Netcall welcomes OFCOM rules protecting consumers from silent calls

Wednesday, April 12, 2006

Netcall, the leading provider of callback, auto- messaging and contact solutions, welcomes Ofcom’s new rules to protect consumers from silent calls; the company also confirms that its flagship product, QueueBuster, always secures an agent before putting calls through to a customer, totally eliminating any risk of silent calls and ensuring full compliance with the new requirements published on 1st March 2006.

Silent calls are a significant cause of inconvenience and anxiety for thousands of people every month. Most silent calls are not generated with malicious intent but occur when call centres using automated calling systems generate more calls than their available agents can deal with. When the person called answers the telephone, there is no agent available, resulting in silence on the line.

Netcall’s QueueBuster system gives customers an alternative to inbound queues by allowing them to leave their details, maintain their place in the queue and automatically receive a call back when an agent is available. QueueBuster always secures an agent before making an outbound call and never generates more calls than available agents can deal with.

Contact centres risk fines of up to £50,000 if they fail to comply with the latest Ofcom rules which require that abandoned or silent calls must be less than 3 per cent of all calls during a 24 hour period. The previous voluntary guide was 5 per cent. Richard Farrell, Netcall’s Product Manager comments:

“Netcall’s QueueBuster has been developed with the key focus on customer satisfaction. At Netcall we believe that it is simply unacceptable for a customer to receive a silent call back or to receive a call back and be played messages whilst waiting for an agent. Such calls can cause worry and inconvenience and contribute to the negative perception of the contact centre industry by the public.

The US Patent* granted covering the Callback Telecommunication System and Method used by QueueBuster clearly identifies that an agent is secured before calling a customer.

“Our customers can have total confidence in QueueBuster. Our system is achieving customer satisfaction ratings of 98%, as well as bringing significant productivity gains, providing a win-win solution for call centres and their customers.”

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