Indian BT Worker ‘Bombs’ British Customer’s House
BT’S India call centre operation is doing for the British stereotypes of fair play and the ability to patiently queue what Princess Diana did for our stiff upper lip: killing it.
The Mail spots one Allan Wardle, who rang BT after his internet connection crashed, got into row with call centre weoker and later had a technician tell hism that he;d blow up his house.
“Death threat,” says the Mail twice.
“I couldn’t believe what I was hearing,’ said Mr Wardle, 24. ‘I was incensed. I was scared at first and then really angry. I called the police straight away.
“I’m disgusted that something like this can happen with such a respected company. The whole thing has been upsetting. It doesn’t get much worse than someone – a stranger – saying he is going to blow you up.”
It’s every BT caller’s worst nightmare. But what was that about BT being a respected company? Come, come, Mr Wardle, no-one who deals with BT likes BT. The thrill is in the confrontation. Anorak has long suspected BT’s telephony system, in which you press lots of buttons to have your call directed, exists as a challenge to see if you have the stamina for the long road ahead.
Indeed, one Anorak reader tells us that when when pessed in a certain order, the buttons on your keypad sound out the opening bars to “One Finger One Thumb Keep Moving”, the nursery staple and a fataslistic rendition of “Hanging On The Old Barbed Wire“.
As for Mr Wardle, his broadband is down and the expert on the end of the line says
“He would be unable to fix the problem unless Mr Wardle was online. The irony of that requirement provoked a heated exchange which ended, Mr Wardle says, when the technician threatened to bomb his home in Wallsend, Tyneside.”
We make no coment ohwo this may or may not imptove the wAllends cityscape, and listen to Mrs Wardle:
“It was getting ridiculous. He wouldn’t listen and I did swear at him, I think, but he was refusing to fix the problem. He was rude and unhelpful, it made me feel sick.”
Irony upon irony. And Mr Wardle then did as anyone would do. No, he did not think “fair play”, and wonder that anyone, for all the low wages in the world, would be a BT drone forced to rely on faulty technical equipment and corporate ineptitude to deal with customers complaining of fauilty BT equipment and corporate ineptitude.
After the call, he immediately contacted the police and informed them of the threat he had just received. He admits he lost his temper during-the call but maintains there was no reason for the technician to threaten him.
Of course, the real reason for this story being so prominently featured on the Mail’s website is that it affords readers the chance to lament the rise of Johnny Foreigner. We do not know if the caller was from India, but just imagining he was is enough for the Mail, which tells us:
BT was one of several household name employers that moved jobs to India in 2003.
To save money. Only:
In August BT, which shed 15,000 jobs last year and is planning a further 15,000 cuts this year after a dire performance by its IT division, announced plans to move at least 2,000 call centre jobs back to the UK. The plan, it said, was aimed at preventing compulsory job cuts. But the move is now said to be in jeopardy amid fears from British workers over the numbers of hours they will be expected to work to cover the shifts of their Indian counterparts.
But it was going so well – finally, the Indian call centre workers were beginning to immerse themselves in the vernacular of the British worker. Other things for Indian workers to try:
“One out all out”
“I am smoking a fag”
“I know my rights”
“I’ve got a bad back”
““**** *** you ****!”
And many, many more…
Posted: 19th, October 2009 | In: The Consumer Comment | TrackBack | Permalink
