lancsguy1972 wrote on Jan 12^th, 2006 at 9:09pm:


Unfortunately the RBS group are not committed to avoiding the extensive pathological use of 0870 and 0845 numbers for these call very same call centres and even listing an 0870 number as the overseas alternative to a uk 0845 number.

They also aren't committed to not offering one of the most derisory rates of interest in the marketplace on their online Esavings account.

They also continue to perpetuate a fiction that a bank called NatWest still exists in England when they in fact killed it several years ago and the only thing non RBS like about a NatWest branch these days is the name plate over the door.  All other product features and company policies are entirely those of the Royal Bank of Scotland group.

lancsguy1972 wrote on Jan 14^th, 2006 at 1:51pm:


I can't agree with you on that as when HSBC took over Midland they in fact retained the name for many years before finally deciding to adopt HSBC (a more scary prospect than fully rolling out RBS because HSBC is seen to be a Hong Kong bank).  I fully expect that eventually when most of their customers have twigged that there is no NatWest and only an RBS that they will abolish the NatWest brand name.

As a NatWest customer of 23 years standing and a Nationwide customer of 2 years standing I have seemingly 101 reasons to be unhappy about RBS/NatWest corporate policy and just one to be unhappy about Nationwide corporate policy (limited use of 0845 for some central call centres but never for branches).

NatWest wipe out online statement history after 6 months.  Their personal account managers have no email addresses.  I could go on.  I only don't shut my account because my mortgage is with them and currently I am not working.  All my credit card and cash card use overseas has moved to Nationwide as have my online cash savings.

joe65 wrote on Feb 1^st, 2006 at 8:55pm:


I think in most Indian call centres the staff are not given any discretion at all and follow orders to the letter - Sky Scotland vs Sky India is like cheese and chalk for instance.  Also I think its a cultural thing that the kind of people who work in a call centre in India expect to follow orders since its a much more orderly and hierarchical society than the UK.  But I don't understand why you don't just set up a direct debit to clear the card balance in full each month so you don't get any of this hassle?  The terms of direct debits are such that I can't possibly see your objection.  You may have got the charge refunded in the past but if it says in their T&Cs that they can levy these exorbitant charges then it is likely that sooner or later they will.  After all you wouldn't expect Ken Livingstone's mob to let you off the congestion charge if you told them it was your first time in London and you simply didn't know where the charge boundaries are would you?  Well you might expect him and his hard hearted staff to let you off the first time but the fact is they won't.  In fact they won't even let you off if you are a foreigner from another EU country or Efta country.

I continue to be bluffed by some Norwegian Trolls about a road toll of 4 Euros that they claim I owe them from 18 months ago at a toll station in Trondheim that had no barriers and no signs in English at 4am when all the locals were simply driving straight through (it now turns out these locals all had electronic tag toll season tickets).  Their threats to pursue this in the uk county court about once every 6 months begin to sound more and more hollow but must scare many of the recipients in to submission.  They have added about 60 Euros in ubiquitious administration charges to the 4 Euro toll I didn't even know I had to pay.  Now as Norway isn't in the EU and nobody expects tolls and parking fines to be enforceable on foreign vehicles unless they clamp you or fine you on the spot (especially outside the EU) you really think they would give up but no and I can now see that the Norwegian reputation for the fearsome trolls that wait at all critical bridges etc is very well deserved.

All I am saying is that if you rely on regulalry sweet talking people who have gone to all the trouble of creating an environment where they can fine you then sooner or later you are going to be unlucky.  And it may of course be that you have now finally exhausted your 9 lives for being let off a late payment charge.  If they refunded half the charge one can only say it could have been worse.  Let that be a lesson to you to set up direct debit rather than continuing to live in the stone age.

Shiggaddi wrote on Feb 2^nd, 2006 at 4:30pm:


But not it seems when there is much more money at stake (as there is with the 0870 scam) and the telecoms regulator's Chief Executive and Chairman are more concerned with feathering their own nests with the New Labour establishment rather than with fighting a battle of principle on behalf of the uk citizen consumer.

And we all hate talking to India even more when many of the main culprits like Sky and HP charge a premium rate for the privilege.

I have just switched my gas and electricity supply to www.equipower.co.uk ;  This is a non profit making company dedicated to cutting energy emissions but also with some of the very cheapest gas and electricity prices and no annoying once a year bonuses or special discounts only if you agree to not getting a paper bill.  Also they let you get the cheapest price if you pay in full quarterly by direct debit in arrears and you don't have to have one of those horrid flat rate direct debit payment plans all the big boys like Powergen and Scottish Power insist on.  Of course as they pay no commission Uswitch goes out of its way not to show the company in its results tables and you have to specially tick the box to look at ethical suppliers for them to appear.

Do a comparison at www.energyhelpline.com who do show Equipower and its sister company EquiGas automatically.  I have had enough of Powergen as although their call centre workers are not in India they might as well be from the way in which any promise they make to solve an issue on my account is not fulfilled.

I am with the RBS they have a call center in manchester 0161 930 8666 They also have 0870 and 0845 numbers I am happy with the RBS they are VERY polite on the phone and when my wallet was picked out me pocket with all my money in they paid for a taxi home from the city of manchester to were i live (about 3 miles) plus stopped all my credit cards for me with themsleves and OTHER companys

I realy hate ringing up Three because there call centers are in India even thou the phone call is FREE i still spend about 30 mins on the phone when if it was a english speaking person it would be 15 mins because they have to keep asking me to spell my name and were i live and i have to ask them to repeat the question, If i had of know this i would have gone with a UK based mobile company. AOL is worse when i call them now i request to be put threw to the call center in ireland i refuse to speak to the call center in India because it takes up too much of my time.

I find call centers in India take too much of my time up

Justin

andy9 wrote on Feb 13^th, 2006 at 12:03am:


I don't have a problem speaking to people in India per se but I do have a problem with receiving an inferior quality of service as so regularly happens.

What you call courteousness I call timidity brought on by poor understanding of uk accents and basic lack of knowledge of common uk terms and nuances.  Also contrary to what you say I have regularly been put on hold for long periods by Indian Call Centre staff (especially HP and Sky) and if I have asked to speak to a supervisor at an Indian call centre I have been told on every occasion there is not one available and if I have persisted that this cannot be true and that I demand to be put through to one I have been purposefully cut off.  That does of course happen with some uk call centres (espcially those run by Capita) but not as often.  Also on three or four occasions staff at HP's Indian call centre promised to call me back about a battery replacement and then failed to do so.

My view would be outsource manufacturing and software development work to the third world as that can cut costs without customers having a worse experience.  However you should only outsource call centres to India if you are prepared to employ staff of a sufficient level of education that they watch a lot of uk television and read uk books so understand uk accents.  Unfortunately at this point the cost savings then become much less which is probably why Diners Club is the only Indian call centre I have spoken to where I didn't even realise the person I was speaking to was in India until very late on in the call.  But usually with that annoying metallic twang accent it is all too obvious one is speaking to an Indian call centre worker from the outset.