After several futile attempts to speak to my local bank via various call centres in different parts of the world, it suddenly occurred to me that one way that banks could help repay the massive loans that we the taxpayer have made available to them would be to re-establish UK call centres and thereby provide extra jobs for UK workers.
I know that my bank (HSBC) weren't bailed out by Gordon Brown, but I am sure that everyone would agree that return of UK call centres would have many advantages.
Like the idea of a levy, the cost will just be passed on to us. What Gordon Brown should have done and what Cameron should now do is introduce legislation that prevents them ever being rescued again other than by privatisation for a nominal sum. I wish the government would underwrite my businesses and I'm sure you would as well.
But it would be nice to have call centres back here and all of the banks and shareholders accept a little less profit.
I'd agree to a point, but UK call centres are only going to be any good if the staff in them are good at their jobs. I used to work at a large insurance company, and their call centres were staffed overwhelmingly by students and those looking for a few weeks work here and there. This resulted in the staff not caring about whether they give good service or not, as they probably wouldn't be around long enough for any complaints to get back to them.
I'd agree to a point, but UK call centres are only going to be any good if the staff in them are good at their jobs. I used to work at a large insurance company, and their call centres were staffed overwhelmingly by students and those looking for a few weeks work here and there. This resulted in the staff not caring about whether they give good service or not, as they probably wouldn't be around long enough for any complaints to get back to them.
As opposed to Indian call centres who have graduates working in them.
Like or not we live in a global economy which multi-national companies like HSBC will always seek to exploit for their own profit.
As opposed to Indian call centres who have graduates working in them.
Like or not we live in a global economy which multi-national companies like HSBC will always seek to exploit for their own profit.
That's business.
That's right. However, as I understand it, the call centre market in India is becoming saturated; not enough graduates, so costs are going up. That means some UK firms are moving call centres to......South Africa!
That's right. However, as I understand it, the call centre market in India is becoming saturated; not enough graduates, so costs are going up. That means some UK firms are moving call centres to......South Africa!
Vodafone are planning to more a couple of their UK based call centres to Egypt.
Just as the local businessman seeks to exploit the people of Newbury for his own gain (and there's nothing wrong with that under a capitalist system) global companies do so with the world.
Just as the local businessman seeks to exploit the people of Newbury for his own gain (and there's nothing wrong with that under a capitalist system).
...but clearly you think it wrong under a user23.3 system. The problem as I see it is the consumer, rather than the business. Companies like Vodafone, et al, do as they do because the consumer allows it.
At least these places currently have a high-street presence so there is someone to go an speak to. If you are ever considering a service provider, it is worth phoning their support team to see if they have local support or not.
...but clearly you think it wrong under a user23.3 system. The problem as I see it is the consumer, rather than the business. Companies like Vodafone, et al, do as they do because the consumer allows it.
At least these places currently have a high-street presence so there is someone to go an speak to. If you are ever considering a service provider, it is worth phoning their support team to see if they have local support or not.
I haven't said it's wrong, just explained how it is.
Yes you're right, if the consumer voted with their feet and moved supplier then the business would soon listen. I think the truth is that people don't really mind foreign call centres if it keeps their phone bills or bank charges low how ever much they moan about it or they'd move to a more expensive supplier of the service with UK call centres.
Let's put this to the test though. BrianB are you going to move your bank account because of your experience with HSBC?
I haven't said it's wrong, just explained how it is.
Yes you're right, if the consumer voted with their feet and moved supplier then the business would soon listen. I think the truth is that people don't really mind foreign call centres if it keeps their phone bills or bank charges low how ever much they moan about it or they'd move to a more expensive supplier of the service with UK call centres.
Let's put this to the test though. BrianB are you going to move your bank account because of your experience with HSBC?
If you have a substantial amount of money in the bank, HSBC for instance, there is no problem dealing with the local bank as they allocate personal advisors to you who are local and they also give you the advisors direct line. If you are trying to work with 50 quid in the account then I'm afraid it's the call centre for you to keep their costs reasonable for the amount of your capital they are looking after.
If you have a substantial amount of money in the bank, HSBC for instance, there is no problem dealing with the local bank as they allocate personal advisors to you who are local and they also give you the advisors direct line. If you are trying to work with 50 quid in the account then I'm afraid it's the call centre for you to keep their costs reasonable for the amount of your capital they are looking after.
Isn't this the same with any business, the more you spend the better service you get?
Take Newbury's butcher, Griffins for example. I pop in there for a pie and some sausages regularly and always get great service without fail however if I worked in the catering business and spent £1,000 a week with them I would guess they'd be kind enough to drop my purchases round to my business. If I asked them to drop a pie and some sausages round to my house they'd quite reasonably tell me no.
If you have a substantial amount of money in the bank, HSBC for instance, there is no problem dealing with the local bank as they allocate personal advisors to you who are local and they also give you the advisors direct line. If you are trying to work with 50 quid in the account then I'm afraid it's the call centre for you to keep their costs reasonable for the amount of your capital they are looking after.
I use the big building society in Northbrook Street, good service, I can ask the advisors in branch or telephone and they all speak good english. No substantial amount of money, but I do wish. Same with BT, always get good service and I can understand the call centre operators.
Same with BT, always get good service and I can understand the call centre operators.
You can eventually get a result out of BT but don't attempt to try to take them off script. My recent broadband speed complaint took two hours to get anywhere near an answer and then it didn't get resolved until next day as they needed to get a cap taken off. I had difficulty understanding the advisor and the big stumbling block was that I have an ADSL socket and don't need those filter things. This was not part of the script and we kept going back to the same question because she didn't recognise my BT socket and therefore my not having filters, time after time. It is halfway fixed in that I can now get 6mbits after upgrading from the 'up to 8mbits unlimited package' to 'up to 20mbits unlimited'. I had dropped to 560kbits.
You can eventually get a result out of BT but don't attempt to try to take them off script. My recent broadband speed complaint took two hours to get anywhere near an answer and then it didn't get resolved until next day as they needed to get a cap taken off. I had difficulty understanding the advisor and the big stumbling block was that I have an ADSL socket and don't need those filter things. This was not part of the script and we kept going back to the same question because she didn't recognise my BT socket and therefore my not having filters, time after time. It is halfway fixed in that I can now get 6mbits after upgrading from the 'up to 8mbits unlimited package' to 'up to 20mbits unlimited'. I had dropped to 560kbits.
Hope you manage to get it fixed Brian, realy irritating at low speed. I have BT for Broadband, TV and phone and really rate them - mind you my last provider was AOL so I would be impressed with anybody.
Hope you manage to get it fixed Brian, realy irritating at low speed. I have BT for Broadband, TV and phone and really rate them - mind you my last provider was AOL so I would be impressed with anybody.
It really wasn't a complicated problem, I suspect somone had turned a knob the wrong way at the exchange, the difficulty was getting them to understand my problem. I have been with BT personally for years and wouldn't consider changing. I do rate them but sometimes it's like pulling teeth and often if you ask the right questions and put a bit of pressure on you can get some well crafted deals at below book price.
It really wasn't a complicated problem, I suspect somone had turned a knob the wrong way at the exchange, the difficulty was getting them to understand my problem. I have been with BT personally for years and wouldn't consider changing. I do rate them but sometimes it's like pulling teeth and often if you ask the right questions and put a bit of pressure on you can get some well crafted deals at below book price.
Unless you choose to opt out (You have to read the small print) and you have taken BT Total Broadband since March 2009 then you could be sharing your bandwidth with up to 13 other users. These are the free Wi Fi minutes that you are offered when you subscribe to BT. BT now have a fantastic network of hotspots thanks to the generosity of their unsuspecting customers who are allowing Jo Public to access the Internet via their Home Hub.
I wander what the implication will be for those HomeHub users when the government start arbitrarily disconnecting people for file sharing. And not just from the hotspot feature. It takes a netbook about 10mins the crack the encryption on the average HomeHub. Once the generous owners of hostspots and unsecured networks called 'netgear' have been taken down HomeHubs will be the next logical target.
My own ISP, which is not one of the well known ones. I am with for their awesome service and UK based call centres manned by people who actually understand the technology.
Brian if you are struggling with signal problems... There is a fair chance that your filter may actually be part of the problem, as every component in the line has the potential to introduce noise. To test it you can remove the BT sockets front service panel and plug the router straight into the Internal test socket inside. (Remember to disconnect all other lines in the house first). If that helps you can buy whats known as a filtered faceplate, which is like what was mentioned above where you don't need a filter. They allow for much cleaner connections
Brian if you are struggling with signal problems... There is a fair chance that your filter may actually be part of the problem, as every component in the line has the potential to introduce noise. To test it you can remove the BT sockets front service panel and plug the router straight into the Internal test socket inside. (Remember to disconnect all other lines in the house first). If that helps you can buy whats known as a filtered faceplate, which is like what was mentioned above where you don't need a filter. They allow for much cleaner connections
If you have this type of faceplate and you remove it then theoretically you have disconnected all other lines in the house. this does not take into account the clever person who may have teed your upstairs extension to the BT block on the outside wall. The "filtered faceplate" just incorporates an identical filter albeit at the point of entry to your premises. Doesn't help if your computer is upstairs unless you want to run an RJ11 lead from the filtered outlet.
What Moony is saying is correct, but in many cases does not work in practice. Also there are hundreds of thousands of customers without this type of faceplate.
I agree, running an RJ11 through the house is quite a bad thing to try. It would potentially introduce a lot of noise. Ideally for best results, you would connect the router to the master socket with less than a foot of RJ11 STP. Then run RJ45 up the stairs instead.
I know its a lot of work for little effect. I'm not disagreeing with you BrianB. But if somebody is really struggling with getting a decent sync, it can in some cases all add up to enough of a difference for an extra mb or 2
Brian if you are struggling with signal problems... There is a fair chance that your filter may actually be part of the problem, as every component in the line has the potential to introduce noise. To test it you can remove the BT sockets front service panel and plug the router straight into the Internal test socket inside. (Remember to disconnect all other lines in the house first). If that helps you can buy whats known as a filtered faceplate, which is like what was mentioned above where you don't need a filter. They allow for much cleaner connections
When a couple of years ago, I had problems with my broadband, the suggested result was that I pay a lot of money for a BT engineer to visit and assess my system. I was having none of that so I wrote to the chairman of BT and as a result, a senior BT person was allocated to resolve my problems. The upshot was that, for free, an engineer from BT wholesale turned up, checked in my house all my BT connections and decided that the option was to install a BT master socket called an ADSL V10 socket. This provided an ADSL linked cable to my router which has been upgraded free twice including a free BT phone with it. The PC is connected to the router with an ethernet cable and I also use the wireless connection with a portable PC. The exchange at that time could only run 4mbits and when my copper connection between me and the exchange was rerouted, I got my 4mbits. I now get 6mbits with the latest upgrade under normal circumstances and that speed doesn't normally drop when the kids get out of school. The bonus is that my system in the house runs without the dongle things that usually go in BT extension sockets.
It all works and if you push the right buttons, BT are the tops. I just wish that the Indian help desk had my sytem in their script.
Once a few years back when I was foolish enough to sign with Tiscali and was having issues with heavy UDP packet loss. I was trying to talk to somebody who could not grasp that windows was not the only Operating system. Not having a 'start' button was not in his script and after much arguing over just asking what he was wanting mandi to do, rather than just give 'click here then there' instructions he simple stated...
"I'm sorry ma'am. But The Linux does not support The Internet" (Then he hung up)
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