Call Centres: Will more bums on seats mean less time on hold?

NEWS Virgin Mobile has announced it is to create 200 new jobs in the North East of England through the opening of a customer support centre. Recruitment is already under way and around 100 staff will be employed at the call centre by May, with a further 100 joining by the end of the year. Tom Alexander, CEO of Virgin Mobile, said in a statement: “We are very excited to be opening up a new customer centre in the North East. Virgin Mobile prides itself on its customer service and we want to make sure that we keep giving our customers the very highest levels of care and attention." Customer satisfaction has often eluded companies looking to implement call centre operations - invariably customers are left disenchanted by everything from time spent listening to hold music to the general poor levels of service they receive. One major factor in a company's ability to run a successful call centre is the retention of staff - with high churn rates undermining training programmes and suppressing motivations and morale. However, Virgin will be hoping to buck this particular trend, having recently been voted one of the top 50 companies to work for in the UK. Let us know your best and worst call centre experiences. What's the longest you've been kept on hold? What's the most annoying hold music you've heard? Send your call centre horror stories to editorial@silicon.com