‘A disgrace and a blight’: Inside Australian call centres that want to rip you off

‘A disgrace and a blight’: Inside Australian call centres that want to rip you off

Sydney : MOST call centres, no matter what their business is, exist because they want your money. They can be annoying, persistent or even intrusive. And sometimes they can be criminal. That is exactly what so-called boiler rooms are. They are effectively professionally run call centres serious about ripping hardworking Australians off.
And the really bad news is they are popping up throughout Australia, almost as fast as they can be closed.
Authorities admit even if the masterminds are caught it is difficult to lock them up.One Australian man got a glimpse at how they operated when he worked on the Gold Coast several years ago.“What a disgrace and a blight these places are on the Gold Coast,” Tim* said.He saw how two of them operated.“In my initial interview for the Surfers boiler room job, I really felt so pressured to take the job.“They sat me down at a basic table with a phone and script and said I had an [unpaid] two hour trial.”
When he walked out of there he felt “guilty” for leaving, such was the strength of their mind games.“That was how good their psychological play was.” Other telemarketing jobs he took were just as brutal with “chook pen cubicles” with predictive diallers and “no let up for four hours at a time”. Five minute breaks were taken every two hours.“I think the main feeling was one of pressure. Obviously, you’re in the job to make sales or introduce an idea to people that will lead to a sale and you kind of get on a roll once you hit the phones,” he said.Usually the day started with a meeting, where goals were set, and then staff hit the phones.“You work to the script and use your own powers of persuasion to get people to do what you want … They frowned on staff chatting amongst themselves during “phone time”.Tim said there was very little complaint among co-workers for fear of being fired and there was never any deviating from the script.Another Australian who worked in boiler rooms overseas told news.com.au of the shame he felt ever being involved in them.“I have worked in boiler rooms, [and] it is something I am not proud of. When I realised the ins and outs of these particular businesses I got out.”
That was a decade ago though but he is in doubt that the ones operating in Australia.“I can assure you, wherever the companies are here they would most definitely be operating in similar ways. and not just in stocks and shares.”The ABC’s 7.30 program this week revealed Queensland’s Crime and Corruption Commission (CCC) was investigating several boiler rooms operating on the Gold Coast that may have been protected by corrupt former policeDetective Superintendent Brian Hay said the Gold Coast had sadly become a “mecca” for boiler rooms which he said were nothing more than “criminal call centres”.

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