[PoochJD]

Hi,

I apologise for the abruptness of this message, but I nearly forgot to remind people about this TV show tonight:

On BBC2 between 11:20pm and 12:20am tonight, there's an interesting documentary about British companies and Indian call-centres! I can't remember exactly what it's called, but the channel and time are correct, so just watch/record as listed above. Thanks!

It looks at both the upside and downside's of them, and why many British people hate them so much.

It should be interesting!


Pooch

P.S. "Ring" (the Japanese original from about 1997) is on Channel 4 between 12:10 and 2am as well, if you fancy a late-night shocker!

[lovemunkey187]

Get Shorty on 5ive @ 2100.

[smelly]

Originally Posted by PoochJD

On BBC2 between 11:20pm and 12:20am tonight, there's an interesting documentary about British companies and Indian call-centres! I can't remember exactly what it's called, but the channel and time are correct, so just watch/record as listed above. Thanks!

It looks at both the upside and downside's of them, and why many British people hate them so much.

It should be interesting!

Its called Who Do You Think You're Talking To. I'll definitely be taping this as my job is being involved in delivering change (technical change) into 8 contact centres for a Bank - including one in India. It will be interesting to see what they have to say....

[FruitBat]

Originally Posted by PoochJD

P.S. "Ring" (the Japanese original from about 1997) is on Channel 4 between 12:10 and 2am as well, if you fancy a late-night shocker!

Taped this last time it was on and still not got round to watching it!
(no, I'm not too scared to watch it just in case...)
Ring 2 is on tomorrow (Thurs 31) at the same time...

[Steve_P]

Originally Posted by PoochJD

Hi,

I apologise for the abruptness of this message, but I nearly forgot to remind people about this TV show tonight:

On BBC2 between 11:20pm and 12:20am tonight, there's an interesting documentary about British companies and Indian call-centres! I can't remember exactly what it's called, but the channel and time are correct, so just watch/record as listed above. Thanks!

It looks at both the upside and downside's of them, and why many British people hate them so much.

It should be interesting!


Pooch

P.S. "Ring" (the Japanese original from about 1997) is on Channel 4 between 12:10 and 2am as well, if you fancy a late-night shocker!

Excellent programme!! Thanks for the heads-up on this one I might have missed it otherwise

S.

[Jules]

Call centres are often managed by jumped up inadequates who blagg and trample their way to senior positions, whilst well educated people answer calls for £10K a year.

Most indian call centres are now experiencing staff turnover at similar rates to their UK counterparts. The bubble will burst soon.

I believe we'll soon come full circle as people prefer to do face to face business again.
More significantly, I also believe that it won't be long before the labour market for call centre staff (both in the UK and abroad) becomes totally exhausted and call centres won't be able to function because they can't recruit new staff.

An interesting program though.
People who insult telephone operators like this program demonstrated (both here and in India) should be thoroughly ashamed of themselves. They are real people with emotions who are already under tremendous pressure.

[Gary D]

i never saw the programme but in my experiance the more money a bank makes the worse its customer service becomes. they cvan make £3 billion in profit every minute but you still cant talk to anyone who knows you at the bank.

gits



Gary

[stevedster]

this was a good watch, cant believe how much overworked the indian staff appeared to be compared to the Brit workers... for peanuts too , and the fact that they had to be university grads to work in a call centre in India, while over here its one of the lower jobs on the wish list.

[Greg]

Agree with Jules, people who insult the call centre staff should be ashamed at themselves, but I was really shocked when they played a few calls from some right sick bastards. You know the ones I mean. There are some real sick weirdos out there.

[Steve_P]

Originally Posted by GregHook

Agree with Jules, people who insult the call centre staff should be ashamed at themselves, but I was really shocked when they played a few calls from some right sick bastards. You know the ones I mean. There are some real sick weirdos out there.

I got the impression it was just the one sick weirdo that called them repeatedly. I was shocked when they played the recordings at the end of the show, goodness knows how the poor call centre staff felt after the calls I hope the police catch that

S.

[PoochJD]

Hi,

Finally got around to watching my recording of this show yesterday, and it wan't as interesting as I had hoped.

Linda, the Norwich Union call centre, seemed a bit too up herself, for my tastes. She didn't seem to have a clue about what India might be like in 2005, and expected it to be more like Ethiopia, with kids and families begging on the streets, and animals being moved down the middle of the road! I also noted, that she didn't feel that the Indian staff were being exploited, despite the fact that a) NU made £800 million profit last year, and b) the Indian call centre staff have to worker harder, for longer hours, and for peanuts in pay! Umm, not exploitative at all!

As for Ajitesh, he seemed like a nice enough bloke, but I can't help but feel that there were incidents of racism and prejudice edited-out of the show. Having lived in Norwich for 20 years of my life, and being black myself, Norwich is far from being an open-minded and tolerant place to live, if you are non-white, and/or non-English! I'd even go so far as to say, it's one of the most closed-minded places in the entire UK! I can't honestly believe that Ajitesh wasn't subjected to any kind of prejudice in his stay in Norwich.

The sex-caller, whose nasty calls were played at the end of the show, was a real weirdo! What kind of idiot calls an Insurance company, to "Quote Me Happy", when all he wants is to get his rocks off?! Yikes! Still, no call centre staff member needs to put up with that kind of talk, and I know certainly know what I'd do, if he called up a colleague of mine, if I were a call centre staff member.

Lastly, did anyone else feel that all of the NU staff in Norwich, seemed very very dodgy?! Or maybe it was just me?! Coming to work in your pyjamas? Having to get stupid phrases into a phone call? Would make me want to !


Pooch

[Ed Selley]

Originally Posted by PoochJD

Coming to work in your pyjamas? Having to get stupid phrases into a phone call? Would make me want to !

Um- when I worked for "a large national electrical retailer" getting odd words or going for the best use of a dramatic pause was one of the things that got me through the day.

Childish I know but you have to try it to understand it.