Following complaints from NCF members about the difficulty of getting through to telephone call centres, we decided to contact the regulatory body. We wanted to ask if they felt consumers' rights were being abused and, if so, what they planned to do about it.
The bad news is that there is no regulatory body for call centres generally, only one for operators of 090 premium rate, lines. However, the DTI told us they had recently launched an investigation into computer sales and after-sales services, including help-lines.
This may be cheering news for John Hollow and June Small who told us about their experiences with computer after-sales services in the last issue of Consumer News. Mrs. Small bought a computer with a defective modem. It took days to get through to the call centre and then she was cut off without warning half way through the call. It took five months to get the modem replaced.
ICSTIS (the Independent Committee for the Supervision of Standards of Telephone Information Services) regulates premium rate 090 lines such as competition lines and chat lines, but also some technical support lines. A spokeswoman said ICSTIS intervened if there was evidence that people were being put on hold for too long, subjected to any other unreasonable delay or overcharged for their call. However, they do allow operators to charge up to £30 for a call although once the £30 ceiling has been reached, they are obliged to terminate the call. This may explain why June Small was cut off in the middle of her call.
ICSTIS press officer Rob Dwight urged people to get in touch if they had a complaint (freephone 0800 500212). "If a company is routinely dealing with enquiries and cutting callers off without warning once they've reached the £30 ceiling, we would want to know why they hadn't sorted it out within the time allotted."
"If it's because they are having to put people on hold, we wouldn't allow that at all. We have strict rules regarding call queuing, holding and delays, which shouldn't be longer than 15 seconds."
He told us about the DTI investigation and we spoke to Debbie Samosa, leader of the IT team looking into the computer industry. She said the project was not looking at call centres generally, but computer help lines and also practices at the point of sale.
"We are looking to see whether this particular market is denying consumers the protection of the law more than in other areas," she explained. "This includes what happens when you get the computer home (are there any nasty surprises?) and the sheer difficulty of actually getting through to the call centre for after-sales services and redress."
"The enquiry includes research and two consumer surveys, but it's early days yet -it could go on for a year." She added that she would welcome comments from NCF members (call 0207-211-8000).
Meanwhile, the Telecommunications Action Group (TAG), which represents people with hearing problems, is also calling for proper regulation of call centres. Spokesman Ross Trotter said there were difficulties for deaf people who use text phones, and for hard-of-hearing people with hearing aids who use telephones with inductive couplers.
"The latter group often find that the voice quality of the recorded messages is not very good, or spoken too fast for them to work out what is being said and, therefore, choose the right phone options.
'Textphone users need to involve a relay operator - a third party who types on screen what is being said to the deaf person but often the operator can't type the options fast enough for the caller to choose. Very few call centres have textphone facilities and, if they do, often the staff are not properly trained to use the equipment, or the textphone is in the wrong part of the building so you can't get through to the department you want.
"These service providers have an obligation because, if they are not making their service accessible, they are failing to meet their obligations under the Disability Discrimination Act, which requires them to make reasonable adjustments."
Mr. Trotter said he would welcome feedback (e-mail rtrotter@cix.co.uk).
However, the professional body for call centre operators, the Call and Contact Centres Association, doesn't agree that a regulatory body is needed. Chief executive Anne Marie Forsythe said call centres were not recognised as a sector in their own right.
"Eighty per cent of business is service based and most of that is through call centres. How on earth can you regulate? Call centres are part of all sorts of industries and services."
back to menu
Click Logo to Return to
Main Magazine Index