Call centre charter progressing: Newman

Steady progress is being made on a charter for New Zealand’s call centres, says Telecommunications Users Association chief Ernie Newman.

Newman says TUANZ has received a lot of feedback from the contact centre industry and is currently grappling with the detail of how prescriptive the charter should be.

Tuanz doesn’t want the charter to impinge on how member organisations run their business. “But unless we’re reasonably definitive, it’ll be a meaningless document.”

Newman says the idea of a charter detailing acceptable standards of service for call centres came about after Commerce Minister Paul Swain, noting the number of complaints he received from the public about call centres, asked Newman if there were any set industry standards for call centres. “He said some should be put in place.”

The initial draft of the charter contained provisions including “your call will be answered within 20 seconds in 80% or more of cases”; “if any part of the conversation is recorded, you will first be advised of this fact and the reason”; and “if electronic interactive voice response is used, the menu options will be clear and understandable”.

The official launch of the charter is planned for July, after the final version is approved, Newman says.