Is big business scaling back call centre / sales / admin?
Discussion
Over the past few weeks I have had increasing trouble getting a response from big businesses, who once weren't TOO bad to get hold of.
HSBC Business - I was on hold for literally hours the other day waiting to speak to someone.
Barclays - Applied for a new company account a few weeks ago and have heard nothing since. We were meant to have account details within ten days. The "relationship manager" won't return calls or emails.
SSE - I've spent hours on hold to them over the past few weeks.
British Gas this morning, "we're experiencing high call volumes. The estimate time to answer is 41 minutes".
Now, I know that all the above firms have their moments. But it seems that currently everyone is giving crap service. Anyone else experienced similar?
jammy-git said:
All of those companies are known for rubbish customer service.
I can speak of British Gas and HSBC.British Gas has always been contactable. They might be useless but they have always answered the phone. HSBC similarly.
SSE and Barclays have been more recent acquaintances.
Part of the digital age.
Place I work for has a call centre (UK based!!) and live chat on the websites, last year we made it more difficult for people to call us by burying the phone numbers on the website, as a member of staff can have 5 chats going at once, whilst they can only talk on one phone.
Place I work for has a call centre (UK based!!) and live chat on the websites, last year we made it more difficult for people to call us by burying the phone numbers on the website, as a member of staff can have 5 chats going at once, whilst they can only talk on one phone.
jamoor said:
I'm always confised at this whole.phone thing
1. First why have option one for sales two for support etc.
2. Why not just have ten different numbers and you call the one you need.
3. Secondly why not just enter your number online into a queue and have it call you back when someone is free.
1. Some companies do. But it's easier for a company to route calls on an "auto attendant" via a main number. Also they don't end up issuing numbers that later become redundant. It's in part an image thing.1. First why have option one for sales two for support etc.
2. Why not just have ten different numbers and you call the one you need.
3. Secondly why not just enter your number online into a queue and have it call you back when someone is free.
2. There will, in all probability, be a DDI number for the department you want, but for the reasons above it's not always in the interests of the company to share it with you.
3. Some companies do this. As a customer, I don't use it because despite what companies will tell you don't always get called back in turn. Similarly some incoming calls are given priority over other inbound calls.
I've arrived at the viewpoint that it's better to use the online chat facilities. Most recently I've switched to 'Outfox the Market' for my gas & electricity supply. It has generally gone smoothly but I had a couple of queries. They were speedily resolved using the chat facility and, most importantly, I automatically got an e-mail transcript of the conversation immediately afterwards. I now have a record of what was discussed and agreed and it all took place at a time of my choosing.
langtounlad said:
I've arrived at the viewpoint that it's better to use the online chat facilities. Most recently I've switched to 'Outfox the Market' for my gas & electricity supply. It has generally gone smoothly but I had a couple of queries. They were speedily resolved using the chat facility and, most importantly, I automatically got an e-mail transcript of the conversation immediately afterwards. I now have a record of what was discussed and agreed and it all took place at a time of my choosing.
Their website looks like an A level design project.So said:
langtounlad said:
I've arrived at the viewpoint that it's better to use the online chat facilities. Most recently I've switched to 'Outfox the Market' for my gas & electricity supply. It has generally gone smoothly but I had a couple of queries. They were speedily resolved using the chat facility and, most importantly, I automatically got an e-mail transcript of the conversation immediately afterwards. I now have a record of what was discussed and agreed and it all took place at a time of my choosing.
Their website looks like an A level design project.OFTM website does work well however and as mentioned the chat facility with e-mail transcript is an excellent feature.
Gassing Station | Business | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff