Memphis call center shuttered

Friday, April 20, 2001 | 11:26 a.m.

Harrah's Entertainment Inc. is closing a telemarketing center in its former hometown Sunday, a spokesman said.

The center is Harrah's national customer service center. Together with APAC Customer Services Inc., an outsourced telemarketing service, Harrah's handles about 3.5 million customer service calls a year.

But this center will close Sunday and all telemarketing services will be routed to APAC. Harrah's spokesman Gary Thompson said the company will pay two months' severance to the 143 employees losing their jobs in the closure.

"(APAC) has a lot of capabilities, and even though we have a very sophisticated teleservices center, it is more efficient for us to do this," Thompson said.

Harrah's will still have 400 employees in Memphis after the closure, working in information technology, procurement, accounting and payroll. Thompson said there are no plans to make additional workforce cuts in the city.

Harrah's was headquartered in Memphis until last year, when it moved its corporate headquarters to Las Vegas.