5 years ago... Call centres receive BPS seal of approval

13.08.99: While many call centres get criticised for poor levels of customer service, Virgin Direct, First Direct and Barclays' b2 are among the companies getting it right, according to a survey from telemarketing agency BPS Teleperformance.

BPS said it made 3,000 'mystery shopper' calls to 135 UK organisations, and its sister companies made 50,000 calls to 2,500 companies in 20 countries.

13.08.04: Despite the best efforts of those companies who succeed where many fail, call centres in the UK have become inextricably linked with long waits, poor service and incompetent staff.

High churn rates of staff, poor pay and conditions and a general sense of not wanting to do the job meant many companies made the decision to move operations offshore during the past couple of years - most notably to India.

Many of the reasons cited appear common sense: better educated staff, more highly motivated workforce and greater cost savings. But some companies have resisted the move - fearful of a growing wave of consumer dissatisfaction over the emotive issue of UK jobs being moved overseas.