Champion call centre staff raise the roof

AN OLDHAM-based housing provider has been named the best in the UK for customer service.

Guinness Northern Counties’ North West-based call centre, which operates from the association’s head office in Hollinwood, out-performed national competition in the UK’s biggest ever call centre benchmarking exercise.

It scooped first place in the Top 50 Call Centre Awards for Customer Service.

The not-for-profit housing association, which is part of The Guinness Partnership and owns and manages over 5,100 properties across Lancashire, took the title in the Small Centre, Public Sector and Overall categories.

It beat off strong competition from 150 other organisations including household names such as Google, Lloyds TSB, Barclays, ASDA and insurance giants Aviva.

Director of Customer Services Penny Bayley said: “We are all completely overwhelmed. It’s a massive tribute to the staff we employ at the centre and their commitment to really making a difference to our residents.”

In last year’s survey, Guinness Northern Counties was ranked 6th best in the country.