Not totally OT as it concerns car insurance
Phoned Norwich Union to change car on policy (yep sold the dedra - anyone need a bailey DV24 dump valve?)
After what seemed an eternity of waiting, a guy who sounded like Apu from the Simpsons answered. He found it very difficult to comprehend my request (to change my car to one I borrowed from a mate, but only for the weekend until i bought a replacement) but to time the change at 9pm as this was when the guy who bought the dedra arranged to pick it up) I found myself having to reiterate my request several times in different ways, increasingly slowly, before getting my message across. He then refused to change the car over because I couldn't exactly identify the exact model of the car (I knew the reg and that it was a 1.8 Cav) I was borrowing for the weekend. He said I'd have to phone back when I knew exactly what the car was. (fair enough as NU got fingers burned last year when they mistook my dedra for the non-turbo model and quoted me accordingly)
Phoned back when I found that the car was LS spec. A different Apu. I was used to speaking with "no nonsense" Scottish accents when I called NU. Again it was very difficult to explain my situation, that I had sold my car, it was being picked up tonight at 9pm therefore I wanted my insurance to change over to the new car at 9pm, that the car would not be mine and would be just using it to drive to find a new car and would be changing again in a couple of days. Eventually I managed to get the car changed to the Cav, after which Apu said (say this in the Apu voice) "Congratulations on your new car sir" Bloody hell I spent so long explaining to him that I was borrowing the car!
Outsourcing to India sucks. When our economy least needs it, we're sacking the call centre workforce that dragged us out of the last recession. Okay it'll mean that a few big companies will make more profits cos they can pay Apu 3 grand a year instead of 12 grand (or whatever call centre monkeys get over here) but that profit goes to shareholders and fat cat types. The people who are being sacked in droves, who buy life insurance, car insurance, etc etc will be on the dole, no longer able to afford these services. Will the prices of these services drop proportionally with how much less they're paying Apu? NO! Will the profits rise? Yes, for a while - So we'll hit a recession, the insurance companies who rely on the stock market will post losses, and Apu will have nobody to talk to on the phone. Not to mention that it takes three times as long to explain what you want to Apu in New Delhi as it does to "No nonsense" Wendy in Scotland. And what takes the piss is that Apu on 3 grand a year in India is being paid more than a Doctor or Teacher over there! I saw on a TV prog tonight that they have to have a degree to work in a call centre! Not many call centre monkeys over here have degrees (they may be studying for one at the time tho - i worked for Cahoot online bank while at uni) Argh its all bollox