Just want to rant about the majority of advisers at call centres round the country and how these days you just cant talk to these people. They sound like they are reading their responses from a book which is probably what most are doing.if you are asking for help with an outstanding debt you have their options not yours. They are not human any more unable to empathise so they may as well get rid of the advisers and make it automated like everything else. You know keep it simple. Press 1 if you owe us money press 2 if u want to make payment in full press 3 if u cant make a payment. If u cant make payment tough we don't want to know see you in court.

Their are lots of things you can do to fustrate them and make them be more reasonable, it might seem all one way, that's superficial. They are just mirroring all the people they have dealt with previously, be unusal, catch them out etc.

Press 1 if you owe us money press 2 if u want to make payment in full press 3 if u cant make a payment.

You missed one, Press 4 if you want to talk English.

Haha you guys just made me giggle n yes i have tried the tactic of being really really really nice and all that but 9 times out of 10 they say something patronising or really illogical that makes me turn into the devil woman lol .

Also yes i agree with you on the english issue and i don't want anyone jumping to conclusions thinking i am racist because i am not. What i mean is that if you work in a call centre or any job that involves communicating over the telephone you should be able to speak clear good english and that means if you are welsh, scottish, scouse,geordie, irish, yorkshire, whatever if you have a strong accent then dont be suprised when people dont understand a word you are saying.

only last week i got a lovely man with a geordie accent and i couldn' t understand him in the end he asked if i wanted to speak to someone else someone english and i said yes because we were getting nowhere fast lol

These phone systems were invented by the same person that invented recurrson.

I like it when their automatic machine starts trying to leave a message when our answer machine is saying "Leave a message after the tone". All we get then is the tail end of their message, usually it is just "press 4"

I totally loath going through the press 1, press 2 etc & to then go through it once again & then again, so by time you are actually going to speak to a human being, you are ready to scream BUT just as think your seconds away from doing so, you then get another recorded message that says;

"I'm sorry all our advisors are busy, please call again"

Then the call is ended & your left sat there listening to a dial tone!! Argggggggg

The other kind I truly hate though, is the kind where you have to respond verbally to an automated voice that asks you questions.

I had to ring HMRC Tax Credits yesterday as I received a letter stating my CTC were stopped as I had not completed my Renewal in time. (When I had in fact spoken to HMRC several times!!)

Anyways I duly ring them & got this automated voice asking questions & giving responses like "make a payment, tax credits renewal etc etc" & none of the responses were what I required. The voice kept stating the same things over & over & when ever I tried to word what I needed the poxy voice would then say "sorry not recognised" & then repeat itself all over again..

In the end I got so frustrated I was literally shouting at the phone, lol. Once I finally made it past the annoying voice I had to wait 47 minutes before I finally got to talk to a human being!! Argggggggg...

Why can't we just go back to having people that answer the phones!!

I totally loath going through the press 1, press 2 etc & to then go through it once again & then again, so by time you are actually going to speak to a human being, you are ready to scream BUT just as think your seconds away from doing so, you then get another recorded message that says;

 

"I'm sorry all our advisors are busy, please call again"

 

Then the call is ended & your left sat there listening to a dial tone!! Argggggggg

 

The other kind I truly hate though, is the kind where you have to respond verbally to an automated voice that asks you questions.

 

I had to ring HMRC Tax Credits yesterday as I received a letter stating my CTC were stopped as I had not completed my Renewal in time. (When I had in fact spoken to HMRC several times!!)

 

Anyways I duly ring them & got this automated voice asking questions & giving responses like "make a payment, tax credits renewal etc etc" & none of the responses were what I required. The voice kept stating the same things over & over & when ever I tried to word what I needed the poxy voice would then say "sorry not recognised" & then repeat itself all over again..

 

In the end I got so frustrated I was literally shouting at the phone, lol. Once I finally made it past the annoying voice I had to wait 47 minutes before I finally got to talk to a human being!! Argggggggg...

 

Why can't we just go back to having people that answer the phones!!

Think how many people are employed in a call centre during a shift. Think how long each employee has to answer a call. Now think how many customers that company has that require the same level of service you are after. Now consider the extra cost that the company would incur for hiring more staff or having them be in place of the automated system. The cost that would be passed to you. THATS why automated systems exist.

Unless you bank with First Direct of course. Yes, you sometimes have to wait in a queue, but never once have I had to press a button or talk to a machine.

Think how many people are employed in a call centre during a shift. Think how long each employee has to answer a call. Now think how many customers that company has that require the same level of service you are after. Now consider the extra cost that the company would incur for hiring more staff or having them be in place of the automated system. The cost that would be passed to you. THATS why automated systems exist.

Thanks Renegadeimp,

I get what your saying & with respect, thats not my problem. Surely if a company is taking sheer numbers of calls each day then that proves there's a demand for the service. So why not employ more staff?

Esp when it's an 0845 number, the cost implications per call can be & are horrendous!

Some of these automated systems take you through list after list & woe betide if you hit the wrong number or give the wrong response.. As you have to start all over again....

I personally am on lots of various medications & once I've had my morning pills I can sound like a blithering idiot & I absolutely hate having to go up against an automated system esp the verbal response ones, as I end up so frustrated! Lol...

Thanks Renegadeimp,

 

I get what your saying & with respect, thats not my problem. Surely if a company is taking sheer numbers of calls each day then that proves there's a demand for the service. So why not employ more staff?

 

Esp when it's an 0845 number, the cost implications per call can be & are horrendous!

 

Some of these automated systems take you through list after list & woe betide if you hit the wrong number or give the wrong response.. As you have to start all over again....

 

I personally am on lots of various medications & once I've had my morning pills I can sound like a blithering idiot & I absolutely hate having to go up against an automated system esp the verbal response ones, as I end up so frustrated! Lol...

I didnt say it was your problem. I stated the reason behind it. Costs. Any cost involved with running a company is ALWAYS passed on to the customer.

I May sound like an old grump but I think that technology is to blame and companies thinking they could save money by opening these call centres and to save even more money by opening them in other countries were people work for less wages like in india have really back fired on them. I know for a fact from experience workinv in a BT call centre that the advisors dont get trained properly. I got two weeks training and a manual to look things up and you were expected to find your own answers not ask the team leader every five minutes also you had targets to reach so you were supposed to answer the call correctly and efficiently and enter all info on computer as you spoke to the customer (paperless office) no pens nightmare! so the next advisor could see the history. But it never worked that way. I woild get so frustrated at other advisors either fobbing people off or cutting them off becauae they didnt know the answers. Then i would get the customer screaming at me and me having to waste time trying to calm them taking all the details again because the previous advisor had not logged the conversation therefore and you had no idea which advisor they had spoken to sort their problem. All this was just frustrating and annoying for the customer and the same for the advisors who did try to help the customers.The worst part was that advisors like me and a few others were the exception to the rule. (Not everyone took the BT provisioning manual home with them for a bit of bedtime reading lol!)But you didnt get any thanks for it all they were bothered about was the speed in which you dealt with the call. NOT how well you dealt with the customers problem. I don't know if things have changed that was a few years ago now but to be honest from what i have experienced i dont think they have in fact i think its got worse. I dont think advisors are encouraged to use their own initiative anymore it feels like they just rely on the manual these days and read the answer from the book, i am saying that because how many times do you get an advisor repeating themselves word for word over and over again?Then in frustration you just agree and put the phone down then try again tomorrow hoping u get someone more helpful. You cant speak to a supervisor anymore they reckon they dont have them. Ypu get the team leader if your lucky however he or she is always busy and you get the cocky advisor telling you it will make no difference speaking to them because they will only say the same thing. Is there any wonder nobody smiles at anyone in the street any more and everyone is so bad tempered its because the problem is not just in the call centres but every were you go these days employees are so inefficient and most couldn't care less. Years ago problems got sorted out quickly and politely these days the whole country is in a mess? Sorry that was a bit long

Could do with a bit of formatting in there 69 to make it more readable.

Cher69 yes, my experience of call centre work (O2) was much like yours. The training was poor, systems inadequate and the targets absurd and unmeetable. It seemed of only marginal importance whether or not you sorted a customer's problems - as long as they didn't actually dump a truckload of manure outside corporate HQ then management were satisfied. The pressure to sell stuff to people who had not indicated they were interested in buying anything was also a major distraction: I am not a salesperson and I wasn't working for the Sales department. By the time customers actually got to speak to me they were already so frustrated from dealing with the IVR (automated voice) that many of them were grumpy from the outset.

Management liked me because I'm quite good at dealing with irate people (years of practice working for the DWP, heh) and because my Scottish accent is very mild and clear. In the end, I sympathise with both the staff and the customers.

I have one particular company that are experiencing major problems at the moment with their phones - and delivery service - so you phone up, are told it isn't their problem and contact the courier company, who won't deal with you as your 'contract' isn't with them.... so a circular pattern of frustration is set off.

However I do see a sea change in some companies where they are 'doing away with automation' as it uses increasingly more expensive computers and the upgrades invariably come far more frequently (and need more computer power) than originally anticipated.

Totally agree coniff got a bit carried away and did it on my phone which is a nightmare was going to sort iy but my phone died lol will go do it now thanku for reminding me cher69 x

does anyone else always just hit * or 0 5 times

i seem to find its about a 50-50 hit rate, some lines will keep repeating we do not recognise that choice, while the other half will say "please wait while we transfer you to an advisor" then put you through with no other options

I just use a businesses sales number, which is usually manned by people to hook you in, and they then connect me to the proper dept quickly. It rarely fails.

Its the people who insist on 'following our debt collection practice' even when you have outlined your problem and given them your solution - ie to pay the debt off over 3 weeks... that get me, a day after speaking to SSE Southern Electric they send me a text asking me to contact them!

They could save a heck of a lot of money by listening to their customers rather than expect their customers to sign up to a debt management plan when one is NOT needed. I genuinely missed the bill and can pay it off quickly so why they harrass by text is beyond me.

Another company I deal with appears to be on the brink and are using Moorcroft when they should not - but at least I know the score, have outlined the problems I've had NOT being listened to, nor having phone calls listened to, nor being able to contact by phone as the company's phone line is 'down for essential maintenance'. At least I know I am in the right and the company is in the wrong.

Don't even get me on the slowness of our local council.....

Customer DISService is very much alive and well in 2014 in the UK, fuelled by 'apprentices' who are poorly trained, poorly monitored and poorly paid.

I think we can all agree then that call centres and automated call answering does not work well for the advisors or the customers.

A good example today of how talktalk won't talk. I have an outstanding balance of £37 due on the 22nd of september, these are advance charges for october bill, however they have restricted my service until i pay up for something i haven't used yet, and i can't use because my service is restricted.

Therefore i phoned them today to ask why? And get the automated service on all numbers i try which says you have an outstanding amount of £37 your service will be restricted until you pay this amount.

To pay press 1 to hear your balance again press 2 if you have finished please hang up not even an option to speak to an advisor. Wtf?? Talk talk refuse to talk me thinks!! And they know there is absolutely swet FA u can do about it so if i wont service i have to pay up no discussion. Like i say there is no wonder people are so agressive these days this has left me very angry and frustrated.

So do i calm down or take it out on my children or husband? obvs not but how easy is it for it all to build up and that to happen?