018 under fire again

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I watched the Campbell Live segment on Monday night about the number of complaints 018 is receiving about its service. Sadly the problem once again for Kiwis is that the entire operations of 018 are currently being transferred to Manila. If you missed it, click here to read more or view the video.

It’s the same old, same old - the offshore contact centre staff struggle with our accents and in return we struggle to understand them which causes frustration, which is not a recipe for success.

The report from Campbell Live: Yellow says it is teaching Manila operators local knowledge and that it is providing "a tailored training programme, including Maori pronunciation, Kiwi accents and colloquialisms and familiarity with New Zealand businesses and geography".

Thank goodness for that, at least it is a start in the right direction and it must be an ongoing process, but you can’t beat Kiwis answering the calls in New Zealand and keeping someone employed here.

I have always found it hard to swallow the line from the bean counters from the businesses going offshore that it’s cost effective to send this work offshore. Yes, we all know that, but we are taking jobs away from New Zealanders and the service provided is less than acceptable to the customer, which I always believe are the people that any business should listen to.

Is this example of it’s the only company with this service so customers just have to suck it up? Yellow say there is a decline in the volumes and revenue. Well this is one way to reduce volumes and revenue again, or perhaps this is their way of saying… let’s send it offshore to die quietly?

Either way, New Zealanders lose jobs and in return receive a lesser quality of service. It just doesn't add up to me.

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4 comments

  • Claire says:

    Good article, two more points.

    First, more and more people who ring 018 these days do so from outdoors or their cars. More of us use the Internet to look up numbers when we are on line, so the proportion of calls where audibility is an issue is likely to be increasing - another challenge when outsourcing.

    The second is that even though 018 has been run for several years by Yellow, its a fair bet that most Kiwis still think of it as a Telecom service - adding to Telecom's challenges with its image.

    Added: 10 July 2009, 5:44 p.m. Flag as Spam  |  Flag as Offensive
  • roberto says:

    hear, hear!

    - and very well written if i may say :-)

    Added: 10 July 2009, 6:12 p.m. Flag as Spam  |  Flag as Offensive
  • Brenda says:

    They could reduce the number of calls further by offering a decent wap/ mobile browser service. Maybe some j2me and symbian apps.. And that silly apple phone too. Just need to work out how to monetise.

    Added: 13 July 2009, 8:44 a.m. Flag as Spam  |  Flag as Offensive
  • Ian says:

    How about a text message directory service? Apologies if one already exists... Txt in "joe bloggs wellington" to get a txt response with "10 listings found..." and maybe the first one or two, with a "more listings" code or just a reply message that sends you the next set... everyone can txt, and the revenue model is already there... The txt processing engine would have to be pretty smart, but that's not beyond the realms of NZ ingenuity is it?

    Added: 24 July 2009, 1:23 p.m. Flag as Spam  |  Flag as Offensive
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