #7 · answered by jean811823 3 · 2⤊ 0⤋
The call centres are in places like India,etc.Cheap labour=bigger profits.
2006-11-10 11:27:57 · answer #8 · answered by michael k 6 · 2⤊ 0⤋
i admit i havent got a ton in the bank but i dont like trying to sort out my finances with someone i cannot understand, mind you if you ask me to speak another language im stuffed.
2006-11-10 12:02:39 · answer #9 · answered by ........ 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Happens in the USA too. All the time. Here it is because of outsourcing.
2006-11-10 13:07:00 · answer #10 · answered by June smiles 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋