A call for one of you to listen
Sean Brierley managed to summarise in his perspicacious article “I am not a number” (MW June 19) what every consumer has experienced and continues to experience with call centres. We all hear endless stories of “you now have 36 options” driving people to distraction when all they want is to speak to someone.
No one I’ve ever talked to about these systems likes them and nearly everyone takes on the persona of Victor Meldrew or Jeremy Clarkson at the very mention of them.
What I can’t understand is that if consumers hate these systems so vehemently, why are they still in use? Isn’t anyone out there listening to the consumer?
As someone once profoundly said, “When everyone’s zigging, it’s time to zag” and in this case that means the company which ditches its multiple-option system and answers customers’ calls immediately with a real, live human being could be zagging all the way to the bank.
Chris Ogilvie-Taylor
Managing and strategy director
Marsden Grant International
London W1
