here’s my 5 cents worth

I’m a part timer in a 24 hr call centre in the UK. I sometimes have to deal with Indian call centres for UK insurance companies. The call centre that i work at, works for a very large number of companies who deal with vehicle insurance and vehicle breakdowns, some of which are the largest insurance companies in the UK – think ships, a white something, and a precious jewel, as well as many other very big vehicle breakdown service, and vehicle warranty service providers – we run the acutal brekadown service of behalf of these companies.

I can say with some confidence that this call centre is quite safe, and will not be moving to india. This is becuase, (and we are a call centre that answers calls, not one that makes those annoying advertising calls – want some windows?) the job requires knowledge of the country – specifically geographical knowledge – we answer calls to people who have broken down in their vehicles and we send out a recovery operator to assist clients – its not the AA or RAC, btw. I believe (like passengers wanting real pilots at the front, not computers), people who have broken down in the UK and are distressed as a result, will want to speak to a british person in the UK, and not someone 8000 miles away, or however far it is.

On the language side, iIfind that indian call centre staff are ok in what they do, but sometimes understanding each other becomes a slight problem. Over all, the worst problem with language and being able to understand the person on the other end, comes not from indian call centre staff, but from british people who can’t talk properly, or (without being racist) non-white British people who have a distinct asian accent. When I come accross someone with this accent, its harder to understand them than it is to understand indian people working in the call centre.

Also, i have to occasionally speak to people in one of the continental EU countries, which i think is the Netherlands, who are not english born. yet, they speak English wonderfully, and again, without being racist, much better than some British or British Asians.

i work in a relatively small call centre – stereotypically i think people believe, and in most cases quite rightly, that call centres are vast noisy places with hundreds and hundreds of desks, all with ringing telephones to go with them. It maybe, i think, be in these sorts of places that customer service is not up to scratch becuase the call centre is harder for the supervisors to control.

In the centre that i work in, we work for about 75 companies, (not just breakdown and vehicle insurance companies) and recieve about 7000 calls a week, yet there are just 20 desks. As a result, its more a controllable team, with a group of very good supervisors, who can provide the best of service. as a result of being relatively small, its cheaper to run than the big ones. The company that i work for is also runs its own vehicle breakdown policy service – we are not just a call centre operating for other companies.

Ok, economically, its cheaper to relocate some call centres to india, but i can safely say that some will remain.