Offshore Service Call Centres

[CaptainYooh]

I've spent the last 53 minutes on a call with Direct Energy Customer Service Centre to get an account closed for the property that I own and get a refund sent or credited back. This was my third call to them in three weeks and it has been nothing but torture. DE Call Centre is somewhere in SE Asia. Reps are very polite usually but often not too helpful. They are difficult to understand and not empowered by the their employer to resolve any issues without "speaking to my supervisor and investigating further". This system is not really working to service customers. Save costs, yes, but that's it. I have similar experiences with Air Canada CSD (try to find an item left in Vancouver airport through a service rep in India!).

I fully understand the concept of outsourcing when it makes production of goods and services more efficient and/or less costly. However; in case of overseas call centres, the quality of production (i.e. customer service) is significantly lower and less efficient. How does this kind of outsourcing benefit the Canadian economy exactly?

[Barbecue]

it benefits the company in cost cutting measures, i dont know why you've lead to believe they're trying to benefit the Canadian economy

[CaptainYooh]

OK, substitute "economy" for "consumer". How does it benefit Canadian consumers? Overseas Call Centres are usually set by large organizations that enjoy a monopolistic or quasi-monopolistic status (utilities, airlines etc.). When consumer choice is limited, consumer interests should be protected by the appropriate Government oversight and, if there is sufficient evidence of these interests not being served well, an appropriate action should be taken, I think.

[Nage Waza]

Try this:

http://www.ucahelps.alberta.ca/

[RougeUnderoos]

Originally Posted by CaptainYooh

OK, substitute "economy" for "consumer". How does it benefit Canadian consumers? Overseas Call Centres are usually set by large organizations that enjoy a monopolistic or quasi-monopolistic status (utilities, airlines etc.). When consumer choice is limited, consumer interests should be protected by the appropriate Government oversight and, if there is sufficient evidence of these interests not being served well, an appropriate action should be taken, I think.

It benefits the company in cost cutting measures, I don't know why you've lead to believe they're trying to benefit consumers.

Outfits like Direct Energy and telcoms make dealing with them as annoying, time-consuming, and frustrating as possible, in an attempt (usually successful, in my case) to get us to just throw our hands in the air and hang up, instead of wading through their garbage.

They are bad human beings.

[Regular_John]

If you find yourself making multiple calls for the same issue just start ignoring the phone tree "pick an option" items and just keep pounding zero until you get an error and added to the que immediately.

It doesn't actually put you that much further ahead, but there is something satisfying about "beating" that part of the system.

[Northendzone]

Personally I am pretty sure that the only thing DE cares about is signing you up.....

[I-Hate-Hulse]

For those people looking for new Credit Cards after the Costco change over - Capital One is like this. Called in after activating to *lower* my credit limit and was told that they would file a request but not actually lower it themselves. Was deliberately vague in terms of how he replied to my request.

Never had that with any other Bank's cards...

[ken0042]

Originally Posted by jaydorn

If you find yourself making multiple calls for the same issue just start ignoring the phone tree "pick an option" items and just keep pounding zero until you get an error and added to the que immediately.

It doesn't actually put you that much further ahead, but there is something satisfying about "beating" that part of the system.

I will often select 2 for French, and then make no effort at all to mask my English accent. I usually don't need to get more than a sentence out before they switch to English. And the reps in Quebec often have a better grasp of the English language than many others I have spoken to; and they also often understand what you are talking about as they deal with the same industries.

That being said, I'll say that sounds like another reason for me to stick with Enmax. Never had a problem with them; even with my last move where I thought I was going to complicate things by having both houses for an overlapping period.

[MrMastodonFarm]

Originally Posted by ken0042

I will often select 2 for French, and then make no effort at all to mask my English accent. I usually don't need to get more than a sentence out before they switch to English.

You're just making my next trip to Montreal difficult, Ken.

[CaptainYooh]

Originally Posted by ken0042

I will often select 2 for French, and then make no effort at all to mask my English accent. ...

Never thought of that. Might try.

[HelloHockeyFans]

It can benefit the Canadian consumer when these savings are re-invested back into the company properly to be spent on network upgrades in th case of Telcos, which customers experience or more costly NA people for more senior strategy roles, etc, which improve services / offerings in the long run.

Whether they do it or not though varies from company to company...

[PsYcNeT]

The vast majority of modern call centres have online support available as well, and this sort of stuff can usually be done with live chat/email, rather than sitting on hold for upwards of an hour.

[Flamenspiel]

Originally Posted by I-Hate-Hulse

For those people looking for new Credit Cards after the Costco change over - Capital One is like this. Called in after activating to *lower* my credit limit and was told that they would file a request but not actually lower it themselves. Was deliberately vague in terms of how he replied to my request.

Never had that with any other Bank's cards...

Was that an overseas call desk? That would be a concern to me for a credit card company.

[wooohooo]

More companies should employ the call back feature shaw has. Instead of me waiting by my phone for an hour they'll call you when they can. Works awesome. Would be nice to see more call centres like this

[combustiblefuel]

Originally Posted by wooohooo

More companies should employ the call back feature shaw has. Instead of me waiting by my phone for an hour they'll call you when they can. Works awesome. Would be nice to see more call centres like this

That's the difference between outsourced centers and one in Canada. The only offshore center shaw has is in India for sales calls only.

[DownhillGoat]

Originally Posted by wooohooo

More companies should employ the call back feature shaw has. Instead of me waiting by my phone for an hour they'll call you when they can. Works awesome. Would be nice to see more call centres like this

That service would be great if it worked. I'm still waiting for a call from last monday.

[wooohooo]

That sucks... I've never had a problem with them and they also have online support as well. Although I'd have to rate shaw as one of the top companies for customer service

[Locke]

Originally Posted by wooohooo

More companies should employ the call back feature shaw has. Instead of me waiting by my phone for an hour they'll call you when they can. Works awesome. Would be nice to see more call centres like this

Yeah right. It took me 3 tries to get that nonsense to work.

"It rang once and he didnt answer, he can go to hell!"

[CaptainYooh]

Originally Posted by kunkstyle

That service would be great if it worked. I'm still waiting for a call from last monday.

Same here. The "supervisor", which is usually a person that speaks English a little better than the normal rep, promised to call me within 24 hours. This was on Monday. Still waiting... There's got to be a way to make these companies more accountable for poor service!