Calling for an end to call-centres

August 28th, 2007

Over the weekend I read that, according to research from Nationwide Building Society, 93% of people felt it was important that their calls were handled by UK-based call centres. Furthermore, 79% claimed they would be less likely to deal with a company that used call centres abroad and 52% would switch providers if they found their main bank or building society using a call centre abroad. And the point of their story - call me Sherlock - is probably that Nationwide only use UK-based call centres.

Now, at the risk of sounding like a Union Jack waving, tub-thumping xenophobe, I can see why people feel this way…. I have a credit card with M&S and every time they feel like a chat, I get a call from someone in Mumbai via the lowest quality telephone line you can imagine. Trying to ‘go through security’ with them is a seriously trying experience, and usually several minutes in, I am not only wound-up from asking them to repeat everything, speak louder or clearer, but also racked with self-hate from possibly single-handedly destroying my call-centre correspondent’s love for the nation that gave it cricket, tiffin, railways and er…Girls Aloud. At least with, say, MBNA you get someone cheery in Chester.

Of course, as William Kay’s piece in The Sunday Times noted, one question not asked was “do you actually like using call centres”, with him betting “the percentage answering yes to that would have been a lot lower” and noting that he “once counted 20 options on a Tesco phone line before I could speak to a live person” and finally concluding “please don’t try to kid us that we love phone hell just because we are talking to a fellow Brit.”

An astute commentary for sure, and it does make you wonder whether though companies might save money by ‘off-shoring’ their call-centres, it must cost them money in terms of lost goodwill and eventually customers.

It’s just a shame the piece didn’t mention Swiftcover.com seeing as this particular insurance service is all about fast and efficient online insurance without the need for call-centres at all. No surprise then that this very lack of call-centres and ensuing efficiency is a major reason why Swiftcover.com can enjoy being “officially the cheapest car insurance” according to data from the UK’s leading price comparison site Moneysupermarket.com.

Entry Filed under: call centres, insurance