BT sees the light and brings call centres back to the UK

At last – a sensible business decision by BT. The company has promised to answer more than 80 per cent of its customers’ calls in the UK by the end of 2016 - and plans to go further in years to come.

My reader may remember the issues I had with the telecoms giant last summer (blogs of Monday, June 22 - BT’s muppetry continues to perplex & annoy – and Wednesday, June 24 - All Mil needed to do was to send BT a tweet).

Whilst I’d like to take the credit for this change of policy (I did, after all, write to BT’s Chief Executive in an attempt to get an issue resolved) I realise that I can’t.

BT moved much of its call centre operation to Bangalore and Delhi in India from 2003 onwards in a move that cut its workforce by some 2,000 jobs.

The decision was clearly driven by a desire to save money, given that it was able to hire highly educated graduates in India who were paid around 20per cent of the figure of their UK counterparts, rather than offer top-notch customer service.

The move back to the UK is probably too late to save BT’s rapidly diminished reputation but it is a step in the right direction. Customer service is paramount, even more so in these ultra-competitive times.

However, I have a great deal of sympathy for the perfectly nice people who I have spoken with over the years in Bangalore or Delhi. They tried to help but the main problem was they could never make a decision.

So, Samantha in Swansea – are you ready for my call?