The National Consumer Agency is Outsourced

MassDeb8r

Did you know that Rigney Dolphin, a call centre in Waterford which handles Meteor and Vodafone customer care calls also solely operate the National Consumer Agency consumer helpline.

So every time you submit a query on their website or call them, you get through to Waterford and not the National Consumer Agency HQ in Dublin.

I thought this was interesting and was wondering if anyone had any good or bad experiences with them, I know I submitted a query online twice and heard nothing back, sort of strange to outsource such an important statutory body to a call centre that handles mobile phone enquiries.

Proof in the link here on page 7.
http://www.acesa.ie/images/uploaded/documents/ACESA%20Breakfast%20Briefing%20Shared%20Services%20Outsourcing%20v1.0.pdf

Mountjoy Mugger

It's what happens when there are cutbacks in the P.S.

MassDeb8r

Good Point, where does it stop though....an outsourced Taoiseach!...maybe that's not a bad thing though

Cabaal

I don't see the issue really and get the sense you have this thread for research as you state:

was wondering if anyone had any good or bad experiences with them,

So your not happy about them outsourcing support but you actually haven't had a consumer issue surround this. What makes this a consumer issue?

jor el

MassDeb8r wrote: »

So every time you submit a query on their website or call them, you get through to Waterford and not the National Consumer Agency HQ in Dublin.

Where's the problem? As long as they know what they're talking about, and give the correct advice to those looking for it, then why not?

This forum is not run from the NCA headquarters either, yet hundreds, if not thousands, of people have sought support here, and by and large get an accurate and helpful response.

Just because you get through to a call centre, doesn't mean the advice you receive is less than you would expect. If the call centre were located in the NCA headquarters, it would still be staffed by the same type of people that staff the mobile phone call centres, with similar qualifications and knowledge bases.

dudara

Outsourcing is quite common and there's nothing at all wrong with it. The staff in the call centre will have been trained to the standard required by the NCA and they will have been provided scripts/manuals to help them provide advice.

Any trickier queries are probably diverted back to the NCA. Remember the 80/20 rule. 80% of queries probably relate to the same few items, therefore they are easy to train staff on and educate. The remaining 20% can be handled by the NCA themselves.

foggy_lad

Maybe the op is eluding to a senario where a Meteor customer rings and gets told their meteor phone cant be repaired or that disputed account charges are correct and then the same operator answers another call from the customer only this time with their NCA hat on and tells them something different?

would there not be some conflict if the same staff were answering all calls?

Del2005

foggy_lad wrote: »

Maybe the op is eluding to a senario where a Meteor customer rings and gets told their meteor phone cant be repaired or that disputed account charges are correct and then the same operator answers another call from the customer only this time with their NCA hat on and tells them something different?

would there not be some conflict if the same staff were answering all calls?

The staff are trained to pretend to be the company they are answering for. Meteor have their training and the NCA will have theirs'. The call centre gets paid to answer calls not make up policy.

If anything it may be better for the consumer as the call centre staff will actually know the law and may be able to influence Meteor to change their policy.

Newaglish

Del2005 wrote:

If anything it may be better for the consumer as the call centre staff will actually know the law and may be able to influence Meteor to change their policy.

Would it not be quite possible for the reverse to happen also?

doleman2010

If anyone has any experience with that shower of Meteor cs reps in Waterford , they will know that they havent a hope of getting anywhere with the NCA now .
I had several dreadful experiences recently with the meteor regarding a deceased family members mobile phone account. From my experience of them they are an utter waste of time and have nothing but contempt for customers, I realise that most are just minimun wage transient workers but the selection policies of Rigney Dolphin in attracting the dregs of humanity leave a lot to be desired.
IVe no problem backing my claims up are they are from real experiences which left me sickened at the time.
In one call a guy with a sub Saharan ballybeg accent insisted on speaking to my family member despite me telling him 4 times that they were dead. when I asked for a supervisor he just hung up .
God help anyone getting that <MODEDIT>person</MODEDIT> on the line when trying to deal with the NCA.

slimjimmc

foggy_lad wrote: »

Maybe the op is eluding to a senario where a Meteor customer rings and gets told their meteor phone cant be repaired or that disputed account charges are correct and then the same operator answers another call from the customer only this time with their NCA hat on and tells them something different?

would there not be some conflict if the same staff were answering all calls?

I think CS staff just work from whatever hymn sheet they're provided. I don't think it matters if different organisations tell them to say conflicting things, it's not up the the CS but the organisations they're providing the service to.

If anyone feels their complaint won't be treated properly due to a perceived/potential conflict in interest at their call-centre they can always contact the NCA by other means, such as e-mail or paper mail, fax or even directly by phone.
http://www.consumerconnect.ie/eng/Contact_Us/