I've just spent 24 minutes on an 0871 number to Tiscali customer services. All I had a was a really bloody simple question: Are USA Toll Free numbers included in the Free USA International Call deal? I get Free calls to America up to an hour with my deal but it just says Landline or Mobile. It doesn't mention Toll Free.
So I called Customer Services and they literally didn't know the answer, after being on the line in total for 15 minutes (including waiting) which thankfully was a UK department. So they put me through to their Tech Support team who're based in bloody India and could she bloody understand me? Could she buggery.
All she kept saying was "It includes all phone calls to America". I asked for clarification if that included Toll Free numbers and she didn't seem to bloody understand that, just repeating that "all phone calls to America are Free". I'm going to presume it doesn't, as it only says "Landline and Mobile" on the website.
Grr. South Asian phone centres! I am probably one of the most patient people when it comes to speaking to people with thick accents and really have no problem with it per say but when you have a "technical" problem it really pisses me off we cannot understand each other.
I just said Thank you and quickly hung up. So after 24 minutes on the phone I still don't actually know the answer to my original stupidly simple question. How can customer care not bloody know?
Thankfully I rarley have to call them being technically minded myself. My Mum had an e-mail problem awhile back I KNEW was a problem at THEIR end. I called them to try and let them know and all the idiot wanted to do was get me to delete the cookies and Internet Cache. E-mail doesn't even sodding use Cookies or Internet Cache! I ended up sayng bye and hanging up.
It also really pisses me off having to call an 0871 number to call my PHONE company. I am calling them because they haven't done something correctly (it being a problem or not displaying info on their website. I spent ages looking and going round in circles). It should ALWAYS be free to call the phone company. I am being charged by them to call them!
I first tried an 0800 number but of course that was the wrong department. The Customer Care team even put me on hold twice to look in their documentation (probably the same usless PDFs I was looking at online) and his manager. Useless!
They only offer 0800 numbers for Sales, unsurprisingly. I tried asking the Sales person the question first (it's a really simple question) but they didn't know forcing me to call 0871 Customer Care. Thankfully I rarely have to call them. It's not like you can e-mail them as it's unlikely they'll reply.
I wish I hadn't bothered trying to find out and will just use:
http://www.planettalkinstant.com/
Which charge 2p a minute to call America.
:shock:
Useless Call Centres get on my bloody nerves!
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bradavon
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gasteropod
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EvaUnit02
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gasteropod
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It was basically a light-hearted look at it all from the call centres' point of view, and paid close attention to one in particular (I can't remember which company it was for though) which really put a lot of effort into customer service, and all of their staff were treated really well and just all had loads of fun at work.
It also showed how companies are starting to train call-centre staff in South Africa because they believe their accents are easier to understand than Indians, and that it's like the cheapest place for the labour as well.
It also showed how companies are starting to train call-centre staff in South Africa because they believe their accents are easier to understand than Indians, and that it's like the cheapest place for the labour as well.
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bradavon
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Interesting.
Many call centres in South Asia cannot even understand our accents. I live in the South West which probably has one of the least strong accents in the whole of the UK.
Many call centres in South Asia cannot even understand our accents. I live in the South West which probably has one of the least strong accents in the whole of the UK.
Last edited by bradavon on 31 Mar 2008, 12:45, edited 1 time in total.
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EvaUnit02
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bradavon
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Re: Useless Call Centres get on my bloody nerves!
Why do T-Mobile employ chimps on customer services? "How many texts have I sent this month?". Answer = "None, it says None". None! Honestly.