OKay, have to reply to this one
Some good and some bad points made in this lengthy thread. I'll add mine, you can make up your mind whether it's good or bad
I hate call centres in general, because you normally get someone who is just reading through a script. The difference is the understanding of the other person in making the call more enjoying and satisfying for the customer, whether or not the end result is any better.
I have 2 examples here. One is from O2 (a mobile phone company in the UK) and the other is from Sky Digital (a satellite TV company in the UK).
I have had my fair share of issue with Skys customer service, but nothing that couldn't be discussed and some kind of resolution be found, because I was able to talk to the person and say "look, I'm not happy with the way this situation is being dealt with, I'd like to speak to a manager, or someone who has the authority to change this situation." Now, in the UK, that's cool, they will, if able, try their best to pass you to someone who can help. At one point Sky agreed to have my name put on the account holders list in order to allow me to deal with them instead of my wife. Great.
I recently had to call Sky again and got put through to a non-UK based call centre. Reading from a script is one thing, but repeating the question because you didn't understand the response is not acceptable. The conversation went something like this:
Sky: "Hello Sky digital, can I take your home telephone number?"
Me: "It's xxxxxxxxxxxxx" (and don't be smart and say that's why he didn't get it, because I said all xxxxs
)
Sky: "can you confirm your address and full name please"
Me: "address is.... and my name is Mr....."
Sky: "sorry Mr...... you are not a named account holder, I must speak with named account holder"
At this point you have to deviate from a script to provide good service
Me: "I was told by Mrs X from Sky care that my name was now on the account and I have had this verified. I should be allowed to discuss the account with you"
Sky: silence..... "Please can I speak to the account holder"
Me: "I am supposed to be the account holder, I have written confirmation that I was added"
Sky: "Please can I speak to the account holder"
eventually, they passed me though to someone in the UK, who amazingly, saw that I was on the list, had a laugh about it, then we moved on and got it dealt with. This kind of thing happens all the time with Sky. I was so angry with them I cancelled my account and now have a different provider.
Similar situation with O2. Not only are they useless on the phone, but can't read emails either. I sent support issues, explaining the problem very clearly, stating all the things I'd tried, the errors I was getting, all my account details etc.
I got the same response each time with either someone asking questions to all the things I'd just asked, or answering a different thing all together.
All the names at the ends of the emails were not UK based.
Yes you're right, you can get bad support anywhere, but the ability to hold a conversation with the customer is vital to making the support call as pleasant as possible.
I no longer use O2 or Sky, and aim to always stop buying from companies that use offshore call centres. Matter of principal.