TravelwhileyouEat

To take the Cebu center as an example, minimum wage there is SGD 13.19 (just under USD 10). Even if they end up paying 1.5-2 times minimum wage per agent, it would still be cheaper than hiring someone from SG who will be more qualified. Unfortunately, the brain drain in the PH is a real thing and while a lot do know how to speak English proficiently enough to work in call centers most do not have the critical thinking and analysis skills that are usually learned in school.

However, SQ doesn't really mind this since as Phaze said it doesn't really turn people away in significant enough numbers to justify paying more money to get more qualified people.

wavery83

I don't recognise this. My experience with SQ call centre was absolutely smooth and fine. No I'm not a bot.

merridius

only bots would say that

SilverChris

Like many airlines, offshore/outsourced call centre staff tend to be subpar. My experiences dealing with SQ's offshore call centre have been quite frustrating. Something as simple as providing me with the SQ confirmation code on a partner award ticket was too much to ask of them.

On the other hand, the SG call centre has been consistently excellent. It seems the best way to get hold of them is to press 2 for Mandarin, but for many this isn't doable.



Why the need to single out one ethnic group?

davidj1

I think the point was the guys at home usually have a better grasp of the product, and the English/western style CX is much better. It could be down to cultural norms of the country/ethnic group.

Also when an arm is moved offshore (away from head office) it presents many corporate issues in terms of remote management of that division. I've seen this time and time again, and not just with call centres.

In theory this can be address through rigorous training however time and time again we have seen companies 'ditch' their CX arm for economic reasons, and forget to invest or correctly implement this, probably again for financial reasons.

I believe in the last year or two there has been massive turnover in SIA home based call centre.. and even the locals are performing badly on tricky questions. The training and development budget at SIA must have been slashed, and goes to show with poor investment any call centre and any ethnic group can affect the CX.

Just do a search of this forum, there are countless threads on this topic. No idea why we had to create a new one?

Phaze

Nothing as convoluted as that. It's because the ethnic Chinese Singaporeans generally look down on the Malays and consider them to be lazy. They also don't think there's anything wrong with holding that view at all. To add some balance I've tried to tell them during many an office lunch that they're all as lazy as each other. Equality ^

davidj1

And the Indians are considered lazy too by the Chinese. I know a few that won't work in the same office as them.

But I digress.

Phaze

Welcome to the culturally diverse and tolerant Potemkin village that is Singapura.

tth_ben

It is fairly clear you are not a native Singaporean. And I hope for my fellow citizens' sake you are not a naturalized Singaporean either.

So I very much doubt you have any locus standi to make any form of comments or assessment about these alleged attitudes between the various races in Singapore. I have noticed that time and time again, you consistently make posts casting aspersions or making condescending remarks either against Singapore Airlines staff, or about other Singapore-related matters in general. Share your bad experiences with SQ as much as you wish, but spare others the inconvenience of reading your own irrelevant remarks.

May I know which shining city (and city's airline) upon a hill you so gloriously hail from?

Notwithstanding the painfully obvious fact that you are just shooting your mouth off without having any iota of qualifications to do so, this speaks to your presumptive and holier-than-thou ideas which I doubt any of us need or want to know about.

I wonder what the mods are doing though...

Guy Betsy

I hate all Indian call centres.... SQ's is no better than having to deal with Trainline in the UK for example, or British Airway's call centre.

They're just reading off the computer. They don't know how far Terminal 2 is from Terminal 1. They don't know if SQ will serve Kutupat with their Satay.

Phaze

Oh dear benji. What happened? Thanks for reconfirming everything I've seen time and time again. Another nationalist droid. Just because I'm not a "citizen" (whatever that might entail) I'm not entitled to an opinion? By the way I could buy citizenship immediately if I wanted to, albeit at the expense of my current passport. Would that suddenly permit me an opinion? No, of course it wouldn't. Because programmed folk like you would then complain that I've just done nothing more than buy a passport. Even though that's allowed. You are clearly the product of a nanny state, so I can't blame you too much for the myopic drivel you're spouting.

As for your inane diatribe about berating poor customer service and a lack of common sense; sure, let's all just pretend everyone is great and fantastic and choose to consciously ignore the shortcomings. Seeing as you're so dedicated to trawling through my posts, I can only presume you've chosen to ignore the ones that don't suit your narrative. It's no secret that "citizens" can't countenance criticism of any sort.

Where sparing you having to read these posts is concerned, I hate to be the one to break this to you, but this is a public forum. Now try and do the math. After all, you're the one with the "qualifications". Not to mention being clairvoyant as well. I know you must be used to censorship but that isn't how the wider world works.

And yes, of course, who can forget the old "but where are you from?". The key component of any retort I hear in these parts. I mean, it's all a competition after all, right? You're almost a parody of yourself.

I'm sure the mod police will be along shortly so you can rest unruffled in your safe space. Long live your cognitive dissonance.

tth_ben

Ah. I see you have been kinda Phazed.

I think you mean the IB. Not a “nationalist droid”. Get Singaporean-ised if you want to refer to these things. Notice I did not make any comments, whether expressly in support or against these issues of race that had been raised by you and a couple others? We all have our own strong ideas about our own country, politics, and its society, but for someone standing around outside, who has clearly enjoyed the benefits of being a foreigner in Singapore enough not to want to bail out immediately the day after, without having grown up, lived in Singapore, done his NS and seen the strengths and shortcomings of the rigid system, your opinions are worth as much as, well, the air around you now.

And by the way, that route of “buying” citizenship was closed off a couple of years back. At least ICA finally got something good going. Not that someone like you with preconceived notions would know. Go cling on to your branch like the poor koala in the fire now.

At least it’s good to see you have acknowledged that you are not entitled to such opinions even if you “bought” citizenship. Unfortunately, I hate to break it to you if you couldnt notice it but I only recently joined FT. Mostly great folks contributing with all the FF experiences here, except for the odd ones like you who think that FT is a place to make comments about racial attitudes and other disparaging remarks about a country you know only from being parachuted in and have financially benefited from. At least I’m proud to acknowledge that I’m a citizen of Singapore, with all its accompanying issues, for better or worse. Too ashamed of the state your country is in now?

Maybe I should start posting about how to get that great consistency in panna cottas next given how all encompassing FT seems to be.

24left

So, to bring this thread back to OPs comment and further to my reply posted here and comments of others

https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/28942608-post3.html

1. SQ doesn't have the worst call centres.
2. I don't think any of this offshore strategy will change anytime soon (and not just for SQ)
3. HUCA
4. Be patient.
5. HUCA

Happy Travels.

wavery83

Fair point. What are we discussing again? SIA are a World Class airline. Their management structure is a marvel of the world and should be cited in text books.

williamluk

Is SQ call center really that bad compared to others? If you have top status with SQ, average wait time is probably about 2-5 minutes and the agents are quite responsive. Compared to CX (which I have no status), I usually have to wait at least 30 minutes (my record is 1.5 hours) and the agents competence are more or less the same. I am quite sure a Macro Polo Diamond will get better treatment than that. At the end of the day, your airline status matter . . .. .