very true - but most consumers these days would moan/grumble about the service (or lack of) but would it deter them from being a repeat customer - probably not!, esoecially if enough of the big coporations outsource, where else are you left to go!!

Perhaps if enough comapnies outsources to countries like india, it would eventualy have such a effect on that countries economy to raise the pay stanards to the point where there would not be so much savings from outsourcing????

A different perspective on the call centres in India can be found here. People trying to do a job and earn a living.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/4738804.stm

I know all about that - its the best job in India and is increasing people's standard of living. More power to them, I have nothing against the fact that they are in India or that they are Indian. My issue is when they provide poor customer service. The ones i have dealt with recently have been overly scripted and the english poor. I understand that this is because they are short on staff now so the quality of staff is lower. That said they should not let these call centres lose on customer facing tasks unless they are up to standard.

As for giving abuse just because they are Indian - i think that is deplorable even if you do feel strongly about jobs being outsourced overseas. That is a fact of life - my issue is customer service, especially unsolicited sales calls!!!

I dont give a flying hoot where the call centre is as long as they deal with whatever I am calling them for. I do care that outsourced call centre operatives get paid a fraction of the wages that someone in a "1st world country" was formerly paid. Its up to those workers to improve their own conditions. If another planet ever makes contact I confidently expect they will eventually field all service centre calls at a galactically low cost.

Completely wrong.
It may be creating extra jobs but the IT industry in India is extremely well paid - better that IT jobs in ireland for example. India isn't some run-down third world country you know.

Ask a call center worker in Glasgow, Cardiff or Belfast how much they get paid - you might be in for a shock - I can guarantee that Indian workers are not as badly off when compared to UK operatives as you might think.
As for workers improving their own conditions - that rarely happens even in the UK, let alone india where competition for jobs is much more fierce.

Not completely - it IS improving the standard of living for those working in call centres - i accept that IT are very well paid - however call centre jobs (excluding IT) are among the best, and when you factor in cost of living they probably get paid more than their peers in Europe.

I never said it was third world - i know what its like - but it has got that way through IT and call centres....largely!

OK - what I meant was that its not the best paid job in India.
However the fact that it is creating extra jobs that are reasonably well paid means that it is increasing people's standard of living - I did mean to convey that in my post but didn't do a very good job

Personally you cannot blame the indian workers or the call center suppliers for the service - blame their clients who know full well the draw backs to outsourcing their customer support yet continue to give their customers the sh*tty end of the stick.

On the wider topic I think outsourcing is often a shortcut for poor and lazy management - they can point to savings made but often there are other factors which will negate the labour costs saved. I fail to understand it in a lot of cases a bit like I fail to understand government privatisation schemes.

From the BBC article...
What a wa*nker. Why do some people always have to introduce some kind of political issue into seemingly simple problems ???
"Mostly" I don't care who is on the end of the line or how many people in the UK have lost their call center jobs through outsourcing - I do care that my bank/phone provider/cable company, etc have f**ked something up

I agree with you - and on your following post about the politics. I dont care who i speak to - i do care whether they solve my issue. For me its all about the service and if they cant provide that then i am pissed. Its the banks etc i am frustrated at!

Many UK banks no longer outsource customer facing roles to india because of the huge reputational risk - maybe that will happen here too!

Well I care that jobs in the UK and US are being lost due to outsourcing. We should keep the jobs in our own countries and support our own economies, surely that's in our best interests.

I think thats a small minded view of the global economy, and not really very realistic. Keeping call centres - or other services - in the UK and US will not support the economy as they will become uncompetative and not cost efficient.

I care about my "own" economy - just like big companies

Agreed

Ever tried calling the US IRS help line? First they'll put you on hold while they search in the script and then read back to you what you have already read in the Instructions. Go figure They are merely doing the job they were hired for.