What Offshore Call Centers Rather Not Talk About
By
VendorSeek
 It initially seemed like a savvy business decision for U.S. companies to establish call centers off shore. It has been previously projected that it was to be so profitable, that 3,000 U.S. call centers would close down to move offshore by 2008 making the number of agent positions elsewhere reach in the 250,000 range! The 'hotspots' were to be in India, the Philippines, Canada, and Mexico.
This flux has been ameliorated by the lax of U.S. authorities enforcing their pertinent laws in these locales. Though mortgage programs and credit card acquisition programs have been the biggest companies to take leave for other locations, this phenomenon has been taken advantage of by other industries as well.
"Law cannot persuade where it cannot punish."
U.S. law enforcement theorized that at least $100 million in U.S. dollars has been accrued illegally by Canadian call centers and this number quadruples considering illegal activity in South Asia. It has been speculated that on any given day in India, there are at least 300 call centers engaging in violations of U.S. telemarketing rules, but this number is conjectured to be lower than actuality.
Improvements in low-cost services since 2004 has made it much more conducive to operate call centers off shores. Technology has paradoxically enabled the existence of violations by making it virtually impossible to track the origin telemarketing calls and making it easy for telemarketers to falsify the origins of the calls placed to the U.S. from overseas.
 These call centers are becoming even more bold by the lack of attention the U.S. enforcement is giving to these violations. There is a concept known as "call blasting" in which an off shore call center will utilize a recorded message in American in order solicit calls to sell credit cards. This particular violation is multi-faceted. For one, sales of credit cards are illegal in the U.S., as is the use of recorded messages (besides public safety and campaign announcements). Some U.S. states require an agent to ask the potential consumer's permission to carry on with a call; more stringent laws prohibit the use of call center rebuttals or other calls after a denial.
Just to gain an insight into how valuable these call centers can be, lets peer into one credit card center in India. Each card sale gains $110 to $240 from a U.S. purchaser's bank account. Due to 'holes in the system,' these representatives are only speaking with interested customers producing an extreme sales rate compared to legitimate practices. The call center is paying these agents about $2 per hour and paying long distance rates to call the U.S. at about $1 per hour. These astronomical numbers in the illegitimates' favor make it absolutely impossible for any legitimate company to compare.
Recent efforts to stop these violations most likely have spawned from growing concern from legitimate U.S. businessmen putting pressure on law enforcers. Before recently, there was only one legal action taken place on the federal level (the call center was located in the U.S.) and no legal action has been taken at the state level. U.S. authorities recently have recognized the odious repercussions of these call centers.
"It is only rogues who feel the restraints of law."
This is a current issue that is taking place and will hopefully result in newfound integrity and instill fear in companies engaging in these encroaching behaviors. The following is a list of things that have been done or in the process of being done to prohibit further flourishing of these heinous companies:
- The publishing of consumer protections and telecommunications rules in readily accessible format online.
 - Sting operations to allure illegal operations to covert enforcement personnel
- Lists purchased by telemarketers can be speckled with fictitious identities that would appeal to these companies (low credit scores but average bank balances). These telemarketing companies will not put out the money to verify each names validity
- Techniques to identify and bring to justice everyone verified as being engaged in illegal telemarketing operations. This will identify not only the off shore locations but the U.S. originators
- Persecutions are to be publicized, especially for those operators who fail to appear, cooperation from over sea enforcement, and confiscation of all assets to violators
- Registration and bonding rules will become more uniform and become free to encourage compliance. Annual renewals should be mandatory in order for all information to be the most current
Bringing these violators to light can come to fruition. It will be a meticulous and long haul for the U.S. officials who have let this problem slip out of control. Failure to enforce consumer protection rules is placing legitimate U.S. businesses at a disadvantage and is making our great system look hypocritical to our citizens and other countries that proudly look upon the United States.
This article was provided by VendorSeek.com, a site where businesses go to receive free quotes from multiple vendors with no obligation to buy.
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