Call Centres

The petition is entitled outlaw call centres and it is another of these splendid petitions with no explanation, no justification, no nothing.

Now, I, too, know the irritation of ringing a company and getting some poor kid in a call centre who has no idea what's going on.

But I like this better than the alternatives, my word I do. Let's assume we've banned call centres. Let's assume we've also banned companies contracting to call centres in India. Let's assume we've somehow managed to enforce this. Now what? Let's say I have a problem with my gas bill. I wish to ring my company to discuss it. But - how can I? Who, exactly, can I ring? Perhaps I should ring their main switchboard operator, who can put me through to whichever deparment is actually appropriate. But there are hundreds of other people trying to ring, too - the poor thing is overwhelmed with calls. OK, they should employ more switchboard operators. Who will, no doubt, all sit in a room with their headsets on, answering calls dutifully and putting people through to appropriate numbers. Lo, and behold, we have reinvented the banned call centre ...