Protesting against call centres

[Letterwriter]

For a long time, I have been (as have a lot of people) frustrated by the way one is treated by large companies, and particularly by their call centres - being made to wait in a queue etc.

 

In short - what I am proposing in this thread is that when a company (usually utility companies) send a letter, we respond by letter, thus avoiding waiting in a queue on the phone.

 

In such letters, I have been:

 

1) Thanking the company for their correspondence

2) Responding to any queries/appointment suggested by them

3) Inviting them to call me if they have any queries

 

Thus I circumvent the call centre queue and probably throw a spanner in the works of their system which is set up to work in only the way they want it to work regardless of consumer preference or need.

 

The longer version of the story is that:

 

Recently, I received a letter from Meterplus, informing me that as my meter is so many years old and has to be replaced. The letter then went on to say that they would come out on X date between 8am and 6pm. I was advised that if I wished to change this appointment, I should call the call centre.

 

Firstly I took exception to an appointment being arranged without discussion. I have always understood an appointment to be a mutually convenient time agreed between the relevant parties rather than one imposed and presumed by one party.

 

Secondly, I take exception with the presumption that I am happy to sit at home for a 10 hour stretch, on a working day, waiting for them to arrive AT THEIR CONVENIENCE to perform a 30 minute (their estimate) job. I feel it is disrespectful of the value of my time.

 

Being suitable annoyed, and not wishing to wait in a telephone queue just to speak to someone in a call centre who would, I'm sure, insist that 10 hour windows is all they can book etc etc and all the usual fobbings off, I decided to write a letter. In all, I drafted two letters, and decided to send the first one - that being the less arsey of the pair!

 

I am happy to put these letters on the forum and ask others to join me in corresponding with firms in the old fashioned way.

 

If you have made it this far, then thank you for reading. All responses appreciated.

 

I would also like to make the point that I do not have anything against call centre workers personally (indeed many are very polite and apologetic that the system imposed by their employer is the way it is). It is the system as a whole which I do not like from the queues to the lack of flexibility offered to any issue a customer may have.

 

Thankyou

 

Letterwriter

[installspark]

Interesting post.

 

As supervisor who works in a utility call centre, it would be expected that I disagree with you. However for the vast part I do not.

 

I have seen too many agents unable to deal with a query on the telephone as the customer is running rings around them or the agent is inexperienced and unable to answer the query be it due to lack of training or real world experience.

 

In many ways the old fashioned letter is much better for both the customer and the company as it is easier to set out in a letter exactly what is required and expected, material facts can be collated into a consistant timeline and there is less possibility of confusion arising.

 

However refering to your post regarding the letter from Meterplus. From what you have posted this appointment is for a statutory periodic meter change and has been arranged by the meter operator themselves independant of your supplier. By law the meter operator is required to change your meter at the end of it's working life. This requirement is both for health and safety reasons and to ensure that you have an accurate meter fitted.

 

Meter operators do not deal with the customers of a supplier direct as the supplier is their end user. Nor can they directly offer specific appointments at a convenient time to the suppliers' customer. These jobs are usually booked by the operator on a block basis, i.e. they take all the properties that according to their records are due to have the meter changed and book in as many as possible for one particular day. The meter operators rely on the customer contacting the supplier to cancel/rearrange the appointment in order to reassign the job usually into an am/pm slot, this involves a lead time of not less than 7 working days. This way the meter operators can schedule their work load. I agree that this is not the best way of doing things from the customer's point of view, nor is it ideal for the supplier.

 

In this instance it would be better to give your supplier a quick call as a new appointment can be arranged for you at your convenience.

 

If you were to send in a letter you would be delaying the process by at least 5 working days as you will need to factor in postage times to and from your supplier, allow for the volume of mail received by your supplier and take into account that letters are dealt with in rotation and usually by a team of approx 20 people. There would also be no guarantee that an appointment slot would be available for any specific date that you may request in your letter, thus delaying the process again as your supplier would then have to contact you in order to discuss and then arange the appointment with the meter operator. Not all meter operators allow suppliers direct access to thier booking systems, most appointments requests are sent electronically via a supplier's system to the meter operator and the supplier has to await confirmation of the appointment.

 

I would like to see a return to communication by letter, however I also know that it is not feasible for utility companies to do this mainly due to their large customer base as most compaines have a customer base of at least two million customers. If everything was done by letter there would be more delays and complaints generated than there are today.

[Movingon]

I would like to see a return to the consumer having access to the management staff who are actually dealing with his/her account or whatever. Call centres should not even exist... they're just a way for corporations to reduce the cost biting into their vast profits, and they provide unskilled access to very basic services and more frustration to the consumer than anything else.

 

Now, if we talk about IT Service Desks, that's a different thing; it's internal to an organisation and usually well skilled (NOT Helpdesks, people... SERVICE Desks, there's a difference). But call centres for sales organisations , insurance companies and banks... EVIL. Why can't I phone my local Dixons and speak to the salesman who I spoke to two hours ago while buying my camera which has a part missing? Why can't I call my local Curries to speak to the manager because my new washing machine broke down?

 

EVIL!!!! EEEEEEVIIIIIIIIILLLLLLL!!!!!!

[fivelaws]

IT Service Desks: "Have you rebooted it?". That should be their catchphrase.

 

Welcome to the helldesk you (L)users*

 

 

Call Centres: The problem with any protest is that these companies expect to make a certain ratio of profit from a given turnover. If their costs increase due to extra administration, they pass these costs on directly to the consumer. This does not work in reverse - any savings in costs (offshoring etc) are passed to shareholders. This is the way of companies.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

* © Simon Travaglia.

[Letterwriter]

Thanks for your replies. As promised here is the letter I think I should send. Replying to letters by letter. I like tradition!

 

Maybe we could have a section of the website for letters people have received and the recipient (or others) could post sample/suggested responses. Many letters people get are pro forma letters sent to many so posting replies online could have time for others. Anyway, thats all another day!

 

 

Response to MeterPlus:-

 

 

Dear Mr ********

 

Appointment re exchange of electricity meter

 

I refer to your letter which I received on 17 June 2006 regarding exchanging the electricity meter in my house.

 

I appreciate your concerns for my safety and I am grateful for your offer to exchange my current meter. Unfortunately, the date which you suggested in your letter is not convenient for me due to work commitments. Indeed, any working day during July and August would not be convenient as I am working away from home during this period. I will, however, be returning some weekends and would be delighted to make an appointment for one of these days.

 

When suggesting an alternative day for our appointment, I would kindly request that you suggest a specific time for this. Offering a ‘window’ of 10 hours, for a job lasting half an hour is simply unreasonable, especially as I would need to make a special effort to be in on the day in question, which may include travelling up from London.

 

I am sure that you can appreciate my circumstances over this period and my need for us to agree a specific date and time.

 

I look forward to your next contact, during which I hope we can agree a mutually convenient time and date. When making contact, while I am happy to continue corresponding by letter (as initiated by you), a telephone call may speed up the process. Please therefore feel free to call me on *********. Please be aware that this number is supplied for the purposes of the transaction referred to in the title of this letter only and must not be used for any other purpose.

 

I look forward to hearing from either you or one of your colleagues.

 

Kind regards

 

Yours sincerely

[Movingon]

Excellent letter... now they would be extremely unreasonable to deny what you request.

 

However, if they don't work weekends on this type of thing, you must be prepared to compromise and take a monday or a friday off work to deal with this if they say they can't do weekends. However your request for a specific time is simply reasonable and nothing less should be offered.

[Letterwriter]

Yes, I agree that my work circumstances are unusual over the next couple of months in that I am working away a lot.

 

Whether working away or not, I would consider that, in order to be reasonable, I should offer (when I receive my call) to arrange to be in on a weekday. It would, however, need to be a more specific time as, I could never justify sitting in at home for up to 10 hours just waiting for someone to call.

 

Companies need to have more respect for people's time (whether they are fitting meters or delivering your new fridge) and this is partly the point I am seeking to make with my letter.

 

I do realise that this point will fall on deaf ears and that no one will take any notice of a lone nutter wielding a pen. But if we had thousands of nutters wielding pens.............

[Movingon]

 

I think you've been very reasonable and I think they'd be daft not to spot that. Let us know how you go on, would you?

[fivelaws]

Top letter that. Hope they respond in kind.

[joneshousehold]

I like this thread. I like letters. Call centres just wind me up. All you get are staff with a predetermined checklist of responses. I find whenever I ask something there is no answer so I get an inappropriate one instead. What I often want is for someone to go and check for me before responding but a call centre isn't geared up for that.

 

So I always try to respond by letter. I think then there can be no doubt about who said what and it is possible to look back at a letter later if there is any question or dispute. I hadn't thought about it as a protest before but I suppose it is really.

 

Anyway, interesting post, thanks for that. I shall watch with interest.

 

Incidentally we had our meter changed recently. It was the second 'appointment'. On the first we said to avoid the school run time and inevitably they turned up at that time. However my husband saw the van on his way home so he stopped and invited him back but the man was not interested. We decided he just didn't want to do all his alloted jobs for that day. I read Installspark's response and whilst I understand where he/she is coming from, I agree with you Letterwriter, it is unacceptable to set a 10 hour slot for an appointment in the first place. It is only for administrative convenience and to reduce costs. All of that explanation about the time it takes to rearrange etc misses the point. The customer is supposed to be king. Bend over backwards for a customer and most of them will remain loyal for ever, treat them like one of a large herd and they will wander off at the first opportunity.

 

Rant over.

[installspark]

@ Letterwriter

 

If my memory serves me correctly Meterplus do not offer appointment slots for Saturday or Sunday as these are classed as non working days and therefore will only operate an emergency metering service. This is true for the vast majority of meter operators around the country.

 

You should however be able to arrange an appointment within a four hour timeslot if not a two hour timeslot on a normal working day but will need some flexibility. Bear in mind that your supplier will have to contact the meter operator and await their response before they can confirm the appointment with yourself.

[Letterwriter]

I realise that am I very unlikely to get a weekend appointment as requested. As I am prepared to be in on a weekend (just not for 10 hours) then I think I may rework my letter slightly.

 

I'm more bothered about the timeframe than the day

 

Thanks for comments from all so far

 

I am thinking of writing more letters to companies in order to complain about poor service etc. If there is a chance people may be interested then I would be more than happy to post them on here. The feedback I have received has been useful and, you never know, the letters may help/inspire others to write in more when they have a problem or complaint.

[powerful_rogue]

I also am a big fan of letters.

 

I mainly write letters if I wish to complain rather then call up a call centre.

 

I also write a lot of letters to companies detailing "Good" service I have received. A lot of people are too quick to complain, but I think its nice to write in when good service has been received.

 

It really can make someones day as well.

[SillyLittleWorker]

I really find you all a bit sad and pathetic

I work for meterplus we are only a small team of about 30people. We are and emergency call centre mainly for people who have not electric, and all we are asking to do is change your meter. We suggest a date if thats not convenient ring, if you don't get through we have an answermachine service, which my colleague Mick who sits opposite me rings people back about everyday. I don't see how people can get so upset about changing a meter. And yes we do work saturday mornings and late appointments uptil 6pm as we know people work all the time. We don't expect you to wait in all day, that why we give you options. But as you can realise practically it is impossible for us to give a specific time of arrival as an engineer has approx 50jobs a day some of which customers are not in some of which take longer than expected, sometimes he's just stuck in traffic as most have a large area to cover.

[patdavies]

What a wonderful attitude from somebody who is supposed to be working in Customer Service.

 

This really does sum up the call centre experience for most customers doesn't it?

[Ropey]

So, the person who works for Meterplus and sits opposite Mick. Should be fairly easy to find for the management. Classy company.

[demon_x_slash]

'Upset'?? Sorry, Letterwriter, it seems that a Meterplus employee takes personal offence at your polite request for a more specific timeslot. I suggest pistols; daggers are a bit messy.

 

I also suggest, 'Silly', that you find another job, as courtesy and manners are meant to be an integral part of Customer Service, and in your post you display neither.

[buzby]

I was in a similar position and I refused to let them disrupt my suppy as it was feeding a fileserver and they could do it between 2100-0500! Whilst in negotiations I was told that my 'digital' meter was only allowev to be in service for 10 years, then in needed replacing. I asked if there was anything that lasted more than 10 years, and I was told if they fitted a dial meter, it would not have to be changed for 20 years. We compromised.

 

They fitted a dial meter!

[SillyLittleWorker]

I wasn't meaning to be rude, and I do understand that call centre's can be frustrating especially when you get through to a large one where there's millions of people on a floor and no one communicates. Trust me we get just as annoyed with engineers as the customer. I just find it insulting when people swear down the phone at you about a meter. We wouldn't do the work if it wasn't a legal requirement from OFGEM the regulators for gas and electricity. I am simply sick of people who only ever think of themselves and its a very selfish attitude, like I said everyone is trying to do a job. And I do understand that call centres can be trying, but some people seem to like to complain just for the sake of it. If you had a legitimate grievance for example a billing problem etc then that is understandable but I'm not quite sure how you can get so upset about a meter change? And I'm sure you would be the first to call meterplus if somthing went wrong with your meter and your electric was off permanently. The person that you bad mouth today may be the person you are asking for help tomorrow so may you should think about the attitude you have about things.

[SillyLittleWorker]

And I am a very professional customer service advisor that is why I would never say anything like this to a customer whilst I was working, that's what I get paid to do, help the customer and arrange appointments that are most convenient for them, half the time though no one gives you a chance, their attitude straight away is if I shout loud enough I will get enough attention and I find it insulting and rude.

[demon_x_slash]

Yes, but as retail workers or people used to retail positions we both have to accept that that is part of the job; dealing with idiots is never fun, and dealing with abusive idiots is extremely stressful. I know that just as much as you, believe me Though, as you say, there are two sides, and the customer yelling down the phone at you, or in my case, in my face, is probably the same customer that was rudely fobbed off by a co-worker five minutes before/waited in for 10 hours, and is/was also at the end of their tether. It's not the customer's fault that the sub-contracted engineers are useless wastes of space in the main (Sky, anyone?); likewise, it's not your fault, but you're paid to deal with the abuse (which, in all honestly, should be directed dead-on at the moronic management maggots that sub-contracted an important customer-focused installation in the first place).

 

I find playing gentle, wistful classical music and imagining their heads exploding in full-blooded slow-motion helps as a coping mechanism.

 

Just think of it this way - the more Letterwriters there are, the less you have to deal with people one-on-one, and put yourself in that dangerous/stressful position! Can only be good!

[Seminole]

There is a reasonable debate to be had here but please observe the usual rules of civility.

 

Thanks.

[meagain]

And I am a very professional customer service advisor that is why I would never say anything like this to a customer...

 

Yet you just did.

 

Let's get something straight. If you are due to do an installation on my property, requiring me to take time out of my regular schedule for it to go ahead, then it will happen at my convenience or not at all. The staffing issues of any company involved are not my problem.