It's not whether or not a person is in this country that's an issue. For me, it's whether I can communicate with them and whether they know their job.

Jeri - You are absolutely spot on. Unfortunately people of a radical persuasion tend to use these things to incite racial intollerence. If only everyone realised that it is not the background of the operator, but their skill with the customer that counts.

But, didn't you know there was one of them coming :-) But, we do get bad service from all call centres - wherever they are. There are the people who just want to get rid of you to build up their stats. There are those who will only follow the script and not deviate. Then there are those who will go th eextra mile to help - But that applies to call centres in Munbia, Manchester or Massachusetts.

Unfortunately, because call centres are being taken out of our native lands the impression is that we get poor service from other countries. It is simply a matter of statistics. And while the call centres, and staff, are new we see it even more.

To add to the already clouded issue we get (as has already happened here) those who insist that people who complain about foreign call centres must be racist in some way. I complain about foreign call centres. The man in somewhere sunnier that me who insisted I was in "Newcastle upon Thames" was an absolute prick. But then again so was the one in Glasgow who insisted that my son had to pay higher insurance premiums because he had changed his job title. Not his job. Just his title.

Anyroads. Rant done. My view, for what it's worth, is that provided I get the service I need it doesn't matter where it comes from. Now, as to medical professionals who cannot understand local dialects! Well, just don't get me started on how my daughter ended up with blood coming out of her ears...

DtG