Buckeye Broadband outsourcing part of call center, more than 100 people to lose their jobs

TOLEDO, Ohio (WTVG) – More than 100 people at Buckeye Broadband’s local call center will be laid off effective March 31.

The company plans to outsource their jobs to a third-party company that is not based in the United States.

“[I] was just stunned,” a Buckeye call center employee, who wants to remain anonymous, said. “I grew up with Buckeye … and it was a company that I always wanted to be able to work for and, to be honest, I feel like my loyalty is now ripped to shreds.”

The tough news came on Friday, just two days after Christmas. Buckeye’s President says he timed it this way for a reason.

“We wanted to give our team members opportunities to plan,” Geoff Shook, Buckeye’s president and general manager said. “This was not an easy decision.”

Shook says the change is the result of increasing costs for the company.

“Some of the calls that we get, we found a more cost-effective manner in which to address the questions; and what that meant is is that I can now absorb some of the other cost increases without passing them on to our customers,” he said.

The company’s solution is to outsource billing, payment and change of service calls to a third party; Shook says he cannot say which company, due to on-going contract negotiations, but did say the company is not based in the U.S.

Starting April 1, the local call staff who are not losing their jobs will only answer sales, outbound and advanced technical support calls.

Shook says customers will also still be able to go in-person to Buckeye stores.

“We also maintain five payment centers that our customers utilize on a regular basis to go in and talk about their bill or make a payment or whatever the case may be,” Shook said.

But, the soon-to-be former employee who spoke with 13 Action News said she believes customer service will suffer.

“We were the first line of defense to make sure customers were getting the best quality service,” she said. “And I’m sorry that it had to come to this.”

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