Silversea faces flak from trade after relocating UK call centre
Agents have questioned Silversea’s decision to relocate its UK contact centre to the Philippines, with one telling TTG current service levels are “unacceptable”.
The line confirmed in May it was moving its call centre to Manila to ensure agents had 24-hour global support, a move it said would result in “fewer than 100" shoreside staff being made redundant.
Although the new contact centre started operating in May, TTG understands some Silversea staff in London who were made redundant worked until the end of June.
Several of Silversea’s agent partners have since flagged issues to TTG – on condition of anonymity – following the call-centre switch.
One Scottish agency’s head of cruise said: “The service has not been good. Ever since they made the change, the service is not as good as it was. Silversea is a luxury brand, but we’re not getting five-star service.
“I had customers who wanted to upgrade their flights and it took about three weeks to resolve. I had to call a contact in the old reservations team to sort it.”
’Cannot keep up’
Another experienced agent said the language barrier was proving “a bit of an issue”. “No tasks are simple,” they added.
A third agent, a homeworker, said: “There was a misprint on some paperwork, and I was trying to explain the situation to the contact centre, but it was so difficult. The level of service is unacceptable.
“Another time it took me over an hour because the person did not know how to price up a quote using future cruise credit. Manila could not keep up. I got through to someone in London and they sorted it within five minutes.”
The boss of a cruise specialist agency added: “Problems arise when new people have not been taught to the level that is required.”
But she added: “My initial thoughts were that it is very sad for the high-quality staff. It must be really tough. The staff who have not been made redundant must be really shaken up as well.”
Responding to the claims, Peter Shanks, Silversea managing director UK, Ireland, Middle East and Africa, said: “Silversea remains committed to continuing to provide excellent service to our valued travel advisor partners.
"The transition is progressing as planned, and we continue to seek and act on valuable feedback from our travel advisor partners.”
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