Anyone else worked in a call centre (or bull**** mills as I like to call them)?

Anyone here work in one right now?

Anyone thinking of working in one (fools)?

I spent more than a year working in one of these hell-holes myself and ended up leaving for the sake of my health after my stress levels went too high and I began to wake up each morning and enter a catatonic state by the time I was sat at my "work-station."

One of my colleagues dropped on the flor with a minor heart attack, another was in danger of suffering from DVT and the management were breaking down every Monday morning at the thought of another week of hell.

Please share your fond annecdotes about call centres with me and maybe by sharing our misery we can become stronger.

I know of one - which will obviously remain nameless, where the staff have to put their hand up - yes you read correctly - put their hand up to go to the toilet !!
It is a lovely environment on the face of it, but being barked at by some little hitler wannabe is not my idea of fun and I sympathise with those of you who are unfortunate enough to work in a Cack Centre..... sorry - Call Centre.

They tried to introduce that one where I was, but I just tended to ignore it and spend at leat 15 minutes of each our sat on the toilet if I felt the need to go or not. Any attempt to curtail this was always met with references to such things as basic human rights. Even a bloody convict gets a slop bucket for heavens sake!

Another little gem was the fact that you were always split up into little teams of 10 or so and encouraged to compete against the other teams in childish games designed to distract your attention from the fact that you were being exploited. Then they decided to introduce individual targets and have the team members compete amongst themselves as well as having the departments do the same thing. So each department competed against each department, each team against the other teams in their department, and each individual against everyone else on their team. And yet we were still all informed that we had to work together and encourage each other to achieve our targets for the benefit of the fatcats and shareholders.

There people seemed to have no problem having their cake and eating ours.

And the coffee from the vending machines was ****e, tasted like it was made with sump-oil.

That's universal though, vending machine coffee always tastes like regurgitated cat doings.

Just cos places are too tight arsed to employ canteen staff who'll make you a proper cuppa.

Don't talk to me about call-centres. They have subjected me to infinite levels of stress over the past two or three years.

Now, as was mentioned in a previous thread of mine, everything goes wrong at my end, so, as you can imagine, I have to ring call-centres up a lot. (Press button 1, press button 2...) Argh!!

Phone rage, I call it.

I have simply lost count of the times I have slammed down the phone, kicked the hamster and had to open a can of reassuringly expensive lager in an effort to calm my nerves after unsuccesful dealings with these call-centres.

My worst experience was when I put on hold for more than a week-and-a-half when I wanted to change a direct debit and subsequently had to endure the strains of Unchained Melody throughout this lengthy period.

it was awful.

I don't know how anyone can work in such an incompetent environment.

Argh!

On one now, although it's more of a Technical Service Desk than a helpdesk/call centre.

Our's is fine, no problems from any customers because we give a high level of service and everything's really flexible.

My old job was a different story though..

Heres a test to see if you can work in a call centre(or do better than the one ive been battling since August 03)

a man comes to read your electric meter and discovers that it is set to the wrong tariff (Set to 6.33 per unit instead of 2.49)
so you have been paying nearly three times more for you power than you should have. okay got that one?

the house has one of those token meter things in that was here when we moved in so it is impossible to use electric without paying for it first. still with me?

given the above facts take a simple stab at whether they owe me money or i owe it them

my version....i want the difference back between what i should have paid and what i actually charged,because the meter was over charging.

their version...........you have used 21000 units at 2.49 and on top of what you have already paid we want another £467.86. because you havent paid enough.

to help you in you calculations consider the fact that the excessive amount of units used is because the meter was charging more for them so using them up quicker.

for gods sake someone save me from the faceless chretins at this call centre

I sympathise with you, I really do.

The thing is, when you phone back, (in the unlikely event that you actually get through) you can never get to speak to the person that you spoke to originally, so you have to explain the whole story again.

I think if just one of those large companies using call-centres now swallows their pride and goes back to the old human-friendly system, it might (a tiny might I know) just start a trend towards returning to the phone rage-less society that we once proudly belonged to.

You know it makes sense.

Sorry to hear about that one Gizmo.

Will the nice people at Citizens Advice help you out?
Maybe they can ring on your behalf and then your case may be heard.

Just a thought.

My Mum left Freemans because it was bringing her down, its **** how they treat people really.

Chris.

Originally posted by Sam Miguel
I sympathise with you, I really do.

The thing is, when you phone back, (in the unlikely event that you actually get through) you can never get to speak to the person that you spoke to originally, so you have to explain the whole story again.

Make sure you always ask for your operators name before you put the phone down. Then when you ring back you can then ask to be put through to them.

Gizmo:- Most of the people who work at call centres are unfortunately not very intelligent. ( There are also the occasional intelligent few who use it as a stop gap for something better) The best option is to speak slowly in a clear and concise voice and show them the error of their ways. If they dont see it, then ask to speak to their manager/supervisor.

Or you could do what I do, get frustrated and make them feel small, it makes me feel better but obviously isn't the best way for getting something done about your problem as you annoy the operator.

Skatie

Originally posted by Lindseyw
I know of one - which will obviously remain nameless, where the staff have to put their hand up - yes you read correctly - put their hand up to go to the toilet !!

That is appalling, i didn't know working conditions were like that in call centres. I don't think I could stick working there, makes the university where i work sound like heaven.


Skatie

So from my quick calculations you're owed about 800 quid.

Originally posted by gizmo

to help you in you calculations consider the fact that the excessive amount of units used is because the meter was charging more for them so using them up quicker.


Actually, I don't get that. The amount of electricity used is determined by your demand. Surely whether you are charged 1p per unit or 1 pound per unit, it has no bearing on how many units you consume. Am I missing something or am I just being stupid?

Nomme

Originally posted by nomme
Am I missing something or am I just being stupid?


Neither, but I think you've passed the call centre test.:D :rolleyes:

Originally posted by gizmo
Heres a test to see if you can work in a call centre(or do better than the one ive been battling since August 03)

a man comes to read your electric meter and discovers that it is set to the wrong tariff (Set to 6.33 per unit instead of 2.49)
so you have been paying nearly three times more for you power than you should have. okay got that one?

the house has one of those token meter things in that was here when we moved in so it is impossible to use electric without paying for it first. still with me?

given the above facts take a simple stab at whether they owe me money or i owe it them

my version....i want the difference back between what i should have paid and what i actually charged,because the meter was over charging.

their version...........you have used 21000 units at 2.49 and on top of what you have already paid we want another £467.86. because you havent paid enough.

to help you in you calculations consider the fact that the excessive amount of units used is because the meter was charging more for them so using them up quicker.

for gods sake someone save me from the faceless chretins at this call centre

Seems that the previous occupants of your house had a debt and the token meter was calibrated to collect that debt hence 6.33p instead of 2.49p per unit. In other words you were paying for the electricity you used and also the electricity they owed for. Is the supply in your name?

Originally posted by nomme
Actually, I don't get that. The amount of electricity used is determined by your demand. Surely whether you are charged 1p per unit or 1 pound per unit, it has no bearing on how many units you consume. Am I missing something or am I just being stupid?

Nomme

Right consider it this way you use 10 units of electricity regardless of how much it cost.

But say its costs 1p for 1 unit. So you have paid 10p.

But say you were paying 2p for unit. So you paid 20p for your electricity. Therefore you have been overcharged by 10p. Hope that explains it for you.

Of course we could all go into the Kwh explanation, but i dont think we need to go there.

Skatie

Firstly may I point out that I currently work at a call centre, I have moved from one bad call centre (which sale driven) to a customer service one for a different company.

Now when you ring a call centre after you get though the IVR (menu) which are there to help direct a call to someone who is trained to do it. ie 1 sales 2 customer service obviously a person in 2 customer service may not have the systems to sell items to you and it is not there job they are not trained in sales etc. So don't get mad at them. They will if they can ( there compaines fault not theirs if they can't) A case in point Midland Mainline train tickets are sold by Qjump in Sheffield they can only deal with tickets sold by them not problems with the train station etc which is dealt with by Midland Mainline customer relations in Derby. The IVR will direct you to the right department.

I do understand that some call centres treat their staff better than others, it is why I moved. I currently work for DSG who are great. Nice call centre (its the one on the parkway near the tram depot) nice staff and management, and nice level of holidays.

One thing to remember the person you are talking to is a person, try and stay calm and they will help you. Please remeber that if you shout your voice becomes distorted on the phone so they can't help you. Never swear at a call handler as they don't deserve it, and if its me after a warning I will disconnect the call. Do not put up with it from the kids won't from strangers.

As you will hear when you call these place it tells you that you call may be recorded or monitored and the reason why, do not think you can do the same. Well you can, but you have to inform the person that the call is being recoreded, they can refuse so don't be offended if they do, it is there right, just like your is to put down the phone when you here that message.

Do not be sursprised if the call handler refuses to give there surname, I always do, but give my extension instead. I do this for my own protection as my call centre is the only one in the company that deals with the call I do, so my place of work is reachable and traceable, so if I can not help a customer and they then want to track me down and speak to me in person, I will make it as hard as possible to do that. but I am always tracable at work though my extension. Also please remeber that the person who dealt with you may not be there. My hours of work can range from 9am-8pm some call centres open earlier and later and some 24 hours most call handlers will work shifts. So one week they will finish at 8pm the next start at 9am, or belive it or not hacve a day off, be on holiday or god forbid be sick.

Hope this helps when dealing with call centres, some are good some are bad (Yorkshire Cable/Blueyonder).

Jubby

Originally posted by Skatiechik
Right consider it this way you use 10 units of electricity regardless of how much it cost.

But say its costs 1p for 1 unit. So you have paid 10p.

But say you were paying 2p for unit. So you paid 20p for your electricity. Therefore you have been overcharged by 10p. Hope that explains it for you.

Of course we could all go into the Kwh explanation, but i dont think we need to go there.

Skatie

Thank you Skatie, but yes I do understand the overcharging bit. As I said in my post if you read it again I reckon he/she is owed around 800 quid.

What I don't understand is this :
to help you in you calculations consider the fact that the excessive amount of units used is because the meter was charging more for them so using them up quicker.

Can you explain that? How does the increased cost per unit cause more electricity to be used?

Nomme

But when I phone up on a neighbours phone to report that my phone isn't working (after being put on hold for over half-an-hour) and am finally told that it will be a week before an engineer can get round to my house, how am I supposed to react?

I am of course going to be upset. You would be wouldn't you?

This happened to me around 18 months ago.

I made numerous other calls to complain but no matter what I said, I could not get to the right person to complain to. I was so angry, I can tell you.

Eventually, after many, many calls and listening to hours and hours of supposedly soothing background music, I was given one month's free internet as an apology.

The engineer came and fixed it on time. One week later.

Originally posted by Sam Miguel
But when I phone up on a neighbours phone to report that my phone isn't working (after being put on hold for over half-an-hour) and am finally told that it will be a week before an engineer can get round to my house, how am I supposed to react?

I am of course going to be upset. You would be wouldn't you?

This happened to me around 18 months ago.

I made numerous other calls to complain but no matter what I said, I could not get to the right person to complain to. I was so angry, I can tell you.

Eventually, after many, many calls and listening to hours and hours of supposedly soothing background music, I was given one month's free internet as an apology.

The engineer came and fixed it on time. One week later.

What I was saying is because you were on hold for a long time, and they couldn't get anyone to you for a week, son't have a go at the call handler it is not there fault. Ask to speak to someone in charge, or write in to complain.

The call handler is doing there best to help you belive me, they don't want you shouting at them, so if they could anything to stop you shouting they will. As you were given a months free interent the company has admitted they have failed you there, and compensated you for it.

I generally try my very best to be as friendly as possible to any call handler when I'm trying to get good service - just out and out good manners and asking for help gets me the most amazing results most times...

After all, it's a real person on the end of the line (possibly even crossing their legs with their hand in the air ;) ) and we all know the only thing that gets anything done despite the system is people!

Even when I'm absolutely fed up with a situation I find asking the person at the other end to understand how I feel after being polite gets the best response...

your mileage may differ but it works for me :thumbsup:

But listen now: I can't help shouting at people on the phone - it's just a part of my nature. I have no quarrel with the call handlers, you understand. I am merely striving for justice and fair play for all.

I asked to speak to someone in charge, but still got nowhere. It really gets my goat! I believe that call handlers are scared of calling their supervisors over to deal with a problem, as it means they aren't handling the job properly themselves.

I only got the month's free internet because I requested it in a measured way ( well, OK then: demanded it loudly ). But I think it was the least they could do after how shabbily I had been treated, I am sure you will agree.

Originally posted by Sam Miguel
Don't talk to me about call-centres. They have subjected me to infinite levels of stress over the past two or three years.

Have a listen to this one! (file was passed around our work, I have no connection with BT!)

[Moderater Note: Contains swearing and may be offensive to some]

http://test.actconsult.net/tom/britishtelecom.mp3

What's the worst type of call anyone in a call centre has dealt with?

p.s. if it ever becomes clear the 1st person can't help me I always, very politely ask to speak to someone who does have the authority to make a decision in my favour ;)

Always escalate up the chain if you're not getting the service or respect you think you deserve!

Originally posted by tombeharrell
Have a listen to this one! (file was passed around our work, I have no connection with BT!)

http://test.actconsult.net/tom/britishtelecom.mp3


hilarious :D

warning... XXX certificate

aaah, i had the misfortune to work in the Abbey national call centre in town centre. I managed three months then had to run away. And it is apparently a good centre!

We didnt have to put our hands up to go to the bog, just type in '66', which was the managers idea of wit - picture got i trust.

Pressure permanently on to sell - even tho people were only ringing up for a frigging balance enquiry. as mentioned, the competition with the other teams was absurd, but some people got really into it. Then there was the permanent clock-watching - 1 minute late, 15min fine, that kinda tosh.

And they are a hgreat way of providing a terrible service. One woman, in her 70's/80's, rang up to move some mponey around her different accounts. Shje was old, and confused. So somehow she managed to move about £6000 into an ISA (iirr) and straight out again into a differant account. But she hadn't wanted to do that, so she tried to move the money back. But, with ISA's, you aren't allowed to invest more than 6k, so she couldnt. Had she tried to do the same thing at her local branch, they knew her, and would have said she didnt want to do that, and so the poor cow wouldnt have lost, well, a few hundred quids interest. But because it was some faceless bloke down a phone line somewhere, it was tough.

Call centres the new sweatchops? Absolutley.

I used to work for a financial institution that shall remain nameless, and the cross-selling was sheer maddness and got to the point where the staff were being blackmailed into hassling the customers to buy products that they didn't want or need.

The system was rigged so that the bonus one earned at the end of a quarter was more dependant upon cross-selling than actually performing in the function that you were employed.

Add to this the fact that the team leader was leaned on by having their own bonus made to disappear if their team did not make the targets. Thus the alienation flowed both ways and the team leaders who were used to a fat bonus with which to pay for a holiday started riding the poor drones on the phones like it was bloody doomsday.

Originally posted by nomme
Thank you Skatie, but yes I do understand the overcharging bit. As I said in my post if you read it again I reckon he/she is owed around 800 quid.

What I don't understand is this :


Can you explain that? How does the increased cost per unit cause more electricity to be used?

Nomme

On some of the token meters,instead of increasinging the cost per unit the meter is set to register more units than actually used.

ie: use 1 unit and pay for 2

Not sure if anyones mentioned it yet in this thread as its too long to read all in one, but I read today that AXA and Abbey are the next financial service organisations to out source call centre jobs to India and thus force redundancies on its UK workers.

Aren't Nationwide moving call centre jobs into Sheffield?

Call centres can be awful places. My mum worked in one years ago, where if you wanted to go to the loo you had to wait till a supervisor was near, then say "May I go?", but they eventually amended that so that you only had to say "May I?" Madness

Try not to be rude to call centre staff. Don't forget that the reason you spend so much time on hold is because they're dealing with hundreds of other customers like you, half of whom are also angry, and all of whom also think the world revolves around them. If they're tired, they've been shouted at all day and their boss keeps harrassing them to keep up with their targets, you can hardly blame them for not being 100% on top of things all the time.

I've heard of some wonderful call centre stories. Someone wanted us to buy him a car as a thank you for his custom. One CC member of staff refused to disclose information to a deep voiced woman because he thought she was a man (he told her this). Someone once threatened to report me to the Times newspaper because he didn't agree with the interest rate on the loan he'd taken out. One man wanted us to send a representative into the car-park to fight him, with the winner getting the money he thought we owed him. The list is endless, there are some right nutters who phone up.

Originally posted by Funky Dave
Aren't Nationwide moving call centre jobs into Sheffield?

Yeah, a few banks are finding that the Indian call centres aren't providing the level of customer satisfaction required, i.e. percentage of problems solved etc.

The Nationwide call centre will be above the Nationwide on Barker's Pool. It's been mentioned for ages, but might finally happen soon.

Originally posted by nomme
So from my quick calculations you're owed about 800 quid.



Actually, I don't get that. The amount of electricity used is determined by your demand. Surely whether you are charged 1p per unit or 1 pound per unit, it has no bearing on how many units you consume. Am I missing something or am I just being stupid?

Nomme

you score 9 points for a near miss, the actual figure owed to me is £837.

with these token meter contraptions the amount of electricity used is determined by the tariff it is set to,so a machine set to collect at 1p per unit would give you 100 units for £1, and a meter set to collect at 2p per unit would only give you 50 for your £1 so you pay the £1 and only get half the electric, i think thats right, oooooooooooooo me ed urts and i want me mam

I almost went for a call centre job late last year with the offer of "good money", it wasn't until I read the contract they sent that I saw it was all "performance related" so at the last minute I changed my mind and with some of the stories i've heard i'm glad I did!

Originally posted by Funky Dave
there are some right nutters who phone up.

At least you can put the phone down on them if you work in a call centre. At least you don't have nutters sat at your desk argueing that black is white... :loopy:

The worse thing is that most of the nutters come to us because the call centre staff say "Just go to a local branch and they'll sort it out..."

HAHAHAHAHA, I used to work at the DSG as jubby called it, and I have totally the opposite opinion, I hated working there, having to cope with people constantly shouting at you because they had the impression that their coverplan contract stated that they deserved an engineer to sort out their problems, without realising that an engineer won't help them with software problems and that we had to diagnose the problem first, I simply could not cope with the stress and quit.........glad I did.

Although, I get the impression that this company are losing money, they had planned an expansion at the side of the building where the car park is, but now that seems to have fallen through and building number 1 is being sold, hmmm, strange.

For most hell-desk places like Freeswerve and AOHell I would advise them to sign the hell-agreement and be done with it (if they like it or over X amount of time)

Others shold be warned and such - if they like it they like it and if they don't then cope or byeeee!

I don't like those who can see the sign which says X served and Y waiting and who is holding up or holed up by a customer unless it's important (goodbyes are not important :P)

Just one oppinion.

Take care all.

Originally posted by Kry10
HAHAHAHAHA, I used to work at the DSG as jubby called it, and I have totally the opposite opinion, I hated working there, having to cope with people constantly shouting at you because they had the impression that their coverplan contract stated that they deserved an engineer to sort out their problems, without realising that an engineer won't help them with software problems and that we had to diagnose the problem first, I simply could not cope with the stress and quit.........glad I did.


I agree having people screaming at you is realy bad. It's all a state of mind though. You have your bad Co's and your good Co's...

Your bad ones have X all to do with their customers and they still call...

The good ones apply everything they can with a backup of iddiot-language training (speaking in grunts and such at times) and will sucseed with their abilities and endurance to being able to click-off between calls so every call is a new call.

hehe...used to work at DSG for PC ServiceCall before they moved everyone to Nottingham. I really enjoyed it, never thought I'd say that - but yeah it was a decent year's work with a top bunch of people. I think I might just have been lucky tho :)

Some of the calls were amusing: "my PC won't come on, i want an engineer; oh hang on it's a power cut". We used to have one guy phone up drunk every few days and hurl random abuse at people. Those were worth listening in to!

Let's just get everything into context here.

There's a lot of people bashing call centres here - some who obviously don't believe in ANY kind of work by the looks of it, some who have worked in numerous call centres and some who have just a little experience.

I have plenty of call centre experience now - having worked with some of the people in this thread (PC Servicecall, DSG etc)

Surely you could present exactly the same thread about.. er.. working in a factory processing parts of chickens and get exactly the same bashing going on ?

Call Centres provide a HELL of a lot of work in this city to a lot of people - most of whom are happy to be employed in the job that they do.

I think we have to realise that working in call centres as an agent on the phones is NOT a lifetime career - you are looking at 18 months TOPS in one department or campaign before you become bored, fed up, negative etc and should move on.

I also think that due to high numbers of staff working in call centres that you are BOUND to hear stories and negative comments - but again you would hear this about any other trade or industry too.

I would also like to touch on the points made about companies having the cheek to ask it's employees to promote their products to customers calling up.

SHOCKING

Look - you are employed in a call centre - so SURPRISE SURPRISE you are asked to sit and take calls. SURELY YOU KNEW THIS WHEN YOU TOOK THE JOB ?!?

AND - you are working for a company who has been kind enough to give you a job. This company is in (for example) the financial world - yet they have the CHEEK to ask you to cross sell ?!?

I seriously wonder about some of the people in this thread.

If you don't like call centres (or work) then don't work in them.

It suits a LOT of people.

It's NOT for the revolutionary, idealistic, rebel type person - but is ideal for those who like (or need) to work with some order and structure in their lives.

I know plenty of people who wouldn't find work anywhere else who love working in call centres, who find the team structure fun and almost community like.

Dixon's call centre is a great place to work, with amazing facilities yet you seemingly always get the negative, moaning people who seemed to complain about all aspects of life there.

Personally I would have sacked them all and told em to clear off and find somewhere else to moan.

I really enjoyed my time at PC Servicecall - a SUPERB team who really worked together well and with FUN too..

Call centres aren't for everyone - but let's cool it a little with the bandwagon jumping call centre bashing - a LOT of people work in this sector and a LOT of people find it's great for them.

(and I didn't even mention the flexible working hours for single parents etc)

Can you not see that this silly, pathetic money-saving invention is not working and is never going to work?

As I said in a previous post: the first big company to admit that they were wrong and go back to the human-friendly method of old, might just start the ball rolling.

The World, I am sure, does not want - nor need, call-centres!!

Sorry to disappoint you people who work in these places but, if the system did collapse, I'm certain there would be places for you all answering the phone and sorting out problems in the friendly way that they used to.

Sir! I need a pee!

Well said fattybear. I'll declare an interest in this. My company has installed software for call centres known as Customer Relations Management packages (CRM). The people I have worked with in call centres have been extremely helpful and very, very friendly. Especially the operatives who bear the brunt of people's rudeness.

I don't think they'll go away for the simple reason that they are cost effective. Has nobody noticed that since the mid 80s companies, generally, are more profit driven than customer driven? In the 'good old days' you used to have to hang on until an actual engineer was available but now, with CRM, problems can be solved without recourse to an expensive expert.

I'm not saying that they're perfect but it's what companies want.

Oh, did I say that call centre staff are generally very nice people?

Couldn't have put it better fattybear, eveything you said's so true. I wish the company I work for now had such a fun, lively and enjoyable atmosphere in the workplace.

-- Up the team K!

Originally posted by Sam Miguel
Can you not see that this silly, pathetic money-saving invention is not working and is never going to work?

As I said in a previous post: the first big company to admit that they were wrong and go back to the human-friendly method of old, might just start the ball rolling.

The World, I am sure, does not want - nor need, call-centres!!

Sorry to disappoint you people who work in these places but, if the system did collapse, I'm certain there would be places for you all answering the phone and sorting out problems in the friendly way that they used to.

Sir! I need a pee!



ok - I just read this.

What I would like to know is..

1) What is the 'method of old' ?!?

2) How would YOU get thousands of phone calls (all about different subjects and relating to other departments) answered in a day ?

3) Surely call centres have been introduced to assist in productivity and ensure that MORE calls are answered ?

Or would you prefer to go back to the 'method of old' where you can't get through to anyone and have to sit listening to either a busy tone, or a ringing with nobody answering all day ?

You are merely presenting a problem and not offering a solution - if call centres are so bad - let's hear how YOU would solve it.. ?!? (over to you)

Point taken. Ok, I don't really have a solution.

All I know is that this call centre thing is just not working (for me at least). I may be an exception here, but 90% of the time I deal with a call centre, I finish up getting nothing but grief.

My original problem usually escalates causing me even more problems.

I remember ringing Telewest up with a query regarding my e mail account, and, God knows why or how, they cancelled my account causing me untold problems.

And people have been saying always ask the name of the call handler so you can get back to them. I always do this but hardly ever get back to the original person, and, in some cases, the person I speak to has never even heard of them!

This is true, I tell you.

How can I feel confident about these places when things like this happen?

All I know is that I got much more satisfaction in the days of old when individual queries were treated properly and you got the right advice.

I appreciate that these places provide precious jobs and am in no way blaming the call handlers, just the inept system.

I also appreciate that you are happy in your work - this is very uplifting as these places have such a bad name. I have never had to deal with any of the companies that you have worked for, so perhaps you have been lucky.

I am merely stating my opinions which I have formed as a result of my own personal experiences, that's all.

Originally posted by Kry10
HAHAHAHAHA, I used to work at the DSG as jubby called it, and I have totally the opposite opinion, I hated working there, having to cope with people constantly shouting at you because they had the impression that their coverplan contract stated that they deserved an engineer to sort out their problems, without realising that an engineer won't help them with software problems and that we had to diagnose the problem first, I simply could not cope with the stress and quit.........glad I did.

Although, I get the impression that this company are losing money, they had planned an expansion at the side of the building where the car park is, but now that seems to have fallen through and building number 1 is being sold, hmmm, strange.

I am sure with all call centres some people love it some people hate it and some are in the middle, and it sometimes depend on the call centre and the calls they are taking. I don't love it don't me wrong but its not an unpleasent job. The job is good it the people that call that are not. There are worse jobs and less paid jobs. The cleaners in the Oasis jobs were advertised at £4.50 an hour, back breaking work especially at school holidays and christmas/sales time. I get £6 an hour to sit on my arse all day and talk on the phone. I like DSG because its a lot better than the last call centre I worked in. I don't with coverplan I work in PC World. It may be just the way you personally handle customers and the many you handle their complaint. At the moment due to larger than expected demand (hence not losing but making money) soem orders are delyed and we have people coming on to complain. I handle the calls and my escalation rate is currntly zero, as I explain to the customer what has gone wrong. Exactly the same as a team leader would do. Incedently with PC Performance they do offer a software support line at national rate for customers who took out PC Performance after 30/06/03.

As to Building One. It is not up for sale anymoer its just the estate agent hasn't took down the signs. The reason they moved everybody into Building Two was not because they were losing money but to save maoney, which any business is always looking to do.

the DSG Contact Centre is having responsilbility transfered to a company called Capita and they will be moving their insurance call centre to Building One. Lets see how this move will change the contact centre experience for me.

Great thread.

One other comment I will make is this..

You can rest assured that if you don't treat the call handler with respect, or if you start complaining about the IVR, or you start complaining about the amount of time it's taken to get through etc that you WILL be treat with COMPLETE CONTEMPT

(and rightly so)

This is a HARD job - a stressful job.

It wouldnt' be if the general public chilled out a little - but they seem to think they are clever by bullying some poor single parent mother who is trying to earn a living by helping customers out over the phone.

I totally sympathise with the call handlers. It's not their fault.

Originally posted by fattybear
Great thread.

One other comment I will make is this..

You can rest assured that if you don't treat the call handler with respect, or if you start complaining about the IVR, or you start complaining about the amount of time it's taken to get through etc that you WILL be treat with COMPLETE CONTEMPT

(and rightly so)

This is a HARD job - a stressful job.

It wouldnt' be if the general public chilled out a little - but they seem to think they are clever by bullying some poor single parent mother who is trying to earn a living by helping customers out over the phone.

Been doing overtime today catching up on emails, as the phone lines have been so busy people are emailing thinking that will get a reply quicker... They don't relise a person has to answer them, so one less person on the phones.

Had one email today requesting that we email her to confirm that we have replied to this email. Now if she didn't get the first email does she really think she will the the email confirming the first one was sent. And by repling isn't that confirmation in itself?

Jubby

Quality mate..

lol

I currently work in a call centre on the edge of rotherham! It outsources its work to lots of different companies! Ive worked there so for 2 and a half years so far, and i think im reaching the end of my time there!!

I absolutely hate it now!!! I started off working on the Telewest unit, upgrading/downgrading tv packages and taking credit card payments!! Simple stuff, enjoyable as it was straight-forward! Hardly had any irate customers that ended up having to speak to a manager as i was usually able to deal with the call myself! Customers only spoke to my manager if they wouldn't believe a word i was saying!!

Ive now been shipped to the British Gas unit....absolute hell! haha I have never spoken to people on the phone who are as rude and nasty as some of the customers who come through there! I admit they are angry for a reason, and even though i try to help them out as much as i possibly can, i just cant win! The amount of abusive ive taken is unreal!!!

I do understand that customers may be angry for having to wait in queues, and get annoyed by the IVR's etc and then generally the problem they are ringing up for, but to take it out on the person on the other end of the phone, generally doesnt help at all! I hear this all day every day, and it does get to you, i go to work everyday dreading whats gonna come through when i click available!! Thats why whenever i ring up somewhere, i dont get irate, i dont moan about the queue times, as they probably hear it all day, and i dont even mention anything about them putting me on hold...they might be new, so dont scare them into keeping u on hold even longer ;) hehe

To make it worse, when they said we were being transferred onto the unit, it was customer service only! excellent, now a yr down the line and we have daily sales targets, which seem to be more important than making sure we do our "original" jobs correctly!!

Taken from an earlier post aswell, most of the people i work with are intelligent people! Im using it as a stepping-stone (albeit a very long one the way its shaping up) until i decided what type of career i want! (I started there after my a-levels as didnt want to go to uni, as didnt know what course i wanted to do, so didnt see the point in getting into debt for something i wasnt sure about!) Ive stayed there a lot longer than i wanted too, but its easy money in comparision to other jobs!! Its getting all too stale though now...ive gotta make the decisions to get out!!

I do think that if run correctly call centres could be a great thing, but there are certain areas where it lacks the professionalism to make it work brilliantly, and this is where all this negativity comes..from both those who work in them, and those who phone them up!!

Sorry about the VERY long post, but im new to the forum, and have been catchin up on everything thats been said...

I'm sorry, but it's no use apologising for the length of you post, It won't wash with me.

Seriously, though, if these places do things like this to their loyal employees (and customers) , then isn't it time for a re-think?

I used to work for DSG and the place is a hell hole. New building but roof leaks when it rains, air conditioning makes the air so dry you get chapped lips in a couple of hours and can't breath without a drink etc. Never got stressed out there though (never been stressed in any job to be honest), maybe because I have the attitude - what's the worst they're going to do, fire me? Oh no the sheer hell of it :)

Quite why someone (Skatiechik me thinks) remarked that people who work in call centres aren't that clever is beyond me. They are normal people like anyone else - some are clever, some not so clever but they can all just about string a sentence together which is a lot more than staff at other places can do.

What you do realise after working in any customer service based role - it's the general public that are retarded.... ;)

Originally posted by karandak
I currently work in a call centre on the edge of rotherham! It outsources its work to lots of different companies! Ive worked there so for 2 and a half years so far, and i think im reaching the end of my time there!!

I absolutely hate it now!!! I started off working on the Telewest unit, upgrading/downgrading tv packages and taking credit card payments!! Simple stuff, enjoyable as it was straight-forward! Hardly had any irate customers that ended up having to speak to a manager as i was usually able to deal with the call myself! Customers only spoke to my manager if they wouldn't believe a word i was saying!!

Ive now been shipped to the British Gas unit....absolute hell! haha I have never spoken to people on the phone who are as rude and nasty as some of the customers who come through there! I admit they are angry for a reason, and even though i try to help them out as much as i possibly can, i just cant win! The amount of abusive ive taken is unreal!!!

I do understand that customers may be angry for having to wait in queues, and get annoyed by the IVR's etc and then generally the problem they are ringing up for, but to take it out on the person on the other end of the phone, generally doesnt help at all! I hear this all day every day, and it does get to you, i go to work everyday dreading whats gonna come through when i click available!! Thats why whenever i ring up somewhere, i dont get irate, i dont moan about the queue times, as they probably hear it all day, and i dont even mention anything about them putting me on hold...they might be new, so dont scare them into keeping u on hold even longer ;) hehe

To make it worse, when they said we were being transferred onto the unit, it was customer service only! excellent, now a yr down the line and we have daily sales targets, which seem to be more important than making sure we do our "original" jobs correctly!!

Taken from an earlier post aswell, most of the people i work with are intelligent people! Im using it as a stepping-stone (albeit a very long one the way its shaping up) until i decided what type of career i want! (I started there after my a-levels as didnt want to go to uni, as didnt know what course i wanted to do, so didnt see the point in getting into debt for something i wasnt sure about!) Ive stayed there a lot longer than i wanted too, but its easy money in comparision to other jobs!! Its getting all too stale though now...ive gotta make the decisions to get out!!

I do think that if run correctly call centres could be a great thing, but there are certain areas where it lacks the professionalism to make it work brilliantly, and this is where all this negativity comes..from both those who work in them, and those who phone them up!!

Sorry about the VERY long post, but im new to the forum, and have been catchin up on everything thats been said...

Ypu must be at Ventura. Never have heard a good thing about that place. The problem when compaines out source, is the company you're representing sometimes loses touch with what is happening to their customers ringing and the call handlers taking the calls. At the end of the day Ventura is there to make money and taking on targets keeps them in the market place, if they don't meet these targets the compainies may take there business elsewhere.

Originally posted by Sam Miguel
Can you not see that this silly, pathetic money-saving invention is not working and is never going to work?

As I said in a previous post: the first big company to admit that they were wrong and go back to the human-friendly method of old, might just start the ball rolling.

The World, I am sure, does not want - nor need, call-centres!!

Sorry to disappoint you people who work in these places but, if the system did collapse, I'm certain there would be places for you all answering the phone and sorting out problems in the friendly way that they used to.

Sir! I need a pee!

Sorry Sam meant to pick up on this earlier.

If the company I work for which is on the PC World Branch Helpline stopped and you went to the old way it would be cr*p.

99% of the calls I take are - is this in stock, when do you open etc. So if I am not there to answer that you would have to get of your backside go to store andsee if it is open and the products are in stock. By phoning me you can stay dry and warm and possible not have a wasted journey. The other calls I take that the old way wouldn't help is "Where are you?" and they mean the store not me personally. Some things I can't solve like business queires and store complaints they have to go though o the strore by me transferring them.
I admit that some things can be done the old fashion way but in support with the phone lines or should that be the phones lines should be in support of the old fashion way. There are people out there that can't get to places easy do age, disabilty or just a rubbish public transport system (theres a thread on that on here).

Next time its blowing a gale and chucking it down and you need to pay for something what would rather do Sam stay in the house nice and dry and be in a Q for 20 mins etc or leave the house drive etc to a bank or shop etc? I know which I'd rather do!!!

Anyone who works in the call centre world may be interested that thee is a trade magazine out there.

It is on a free subscription to thoses who meet the citrea, I assume that is you work in the industry...

Here is the link

http://www.callcentre.co.uk/

Cheers

Jubby

Wht should anyone have to go through a call centre to find out if something is in stock or find out if a particular item is in stock. query re opening times?

It absolutely beats me.

Jubby: are you telling me that if I want to know such basic things as this, I have to go through the call centre?

If so, it's much, much worse than I thought.

I mean, where's it all going to end?

Christ on a bike! If things carry on like this, even the local corner shops are going to belong to some sort of call-centre syndicate where call-handlers answer queries on their behalf.

I'm sorry, but I think I'd sooner get in the car and take my chances than be held in a queue to find out when some retail giant's late-night opening is, or if they have any floppy disks left.

It's just gone plain crazy.

Originally posted by Sam Miguel
Wht should anyone have to go through a call centre to find out if something is in stock or find out if a particular item is in stock. query re opening times?

It absolutely beats me.

Jubby: are you telling me that if I want to know such basic things as this, I have to go through the call centre?

If so, it's much, much worse than I thought.

I mean, where's it all going to end?

Christ on a bike! If things carry on like this, even the local corner shops are going to belong to some sort of call-centre syndicate where call-handlers answer queries on their behalf.

I'm sorry, but I think I'd sooner get in the car and take my chances than be held in a queue to find out when some retail giant's late-night opening is, or if they have any floppy disks left.

It's just gone plain crazy.

When the sale period is on things go out of stock. As for opening times do you know when PC World is open to on which days?? Sundays is tricky as to which 6 hours are they open it varies from store to store. Also you might be after a paticluar item or peice of software, PC World is very big and we stock 1000's of items but not everything!! If you want to get in your car and have a wasted journey so be it, in the wind and rain etc as well...
A lot of our customers aren't lucky to have a store nearby. Ikea do the same thing and there nearest Ikea to Sheffield is Nottingham then Leeds a long way to go to find out its out of stock or closed.

Originally posted by jubby
When the sale period is on things go out of stock. As for opening times do you know when PC World is open to on which days?? Sundays is tricky as to which 6 hours are they open it varies from store to store. Also you might be after a paticluar item or peice of software, PC World is very big and we stock 1000's of items but not everything!! If you want to get in your car and have a wasted journey so be it, in the wind and rain etc as well...
A lot of our customers aren't lucky to have a store nearby. Ikea do the same thing and there nearest Ikea to Sheffield is Nottingham then Leeds a long way to go to find out its out of stock or closed.

Also the phone line offers a mail order facility, and some things are cheaper online and not everyone has web access (might be why they're buying a computer) With large items you might not have room in the car to bring them home (or even a car) so whats the point to go to a store to arrange it to be delivered when you can do that on the phone.

Also no one said you had to go though a callcentre the choice to phone or go to store is up to you

Sorry, Jubby, I'm with you now. I thought that you were saying that you couldn't phone the store direct. I really panicked. I really thought the human race was done for!!

Yes, I would phone a store to find out if something was in stock or what their opening times were.

But I would not phone a call-centre for something as trivial as this.

Originally posted by Sam Miguel
Sorry, Jubby, I'm with you now. I thought that you were saying that you couldn't phone the store direct. I really panicked. I really thought the human race was done for!!

Yes, I would phone a store to find out if something was in stock or what their opening times were.

But I would not phone a call-centre for something as trivial as this.

Hate to burst you're bubble here

in the case of PC World you can't phone the stores direct all calls are fielded by the contact centre. This is so over 130 people aren't employed in stores just to answer the phone (1 each store) over the various shift patterns. When a group of people centrally can check for you. This makes life a bit easier for the customer becuase say you wanted something in Sheffield and it was out of stock we could check stock at rotherham chesterfield and barnsley (when that store opens) all at the same time safeing you possibly 3 more calls and therefore saving time and money. You may disagree. People tend to want store staff dealing with quries with people in store not talking on the phone. What would happen if the telephone person was sick, one less on the shop floor!!! You then as a in store customer not be served. The choice is there for you. Phone in advance or risk your trip to store. Also if only one person is there to answer the phone the wait may be longer than calling a call centre. A lot of calls we get are for the same areas, today I took 7 calls for Derby store in a row. this is for example.

Correct Jubby (would love to know who's team you're on.. !)

The whole call centre thing is not simply there as a great idea - it's a proven workable and very sensible thing..

DSG contact centre is a great place to work - loads of great people and very nice facilities.

Most of the people slating it have probably been fired for being work shy losers.

lol

Originally posted by jubby
Hate to burst you're bubble here

in the case of PC World you can't phone the stores direct all calls are fielded by the contact centre. This is so over 130 people aren't employed in stores just to answer the phone (1 each store) over the various shift patterns. When a group of people centrally can check for you. This makes life a bit easier for the customer becuase say you wanted something in Sheffield and it was out of stock we could check stock at rotherham chesterfield and barnsley (when that store opens) all at the same time safeing you possibly 3 more calls and therefore saving time and money. You may disagree. People tend to want store staff dealing with quries with people in store not talking on the phone. What would happen if the telephone person was sick, one less on the shop floor!!! You then as a in store customer not be served. The choice is there for you. Phone in advance or risk
your trip to store. Also if only one person is there to answer the phone the wait may be longer than calling a call centre. A lot of Whaytcalls we get are for the same areas, today I took 7 calls for Derby store in a row. this is for example.

You're perfectly right, I most certainly do disagree.

This is just getting worse!

I'm only talking about a simple enquiry like wanting to know what time the shop opens and shuts, and you are saying that I have to go through the pallaver of phoning your call-centre to find out!

You are, aren't you?

What would happen if was in the store? Would it make life easier for the staff if I phoned your call-centre from my mobile to find out what time they closed? Would it be more convenient if I did the same regarding what was in stock in the store?

What would happen if there was a genuine emergency in one of your stores, God forbid?

As there don't appear to be any phones in your stores, someone would have to phone the emergency services up on their mobile (presumably you can still get through direct). And, highly unlikely I know, but what if the fire engine got lost on its way to the shop?

Would they have to phone your call-centre to find out where the store was so they could put the fire out? It'd be razed to the ground before they got there!

It's terrifying! It really is!

yay treble post :rolleyes:

yay treble post :rolleyes:

Sam the stores do have phones it's just they are internal numbers and shouldn't be given to customers. There is absolutely no reason you should need to speak to the store direct, if you make a quick call to the store to ask opening times you take that person away from an instore customer for the duration of the call, not good business sense. Instead it makes sense to have one call centre where trained call handlers are there to answer your query - you'll get exactly the same answer as you would when ringing the store but you are letting the store workers get on with their job. It also makes it a lot easier to monitor information people are giving out and hopefully reduces errors etc.

Originally posted by fattybear
Correct Jubby (would love to know who's team you're on.. !)

The whole call centre thing is not simply there as a great idea - it's a proven workable and very sensible thing..

DSG contact centre is a great place to work - loads of great people and very nice facilities.

Most of the people slating it have probably been fired for being work shy losers.

lol

In your opinion maybe, in mine it's a terrible place to be - the building is a joke to say it's brand new - the air conditiong dries the air out far too much and spreads germs in a way Bin Laden would be proud of. The management were (are) useless, the pay is pathetic, some of the rules just make you laugh, most of the people I worked alongside were strange to say the least. We weren't even told until we'd been there 4-5 months who we were actually employed by!

As I say though everyone likes different things. For your information I wasn't fired for being work shy, I left to become self employed working 16-18 hour days doing a much more rewarding, fun job :)

Originally posted by fnkysknky
Sam the stores do have phones it's just they are internal numbers and shouldn't be given to customers. There is absolutely no reason you should need to speak to the store direct, if you make a quick call to the store to ask opening times you take that person away from an instore customer for the duration of the call, not good business sense. Instead it makes sense to have one call centre where trained call handlers are there to answer your query - you'll get exactly the same answer as you would when ringing the store but you are letting the store workers get on with their job. It also makes it a lot easier to monitor information people are giving out and hopefully reduces errors etc.

Okay, I can accept that the call-handlers know their job. That isn't my gripe. it just seems such a roundabout way of doing things.

Are you saying that it warrants being put into some
twenty-minute call-queue just to find out what time they shut?

I find this hard to justify.

I go in the Meadowhall Retail Park branch regularly and bought my printer there just before Christmas. Are we also saying that they are so short-staffed and overworked and that there is never a spare member of staff available to answer the phone?

I think perhaps not, for when I go in there, there are always plenty of assistants knocking around who are not with customers.

I believe that this call-centre lark is just another form of the modern-day fragmentation trend that all companies seem to be going through at the moment.

Each department within a company is like a seperate company and this way there is little or no communication, nothing ever gets done, and no-one can ever get the blame for anything because, at the end of the day, no-one is actually reponsible.

I'll take your post point by point if I may..


"mine it's a terrible place to be - the building is a joke to say it's brand new - the air conditiong dries the air out far too much and spreads germs in a way Bin Laden would be proud of."

Do you have statistics to prove this ?

As a former manager at this contact centre I can categorically state that it simply isn't true.



"The management were (are) useless"

In what way ?

How do you mean ?





"We weren't even told until we'd been there 4-5 months who we were actually employed by!"

You mean you didn't have the brains to ask at your INTERVIEW ??!



"the pay is pathetic"

The pay is actually one of the most competitive in the city - when I worked there (started as a caller) I actually thought it OVERPAID if anything. (and yes - I really do believe that)



"some of the rules just make you laugh"

Such as ?



"most of the people I worked alongside were strange to say the least."

In what way ?!?



Your statements seem to have no foundation whatsoever - back them up and I will listen to your argument.

Originally posted by fattybear


As a former manager at this contact centre I can categorically state that it simply isn't true.

Ah-ah! Do you know: I just knew there was something deep and underlying going on!

Why didn't I guess!

Case dismissed.

note: FORMER manager

I have nothing to either promote nor slate the place for - no interests either way other than the truth.

Oh, I really can't be bothered anymore.

Call-centres were the pits for me at the beginning of this thread (I must re-iterate that the staff who work in them, in my experience, are usually fine) but from what I've read and learned about them since then, they seem to be far, far worse places than I first thought.

Dear me.

Originally posted by Sam Miguel
You're perfectly right, I most certainly do disagree.

This is just getting worse!

I'm only talking about a simple enquiry like wanting to know what time the shop opens and shuts, and you are saying that I have to go through the pallaver of phoning your call-centre to find out!

You are, aren't you?

What would happen if was in the store? Would it make life easier for the staff if I phoned your call-centre from my mobile to find out what time they closed? Would it be more convenient if I did the same regarding what was in stock in the store?

What would happen if there was a genuine emergency in one of your stores, God forbid?

As there don't appear to be any phones in your stores, someone would have to phone the emergency services up on their mobile (presumably you can still get through direct). And, highly unlikely I know, but what if the fire engine got lost on its way to the shop?

Would they have to phone your call-centre to find out where the store was so they could put the fire out? It'd be razed to the ground before they got there!

It's terrifying! It really is!

Now you're getting silly. Are you saying then that if you were in a store you would phone to see if it was open??? If it wasn't open how did you get in. Large stores have to by law display there normal opening times so if you were in store all you have to do is read the notice near the entrance. As for stock use your eyes and look on shelves or ask a member of staff why do you need to phone them.

As to an emergency, if it was a member of staff or their family etc, they have a direct number to the manager which even when stores did take calls only the staff could use the manager's line. As for a fire in store the store would dial 999 and (depending it wasn't a managers mobile) the XD number would show up on the operators screen (oh no not a call centre how does 999 work???) if it didn't becuase its on a switchboard network the staff member would give the managers line number. Only customers need to come though the call centre. Before you ask can customer have ther managers line number - NO - it is for emergency purposes only.

I'd like to point out (I found this out at work today) the aveage length of time a customer was on the phone waiting for the store to answer was 30 mins with over 60% hanging up. With the call centre it is an average of 5 mins with only around 10% hanging up.
If you don't belive the amount of calls we take in the last four week period (14/12/03-09/01/04) I took 2520 calls, my team of 18 took 34106, i think there are around ten teams, so if every team took around the same amount of calls that would be over 1/4 million calls. And there just the ones we answer, not including those who hang up when we are busy, also doesn't include any outgoing calls, or emails. Now you expect the store to handle that amount, basicly they couldn't so that is why DSG invested in the call centre. We take calls fora large varity of DSG companies, I just take PC World.

Originally posted by fnkysknky
In your opinion maybe, in mine it's a terrible place to be - the building is a joke to say it's brand new - the air conditiong dries the air out far too much and spreads germs in a way Bin Laden would be proud of. The management were (are) useless, the pay is pathetic, some of the rules just make you laugh, most of the people I worked alongside were strange to say the least. We weren't even told until we'd been there 4-5 months who we were actually employed by!

As I say though everyone likes different things. For your information I wasn't fired for being work shy, I left to become self employed working 16-18 hour days doing a much more rewarding, fun job :)

The pay is good for call centres (I was on less than the last call centre 3k a year in fact) well above the minimum wage, and that is the basic. As for not knowing who you worked for, firstly did the flags outside not it give away, the big signs on each floor and the fact your contract says in it all the way though?????

Air conditioning in any building where peopl don't move alot the air gets dry. As I said befroe there are worse jobs and lower paid.

Good on ya for creating a job for you where you work part time and enjoy. Call centres is not my first choice of career theatre is but I have a family and can't take jobs unless I leave them here in Sheffield, did that when I was a student not fun. I have had to turn down jobs, one was as Assistant Script Supervisor for BBC Bristol working on Casualty.

Originally posted by Sam Miguel
Okay, I can accept that the call-handlers know their job. That isn't my gripe. it just seems such a roundabout way of doing things.

Are you saying that it warrants being put into some
twenty-minute call-queue just to find out what time they shut?

I find this hard to justify.

I go in the Meadowhall Retail Park branch regularly and bought my printer there just before Christmas. Are we also saying that they are so short-staffed and overworked and that there is never a spare member of staff available to answer the phone?

I think perhaps not, for when I go in there, there are always plenty of assistants knocking around who are not with customers.

I believe that this call-centre lark is just another form of the modern-day fragmentation trend that all companies seem to be going through at the moment.

Each department within a company is like a seperate company and this way there is little or no communication, nothing ever gets done, and no-one can ever get the blame for anything because, at the end of the day, no-one is actually reponsible.

I went in there just before christmas and it took 30 mins to get an assistant to get a product out of one of the lockers.

I was there two weeks ago and i Q'd at the tills for 10 mins thats how busy they are. I get no special treatment they don't know I work for the same group until I show my staff discount. You are lucky to go in there when they have been quiet, they are not quiet all day. If we have to speak to store sometimes they are so busy they don't answer the phoen for us, what chance has a customer got???

Originally posted by Sam Miguel
Oh, I really can't be bothered anymore.

Call-centres were the pits for me at the beginning of this thread (I must re-iterate that the staff who work in them, in my experience, are usually fine) but from what I've read and learned about them since then, they seem to be far, far worse places than I first thought.

Dear me.

I what way do you think they are worse? You tell me how you would find a number for say Central School of Speech and Drama, without using a call centre??? Tell me how the "old way"

Ah, now you think you've got me there, don't you? You think I'm going to say that I'd ring Directory Enquiries, come on, you do don't you?

Which is, of couse, a call centre?

Well. I wouldn't.

You see, in the extremely unlikely event that I wanted to talk to the speech and drama school or whatever it is, I would do a search on the internet and get their number.

Simple.

Originally posted by Sam Miguel
Ah, now you think you've got me there, don't you? You think I'm going to say that I'd ring Directory Enquiries, come on, you do don't you?

Which is, of couse, a call centre?

Well. I wouldn't.

You see, in the extremely unlikely event that I wanted to talk to the speech and drama school or whatever it is, I would do a search on the internet and get their number.

Simple.

What if it was a domestic number. And the only free directory service I know is 118 500 via BT.com and you need to be a BT customer and not everyone is. What happen if it couldn't be found. Took ages to find W H Smith number on this site, had to just search smith and scroll though several pages. No match on WH Smith.

What if your internet connection went down. CSSD was an example of a company (well higher education school) that isn't in sheffield so not in local phone book.

If it started to get that complicated, I really don't think I could be a***ed.

Originally posted by jubby
What if it was a domestic number. And the only free directory service I know is 118 500 via BT.com and you need to be a BT customer and not everyone is. What happen if it couldn't be found. Took ages to find W H Smith number on this site, had to just search smith and scroll though several pages. No match on WH Smith.

What if your internet connection went down. CSSD was an example of a company (well higher education school) that isn't in sheffield so not in local phone book.

What my point is that call centres are very good in a lot of cases (not in some I will admit) and the internet btw is not the old way not been round that long. They can make things easier and quicker. Not everyone has a computer car etc, so using the phone is the best option for them to find out information.

I will use a personal example to show how call centres can work for the better - needed to update my employment info for Tax Credits. My working hours at that time (during my training) was the same as the Tax Inquiry Office in tow, so couldn't go in personnaly either before or after work. Phoned them up on the national number and took two options on the IVR and about 30secs q'ing took then 5 mins to change the info cause system was slow (could have been slow in office same system) so less than 6 mins to sort out instead of going out my way to go to the tax office. Would have took a good 1/2 hour to walk cross town and back. plus time in office. btw I don't use a car to go to work public transport (tram doesn't stop near tax office)

Originally posted by Sam Miguel
If it started to get that complicated, I really don't think I could be a***ed.
can't be a***d about what

I needed to contact w h smith to see if a magazine I'd ordered had come in, didn't want a wasted trip. You be pleased to know the call went straight to store not a call centre. (Took 12 mins to answer the phone)

But that's not what we are in conflict about, is it?

I would always try to ring a shop up first before going to check up on whatever it was I wanted.

That is just common sense. I'm not arguing about that.

What I'm saying is that it is a bit OTT to have to go through a call centre just to make some basic enquiry as to whether they have any of those coloured, plastic paperclips in stock.

I'm right, aren't I?

Originally posted by jubby
The pay is good for call centres (I was on less than the last call centre 3k a year in fact) well above the minimum wage, and that is the basic. As for not knowing who you worked for, firstly did the flags outside not it give away, the big signs on each floor and the fact your contract says in it all the way though?????

Air conditioning in any building where peopl don't move alot the air gets dry. As I said befroe there are worse jobs and lower paid.

Good on ya for creating a job for you where you work part time and enjoy. Call centres is not my first choice of career theatre is but I have a family and can't take jobs unless I leave them here in Sheffield, did that when I was a student not fun. I have had to turn down jobs, one was as Assistant Script Supervisor for BBC Bristol working on Casualty.

1. When I worked there I saw no flags for CCM (Contact Centre Management) who were the employers of everyone in the call centre. As far as everyone on the floor was aware we were employed by PCSC but no, turned out we weren't.

2. 16-18 hours a day is not part time in anyones books.

3. If I remember correctly it worked out about 6 quid an hour which is far from a good wage. Maybe that is good for call centres, only worked in the one and wouldn't dream of going back.

fattybear - the building is only a few years old yet when it rains there is a mad dash for the buckets as the fancy glass roof leaks, maybe they've sorted it by now but I doubt it. One day while I was working we had a power cut, for the next 3 weeks none of the fire doors could be closed as they keycard system was screwed. All the fire doors were propped open with chairs etc. - health and safety/fire service would have closed it down in a second had they known. Then there are the lifts which were being repaired 3/4 times a week on average while I worked there. On first appearances I thought the building seemed very good, after being there a month or two I realised just how poorly it had been put together.

The management that I dealt with were particularly poor, they had no clue about what PCSC were about and all they went on about were poxy fix rates and the like. We were constantly told to fob customers off even if we knew they needed an engineer booking to try and save money. Basically it became a game between the team leaders - pass round the customers until they become irate as no TL wanted the parts cost assosciated with their team. The floor manager was just some pretentious prat in a suit who walked around looking lost all day. In fact the PCSC management were so good that not long after I left they moved PCSC back to Nottingham after the migration to Sheffield had failed miserably. Then there's the whole Nimda worm episode where the computer systems of the call centre were taken down for days on end because the sys admin was too useless to put decent security in place.

As I've pointed out above - no one was told they were employed by CCM not PCSC. As for the contract I can't ever remember seeing one. Mind you I didn't fill in an application form until 3 weeks after starting the job, that's how good their organisation was.

The rules pertaining to absences were nothing short of ridiculous. You could have a month off at once and no one would say anything yet if you were off for one day on two seperate occasions over the course of six months it was a disciplinary matter. Being that the air con circulated everyones germs to everyone else there were higher than average absences. Oh and plenty of people were off with stress to, never understood why myself but there you go. The floor absence was running at over 10% at one point!

Pay is a matter of opinion - personally I found it pathetic and went on to a job where I could earn more in a few hours than I could working at week at the call centre. Maybe if you're a school leaver it's not too bad but for a full time job it's just not enough.

Originally posted by fnkysknky
1. When I worked there I saw no flags for CCM (Contact Centre Management) who were the employers of everyone in the call centre. As far as everyone on the floor was aware we were employed by PCSC but no, turned out we weren't.

2. 16-18 hours a day is not part time in anyones books.

3. If I remember correctly it worked out about 6 quid an hour which is far from a good wage. Maybe that is good for call centres, only worked in the one and wouldn't dream of going back.

1. I don't work for CCM, I work for Dixon's Store Group, which is also what it says on the Bernard Road entrance, and on my contract. CCM is the department within DSG.

2. Sorry I thought you meant 16 hours a week.

3. £6 is well above the minimum wage. What about the guys who work at the Oasis at Meadowhall only on £4.50 and a lot harder job.

Originally posted by fnkysknky
fattybear - the building is only a few years old yet when it rains there is a mad dash for the buckets as the fancy glass roof leaks, maybe they've sorted it by now but I doubt it. One day while I was working we had a power cut, for the next 3 weeks none of the fire doors could be closed as they keycard system was screwed. All the fire doors were propped open with chairs etc. - health and safety/fire service would have closed it down in a second had they known. Then there are the lifts which were being repaired 3/4 times a week on average while I worked there. On first appearances I thought the building seemed very good, after being there a month or two I realised just how poorly it had been put together.

The management that I dealt with were particularly poor, they had no clue about what PCSC were about and all they went on about were poxy fix rates and the like. We were constantly told to fob customers off even if we knew they needed an engineer booking to try and save money. Basically it became a game between the team leaders - pass round the customers until they become irate as no TL wanted the parts cost assosciated with their team. The floor manager was just some pretentious prat in a suit who walked around looking lost all day. In fact the PCSC management were so good that not long after I left they moved PCSC back to Nottingham after the migration to Sheffield had failed miserably. Then there's the whole Nimda worm episode where the computer systems of the call centre were taken down for days on end because the sys admin was too useless to put decent security in place.

As I've pointed out above - no one was told they were employed by CCM not PCSC. As for the contract I can't ever remember seeing one. Mind you I didn't fill in an application form until 3 weeks after starting the job, that's how good their organisation was.

The rules pertaining to absences were nothing short of ridiculous. You could have a month off at once and no one would say anything yet if you were off for one day on two seperate occasions over the course of six months it was a disciplinary matter. Being that the air con circulated everyones germs to everyone else there were higher than average absences. Oh and plenty of people were off with stress to, never understood why myself but there you go. The floor absence was running at over 10% at one point!

Pay is a matter of opinion - personally I found it pathetic and went on to a job where I could earn more in a few hours than I could working at week at the call centre. Maybe if you're a school leaver it's not too bad but for a full time job it's just not enough.

Firstly rained a lot over the last few weeks didn't see any buckets or signs of wet floors.

Secondly all the doors that are controlled by a door lock (this is not all fire doors as some are push bar) are electo magnetic controlled without power the magnet fails so the door can't be locked, this doesn't mean it can't close just not lock.

Also on your pay slip it states your employer in big letters in red on the top. Everyone who works for the Dixon Store Group, be it group direct as in this case, or in a store (PC World, Dixon's, Curry's, The Link, etc) all get a pay slip with Dixons Store Group written on the top. It also has your group discount slip which is renewed every pay day, which also has DSG on top.
As for not signing a contract that is your fault, you should have pushed for this. Also when I get paid in the bank it says DSG for who transfered the BACS amount.

I know the above becuase I have worked previously in store and for Mastercare.

I need the lifts and they haven't been out of order while I've been there.

As to the sick thing its two instances in a pay period (every 4 weeks) this is too avoid people taking the p*ss and taking time off when all they have is a hangover. After all they pay you sick pay, so its only right to find out if your illness is genuine or you taking the mick.

You are right pay is a matter of opinon but people are on less and more in these and other jobs.

Originally posted by Sam Miguel
But that's not what we are in conflict about, is it?

I would always try to ring a shop up first before going to check up on whatever it was I wanted.

That is just common sense. I'm not arguing about that.

What I'm saying is that it is a bit OTT to have to go through a call centre just to make some basic enquiry as to whether they have any of those coloured, plastic paperclips in stock.

I'm right, aren't I?

Thats ok if they have the staff to answer the phone in the first place.

Well, if they don't have the staff in the first place, they have obviously not sat down long enough to work out the correct straffing levels.

Can't you see: this whole thing is designed to save money for the company. There only real intersests are making as much profit as possible, at the expense of the customers and the staff who work for them.

Any caring attitude that appears to surface through, is purely superficial and done entirely for PR reasons.

Originally posted by Sam Miguel
Well, if they don't have the staff in the first place, they have obviously not sat down long enough to work out the correct straffing levels.

Can't you see: this whole thing is designed to save money for the company. There only real intersests are making as much profit as possible, at the expense of the customers and the staff who work for them.

Any caring attitude that appears to surface through, is purely superficial and done entirely for PR reasons.

Every store will have a budget so for a store that is open 11 hours, minimum of two sould have to be employed to answer the phone. So 22k a year the store has to budget for. If the store can't do this than yes it is cheaper to do it centrally. What if one of those is sick, the phones go unanswered or one less on the shop floor.
If it is not the customer phoning, who when they don't get an answer may go elsewhere suffering, its the customer in store, who is hearing a constant ring, or not being served while they answer the phone.

I have said not all call centres work but in the case of the railways, and PC World who I have experience in working it does.

Also how would you go about getting a good insurance qoute if you didn't phone call centres?? Internet not inculded as said before not everyone has internet.

Jubby

Originally posted by Sam Miguel
...

Can't you see: this whole thing is designed to save money for the company. There only real intersests are making as much profit as possible, ...

btw can you name a business that is not interested in making money in any industry???

Originally posted by jubby
btw can you name a business that is not interested in making money in any industry???

I see you conveniently cut my quote there to make it sound slightly different, weaker and rather stupid. Referee! He can't do that! That's blatant misquoting!

Of course they are all in it for the money!

It's just that some companies try to give the impression that they actually care about their staff and customers, worst of all: some actually believe them.

Originally posted by Sam Miguel
I see you conveniently cut my quote there to make it sound slightly different, weaker and rather stupid. Referee! He can't do that! That's blatant misquoting!

Of course they are all in it for the money!

It's just that some companies try to give the impression that they actually care about their staff and customers, worst of all: some actually believe them.

I put the required puntiation to show that the quote was cut. I do care about the people that phone, except like yourself that feel they have to try and make us feel small by shouting at us.

By not answering the phone how is this more caring than having a call centre that can give the same information while not taking away shop floor staff from the shop floor less caring.

You see, you're not listening to what I say, are you?

I didn't say that you didn't care - I suspect that you are an excellent call-handler. What I did say, however, was that most company's don't really care about their employees or their customers - only money.

And I don't shout at the public in general - just call-handlers from time-to-time to express my frustration and displeasure at being messed about and put on hold for hours on end.

Are you are attacking me on your company's behalf?

Don't do it! It's not worth it!

Originally posted by jubby
Firstly rained a lot over the last few weeks didn't see any buckets or signs of wet floors.

Secondly all the doors that are controlled by a door lock (this is not all fire doors as some are push bar) are electo magnetic controlled without power the magnet fails so the door can't be locked, this doesn't mean it can't close just not lock.

Also on your pay slip it states your employer in big letters in red on the top. Everyone who works for the Dixon Store Group, be it group direct as in this case, or in a store (PC World, Dixon's, Curry's, The Link, etc) all get a pay slip with Dixons Store Group written on the top. It also has your group discount slip which is renewed every pay day, which also has DSG on top.
As for not signing a contract that is your fault, you should have pushed for this. Also when I get paid in the bank it says DSG for who transfered the BACS amount.

Like I said they may have fixed the roof problem - ask anyone who's been there a few years about it - they'll confirm how many buckets used to be around the place.

The problem with the doors was that the powercut screwed the system so if one of the doors was closed it couldn't be opened again with a keycard hence the holding them open with chairs - the doors in question being fire doors so obviously keeping them open is both dangerous and against health and safety laws.

As for who I was employed by, of course we knew the parent company was DSG but we were under the impression that we were PCSC employees, not CCM employees which it turned out we were. Either way we would have still been employed by DSG as PCSC and CCM both belong to DSG. Signing a contract wouldn't have made much difference to me to be honest anyway, I was there less than a year. In fact it probably worked in my favour as they couldn't hold me to anything that I hadn't signed to agree to :)

Anyway my point is that in my personal opinion they are the worst people I have ever worked for and I can't see that changing in the forseeable future. Sure some people will enjoy it and I don't disagree with that but the extremely high turn over of staff and levels of absence tend to lean towards people agreeing with me.

Originally posted by Sam Miguel
You see, you're not listening to what I say, are you?

I didn't say that you didn't care - I suspect that you are an excellent call-handler. What I did say, however, was that most company's don't really care about their employees or their customers - only money.

And I don't shout at the public in general - just call-handlers from time-to-time to express my frustration and displeasure at being messed about and put on hold for hours on end.

Are you are attacking me on your company's behalf?

Don't do it! It's not worth it!

So true.

Originally posted by Sam Miguel
You see, you're not listening to what I say, are you?

I didn't say that you didn't care - I suspect that you are an excellent call-handler. What I did say, however, was that most company's don't really care about their employees or their customers - only money.

And I don't shout at the public in general - just call-handlers from time-to-time to express my frustration and displeasure at being messed about and put on hold for hours on end.

Are you are attacking me on your company's behalf?

Don't do it! It's not worth it!

No I'm not attacking you, you were the one who said you shout at call handlers. The reason I am saying it is for my own purpose. I do not like being shouted at for doing my job. Sam can I ask you a question? If you were in a store and you were not getting the help/information you felt you should have would you shout at the person in store? If you would you would be commiting an offense under Section 4 of the Public Order Act.

When on the phone you are not coverered by this act becuase you are not in the public, but normally you're own home.

I have been threatened on the phone while working, swore at, etc. Not nice. Would like me to phone your house and swear and threaten you, or even just shout at you. You say you can't help it. TRY.

Also when people phone call handlers do NOT have to give their surname, just first name and some way of identifing them from another person. I mention this is this is one thing people strat shouting for when I don't give it, I just give my first name and my work id number. The reason I don't give my surname is its personal information and I have in the past had threatening letters sent to my place of work, becuase a customer couldn't get a refund becuase he had put his wrong address on a order form (not at DSG) and his train tickets had been lost. He was arrested and sentanced to 2 months community service, I never met him the letters and by luck the recorded phone call and my statement were evendence enough.

Originally posted by fnkysknky
Like I said they may have fixed the roof problem - ask anyone who's been there a few years about it - they'll confirm how many buckets used to be around the place.

The problem with the doors was that the powercut screwed the system so if one of the doors was closed it couldn't be opened again with a keycard hence the holding them open with chairs - the doors in question being fire doors so obviously keeping them open is both dangerous and against health and safety laws.

As for who I was employed by, of course we knew the parent company was DSG but we were under the impression that we were PCSC employees, not CCM employees which it turned out we were. Either way we would have still been employed by DSG as PCSC and CCM both belong to DSG. Signing a contract wouldn't have made much difference to me to be honest anyway, I was there less than a year. In fact it probably worked in my favour as they couldn't hold me to anything that I hadn't signed to agree to :)

Anyway my point is that in my personal opinion they are the worst people I have ever worked for and I can't see that changing in the forseeable future. Sure some people will enjoy it and I don't disagree with that but the extremely high turn over of staff and levels of absence tend to lean towards people agreeing with me.

Thats fair enogh, you are right some people will love it soem hate some in the middle as I said ina a earlier post.

What do you do now btw as you said you enjoy it.

Still don't see how the doors wouldn't work, as they can just be isolated on the fire system, which has a seperate power supply then the general use, but you were there then not me.

You've just said you knew who you worked for, so why you say you work for CCM/PCSC when you didn't and you knew it. You knew they were part of DSG, just like you wage slip said!!

I have to say as well the flags have been there since DSG moved in as I remember them not being there one day than were there the next then the carpark started getting cars. And it was in the Star as well that it was the DSG call centre, front page I seem to remember

Originally posted by jubby

As to the sick thing its two instances in a pay period (every 4 weeks) this is too avoid people taking the p*ss and taking time off when all they have is a hangover. After all they pay you sick pay, so its only right to find out if your illness is genuine or you taking the mick.



Jubby, up until now your points have been excellent, but I'm afraid this is where you are wrong. The sickness policy is actually two instances in any rolling 13 periods (52 weeks, 1 year). It's a very strict and unfair policy, which I have unfortunately fallen victim to. I'm on my third "action plan" and having had to take time off over the last couple of days due to an ongoing medical condition, I will be under investigation when I return to work with the possibility of disciplinary action.

I can see why the policy is there, but unfortunately there is no differentiation between those who are taking the p*ss and those with genuine illnesses - I am personally aware of two people who have been "investigated" for having time off for surgery! Yes, DSG pay relatively well for the type of work we do, but their "people policies" completely suck.

Originally posted by angel_b
Jubby, up until now your points have been excellent, but I'm afraid this is where you are wrong. The sickness policy is actually two instances in any rolling 13 periods (52 weeks, 1 year). It's a very strict and unfair policy, which I have unfortunately fallen victim to. I'm on my third "action plan" and having had to take time off over the last couple of days due to an ongoing medical condition, I will be under investigation when I return to work with the possibility of disciplinary action.

I can see why the policy is there, but unfortunately there is no differentiation between those who are taking the p*ss and those with genuine illnesses - I am personally aware of two people who have been "investigated" for having time off for surgery! Yes, DSG pay relatively well for the type of work we do, but their "people policies" completely suck.

I am under the impression that after two seperate instances of 2 or more days it goes on to be investigated wrong to use by dsg as not very nice sounding. than action plans are set.

I have had to take time off due to my daugther being ill and not had any problems

Originally posted by jubby
Thats fair enogh, you are right some people will love it soem hate some in the middle as I said ina a earlier post.

What do you do now btw as you said you enjoy it.

Still don't see how the doors wouldn't work, as they can just be isolated on the fire system, which has a seperate power supply then the general use, but you were there then not me.

You've just said you knew who you worked for, so why you say you work for CCM/PCSC when you didn't and you knew it. You knew they were part of DSG, just like you wage slip said!!

I have to say as well the flags have been there since DSG moved in as I remember them not being there one day than were there the next then the carpark started getting cars. And it was in the Star as well that it was the DSG call centre, front page I seem to remember

With regards to the CCM/PCSC thing - it didn't make much difference but it's information we should have been told - putting PCSC on a bank loan application for example when you don't work for them would cause problems etc. No big deal I just found it stupid they didn't inform us before. The fact that DSG was the parent company was never in question.
I used to work for Ladbrokes who are owned by Hilton Group but if anyone asked who I worked for I would reply Ladbrokes and not Hilton Group - see what I'm getting at?

The doors thing was a mystery to me to but you only have to ask someone who was there in 2001/2002 and I'm sure they'll remember it because it was such a farce.

Recently started as a postman but for the previous 2 years I've been self employed installing kids playground equipment for a local manufacturer all over the country - different place everyday just about. I'm currently setting up another company with 2 other people to manufacture and install play equipment - basically a competitor to the company I used to contract for :)

Right. Jubby, Angel, and the other one who's name slips my mind (is it fuzzybear or something). You are all happy in your call-centre jobs and I am extremely pleased for you all.

I am not moaning at you, do you all understand. I know you all do a job which gains you little thanks and must be incredibly hard at times.

But don't you see why that is? It's because you have been put into a situation where the customer gets so frustrated by the endless waiting and being put on hold and being transferred and then being put on hold yet again, that when he or she finally gets to speak to someone, it's too late.

Their dinner is burnt, they've missed an important appointment at the dentist's, the cat's starved to death and the lawn has grown another inch.

Don't you think that they are entitled to vent their anger?

I always re-iterate that I am NOT taking it out on them. I just tell them what I think of the system and ask to speak to a manager, who more often than not is in ameeting or something.

I tell them how much I sympathise with them and all is well in the end.

I think most call-centre staff enjoy me phoning up, they find my little pep-talks very therapeutic.

There.

I

Originally posted by Sam Miguel
Right. Jubby, Angel, and the other one who's name slips my mind (is it fuzzybear or something). You are all happy in your call-centre jobs and I am extremely pleased for you all.


Sam - I don't ever recall stating I was happy in my job. In fact, I hate it and would be more inclined to agree with you about call centres than any of the other posters to this thread! Unfortunately, what was a stop-gap has turned in being trapped which is something that call centres do very well. You get used to the excellent rates of pay, and then what? Who else will pay you £13.5k to talk on the phone all day?

Sorry, angel - I got a bit confused there. Yes, you have said how much you hate your job. However, I must admit that 13.5K is more than I thought it would be.

But it's no just a question of money is it?

If you are so unhappy in your job, if you really hate it, you must make plans to move on.

I know that most people that I have talked to who do this as a job feel the same as you.

And having customers who sometimes get a bit irate (like me) can't help the matter.

One thing that cheeses me off WAY more than having to sit in ANY kind of telephone 'queueing' system is people who say 'I HATE MY JOB'

That is the WORST kind of moaning, whinging and downright pathetic talk I hear (usually from someone who also has bad attendance records)

I don't like people who are sick all the time (but really just can't be bothered)

I don't like people slating companies for not paying them sick pay for sittin on their backsides instead of going to work.

I'm sick of people turning up to work, doing as little as possible, moaning about the company and thinking they are 'owed' something (other than pay) from the company that they work for.

In my work history I have come across this type of person (many of them at the DSG call centre) and I would SACK THEM ALL if I could have.

Stop moaning, turn up to work, have a pride in the work that you do, and stop whinging.

Originally posted by fattybear
One thing that cheeses me off WAY more than having to sit in ANY kind of telephone 'queueing' system is people who say 'I HATE MY JOB'

That is the WORST kind of moaning, whinging and downright pathetic talk I hear (usually from someone who also has bad attendance records)

I don't like people who are sick all the time (but really just can't be bothered)

I don't like people slating companies for not paying them sick pay for sittin on their backsides instead of going to work.

I'm sick of people turning up to work, doing as little as possible, moaning about the company and thinking they are 'owed' something (other than pay) from the company that they work for.

In my work history I have come across this type of person (many of them at the DSG call centre) and I would SACK THEM ALL if I could have.

Stop moaning, turn up to work, have a pride in the work that you do, and stop whinging.

First of all: I find your attitude disgraceful and and totally unacceptable.

People do have to go off work sick for no fault of their own, you know? Or don't you?

My guess is probably not, because you obviously don't care about people. 'I'd sack them all' , you say.

What, people with genuine incapacitating illnesses? if someone had had an operation or some serious illness - or even a dose of bad flu.....You'd sack them... you would actually sack them? Dear me. What are you saying?

Now you aren't going to get anywhere with that kind of attitude, are you...

...Except further up your company's management ladder

Disgraceful.

WARNING - THIS WILL BE A LONG POST!

Originally posted by fattybear
One thing that cheeses me off WAY more than having to sit in ANY kind of telephone 'queueing' system is people who say 'I HATE MY JOB'

I feel very much that your post is directed at me personally, so I shall reply to it as such.

I hate my job because it frustrates me - people who hate call centres take it out on me as soon as they got on the phone and I take so much abuse it's unreal. Only last week, I was called a "stupid c*nt" and a "fascist bitch" because I told a customer they cannot return a game just because it's too hard for their son to play! If that's not grounds for hating a job, I don't know what is.

As I said in my previous post, I am very much trapped by the money. There are plenty of jobs I could get in a flash, but at minimum wage. I can't afford that - I've bills to pay and am currently saving for my wedding and to start a family. I don't want to rely on benefits - let's leave those for the people who really need them.

Ive lost count of how many jobs I've applied for and been turned down for. Some because of my illness record (fair enough, beyond my control) and some because I don't have the relevant qualifications. Only thing is, working the shift patterns I do how do I get the time to earn these qualifications? I'm an intelligent and hard working person who usually has the skills required, just not the pieces of paper to prove it.

That is the WORST kind of moaning, whinging and downright pathetic talk I hear (usually from someone who also has bad attendance records)
I don't like people who are sick all the time (but really just can't be bothered)

I'm not sick all the time - I am sick occasionally, with a recognised medical condition. This medical condition was noted on my application form, discussed at the three interviews I attended and is backed up with documentation from my doctor. I suffer from severe migraines. The pain is excruciating,my vision is blurred and I get extreme vertigo that sometimes means I cannot get out of bed without falling over. The medication they give me to stop the pain is so expensive that each prescription I pay for gives me only six tablets. This medication also makes me vomit repeatedly, and shake uncontrollably. I would hardly call that not being bothered.

I don't like people slating companies for not paying them sick pay for sittin on their backsides instead of going to work.

Well, let's put aside the fact that the company chooses to let us accrue sick pay, which I have earned through continuous attendance at other times. I don't expect sick pay - I realise what an "inconvenience" my sickness is to the company, and have even offered to take it as unpaid leave where necessary. THEY REFUSED.

I'm sick of people turning up to work, doing as little as possible, moaning about the company and thinking they are 'owed' something (other than pay) from the company that they work for.

I've every right to moan about the company - they're well known for treating their staff like crap. Oh, and since when has 22 cph, 0.8% call work, 99% availability and no less than 97% in call coaching been "doing as little as possible"?

Stop moaning, turn up to work, have a pride in the work that you do, and stop whinging.

Get some manners, have some compassion and stop posting blanket statements about people you know nothing about. You attitude is absolutely disgusting and completely uncalled for. I *do* have pride in the work that I do and I don't believe that I was whingeing either - merely stating the dislike of my job and my frustration at being unable to find another suitable one.

Get off your high horse before someone bigger kicks you off it.

Well said Angel!

I can sympathise with the problem of being trapped in a job because you need the money. I'm in a similar situation. There are other things I'd like to do, but they wouldn't be as well paid, and so I'm stuck where I am for the moment.

See what you've done now!

Actually, I expected this post to be deleted. But , well:

As for you, Angel: I feel I have provoked and escalated the thing through my own adrenalistic high-horse behaviour (is there such an expression, well there is now) .

Jubby and I have kept the matter bubbling rather like a baseline rally of old from the centre court. And you have sort of got trapped in the middle.

I'd call you the net.

But if you are the net, he then must be that nasty thundercloud that spoils all the strawberries and cream.

I admire the way you have spoken out. For someone to say that they are dissatisfied in the way you have takes guts.


Fattybear: be fair. Come on!

Good post angel!!! I hate my job at the call centre im at too!! Ive been called the same things almost as you too, amongst many others!! Im still there due to not being able to think about getting a job just yet that pays less, although i am continually trying to find other career paths so i can finally escape!!

"That is the WORST kind of moaning, whinging and downright pathetic talk I hear (usually from someone who also has bad attendance records)"

I think people would find my (and many that i work with) attendance is fine! Ive been there just under 2 and a half years and ive had maybe 5 days off max for illness, so that statement is a little off the mark! Most ppl who say they hate their jobs and have poor attendance figures generally end up quitting before they've been there long enough to really hate it!

Wouldnt say i take my sick pay for granted either, im grateful they do pay it, as some companies do not, but we also have the kind of system in place whereby if u have 3 separate periods off sick (which is classed as anything longer than half a day) within a rolling 9mths you lose your sick pay for 6mths!! I have not been affected by this, but it does seem to catch out the genuine people who have the odd day off here and there as opposed to the actual culprits, for who this was introduced! They seem to think they have to use up all their sick days, so have the whole wk off rather than what is needed!

I dont like the place, but im getting paid for doing the job, so i do it, i stick to the call standards, the calls per hour, keepin my aftercall wrk to a minimum, the daily sales targets (well im tryin with the last one ;) hehe, i believe if ppl want a product they will ask, i dont like to hassle!)!

Basiclly, to say u were a manger, fattybear, i think ur attitude stinks!!

Don't apologise Sam - you and Jubby have been having quite an ineresting debate over the last couple of days and I admire you both for sticking to your guns!

Fattybear however, was just downright rude, presumptious and arrogant. His post was completely uncalled for and people like him are part of the reason that call centres (particularly the one in question here) have such a high staff turnover.

Of course, Fattybear will never have had a day off sick his life, has never complained about any job he's ever had and is the perfect manager. Now, those statements are most likely untrue but if he can make sweeping statements about people he knows nothing about, then so can I :D

I thought his original post would have been deleted.

Why should my post be deleted ?

Is this some kind of fascist regime where censorship rules ?

I was quite simply stating an opinion and it wasn't directed at anyone in particular (angel b - sorry if I offended you but I really DIDN'T aim it at you..)

I stand by my statement - there are far too many people working for companies in jobs they hate.

There's nothing worse than turning up for work ready to put in a hard days graft, 'up for it', motivated and ready to give it 100% only to be sat next to some moaner who goes on and on about how they were turned down for promotion 'just because' they have had 3 months off in the last 4 months etc..

Also - angel b - I find it a bit ironic that you suffer severe migraines and extreme vertigo yet you are on the top floor of a contact centre in front of a pc monitor all day !?!?

I say SACK THE MOANERS - and see if they enjoy sitting on the DOLE instead.

If you ARE one of these whinging moaning people who believe that your company isn't worthy of your attendance or efforts then CLEAR OFF SOMEWHERE ELSE and get a job elsewhere as surely this would be better for all concerned !?

Again- I direct this at no one individual but all these layabout losers who feel that this earth owes them something..

Originally posted by fattybear
Why should my post be deleted ?

Is this some kind of fascist regime where censorship rules ?

I was quite simply stating an opinion and it wasn't directed at anyone in particular (angel b - sorry if I offended you but I really DIDN'T aim it at you..)

I stand by my statement - there are far too many people working for companies in jobs they hate.

There's nothing worse than turning up for work ready to put in a hard days graft, 'up for it', motivated and ready to give it 100% only to be sat next to some moaner who goes on and on about how they were turned down for promotion 'just because' they have had 3 months off in the last 4 months etc..

Also - angel b - I find it a bit ironic that you suffer severe migraines and extreme vertigo yet you are on the top floor of a contact centre in front of a pc monitor all day !?!?

I say SACK THE MOANERS - and see if they enjoy sitting on the DOLE instead.

If you ARE one of these whinging moaning people who believe that your company isn't worthy of your attendance or efforts then CLEAR OFF SOMEWHERE ELSE and get a job elsewhere as surely this would be better for all concerned !?

Again- I direct this at no one individual but all these layabout losers who feel that this earth owes them something..

Wow!!

I had this same conversation at work today...

Why, oh why do people go to work as miserable as sin...???

Fattybear - I don't think your post should have been deleted. Everyone is entitled to their opinion and everyone is entitled to disagree with that opinion, just as you do with mine.

Vertigo is a side effect of migraine and contrary to popular belief, is not always brought on by heights - mine isn't - it's a loss of balance due to things going wrong in the inner ear.

As for being in front of a monitor all day... I know what my migraine triggers are and that's not one of them, so totally irrelevant and therefore not really ironic. Also, who said I worked on the top floor? ;-)

Fascist! How dare you insinuate. You are the fascist, I'll have you know!. I haven't had a day off work for over seven years!

I work at least 50 (sometimes nearer 60) hours per week at the institution and then I take mountains of work home with me. I work Saturdays, Sundays, most of the day - it must be more like 80 hours per week.

I am, indeed, insulted. Somewhat. And then I have to listen to poncified sexcist prats talking basura like you on the weekend?

God's teeth and Christ on bike in one sentence!

You, I say, don't know the meaning of a day's work. Pmmf. Pelotas! Shat.

As a Lecturer in psychology, sociology and The English language (and I teach Spanish as well as Catalan to degree levels) In the CCMCT, I deplore your instigations.


As someone who is clearly higher up the social (it really does grieve me to stoop this low) than you, I don't rub shat into bottoms.

I get on with what I do, and what I do gets on with me.

Shut up!

Get yourself a life.

Doctor Sam

Easy now fella - you'll give yourself a heart attack.

As I said previously (if you had actually READ the thing correctly you would already know this) that this wasn't aimed at one person in particular.

Chill winston..

lol

(I love you)
x

It's me again, Fatty.

Good morning.

Having just read your last post, after careful consideration and conversation with my inner self, I have decided to accept your apology.

I so sort of admire people when they can admit that they have been wrong.

Good on you.

A very chilled Sam.

Apology accepted mate - no need to continue your grovelling..

I'm kind of an expert in this 'call centre' field so it was obvious you wouldn't 'get it' in the same way I do..

Don't worry - you haven't embarrassed yourself THAT much.

x

I wish you'd been my manager when I was there - I'd have pulled your arms off and beaten you with them.

Yes. With the soggy ends.

I think the most important question to ask is:

ARE YOU HAPPY TO DO THE JOB YOU DO FOR THE AMOUNT OF MONEY YOU RECEIVE FOR DOING IT?

If you are, there's nothing to complain about.

If you're not, then you should work hard towards a pay rise or promotion, or find something that will make you happier.

Ta Dahhhhhh

I was.


Originally posted by fnkysknky
I wish you'd been my manager when I was there - I'd have pulled your arms off and beaten you with them.

It is no wonder fnky didn't like it then.

You must have been simpy awful to work for and extremely unpopular and unsympathetic with your staff.

By the way, in one of your previous posts, you refer to me as Winston. Who told you this was my real name?

Come on! Who in my cat's name was it?

I'm an excellent manager - fair and firm.

My companies love me - my staff love me more.

Originally posted by fattybear
I was.

Well what management role did you occupy because as far as I was aware non of my management was an ex call handler.

No you're not. I can tell that from the attitude you have. It is impossible with someone with that kind of attitude to act fairly.

You were a shocking manager. Believe me, I can tell.

That's why you left. It is, isn't it?

I thought that last post of mine might see you off. I knew I'd got you sussed.

Don't be embarrassed to come back onto the forum, though.

I'm still here and full of life.

My statements stand - I know the score..

I think I have heard that one before somewhere !

(someone quite briliant told it you I bet)

;-)



Originally posted by Kimberley_04
I think the most important question to ask is:

ARE YOU HAPPY TO DO THE JOB YOU DO FOR THE AMOUNT OF MONEY YOU RECEIVE FOR DOING IT?

If you are, there's nothing to complain about.

If you're not, then you should work hard towards a pay rise or promotion, or find something that will make you happier.

Ta Dahhhhhh

Good afternoon, Fatty:

Listen, this is gertting you nowhere. As the only person in the entire country who thinks call-centres are actually good things, can't you sort of see that you have misjudged an entire nation? And perhaps even a good proportion of the population of the civilised world.

OK. You still stand by your original statements, but I can tell by your new-adopted style that you have weakened somewhat.

You refuse to answer my question as to why you left the management job which either means that you were given the proverbial brown envelope, or you made things so difficult for yourself that you had to do a runner.

I rest my case. Now, would you kindly leave this thread, please, and go and post some real stuff on some more important matter.

I thank you for your co-operation.

Originally posted by Sam Miguel
Right. Jubby, Angel, and the other one who's name slips my mind (is it fuzzybear or something)...


Now THIS made me laugh ...

Originally posted by fattybear
I think I have heard that one before somewhere !

(someone quite briliant told it you I bet)

;-)

No, he turned out to be a right plonker actually ...

He saw himself as one of these 'firm and fair' managers.

I mean, really ...?

;-)

I am so pleased that it amused you, Kimberley. That's what I'm here for. I love to amuse people, except for when I can't be bothered.

Originally posted by fattybear
I'm an excellent manager - fair and firm.

My companies love me - my staff love me more.

And didnt David Brent say pretty much the exact same thing just before he got the sack? I rest my case.

Yes. I know. Fatty took some convincing. But I think it was worth the effort.

A job well done, eh.

Originally posted by Sam Miguel
Yes. I know. Fatty took some convincing. But I think it was worth the effort.

A job well done, eh.

Don't you mean Fuzzy...

Don't you all think that Fattybear has a point though ?

Think about it - how many of you have people where you work who are lazy, and who call in sick whenever the wind is blowing outside ?!

Well said Fattybear, don't let these people get you down as you are so obviously correct on lazy people and call centres.

Yes, every company has people who abuse the sick system. However, believe it or not, sometimes people do genuinely get ill and need to take time off. Fatty was making a blakket statement, basically saying anyone taking time off sick was a workshy layabout who didnt deserve a a job. He was also so far up his own arse it was untrue. Good manager? He wouldnt last five minutes with the people I work with.

I just think you have all misunderstood him and taken his comments too personally.

Surely a working Britain with minimal sickness is better for all concerned ?

Yes but companies like DSG need to actually pay attention to why they have such high absence rates. There's an underlying problem there that they don't seem to pay any attention too. I was on a team of fifteen - 4 of them were off sick for the six months I was there while 1 of them only came in for a total of 2 days in that same period. All due to work related stress...

Originally posted by Sheffielder
I just think you have all misunderstood him and taken his comments too personally.

Surely a working Britain with minimal sickness is better for all concerned ?

Yes, it would be. However, that doesnt escape the fact that people DO get sick from time to time, and theres really not a lot we can do to stop it. It happens to us all. So, by your reasoning here, if you were to pick up some disease or other tomorrow and had to have a week off work because of it, then when you went back you got the sack for taking time off sick, that would be OK? Becasue thats what fatty said hed do in one of his previous posts. yes, some people abuse the system and take more time than they should, But why should the ones who dont abuse it, and only take time off when they really have to, suffer for that?

Here, here.

My own nervous breakdown was triggered by the conditions under which I worked in a call-centre.

A colleague of mine in the same centre fell over and had a heart attack in front of me after the stress levels went through the roof. While there's no proof that the attack was caused by the job, the constant pressure and harassment by the management coupled with the general abuse from the callers can't have helped matters.

I've worked with people who take days off when they fancy it, but why should the genuine cases suffer?

I've even detected an undercurrent to the end that some bosses are starting to doubt the sincerity of Doctor's notes...please save us from this maddness!

How many times have you seen someone struggle in with the Flu after a few days because they were scared of being chewed out by the boss for being off on the sick? They cough up the germs and see them whisked into the air-con and hey presto! A week later the whole office has it and for the cost of a few more days off for the person who had the flu in the first place, there are people having three or four days off all over the place.

Now do the maths, which is more damaging to profits? One person off for a week or a dozen off for three or four?

Wise up, for god's sake.

In my case the employer made me ill. They should allow me the time to recover and return to work free from the fear of retribution at a later date.

Originally posted by fattybear
I'm an excellent manager - fair and firm.

My companies love me - my staff love me more.

made me chuckle - especially when Sheffielder sticks up for him :D being as they are both called Neil.

Originally posted by Sheffielder
Don't you all think that Fattybear has a point though ?

Think about it - how many of you have people where you work who are lazy, and who call in sick whenever the wind is blowing outside ?!

Well said Fattybear, don't let these people get you down as you are so obviously correct on lazy people and call centres.

Neil, aren't you both Fattybear and Sheffielder? Makes your argument look a little weak to be honest in that context.
:thumbsup: