Is this racist?.or just a statement of fact?

[Zampa]

I spent 1.5 hours last night trying to sort out a problem with wanadoo broadband.

First customer 'adviser'...spent a third of the time asking him to repeat himself.....third of the time repeating myself and another third doing what he told me to sort the problem....(which was wrong!)

Rang again...This time a female...after numerous 'pardons' she put me on hold and then the line went dead....

Rang back asked to speak to a supervisor, only to be asked, "vi are huw bontin to spek to suppa visser?"

Then the clown assured me he could sort my problem....and spent best part of an hour getting it wrong...

In the end I demanded to speak to a 'suppa visser'....and got one...

Guess what......yeh hes grasp of the language wasnt to hot either!

Why...why why....do call centres insist on employing asians you cannot understand or communicate in conversational english????

I for one am sick to the back teeth of speaking to these people....

When I complained to Wanadoo the Numbnut on the other end of the phone said that I was racist and wasnt prepared to talk to me.

Racist?..ok fair enough

I spose the fact that I dont like wearing black clothes as well must make me a complete Neo Nazi!

What an absolute joke of a country we live in.

 

[andy]

i once had a problem with my net so phoned blueyonder. he took about 2 mins to understand username (4 letters, 5 numbers. not hard). after 10 mins he said it was the lead between modem and comp and to replace that. i told him it wasnt, since the modem isnt gettin signal from cable. hung up and phoned again. got thru to someone british. after a few mins and few tests he told me that the modem wasnt responding and there was a fault on the line and booked an engineer for the next day. few hours later every blueyonder service in the area went dead. so much for it bein a lead on my comp.

 

[johnny_t]

Zampa - If you want to avoid these problems in future, never ever ever get a phone from 3 or book a flight with eBookers. But especially the phone from 3........

 

[Slogger]

yeah we need to get our acts together and BOYCOTT these companys using call centres in foreign places t
they are making the profits here how about spending them here on uk citizens and giving us the service we paid for

barstewards every last one of them

put your mouth where your money is and support the uk YOU KNOW IT MAKES SENCE

 

[johnny_t]

I know someone who is a big cheese at a company called Ventura, who run quite a lot of call-centres and the employees at their Indian Call Centre are put through an 'accent neutralisation' programme and he swears that you can't tell the difference between their Indian Call Centres and their British one, so maybe you speak to a lot more and don't realise it.

The main problem though, accent troubles aside, is the poor scripts that all call centres are given to work to. You are generally going to be OK if your query is on their script, but if it is off-scipt, you've got no chance. And unfortunately, when preparing these scripts, none of these companies seem to have ever considered a possibility that involves them having made a mistake.

3 and eBookers would be terrible if they were in India or just round the corner....

 

[nstreet]

Why...why why....do call centres insist on employing asians you cannot understand or communicate in conversational english????

Because its far cheaper to set up a call centre in India or similar than the UK. We had to make an insurance claim the other week, damn call centre was in Belguim or France, same problem, the silly mare didn't quite grasp what I wanted. I think every thing is scripted, multiple choise type thing also, so if you ask something that isn't on their script they haven't got a clue.

I can't think of any compaines who do actually have call centres in the UK. Besides they have got your custom and money, so who gives a damn about customer service.

 

[Diyisfun]

I put jobs notices up in 'Job Centres', I state good communications required (thats allowed). People phone me up I ask a question along the lines of 'where do you live' (as we are looking for local employees), the replies are: pardon, what, I dont understand, they hang up, or I will pass you to somebody else.

 

[big-all]

i think the people in call centres do an exelent job you cant fault there cool under abuse[normaly]
there proper use of the english language is better than mine[i am scottish ]

the trouble comes when you try and communicate with all the pronounciation and dialect diffirences

its the morons who put profit before people that are to blame
if they done there homework and phoned a live call centre they would find out they are not all british educated where they knock the natural twangs out[i like natural twangs but not helpfull in a call centre!!!]

so where people learn there english with a german italian french indian or even an american twang it can be so so difficult to understand

i feel desperatly sorry for the peoplein the call centres there accents arnt their fault

 

[Zampa]

Interesting comments on this..to be honest I dont even know if Wanadoo use an overseas call centre....I have rung before and spoken to English people.

I have often considere asking for an Englis Speaker...but they will reply 'I do speak English'....(or rather 'I ham speekin engerlish langwich welly welly good')

I dont dare say 'can I speak to an white English person' they would hang up for sure....and I couild leave meself open to alosrts of claims of being a racist from the 'im not a racist therefore im better than you' brigade

I feel like saying 'I am exercising my right to speak to whoever I want'
the same as Asians etc can ask to speak to people in their own dialect.

Its no wonder Wanadoo customer services come so close to the bottom in poles.

 

[AdamW]

I have a 3 phone, the call centre is USELESS! It generally takes 3 or 4 identical calls until I get someone who understands the problem.

However, incompetence aside, I have a real problem with rudeness from their staff. I don't think they are intentionally being rude, but they are very short with you and get very stern and superior if you interrupt them. Perhaps they are Brahmin or something and aren't used to being interrupted by scum like me.

I like Welsh call centres. I've had them with my insurance company and with Sony... there is nothing like having a soft Welsh accent purring back at you, very calming!

I have read that people find a soft, female Scottish accent more trustworthy. So, if Big-All becomes Big-Alison then he'll be soond as a poond!

 

[Slogger]

i think the people in call centres do an exelent job you cant fault there cool under abuse[normaly]
there proper use of the english language is better than mine[i am scottish ]

the trouble comes when you try and communicate with all the pronounciation and dialect diffirences

its the morons who put profit before people that are to blame
if they done there homework and phoned a live call centre they would find out they are not all british educated where they knock the natural twangs out[i like natural twangs but not helpfull in a call centre!!!]

so where people learn there english with a german italian french indian or even an american twang it can be so so difficult to understand

i feel desperatly sorry for the peoplein the call centres there accents arnt their fault

of course its there fault ?? i dont want to here someong bling blinging on to me i want to speak to someone in the uk

the companys that use these obnoxious call centres need shaming

time to put it right MADE IN ENGLAND used to mean something

 

[kevplumb]

try sorting your elec bill with n power 15 calls 5 hours on hold
suddenly get somebody that understands me job sorted in 20 sec

 

[big-all]

i think the people in call centres do an exelent job you cant fault there cool under abuse[normaly]
there proper use of the english language is better than mine[i am scottish ]

the trouble comes when you try and communicate with all the pronounciation and dialect diffirences

its the morons who put profit before people that are to blame
if they done there homework and phoned a live call centre they would find out they are not all british educated where they knock the natural twangs out[i like natural twangs but not helpfull in a call centre!!!]

so where people learn there english with a german italian french indian or even an american twang it can be so so difficult to understand

i feel desperatly sorry for the peoplein the call centres there accents arnt their fault

of course its there fault ?? i dont want to here someong bling blinging on to me i want to speak to someone in the uk

the companys that use these obnoxious call centres need shaming

time to put it right MADE IN ENGLAND used to mean something

you cant blame the people that work in the call centre

its either the managment for making unreasonable claims about there workers ability to comunicate with people in britain in a satisfactory way

or the british companys for not doing there homework properly
or putting proffits first

 

[AdamW]

Shops use "mystery shoppers" to check the service of their supermarkets out. Surely it is no big deal for the companies to set up a couple of fake accounts and have "mystery customers" ring in with problems?

 

[johnny_t]

Slightly off-subject, but I used to travel around the country a fair bit and would often go to shopping centres to use the 'facilities'. I came to the opinion that they should employ 'mystery pooers' or at least force the managers to go once a day, to weed out problems like over-size toilet roll not being able to turn on its spindle......

Anyway, back to call centres - Eventually Indians will get too up themselves to work in call centres, it'll pass on to Malaysia, maybe Pakistan, and sooner or later it'll come back to us and some bored operative in Ashby-de-la-Zouch will be telling someone in Delhi the train times whilst they complain that they can't understand a word they're saying.....