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Report: BP call center a 'diversion'
HOUSTON, (UPI) -- An operator at a BP call center in Texas says the center is a "diversion" to keep callers from contacting the corporate office about the gulf oil spill.
The operator -- identified only as Janice in a report by KHOU-TV, Houston -- said about 100 people work the phones at the BP Call Center in West Houston. They take calls on a hotline telephone number BP publicizes under its Vessels of Opportunity program, which was set up in April to help boat operators assist with such oil spill response activities as carrying supplies and helping with wildlife rescue.
The operator identified as Janice said workers at the call center "take all your information and then we have nothing to give them."
"We're a diversion to stop them from really getting to the corporate office, to the big people," she said.
She told the TV station some operators don't even take notes when talking to callers because they don't believe the company follows up on the calls.
"And they just put down, type 'blah blah blah.' No information, just 'blah blah blah,'" she said.
BP officials said the company has received more than 200,000 phone messages from the call center, KHOU reported. Company officials said they did a computer search on the word "blah" and found just one case in which it was used in notes on a call -- asserting the operator used the word because the caller may have been drunk or belligerent, KHOU said.
The official acknowledged it was possible not all calls were logged by call center workers.
HOUSTON, (UPI) -- An operator at a BP call center in Texas says the center is a "diversion" to keep callers from contacting the corporate office about the gulf oil spill.
The operator -- identified only as Janice in a report by KHOU-TV, Houston -- said about 100 people work the phones at the BP Call Center in West Houston. They take calls on a hotline telephone number BP publicizes under its Vessels of Opportunity program, which was set up in April to help boat operators assist with such oil spill response activities as carrying supplies and helping with wildlife rescue.
The operator identified as Janice said workers at the call center "take all your information and then we have nothing to give them."
"We're a diversion to stop them from really getting to the corporate office, to the big people," she said.
She told the TV station some operators don't even take notes when talking to callers because they don't believe the company follows up on the calls.
"And they just put down, type 'blah blah blah.' No information, just 'blah blah blah,'" she said.
BP officials said the company has received more than 200,000 phone messages from the call center, KHOU reported. Company officials said they did a computer search on the word "blah" and found just one case in which it was used in notes on a call -- asserting the operator used the word because the caller may have been drunk or belligerent, KHOU said.
The official acknowledged it was possible not all calls were logged by call center workers.