does anyone agree?

Question

This has nothing to do with Big Brother

I am very unhappy with Norwich Union Insurance. Yesterday I called to find out about a claim that was recently made on a non fault accident, to find out if they had got in touch with the third party and clain our excess back from them. I was asked to hold which I did and then was spoken to by an Indian woman. I then asked where she was and when she said india i put the phone down.

I called back and I think i spoke to the same person that i spike to originally and told him that I will not speak to anyone in india about my insurance from a british company. he then told me that he would be losing his job as the company were transfering the call centre to india. I know people dont like call centres but it does give piople jobs in our country and people can understand our languaage but I feel that moving to india is taking jobs from this county and unem,ployment is bad enough as it is and will only get worse if call centres move to india

Answer 1

I agree with you.Make your point to Norwich Union by changing your insurance company to one who operate in the UK and tell them why you are changing.

Answer 2

There are really 2 questions here.

Is outsourcing jobs to other countries bad?

Not always bad, not always good. It has it's uses definitely. Would you like to pay more for your insurance premiums? If they keep those simple jobs here, the employees are protected by minimum wages. Basically, it will cost a lot more for Norwich Union Insurance to provide you that person-to-person service. Alternatively, they could make you talk to an automated messaging system. That would also suck for you I am assuming.

Personally, I hate the fact that I have to talk to some dim-whitted moron at call centers. That said, it just takes a bit of patience to get past the hurdles. Interestingly enough, those people that work at the call centers sometimes have a higher education compared to the same workers in the US. I used to be a supervisor at a US call center. I would know!

Sounds like you either had a bad experience with those Indian call centers or that you just plain don't like talking to Indians. Hey think of it this way, they may not know how to speak English perfectly, but they probably spell better than you. I count about 13 spelling mistakes in your post. hehe.

Answer 3

It can be difficult to understand the voices from other countries particularly when they are thousands of miles away. I find the Indian race more polite than the Brits and often prefer to deal with them. There is no real unemployment in this country but there is hunger and starvation in India and we must remember we live in a World where everyone should , at the least, have the right to a daily meal. Putting a call centre there is a good way of helping them and we should tolerat the odd difficulties it causes

Answer 4

It's not only India and It's not only call-centres. Industry is being off-shored as well.
I once worked for a global software company that off-shored its support operations. Employees in India/Phillipines/wherever are cheap to employ. They appear to be doing a good job because the number of calls that get closed quickly are increasing.
The underlying reason, however, is that nobody wants to talk to them. The Indians et. al. think they speak english - they don't. Non-native english-speaking customers can't understand them - Imagine a guy from Denmark or Norway (where English is a compulsory school subject from the age of four) trying to communicate with someone on the other side of the globe in a language that is not native to either - the customer just gives up in despair and finds another supplier. It was the joke of europe when a customer was asked how his software problem was progressing - if the answer was "no air-conditioning" it was because that was the only phrase anyone understood that came out of - you guessed it - Hyderabad. They complained about their offices to the customers rather than helped them.
Points to ponder:
Why is it that if you phone someone to BUY something, you get through to a brit, but after-sales service (once they've got your money) is off-shored?
Why do I have a "special" phone number to my bank because I have a platinum account that gets me through to someone in Brighton, but if I just dial the number in the phone-book, I get India?
If the people who run the call centres are saving so much money by off-shoring call-centres, why are we not seeing reductions in interest rates/bank charges/policy premiums?

Watch the TV ads for companies who advertise "UK Call Centres only" and take your business there - some of them are waking up to the fact.

Answer 5

This is how it works. British Co transferres all calls to call centre in India. It costs the co. 1p per call to do this. Each morning the workers form a queue and if the co. foresees a busy day i.e Electricity co. high winds, poss power off to homes. They will allow in number of workers they feel will cover the day. The rest are sent home without pay. Those that stay are paid a fair wage. If however the co forsees a quiet day then only a few are chosed to work.

Answer 6

Write to the chief executive and address the letter "private and confidential" tell him about your complaint.

I am a businessman and will not do business with any company that has a call centre outside the UK or connects you to an machine that tells you "your call is important to us and will be answered in the next three weeks".

I change my gas and electricity supplier each week as none of them answer their phones when you have a query.

They are now calling me and asking me to refrain from this as it is costing them money.

I tell them that I am exercising my right to change my suppliers as and when I choose and will only stop this practice when I find a company that has people on the other end of the phone and not machines.

Direct action is the only way ensure quality.

Answer 7

I agree with your principle: let's sort out our own home before going abroad to help others find work. But I am sure you know the world is not so simple.
My own experience is, I don't care if they move the call centre to the North Pole or whatever, as long as the person on the other hand:
1. Speaks English effectively.
2. Knows what they are talking about. (This is usually a bonus anyway, but number one is really important).

Answer 8

Where have you been recently, Mars?
Smell the economic facts of life. If something can be made/done cheaper abroad it will be. That's what all the Tory voting morons voted for in 1979 until 1997. New Labour said exactly the same thing when they were elected (hypocrites!) A free market economy is what we want! Well, you got it and are stuck with it.
No point in bleating about it now, you're too late!
Should've voted Green!
Oh, the joy of being proved right!

Answer 9

it is the same with bt. I phoned about a problem with my bill and broadband connection and they were basically rude to me and called me a liar when they asked how i paid my bill - I dont want to speak to any call centres no matter where they are but with Indian call centres there is going to be a language barrier if the customer uses any slang or regional dialect.

I bank with the royal bank of scotland because it is always my branch i can speak to and no call centres at all. I have my insurance with Direct Line (part of RBS group) and i can always speak to someone locally.

Answer 10

Trust me, it is not just Norwich Union. I had a terrible experience with Mitsubishi. 1) couldn't understand the person, 2) she was rude 3) she had no idea what she was doing or talking about.

I co-signed for that car for my granddaughter. About a month later decided to finance it through my bank. The problem was I needed paper work from Mitsubishi financing.

I finally got firm enough with the local dealer and it was resolved FOUR MONTHS later. Fortunately there were no payments or interest to Mitsubish for a year. My granddaughter took the bait and I foolishly went along with it.

NO MORE MITSUBISHI FOR ANYONE IN OUR FAMILY.

It's just sending more jobs overseas because it is cheaper than paying U.S. wages and benefits.

Answer 11

I agree, and I would definately write to Norwich Union and tell them that you are going to change your insurance to a company that is based in the UK alone. Tell them all the reasons why and make clear how pissed off you were on this day. Do you know if you were charged for the long distance call to India? In the meantime, start reasearching for a new insurance company while you await their sorry response.