I'm no racist but .....

[Lady Whistledown]

Ah - my mistake. Bangalore.

There are a variety of companies located in Bangalore including ICICI who employ thousands of workers to field subscription calls. Virgin holidays have set up a pilot project where a trainer has been sent to teach people to sell holidays who have never been to Britain or the potential holiday destinations.

True about Virgin Holidays Bangalore outpost (though it's very small and handles a tiny proportion of calls when they're very busy in the UK, but I would add that just because someone has a bit of an Asian accent does not guarantee you're talking to a call centre in India. People get far too obsessed with that idea.

Did it occur to you that Virgin Holidays are based in Crawley, which has a fairly substantial Asian population, and the person you spoke is as likely to live in Langley Green or Maidenbower as Delhi or Mumbai?? I should know, I worked for them until a few months ago. Why should someone get grief just because they speak English with a bit of an accent? I never met anyone at Virgin (well ok, only one) whose English skills appeared to be a problem on the phone, no matter where they were from.

People always jump on the Indian accent thing as though it's a guaranteed sign of an incompetent exported call centre. Why do Welsh or Scottish based call centres not get the same treatment??

 

[Tom Hark Preston Park]

It's a very good spy's name, I must admit. "The name's Thorycroft, Vosper Thorycroft...licenced to, er, install an updated form of virus software."

Vosper Thornycroft - Special Agent v007.3


Starring Roger Moore

 

[Dave the OAP]

Beleive me the veiw from my arse is a lot better than reading 90% of the Cack posted here. NSP posters have their heads so far up each others jacksies that they look like Giant retarded centipead.

Is that Gaffer as in gaff prone?

Gaff prone...very good. Must have taken your superiour intellect at least 1 nano-second to work that one out.

well done

 

[FG aka FOOTBALL GENIUS]

i understand your frustrations try phoning the HSBC bank and they answer from India! broken english i tell ya it was easier transferring to the Royal Bank of Scotland and getting a Jock to answer now thats saying something at least you can half understamd what they are saying just ignore the odd occasional "i" and your half way there!

Was the mobile orange by any chance found theire service sh1te in past!

 

[CHAPPERS]

i understand your frustrations try phoning the HSBC bank and they answer from India! broken english i tell ya it was easier transferring to the Royal Bank of Scotland and getting a Jock to answer now thats saying something at least you can half understamd what they are saying just ignore the odd occasional "i" and your half way there!

Was the mobile orange by any chance found theire service sh1te in past!

I imagine trying to talk to a guy in Bangalore in broken English is like trying to read one of your posts innit?

f***ing TARD.

 

[The Great Cornholio]

True about Virgin Holidays Bangalore outpost (though it's very small and handles a tiny proportion of calls when they're very busy in the UK, but I would add that just because someone has a bit of an Asian accent does not guarantee you're talking to a call centre in India. People get far too obsessed with that idea.

Did it occur to you that Virgin Holidays are based in Crawley, which has a fairly substantial Asian population, and the person you spoke is as likely to live in Langley Green or Maidenbower as Delhi or Mumbai?? I should know, I worked for them until a few months ago. Why should someone get grief just because they speak English with a bit of an accent? I never met anyone at Virgin (well ok, only one) whose English skills appeared to be a problem on the phone, no matter where they were from.

People always jump on the Indian accent thing as though it's a guaranteed sign of an incompetent exported call centre. Why do Welsh or Scottish based call centres not get the same treatment??

Perhaps you would care to reread my original post? It could well be that they were 2 Asians speaking from Crawley but they had very heavy accents and spoke very fast. When I asked for clarification on prices, the second one got quite irate - without provocation before you ask. Regardless of where they are based, hiring someone who is difficult to understand and who has difficulty understanding a normally spoken Caucasian (who will make up a very large majority of the potential customers) and who has such poor customer service skills has got to be considered very poor policy indeed. I have worked with a large number of Asians and think I know the difference between a slight accent and the heavy accent of someone for whom English is clearly their second language.

I can understand you standing up for an old employer but how can you judge my position when you have no knowledge of the call?

 

[Brovion]

No of course it isn't racist to object to the fact that people can't speak English properly. Also Edna where it's based is irrelevant. You expect the people to be able to speak your language clearly and concisely. For a NATIONAL call center heavily accented English, be it Geordie, Glaswegian or Asian is unacceptable - unless you are only fielding calls from people who have the same dialect as you.

 

[bhaexpress]

No of course it isn't racist to object to the fact that people can't speak English properly. Also Edna where it's based is irrelevant. You expect the people to be able to speak your language clearly and concisely. For a NATIONAL call center heavily accented English, be it Geordie, Glaswegian or Asian is unacceptable - unless you are only fielding calls from people who have the same dialect as you.

I think you need to make allowances. I've worked on global helpdesks in my time and have dealt with many different accents and attitudes (the Germans being the most annoying as they tend to make little attempt to speak English even when they work for and English speaking country. I might add that the Good Ole Boys in Georgia and Tennessee can be a bit hard to follow and I know they trouble with my accent and the fact that I speak much faster than they do.

However, the situation I was refering to was .that a service company just wasn't doing it's job. The fact that the people where Asian is really academic as they were, after all, just doing a job (no doubt for peanuts). What is clear though is that we, the general public,l will suffer when companies continue to cut costs and thus cut corners.

 

[dougdeep]

Nice idea crabbers but as I am working ON Portdmouth Naval Base the delivery driver wouldn't be allowed in. I made this point very clear at the time of purchase but clearly to no avail.

I deliver to Portsmouth Naval Base all the time, any one could get in.

 

[US Seagull]

NSP posters have their heads so far up each others jacksies that they look like Giant retarded centipead.

Silly looney, this is North Stand Chat (NSC).

 

[Parson Henry]

"I'm no racist, but i keep having trouble with Asians."

I'm no asian but keep having trouble with racists!!