The UK grocery homeshopping service Tesco fired fourteen agents at its Dundee, Scotland call center after an audit found fraud. The Scotsman reports the agents were a part of a "massive" online fraud scheme involving fake vouchers for food, alcohol, cigarettes, and DVDs. The goods were then delivered to the agents' homes. "Some internet shopping bills were slashed from £200 to just £10," the Scotsman said. One agent apparently stole goods worth more than her salary.
The new El Paso, Texas 911 emergency call center is not doing well. The El Paso Times reports that 911 agents had to return to the center's previous space at police headquarters after calls to the new center didn't go through. Department spokesman Javier Sambrano: "It happened at least a few calls. The caller was not able to hear the call-taker." And El Paso residents reported calls to the 911 system going unanswered. The Times said there was another 911 glitch two years ago in which all emergency calls went to a private residence. That home's phone number used to be a rerouting number, the Times said.
Acoustic shock is making the news again, at least in Europe. Vnunet.com reports that a company called Nomadtrack, which makes software to manage an organization's stock of things like call center headsets, is warning that sudden bursts of noise can cost an agent's hearing.
According to India Daily, US Airways is "repatriating" some outsourced reservation call center work from the Philippines, back to America, after some poor service complaints. Some industry experts expect Delta to bring jobs from India to America for the same reason.
The Hinustan Times reported on a UK circus owner who called a British Rail call center to find out if he could get a sleeper car from Scotland to London. The Mumbai agent had never heard of Scotland, the circus man said, and the agent boss thought he was asking about slippers. He told the Hinudstan Times he was glad he didn't need train times for Auchtermuchty. British Rail was baffled by the incident and said he should have complained earlier and (and not via the papers).
The BBC had a story on Indian agents and their abusive customers last week. Reporting on verbal abuse and racism toward agents seems to be cyclical. The last wave of stories focused on UK callers and their resentment of Indian outsourcing. This wave is more about American callers and their abusiveness. Another story comes from an amateur journalist. Ironically, the agent she interviewed (probably via e-mail) has better writing skills than she does.
