call centres do not provide customer service
call centre does not equal customer service. irrespective of industry. its the nature of the beast unfortunately. Staff turnover is high and as such companies dont want to pay too much because hiring costs are so high and then people dont stay so companies are constantly training (poorly if at all) agents to a minimal level in order to keep costs down. as a result in depth knowledge is scarce, overly complex billing structures dont help this, and the poor bugger on the end of the line straight from the job centre of arts degree doesnt have a clue what you're raving about. this is not going to change today or tomorrow. Call centres and customer service in general are viewed by companies as a cost that must be reduced at every opportunity. They do not want to invest anything really in this aspect of their business as it is non revenue generating. The future? Rampant skepticism on my part. I workin in a call centre for 4 years (for my sins) and performance and working conditions were worse when i left than when i joined. I have some sympathy for people working there but its bloody thankless stuff they do and no matter how hard you try you are one link in a chain and that chain will, nine times out of ten, screw you over the very second you promise a customer even a basic level of service. Still though, I'm not bitter...
Biting the hand that feeds IT
