I'm a bit concerned over the 'not very good English'... I work in a busy government office and the standard of spoken English there is appalling - the worst offender is the blonde, white guy who sits opposite me and has never been out of London in his life.

Often the Asians in the office have a better command of spoken English than the indigenous population.

If you want to continue to use large companies for your banking, telecommunication and insurance needs for the best possible price to you, then you are going to have to accept that the person on the end of the helpline may not be looking at the same horizon as you.

If you want to pay more for these things, then feel free to find an insurance company or bank that doesn't utilise call centres abroad. Good luck with that.

LTS