You can block the majority of UK originated calls by registering here (at the bottom of the page) Unfortunately it does not cover offshore call centers but remember, just because the operators sounds foreign they might be only 5 miles down the road.

http://www.tpsonline.org.uk/tps/

It takes a couple of weeks to become effective but it does work. It also gives the number to contact if you get a lot of ‘silent calls’.

One thing to watch out for is the tiny little box you need to tick when filling out application forms etc. that prevents your personal information being sold on to third parties. On most forms if you leave this blank your are deemed to agree to having this done.
If you can’t find it ask someone to point out where it is and make sure you check it.

Oh and it’s not just your credit cards you need to worry about.
When your local hospital ‘looses your medical notes’ where do you think the majority of them get lost ?
And why does it take 4 to 5 days to clear a cheque in the UK ?
That’s the length of time it takes to fill two planes a week from Stansted to the far east for data entry processing.
Remember, all these people beavering away in distant lands are being paid a pittance for the speed (not accuracy) with which they deal with our most important details and information.
Scary isn’t it !

In 2003 I spent quite a while dressed as a pink elephant as part of the CWU campaign. :p

http://www.cwu.org/default.asp?Step=2&id=57

The overwhelming swell of public opinion was one of the same frustrations that rdc1000 has expressed i.e. not being able to communicate effectively with the person on the other end who is supposed to solve your problem, and a general feeling dispair that people (as customers of these companies) could do nothing about it.

Over several days out and about on our branch patch we only had one member of the public that complained, claiming quite wrongly, that this was a race issue.
It is worthy of note though that many ordinary people complained that in the ‘customer satisfaction’ surveys undertaken by these firms the questions are carefully structured is such a way that it is very difficult to express dissatisfaction with their service without ‘feeling’ that you are ‘sounding’ is if you are being racist in your comments.
The responder is therefore pushed gently towards a positive reply.
Result, apparently the majority of us are happy and the company has the figures to prove it.

At the bottom of the CWU page there is the following link.
http://www.bpoindia.org/companies/

If you explore the site a little you will see that these Indian firms are very cagey about who their clients really are.
The testimonials often say “Blah Blah Blah” Director, major UK clearing bank. “Blah Blah Blah” CEO, major US telecomms firm.
This makes it hard to research what sort of customer contact service you might be getting before choosing your bank, mobile company, buying your next computer etc.

Managers love statisitics so what does a companies contact manager see as the benefits ?
To a company that operates a call center as a contact point it is all about money i.e. the cost per 1000 calls handled.

Speed of answer: Much faster than home based contact points.
This is due to the unit cost of an employee being far lower offshore, the outscourcing company can afford to have far more operators on duty and remain below the the cost per 1000 calls target.

Duration of call: Considerably shorter than home based contact points.
This is usually due to people giving up and calling again because they either cannot make themselves understood or cannot understand the operator. This has the knock on effect of………

More calls handled: and still incredibly cheaply. The real cost is in the growing customer frustration and dissatisfaction with his employer. But he (and his boss) cant see that because…..
The carefully worded surveys, ususally also carried out by an outside agency, seem to show that we as customers are all very happy.

His speed is up, his calls are up, his costs are falling, the shareholders happy, his boss is happy. It all equals BONUS TIME !

Most UK and US firms that have sent the bulk of contact work abroad retain small units ‘at home’ to deal with customers who just cannot resolve issues via the preferred method, or to deal with call overflows when the offshore end is really busy.
If you are lucky enough to find yourself routed to one of these ‘home operators’ ask them what number to dial to make sure you get back to them ‘next time’. Most if not all will be only too happy to tell you.

Ok Folks,

Before we have a major melt down I suggest we all take a step back and take a deep breath.

As for who knows who has access to the Mod Forum I suggest we drop the whole thing.

RER

Bit late for that, the horse has bolted hasn’t it. Particularly considering the problems on these boards in the last few months the fact that there is obviously some sort of major loophole/backdoor/trust/security/admin/ failure issue is reprehensable
Whilst I am sure that the conversations within the mods forum make very interesting reading (and for some are probably WW3 material 😀 ) by it’s very nature this is where the most contentious issues i.e. the behaviour of the ordinary members, are freely discussed out of view and behind firmly closed doors, rather like the old staff room when we were kids at school.
It is quite rightly an ‘inner sanctum’ and by that definition SHOULD be the forum that is the most secure.

Not pointing fingers at anyone in particular but, no wonder there has been such nastyness and problems of late if ‘some’ of the main protagonsits have unfettered access to areas that they shouldn’t. It is now apparent that ‘some’ of them do and have exploited that issue, no wonder things get out of hand.

Plenty of contentious opinion here. http://forum.keypublishing.co.uk/showthread.php?t=42377&page=1&pp=30&highlight=xh558

The long and short is that the engineering feasabilty study has been completed, money has been allocated from the national lottery national heritage fund and the rebuild is about to start.
I think the general worry is that we may end up with an airworthy machine and no funding left to fly it once all the contractors have been paid. In truth the operating company TVOC have been (how shall I put it) slightly less than forthright in dispelling these feelings amongst the aviation enthusiast community.

You seemed to think it was to do with login names and passwords, well you couldn’t be more wrong.

Well in that case and in the Forum’s best (worst) tradition of “I know a secret and you don’t” I politely suggest you inform the webby.

I don’t want to know, I wasn’t asking, and even so as an ordinary member I shouldn’t be able to, with respect neither should you, If you can report it.

Talk about giving the fox the key to the chicken house……sheesh !

Whadda you mean you can “Still see it” ?

? 😡 ? 😡 ? 😡 ? 😡 ? 😡 ? 😡 ? 😡 ? 😡 ? 😡 ? 😡 ? 😡 ? 😡 ?

Rule One: never disclose your login name or password. Whoops ……………..so who cops it for that then ?

I can almost hear the wall of silence descending :rolleyes: