'Apartheid' call system: Baraclays filters low credit accounts call center in India.

Run_to_da_hills

Is this a premature April fools joke?

I doubt if they could get away with it if it is true.

Barclays bank can now filter customers according to their accounts. Those in the red or with low credit approvals are directed to a call center in India while those with more affluent credit rating are directed to a call center in the UK.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1257582/Apartheid-filters-poor-clients.html

Nodin

Doesn't make sense.

Besides, why would the Brit call center be any better than the Indian one?


(Just noticed now its the poxy Mail )

Run_to_da_hills

Nodin wrote: »

Doesn't make sense.

Besides, why would the Brit call center be any better than the Indian one?


(Just noticed now its the poxy Mail )

Have you used 11850 recently?

ejmaztec

They probably expect to get a load of abuse from people who can't borrow more money, or who have cheques bounced on their accounts. Perhaps they just want these people to feck off to another bank, and this is the best way they can think of getting rid of them.

Nodin

Run_to_da_hills wrote: »

Have you used 11850 recently?

Never.

However I've dealt with indian call centres twice, and an indian software development company in some depth over a few months and found them perfectly professional.

Fear Uladh

Makes sense, usually people in the red or low credit are always trying to get more credit to add to their increasing debts whereas people with the cash are looking to save. Jesus Christ if you owned a bank who are you going to give priority to?

biko

At least it lets you know what the bank thinks of you.

drunkmonkey

Run_to_da_hills wrote: »

Is this a premature April fools joke?

I doubt if they could get away with it if it is true.

Barclays bank can now filter customers according to their accounts. Those in the red or with low credit approvals are directed to a call center in India while those with more affluent credit rating are directed to a call center in the UK.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1257582/Apartheid-filters-poor-clients.html

I think it's a great idea, maybe some other companies will start, I'd love better service.

Run_to_da_hills

drunkmonkey wrote: »

I think it's a great idea, maybe some other companies will start, I'd love better service.

Have you ever used one of these call centers on a premimum rate service?.

drunkmonkey

Run_to_da_hills wrote: »

Have you ever used one of these call centers on a premimum rate service?.

I don't think so, but I get through to Jonny Foreigner quite often. I want Irish, American or UK service especially if i'm paying good money.

If you ever need to call anyone of those callcentres, use the company sales number rather than the support one.

In some places the same staff answer the calls except that the queue for sales is much shorter than for support!

skyhighflyer

Good, the days of the proles delaying me when I need to speak to my personal wealth manager are no more. :pac:

krudler

Nothing wrong with it, its the reason business customers get through to phone customer service reps with more swing and who can offer them better deals than you average 12 year old who wants free credit to ring his ma because he cant get to a shop.

This idea that all customers are equal is ludicrous, why should a company devote time and money to someone who is low spend or contributes pretty much nothing? I dont expct to not have to wait in line because I have a few hundred quid in the bank while a guy who is a millionaire and wants to chat to the bank manager about his investment portfolio gets bumped ahead, thats life I'm afraid

krudler

krudler wrote: »

Nothing wrong with it, its the reason business customers get through to phone customer service reps with more swing and who can offer them better deals than you average 12 year old who wants free credit to ring his ma because he cant get to a shop.

This idea that all customers are equal is ludicrous, why should a company devote time and money to someone who is low spend or contributes pretty much nothing? I dont expct to not have to wait in line because I have a few hundred quid in the bank while a guy who is a millionaire and wants to chat to the bank manager about his investment portfolio gets bumped ahead, thats life I'm afraid

It's fair to say that a low value custormer is likely to have only a very limited number of options/queries for the call centre can deal with.

It's not cost effective to have a highly trained person just answering calls about basic banking tasks that in the olden days :rolleyes: would have been answered by a counter clerk, more challanging queries would have been answered by a manager behind the door.

ejmaztec

It's fashionable to have a go at a bank these days, but the Mail couldn't use the usual excuse of tax-payer bailouts and executive bonuses to attack Barclays, because that bank didn't get any help from the UK tax-payer. It's the usual Daily Mail mountain out of a molehill job, just to give the impression that they give a sh1t about the poor overdrawn plebs reading their rag.

CrazyRabbit

My name is Rani and I am posting on behalf of the user known as 'Crazyrabbit' who has outsourced his boards.ie posting to us.

At this time, Crazyrabbit would like to publicly state that he is incredible happy with the excellent service he receives from those amazing people in India.

That is all,

Thank you.

Rani (on behalf of Crazyrabbit.)

pickarooney

I once tried to get through to the call centre of my company's bank and gave up after repeated failed attempts to pass 'security clearance' (nobody, except the guy I replaced, had the answer to the questions) and explain the situation to the phone-jockeys in India.

Eventually, I wrote a letter and got one back from our 'personal account manager' or whatever, giving me a direct UK number to call and get the problem sorted.
I got through fairly quickly, to be greeted by "Hllloawu, maey neam ezz Cerys, hhow c'n I halp yeuw t'deay seurrrrr?"

I told my boss to switch banks.

bnt

This doesn't surprise me - or bother me - in the slightest. Of course banks discriminate against customers based on their asset/liability position. There are banks that will not take you on at all unless you have a lot of money. When I lived in the UK I spoke to Coutts about opening up a business account, but it was soon clear that they did not want my business. (They were very nice about it, though - probably since they can't see where I'll be in the future.)

The use of the word "apartheid" by the Daily Mail's interviewee does bother me. I lived in South Africa for several years and I know what the word means, while I doubt that he can even pronounce it correctly.

Ciaran187

This filtering is everywhere. Nearly every call centre has it in place. Mobile networks filter calls from bill pay customers to their own staff while pay as you go customers get sent to an outsourced call centre.

Dunjohn

This really is the Mail trying to kick up a bit of a fuss. So, what exactly is the problem here?

pickarooney

Dunjohn wrote: »

This really is the Mail trying to kick up a bit of a fuss. So, what exactly is the problem here?

The problem is that while this narcissistic spoiled child of a newspaper keeps getting the attention it craves it will continue acting out.

Chillaxe

Chillaxe wrote: »

Makes sense, usually people in the red or low credit are always trying to get more credit to add to their increasing debts whereas people with the cash are looking to save. Jesus Christ if you owned a bank who are you going to give priority to?

If I want to make money, the people looking for loans obviously.

Mike 1972

^^ Hence the mess we find ourselves in now ^^

Whats the difference between this and the "Commercial customers" counter in a bank ?