Just to add National Rail call centres are somewhere on the Indian subcontinent. I havent had a correct answer out of them for a few years now
*Flashback* Indeed they are, I remember now, coming back to me...
I once called the NR about the PDF timetables for personalized routes on their enquiries website. I had got and printed them on the site earlier but now couldn't find the service from their revamped site. I was stuck at the Journey Planner which wouldn't let me print the full, tabulated timetables, only the printout of a single JP connection w/ the stations called. I called them and asked whether it was possible to print a timetable with a series of subsequent departures on a chosen route.
I think I called to two different persons (and the other one consulted a colleague) asking about the PDF printing possibility and wondering whether the timetable feature had been removed altogether on the new website. I was taken through the procedure of getting the route on the JP, but when it came to getting a full timetable printed to a PDF, they could only insist that this had to be the only such service on the website.
(After these experiences, as I went through the website a hundreth time, I saw under the same "Train times & tickets" tab, on the extreme right, a link for "Timetables" - indeed, that was it, the Pocket timetable with PDF printouts. Oh joy!)
So, that was rather useless, I have to admit. And moreover, this one was not something that was connected to the local cultural characteristics in any way, simply a website inquiry that should have been known to anyone who took their time to study the innards of the website and the services provided within.
However, these problems are exacerbated when dealing with call centres that ar eon the other side of the world, and ar enot sufficiently familiar with the culture or geography of where the customer comes from. This is not racist, it is a fact. A resident of Mumbai would experience difficutlies if they had to call Llanelli to report a problem with their digital TV.
Connected to my point above, in a "technical-is-technical" sense, someone asking strictly about the gadgetry should very well be able to dissect the problem as long as the equipment and setting-up procedures are similar. However, others in these call centres are more apt and better briefed than others and the one-solution-that-suits-all approach taken inevitably leads to the silly read-outs of disclaimers and going through the time-consuming checklist approach. But in all, if the staff lacks the proper technical information, it is similarly at a disadvantaged position, whether in India or Britain.
However, at a local call centre there may, or may not, be a better chance of contacting someone who knows about a certain characteristic or procedure to solve a problem. Railway inquiries are such, rather localized services with their idiosyncracies that are more likely to pose a problem to an overseas call centre than a technical gadget does.
