VH Offices moving to India?

quote:That's why, thank God, we don't still have 500,000 men in the coal-mining industry and shipbuilding and steel are no longer UK mainstays.

You should come and look at the effect no coal mining jobs in Notts & South Yorkshire has had on the local economies and communities.I wonder how much Columbia are charging us for coal(mined by children) to run your power station.The national grid is still mostly coal fired and will be for many years to come.

quote:Originally posted by Ian
[brSorry, Mike, I just cannot agree with you on this one. The economics show that when a UK call centre is relocated to India, then for every pound of costs in that Indian call centre, 1.73 pounds revenue/savings is generated in the UK. Just imagine SRB's eyes lighting up on hearing that sort of statistic.
Economic prosperity comes from increasing efficiency of labour, raw materials and capital. That's why, thank God, we don't still have 500,000 men in the coal-mining industry and shipbuilding and steel are no longer UK mainstays.

So when your job is "Outsourced" to india or China and you are made unemployed, due to efficiency of cheap labour, you will be happy?
Every manufacturing job lost in this country has an effect on the whole economy, including service industries.
The largest employers in the country today are Local government officials and The Civil service, both areas which produce in the main, no wealth generation for the country, just spend what money is available.

quote:Originally posted by jaguarpig

You should come and look at the effect no coal mining jobs in Notts & South Yorkshire has had on the local economies and communities.

I should know - I hail from Sheffield. But the 'effect' is no reason to keep with 'old industry'. The 'effect' is caused by lack of mobility of the labourforce (to move to where the new jobs are) and of capital (to create new jobs for the labourforce that remains behind). That is the challenge that faces national and local politicians and in the case of Sheffield the local politicians have spent too many years spouting discredited ideologies whilst the city just crumbled.
Just as the exporting of call centre jobs to India will have an effect on the local UK communities, then they have to react by creating new, higher value added jobs for their workforce. That's life.

I have been redundant in the past. No I didn't like it. But I got over it and got another job.

It doesn't matter if the UK loses manufacturing jobs. That is not where the UK wealth is made these days. If it was, then the country couldn't afford all those local government officials and civil servants (some would say 'good' to that).

quote:It doesn't matter if the UK loses manufacturing jobs. That is not where the UK wealth is made these days

I hope your customers are not in manufacturing jobs at present it could get bleak.

OK, I generalized too much. What I should have said is that the low value added manufacturing jobs can go abroad, whilst the high value added manufacturing jobs stay and new high value added jobs need creating. These new jobs can be in manufacturing or service industries - I don't care which. I doubt that many of my customers are in manufacturing and business has never been better.
Look at Germany - heavily reliant on manufacturing - and how its economy is suffering now that it is losing many jobs to the far east. It needs to replace those jobs with new ones, not simply subsidize the old ones because of a quaint notion that that is the way to protect local economies.

I have got nothing against call centres in Inida or anywhere else for that matter - I use the Dell call centre in Delhi and the service is top notch -

However -

The VH Inidan call centre sucks a big one - the service is poor, they put you on hold al the time because they do not understand and they do not resolve the issues when they come back. I have today been through to them 4 times as I got fed up waiting on hold - each time for over 15mins!!!!!

It has greatly removed the faith I had in VH and I will seriously consider other options in the future.

Has anyone else had these difficulties?

Have you written to VS or VH to inform them of the problems.

If no one views there opinions then nohing will change as the management will think everything is fine.

quote:Originally posted by MarkJ
I have got nothing against call centres in Inida or anywhere else for that matter - I use the Dell call centre in Delhi and the service is top notch -

However -

The VH Inidan call centre sucks a big one - the service is poor, they put you on hold al the time because they do not understand and they do not resolve the issues when they come back. I have today been through to them 4 times as I got fed up waiting on hold - each time for over 15mins!!!!!

It has greatly removed the faith I had in VH and I will seriously consider other options in the future.

Has anyone else had these difficulties?

Mark - Yes I have! The service is diabolical & my holiday in Jan has come to just under £6000 for 2 weeks. . If you call on the number to book a holiday they answered in 2 mins, however, was told (not asked) that I would need to speak to the Service Centre as I had already made the booking. I was left on hold for 40 minutes. They are happy enough to take peoples money but offer poor after sales service.


declansmith - no I haven't. I would just give up with Virgin Holidays and if it werenÕt for 10% discount I would book elsewhere. I have complained before (as it had taken over a week for my booking £6000 holiday to be confirmed with no one bothering calling me back) I asked the supervisor (nicely) to consider offering us access to the Clubhouse, it was like banging my head up against a brick wall. In the end I told then to cancel the holiday and they said they would agree to meet me Òhalf wayÓ (meaning I had to pay £30 for 2 x tickets to the Clubhouse what a joke!)

My complaint is not only with the Indian call centre, the service this end can be very poor. I have spoken to some very nice people but overall I am not impressed & this is my 4th holiday I estimate that in the last 4 years I have spent in excess of £15,000

Having been put through to the call centre in India when ringing to ask questions about my existing VH booking (hence starting this thread), I have given up several times now and have gone through as a new customer, where you always go through to the Crawley office.

After I explain the appalling service from the India office, the new reservations team have been happy to answer my questions. However, the reaction I get from VH staff about the poor service makes me think they are already fully aware of it and seem to accept it.

Maybe some letters to the Frequent Virgin Club and even SRB's office might re-enforce that customers spending £'000s on holidays are not happy and will start to go elsewhere. As said in my earlier post I would NOT book a holiday with VH if I had to do it through the Indian call centre.

Any suggestions from people here who regularly give feedback to VS about what is the best thing to do?

quote:Originally posted by kpen687728
Having been put through to the call centre in India when ringing to ask questions about my existing VH booking (hence starting this thread), I have given up several times now and have gone through as a new customer, where you always go through to the Crawley office.

After I explain the appalling service from the India office, the new reservations team have been happy to answer my questions. However, the reaction I get from VH staff about the poor service makes me think they are already fully aware of it and seem to accept it.

Maybe some letters to the Frequent Virgin Club and even SRB's office might re-enforce that customers spending £'000s on holidays are not happy and will start to go elsewhere. As said in my earlier post I would NOT book a holiday with VH if I had to do it through the Indian call centre.

Any suggestions from people here who regularly give feedback to VS about what is the best thing to do?

This must be what happened to me! i.e. go through to India once you have parted with your money. VH obviously couldn't care less, when I book my 2006 hol next year I will go elsewhere if the service is poor. The trouble is you don't know that you are going to get poor after sales service until you have made the booking. The thing is I hate saying this, it's kind of embarrassing because believe me I don't want to offend anyone. I couldn't care less about the colour of somebodyÕs skin, age, sex or sexuality I JUST WANT GOOD SERVICE!

Just had the same thing with norwich union direct, didnt realise they had gone over seas 2 girls could not understand a word I said,but the 3rd was rather good and gave me an excellent price.However If I had known before hand I would have put my business elsewhere.