As someone who worked in a callcentre for some considerable time, and now have a stress free job away from that high pressure, piss poor reward environment - it supprises me how many people dont realise just how shit the job really is. Not only is there the crap you have to take from the annoyed customers who have been on hold for ever and a day, but you are so limited in what you are actually allowed to do to resolve the problem. Add to that targets and stats that have to be met and you can understand why so many staff either develop a hide thicker than the average rhino or eventually decide to try their luck in another trade.
Here's a prime example of the crap you will have to deal with as a callcentre employee, found this in the Guardian.
Guardian Money today lifts the lid on British Gas call centres, exposing how staff previously taken on to sort out customer service problems have been put under intense pressure to sell products instead, and how time allowed to resolve customer problems has been slashed.
Confidential documents and details of call centre targets leaked to Guardian Money reveal how British Gas service staff face disciplinary action if they regularly fail to sell 20 products a month, at a time when the company, by its own admission, is haemorrhaging customers and battling to preserve profits.
British Gas strongly refutes all the allegations.
· Customer service assistants have been told to stop telling existing customers of direct debit discounts, worth up to 10.5% off their gas bill. "Stop promoting direct debit to our existing customers" says the document, which adds that "changing the payment scheme for existing customers costs us more money".
· Difficult customer inquiries, once dealt with by the customer service assistants, are now re-routed to a separate department which is struggling to cope. Up to 1,500 customer calls may go unanswered on busy days. Instead, staff send a letter saying they tried to call the customer back, and inviting them to return the call.
· Under new targets for the third quarter of 2005, service centre staff are expected to deal with calls 10% faster than before with a target of 420 seconds. The "wrap" time - how long a staff member can deal with a customer's problem after the call has ended, and which is included in the 420-second target - has been cut to an acceptable maximum of 230 seconds.
· Customer service staff have been ordered to sell 60% more products - such as insurance - in the first quarter of 2005 compared to last year.
· Service assistants (typical wage: £15,000) failing to sell less than 20 products a month are sent for retraining. Those persistently failing to reach the new sales targets will, in the company's own words, be "exited out of the business".
· Documents marked "highly confidential" say: "Customer services are currently undergoing a number of challenges. The most critical of these is to downsize the function by up to 27% by the end of 2005."
· To earn their £1,500 annual bonus, service centre staff have to achieve at least 35 sales a month, made up of all six products, as well as hit call time limits. Good customer service makes up less than half of the "scorecard" that results in a bonus.
British Gas strongly denies that customer service standards are under pressure. It says it took the decision to stop call centre staff promoting direct debit savings because customers told them they were fed up with being told about it. It says the direct debit discount is promoted prominently in its bills and other literature, and says: "No one should miss out."
A spokesman says the company is "bloody proud" of its products and, like any other business, it wants to let its customers know all about them.
Mark Clare, British Gas MD, says: "As a company we have invested heavily in creating a 'career' rather than just a job in call centres - with a dedicated training academy for customer services which has gained industry wide recognition. It's a pretty tough environment being at the front line, and I'm very proud of the professionalism and skill our call centre staff show. Call centre staff are often the unsung heroes of many UK businesses," he says.
It adds the 420-second call target "is a guidance and the primary objective is completing the customer call to a high level". It gave Guardian Money figures for its Leeds and Southampton call centres. Over the five weeks to September 12, they handled 750,000 calls at an average call length of 432 seconds and 450 seconds respectively.
Unison, the union that represents British Gas's 5,500 call centre staff, says it is aware of the pressure call centre staff are coming under and says it is monitoring the situation closely. "We accept that call centre staff can be asked to make customers aware of other products and services, but what we won't tolerate is staff being set unrealistic targets which are then used to reduce head count. We have brought this to the attention of British Gas and will be keeping a close eye on this," says a spokesman.
The call centre worker who sent us the documents still works for British Gas and therefore wants to remain anonymous. He alleges that staff are increasingly working under a "climate of fear". He says: "As staff are becoming increasingly desperate not to lose their jobs, they are doing things they wouldn't have in the past. They typically earn £15,000 a year - what have they got to lose by putting through a few false sales? If the targets rise again then incidents of mis-selling will only increase."
British Gas says such claims are nonsense, and that it monitors calls for any evidence of mis-selling.
It says research by independent consumer body Energywatch shows that it has one of the best records in the industry on selling practices.
Figures from British Gas's parent group, Centrica, this week underline how the company is facing its toughest period since its privatisation. Profits from supplying gas and electricity to its 17m customers fell by a quarter to £165m during the first six months of this year. However profits from its "upstream" operations - the production of gas from North Sea fields and elsewhere - have soared.
Recouping lost residential business profits by selling alternative products has become a crucial part of the company's strategy. The products - detailed left - have become a huge moneyspinner for the company, contributing £95m out of British Gas's £337m profit from its residential business last year.
What they try to sell you
If your gas is supplied by British Gas and your electricity comes from the company that took over your regional electricity company, you will come under strong pressure to take a "dual fuel" contract in which British Gas will supply you both gas and electricity.
The chief attraction to the deal is a flat £15 a year discount off the electricity component of the total bill -plus the fact that British Gas actually offers relatively well priced electricity. However, because British Gas's gas prices are substantially higher than its competitors, the switching websites all say that dual fuel customers would be better off by transferring to a cheaper supplier.
If you've already declined the dual fuel deal, it is likely that the salesman will move on to try to sell you one of the company's central heating care policies. These cost £16 a month, or £192 a year, and promise an engineer who will fix your boiler if it breaks down, 24 hours a day.
We have featured several stories on these policies in the past. The main criticism is that they are only good value if you have a youngish but troublesome boiler for which parts are still readily available.
Next up are the household appliances insurances that also promise an engineer if your washing machine or fridge fails. The cost is £11.50 a month or £138 a year to insure three kitchen appliances for future repairs, which includes parts. This is similar to insurance deals offered by high street electrical retailers which have faced sustained criticism over poor-value warranties and insurances.
Given the falling cost and improving reliability of modern electrical goods, many will find the cost of the insurance unattractive.
Another insurance-based product is cover for electrical wiring at £4.50 a month, or £54 a year.
According to the documents we have seen, the product that customer centre staff face the biggest struggle to sell is the company's home telephone service. It offers free calls during the evenings and at weekends is cheaper than BT, but there are even cheaper alternatives out there.
PATTANI, Thailand – The open-air market in this southern Thai city falls eerily quiet on Fridays. Most vendors stay home, terrorized by leaflets threatening to kill or cut off the ears of anyone who works on the Muslim holy day.
After 20 months of insurgent violence, the no-work threat has driven another nail into what is becoming an economic coffin in Thailand's terrorized southern provinces.
"My business has been bad as customers are afraid to come out," said Thanchanok Putroy, 39, chopping up a catfish in the market where most stores were shut and buses aren't running.
Among the hundreds killed in the predominantly Muslim provinces of Pattani, Yala and Narathiwat are police and soldiers, but police records show that 80 percent are civilians – rubber tappers, shopkeepers, civil servants, construction workers and ice cream vendors.
Bombs have exploded at a department store, a cinema complex, the international airport at Hat Yai and a department store owned by the French Carrefour chain. Now investors and tourists have been driven off and some workers are leaving.
"Trade has dropped 70 to 80 percent. Shopkeepers complain loudly. It is very quiet at night and people from outside dare not to come to the area," said Panya Ongsakul, chairman of the three provinces' chamber of commerce.
And now some more good news,
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