R u comfortable with receiving customer service from Indian Call centres?
By Lovett
@Lovett (464)
India
October 20, 2007 8:28am CST
I m wrking for a UK call centre in India. Recently we had been given training on providing exceptional customer service to our customers. I love talking to my customers,not only providing them the service that they need, but also going that extra mile, n discovering an additional need that they did not know- Satisfaction! I have been so happy taking these calls, even though they can be stressful at tmies. I also get customers that ask me where I m from. After knowing that I m located at India, they just bluntly want to either hang up, or be transferred to a UK call centre. I m wanting to know What is it they dont like about us delivering them the customer service they require. I mean, to tell u te fact, the advisers at the UK call centre sometimes provide a worse customer service experience than us!I dont want to exaggerate, but this is what I have seen. But my point is WHy do people from the west, dont like customer service from Asia,particularly,India. I want to know what isit that disturbs you about us,,Y do you hate call centres in India??If u were here,in my company, u would have been shocked at the level of security we have, if Security was an issue,.We cannot even carry mobile phone or any other items of data storage on the floor of calls taking. We have to show our baggage to the securtiy every time we enter the bldg, causing end amounts of frustration everyday,,,Just for data protection. I mean we r trying our best, sometimes better than other companies in the develoed world, to Protect Confidential Data, yet we r turned down...I m not cribbing, but I want to know what is it that bothers you when you know that next time u call your bank, u might get an Indian on the call.?????
2 people like this
6 responses
@Altareaz (71)
• Philippines
20 Oct 07
Sad to say, a lot of US/UK customers who get an Indian Representatives usually complain that they can barely understand what the rep is saying and that they get hung up on deliberately when the agent becomes frustrated (this usually happens in techsupport, not just by Indians btw). I worked as a techsupport before and I keep hearing lots of stories regarding customers who got Indian Reps before they got our agents and they always complain that they can't understand the previous tech, that they got poor service or got hung up on and spend most of the time trying to understand what the REP is saying. It's not just in India that this happens, it's just that India has more Outsourcing companies than any other country and most of the reps are based there. This applies to customer service and tech support cases.
I just said this because you asked what bothers customers from getting an Indian on the line and this is what I gathered based on experience. v_v It must be real frustrating for you when the only thing you'd like is to provide great customer satisfaction but you're not given the chance just because you're from India. I feel for you. Keep up the good work and I hope everybody has the same passion for work as you do.
1 person likes this
@Lovett (464)
• India
23 Oct 07
I totally agree with u saying that most customers dont undrstand us,,with a few exceptions.I work for Barclays, N i love it here. I make sure the customer understands how we bank,,,obviously to make it easier for the customer in the end.There was this customer who came thru to me, saying that she could not understand the rep she spoke to earlier, and was thankful that I was from UK. She asked me if I was from Newcastle. I told her I was from India.Imagine her embarrassment.She was so sorry for her words, but I gave her a choice, either to speak to me, or i would transfer her to an Advisor in Uk, n she was fine with speaking to me.I was delighted to service her.N made sure she changes her prospective towards us ,when she calls us in future...We r definitely improving, with a few exceptions!
@Lovett (464)
• India
1 Nov 07
Thanks for your compliments. YEs, I do agree there r some people who just dont care wat they do, becoz they r anyways betting paid high for it.IT is this group of people that make it uncomfortable for customers when they get an Indian rep next time.But I wish this changes in the future. Well, one day I got a customer who asked me wher I was from, and as soon as I said that I was from India, She sadi she would call back. Now I knew she needed assisstance for something today,,by her voice.So I offered to transfer her to a Uk center.She agreed. N then I was tanig assisstance from an Expert dept in Uk for a difficult query of the customer, n then one of the experts said that the csutmoer whom I had transferred earlier had appreciated me a lot for my kindness..That really left me on cloud 9!We r supposed to tell customers to call again on the same no, as they might get a UK rep next time, as this is wat most advisors do to make customers feel a bit inconveinent. But I thought that wont be goood, n tried this way n it worked.So since then ,I always make sure I offer the custmoer to be transferred to Uk call centre.I really like people from Uk.They r very,very,very polite.Much much more than Indians....n much bettter than dealing with Indian custmoers!
@Altareaz (71)
• Philippines
24 Oct 07
when i started working and got customers saying the same things about India, I admit I started getting irritated. but good thing I met N Shivanand as a trainer. He's really smart and made me stop discriminating. It's not just Indians, it's people who work at call centers who only want the money and doesn't care about the quality of service they provide. Even here, I know some people who really don't care if they do a great job or not. So keep up the good work Lovette ^_^
@Ramsakha (205)
• India
20 Oct 07
No, I am not comfortable with the service provided by Indian call centers. There is no comfort but tension. Most of Indian service providers fail to provide good quality service. They do not understand the needs and expectations of their customers. To isolate themselves from their dissatisfied customers they have put call centers in between. It has added to dissatisfaction only.
You have a problem with you bank. You phone at the given number. It turns out to be the number of a call center. You explain your problem and the person at call centers tells you that I will receive information in three working days. I again phone after four days and now a new person is there. I have to explain everything again. This perso gives the same assurance. This goes on till you forget about the problem. This is one example.
Indian call centers are a curse to Indian consumers.
@Lovett (464)
• India
23 Oct 07
Well, I m sorry to hear that your experience!!Well, if u r with Barclays,,,I wanted to tl u that we have strict complaint procedures in place, n have improved the way we hanle complaints.Try it!, n see for yourelf. But i m sorry to know that if it is another bank,,they should have treated you as a valuable customer...You know to solve the problem of the language barrier,the recruiters should first test the person's capability of understaning the accent first, instead of just hiring people!Anyways,Hope we make you change your perspective towards us in the future..Thanks for your response!!
@reinydawn (11643)
• United States
20 Oct 07
The only problem I have is the language barrier. I do not call for help unless I have exhausted every other way to get help. If I still need help, I call the 800 number. Usually it's overseas, a lot of times India. Even though the English may be flawless (or very good at least) the heavy accent makes it harder to understand. Add this to the fact that I'm already frustrated before I get a live person on the phone and it's not a very good call. I know that the US companies are saving money by outsourcing the calls, which is supposed to be saving me money in the long run (but I don't see that either). I'm sure you all are doing your best, but it is very frustrating for me to take twice as long to solve a problem only because I can't understand what the person is saying to me.
@raychill (6525)
• United States
21 Oct 07
If it's someone calling me I hate them no matter where they are from. If I'm calling for customer service myself I don't care where they're from so long as they don't have some deep accent. I have a really hard time understanding a lot of middle eastern countries accents...they're just really thick and heavy and I can't understand a word they say to me. So I just hang up and call back, Hope I get someone better.
@violeta_va (4831)
• Australia
20 Oct 07
I have few reasons why I dont like when I get a call from a call centre in india or when I am conected to a call center in india. First of all I cant understand a word they are saying so I have to repeat my self 10 times, second of all they know nothing about Australia so how can they help me eg. I got a call about what programs I watch so she would say do you watch today tonight and I will say sorry is that on ch7 or ch9 I get them confused she would say I dont know and that was for all the shows that I asked so why would I waist time. the other thing is I am on the do not call list so they cant call me legaly but they do and when I point out this I get calls every 10 min (and this is just not me it happens a lot). few years ago I had to call the police because the guy (some mobile phone company) was saying that he would do this and that to me and my family just because he rang be 3 times in 15 min and I told him I was not interested and can he remove me from their list he told me to go F&%K my self. they (the people from call centers) tell me that the laws in australia cant reach them over there so why should I talk to them.
I am not saing that all are like this but I have had enough bad experience not to want to be involved any more.
@Lovett (464)
• India
23 Oct 07
I m very sorry to hear about the experience you had with the Indian call center.I really hate when there r these stupid advisors, which give us a bad name. Obviously, I can understand, that one bad experience, n we seem to generalise our opinions about the entire stuff.I mean its human to do that! Even I would have done the same thing had I been in your shoes...But I hope a good advisor,,,in future,if u happen to come across,,,changes your perspective about these services we offer!
@mattwilkie (278)
•
20 Oct 07
For me its the HSBC servicing.. Several years back i requested a loan over the phone which a Eastern call centre approved. It came to the end of the month ready for my flight to Florida, I went to the bank to withdraw my loan for my holiday (some of the money had already been used for a ticket). To find I was now overdrawn by thousands of pounds.
Why?? Because the call centre approved the loan and wasnt authorised to do so, it was a branch matter. Which left me with trying to get home on vapour in my car and having to go into the branch first thing in the morning to resolve. Is it we have a problem with the call centres in the East? Answer no. Customer service generally is terrible most companies offer poorest service possible lately. More seem to prefer wasting the customers time to the point they just give up and do something else. Do we have a problem with the jobs leaving the UK to go overseas, answer to that is definitly. Who causes it though? The government of the UK by overpriced taxation, and banks etc because they are profit related more care is taken for share holders than customers. The answer about data protection. There has been a lot in the media due to information being sold. There is a leak in the call centre industry somewhere it may not be at your level within a company could be an IT department etc as the quantities being stolen are huge. But personally I dont mind who you are or where your from as long as the service is good, Which regarding HSBC it never has been.
@Lovett (464)
• India
23 Oct 07
Hey, I m Sorry to know that you received bad customer service from HSBC. But seriously, have you tried Barclays?We have improved uor customer service considrably!I m with Barclays now since 1 1/2 year, n I have seen a lot of transormation. I dunno about the other call centers , but we have changed dramatically. I hope others are doing their best.To tel u the truth , about the data leaking, I mean atleast at my level,I can assure u there are so many strict procedures, believe me I never had so many even in College,(I studied at a very strict college,where bunking is alien,,lol ).i dunno about the other level IT i.e but I expect the same there...I mean whenever we give service to a customer ,we have been advised time n again to put ourselves in our customer's shoes...I hope we help u change your perspective about us in the future!
