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Many organisations are centralising their service functions into call centres. It cuts costs, and often brings work to deprived areas.

These centres could become finely-tuned organisations with the tools and the staff to deliver service excellence very efficiently. But they tend not to work that way.

In this article I'm going to look at what goes wrong, think about why, and about what we can do to improve things.

It's quite common to get off on the wrong foot with a long wait in a phone queue. Occasional peaks in demand may cause justified, modest waits, but my experience suggests that long waits are the norm. Call centre managers are setting resource levels to keep all agents permanently busy. All customers must therefore wait for attention.

I know we're British, but I feel we need to get a better deal from the companies who took our money. We have to persuade managers to staff these centres well.

For me, the wait is made worse by the automated hogwash pumped out while I'm waiting. Presumably, they hope it will offset the negative impact the wait, but it has the opposite effect on me. When I hear their well-rounded platitudes, I translate them into fact, where they are far less attractive.

Here's my phrase-book for hold-queues.

Well, let's assume you get through finally. Although there are wonderful exceptions, I generally find that call centre staff are a particularly difficult group to deal with. There are some good reasons:

• They may be working very hard in noisy surroundings, with few breaks
• They may be poorly paid
• They may be a poor fit for their job with few choices for a better one
• They will generally be dealing with unhappy customers (they called customer services after all)
• Many customers will enter the call upset, having just got off a long hold queue
• They may work with systems which are unreliable or un-supportive
• Some customers are unreasonable, trying unkind tactics to get the resolution they want
• Staff may be encouraged to meet destructive targets for number of calls processed
• They may have to support unreasonable company policy or work within unreasonable limits
• They may be under-trained, and have little management support.

All of these factors make life difficult for service agents. As customers, we can be courteous and reasonable, and try to make things go well. But we are the users and co-victims of the system - not its architects. These are primarily matters for call centre managers.

We can be legitimately dissatisfied when these centres perform badly for us. When I end the majority of my customer service calls I feel like a victim of an organisation whose motives are self-interest or complacent incompetence, not service excellence or customer care.

Here's another excerpt from my Call Centre phrase-book:

Optimise your chances

As soon as the first one comes up, I get a sinking feeling; I know it's going to be a difficult call. So how can we get the best chance at a successful call? Any advice for solving problems through call centre has to be very general. There will be bizarre, unique cases (we'd love to hear about them!) which I can't even dream up.

But here my Top Six Suggestions for making things go better.

If you're Not Satisfied ... Give Up

Even using these techniques, I am depressed to admit that generally, I don't see anything approaching good service.

I routinely see:

• Persistently unreasonable delays in answering my call centre calls
• Drone-like behaviour in which real human interaction outside the script is impossible
• Poor telephone skills
• Low genuine courtesy levels ( though scripted lip service is always present)
• Poor knowledge applied to the problem in hand
• Very low reliability on relaying messages, updating incident logs, meeting commitments and following up
• Indifference or denial in response to expressions of dissatisfaction
• Poor co-operation on escalating complaints

The issues I'm working are usually small, so it's inappropriate to take legal action. I can take my custom elsewhere, but they won't notice, and I'll be inconvenienced. And I can complain.

Frankly, none of these appeal to me. They're time consuming, they'll probably be un-productive, I'll get stressed and be hated by another human being, and emerge without a satisfactory resolution. Unless you're a "Shocked and Disappointed of Surbiton" with no other life to lead, these choices probably don't appeal to you either. So you eat it, swallow hard, and move on.

And right there lies the problem. My maxim for middle age is this:

- and because we put up with poor service from call centres, that's what we get.

It would be nice to think that people did things well because they were inspired by excellence, took a pride in their work, were enthused by delighting customers, and committing to doing things "Because they're Right, dammit!" - but there isn't a whole lot of that in my neck of the woods.

Let's Fix Britain!

Delivery of good service is at the heart of all commerce, industry and government. In other words, it's at the heart of our society. That's why it's a core theme for Let's Fix Britain.

To be a part of Fixing Britain, we must work on fixing service, and call centres are a part of that.

Here are my suggestions for how we the people can fix broken Call Centres.

Working on the Inside

You probably work for an organisation that provides customer service somewhere along the line. Do they always do things right?

Looking in-house objectively and articulating what you see isn't always easy, nor safe.

I once sat in a meeting in which a barrister addressed us all on how to "defend against a legitimate claim". I asked "Why would we want to defend against a legitimate claim?". I had to ask it twice before it sunk in: "If the claim is legitimate, why aren't we doing the right thing and compensating the claimant?". This is seldom the way to get ahead in industry (though it should be), so I don't necessarily recommend it!

From the inside, you have powerful opportunities to see what's happening, and to exert a positive influence. You should consider any impact on your job or prospects before acting, but here are my suggestions:

• Put a note in your suggestion box
• Discuss things with your colleagues at lunch
• Raise issues in team meeting
• Evangelise - talk about examples of great service from inside or outside your organisation
• If there is an ethical statement (for example, a "Mission Statement") in your organisation, always try to connect what happens daily to that document. Where there are contradictions, point them out, and hang on until they're removed.
• Go to your manager and express your concerns, or - more positively - propose improvements
• Write an anonymous letter to someone you think can make things better
• Encourage your organisation to measure customer satisfaction
• If you see metrics being used dishonestly, confront or "seek clarification"
• Ask to form a task force to address issues that concern you
• Resign. Make sure everyone knows why.
• If you cannot make a difference from inside, it may be time to look at exposing your company to external scrutiny - perhaps law enforcement agencies, standards organisations trade associations or even the press. This is a legal minefield, so be very sure of your position before proceeding.

Conclusion

Rome wasn't built in a day, but we can change things over time if we continue to apply little-and-often pressures in the right direction.

While we're slogging away at that, Let's Fix Britain can help us all to befriend and encourage each other. We can share strength, enthusiasm, practical advice and useful facts from each other, and build an organisation which will be a large force for positive change. Why not come to the discussion area, and tell us what you're thinking, planning, or doing?

We'll get there.