UK call centres: Rubbish or not?

An article published on silicon.com last week entitled 'UK call centres are rubbish: Official' has sparked angry debate among readers.

Many have leaped to defend the UK call centre industry against the sweeping statement, while others have dived into the ensuing ruck to land a few blows of their own. Here are a selection of the comments we've received.

"I'm sick of people bashing UK call centres. Indian call centres are frequently no better than UK call centres and often worse. It's always much easier to criticise than to praise, but what an insult this article is to all those call centres in the UK who work hard and provide great service and are justifiably proud of their record in customer satisfaction." Melanie Denyer

"As a person who has worked in two major call centres, I feel I must point out just how dismal it actually is. It's a hard, stressful job and one in which you receive little reward or incentive and next to no investment as an employee. The customers are often angry and frustrated, so that you end up taking a lot of abuse, some of it very distressing, from the moment you arrive to the moment you leave. Who the hell wants to take that kind of shit for £4.00 an hour?

"I have no doubt that Call Centres would drastically improve with proper investment in staff, providing them with decent conditions and a clear infrastructure to work within. If they provided a good working environment with fair pay, call centres may actually be able to hold onto skilled, enthusiastic people who have a sense of pride in their work because they are respected as the essential core of their organisation, rather than being treated like battery hens." Faye

"In my experience almost all call centres are pretty poor. Simply because they are goaled on only three things:
1 - Answering mainstream, often-asked questions and problems. Heaven help you if you have an unusual question or problem.
2 - The call agents themselves are goaled and rewarded on how many calls they can close per day - thus, it is in their interest to fob you off with a half-answer.
3 - Being "nice" to you to the exclusion of almost everything else (including answering your question)."Anonymous

"Working in a call centre whose jobs have just gone to India - I object to how this article has tarred all call centre staff with the same brush.

I have been within the same call centre for close on four years take issue with the comments regarding it not being a long-term option. The standard of my customer service has always been as high as I can possibly make it under the constraints given out not only by the company I work for but also by the customer and what they are prepared to do to help me help them. "Anonymous

"My experience has been that the quality of service offshore is worse." Andrew Rice

"This is symptomatic of any call centre - not just UK." Mike Spragg

Have your say on this matter by posting a reader comment below.