I recently moved house. And a few months after the fact I am still trying to change all my address details with all the various service providers that I am - generally - indebted to. As a result, I have spent many frustrating hours on the phone to call centres around the country and while the actual process of changing address details is relatively simple, getting to that point is sometimes a bit of a roundabout.
Take for example my preferred cellphone service provider: I dial the number, enter my cellphone number as told and then exercise my option to "wait for an available operator". And the first question the operator asks me when he or she comes on the line is: "What is your cellphone number?"
Single sign-on still has a long way to go in this industry.
Alastair Otter, Journalist, ITWeb
Didn`t I just enter my cellphone number when I first started this process? So why do they want it again? And after all, if I`ve dialled the toll-free service number from my cellphone surely they are able to pick it up? When I queried this, I was told that the system is new and still in a trial phase. Clearly the trials are still a long way from completion if call centre agents still need me to repeat my details before they can help me.
Or take my credit card company. Repeating my card number a couple of times in rapid succession could be hazardous to my linguistic ability. And then to have to remember my ID number on top of that could turn me into a gibbering wreck. But what really gets to me are the constant reminders while I am waiting for an operator that in the "interests" of efficiency I may need to be transferred to another department. Frankly, I don`t care where they transfer me so long as someone is able to change my address details.
Which brings me to spelling and typing. It is impossible to understand how, when I spell my name and address letter by letter over the phone, I end up being listed as living in a non-existent road with a non-existent number. And my name is never, ever correct. The only solace I can take from this is that if I ever get into deep trouble and the police try to track me down, they will give up in frustration after following this paper trail.
And then there is the City of Johannesburg Metropolitan call centre. Actually there is very little to say about this one except that unless you`ve seen it, it is hard to believe that it actually exists. The call centre, which I seem to remember was at the centre of some controversy a while back, specialises in taking a simple problem and turning it into a three-month operation.
Of course not all call centres are bad and once you get through the "initiation" phase, they are on the whole relatively good. But why on earth you have to go through this pantomime every time is beyond me. Clearly the benefits of "single sign-on" as perpetuated by the networking world have not yet filtered into the call centre industry. Or if it has, it still has a long way to go.
Share