<p>extremely frustrating! what’s ridiculous is that i feel guilty for feeling frustrated—they are nice people, but they simply can’t speak understandable english</p>
<p>I am about as progressive and liberal as they come, and it drives me nuts as well</p>
<p>I also dislike the outsourcing of American Jobs </p>
<p>I have actually said that I want a phone # for an office in the US…</p>
<p>Outsourcing of jobs is sometimes the best decision a company can make if it wants to remain profitable. </p>
<p>Better to outsource some jobs than go under because of an overpriced supply chain.</p>
<p>What I have learned from speaking with a lot of people with beginning english skills, is that both sides get nowhere because, fearing they will offend each other, they do not do what is necessary to communicate. However, neither side actually will be offended. They want someone to slow down, ask them to repeat if they are not understood. It seems awkward but the silence that results from being afraid or feeling guilty for asking someone to clarify or try again, is just as awkward and frustrating. </p>
<p>It is much worse over the phone because there is no ability to resort to body language. That really makes it that much harder. We don’t even realize how much body language adds to communication. I sometimes have difficulty having a perfect english conversation with someone on the phone. Phone conversations in general are pretty awkward. </p>
<p>What we can do is slow down, Americans tend to speak pretty fast. Giving it a little more time can help someone form a more coherent response. Also don’t be afraid to ask someone to repeat something. Finally, you can try to ask to be transferred to their supervisor or another employee. Sometimes they will. Call center employees work long hours doing completely unstimulating tasks, so there is a chance that the person you got at that time is usually more comprehensible but is at the end of their shift, etc, and having difficulty. Call centers have a lot of difficulty keeping employee motivation up. That isn’t really helpful for any of us, but I guess it is what it is.</p>
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<p>I think this is true, and I also think it may possibly backfire in the long run. Eventually, the money saved in outsourcing (which is considerable - employees at these outsourced call centers are usually highly educated and they are working a job that no American with the equivalent education would ever be working, for much less), is probably going to be outweighed by customer service issues and backlash if we continue along this path. I think there’s some time before that point, and it’s probably even likely that some issues will be worked out by then. But it’s not likely these educated employees will work call centers long enough to learn impeccable English, and constant turnover is going to prove difficult to manage. Companies are looking into various motivation schemes but that is going to cost money. Still not as much as it would in America admittedly, though. At any rate I think the outsourcing ship has sailed and it isn’t coming back at this point. Things aren’t going to just reverse and everything will be back to the way it was pre technology. Things will likely improve, but globalization isn’t going to stop and current outsourcing and offshoring are the beginning steps.</p>
<p>One of the reasons I cancelled an order with Dell (that and the fact they couldn’t even tell me where my order was). I don’t fault the Indian CSRs, they were all very nice (as was I). I also faulted myself in not being able to understand their accents.</p>
<p>Princedog,</p>
<p>Outsourcing includes many things besides call centers. Call centers are just what we tend to have the most direct experience with as consumers.</p>
<p>A number of years ago I called my insurance company when outsourcing was just beginning. The woman answering my question had a pleasant enough accent so I asked were she lived. “Diblin, Ireland” sheanswered.</p>
<p>Actually the first outsourcing began by relocating call centers from east/west coast metro areas tostates where wages/benefits were significantly lower.</p>
<p>And what do Microsoft, IBM, Oracle, Deloitte&Touche, Intel, Cisco, Ernst&Young, Motorola, Accenture, JP Morgan, Price Waterhouse, Goldman Sachs, Citigroup, Lehman Bros, HP and Yahoo have in common. They are all among the top 50 companies in employing college degreed H1B visa workers.</p>
<p>Many companies are actually bringing their call centers back to the US. Studies have shown that outsourcing isn’t saving them as much money as they thought.</p>
<p>Anyone else remember the good old days when you called in an order to LLBean and spoke to someone with a Maine accent? </p>
<p>When I receive unsolicited calls for surveys, etc., I make a point of asking where the person is physically located, my own little survey. I may or may not continue with the call, depending on my interest. I’ve gotten calls from India as well as the Phillipines (sp?) and Toronto.</p>
<p>I find it very difficult and time consuming trying to discern what someone is telling me over the phone, in an accent that is trying desperately to “sound” American (by individuals who have renamed themselves with names like “Drew”). I find this all the more troubling when it involves transactions with money, since mistakes are much more likely with language barriers.</p>
<p>“Anyone else remember the good old days when you called in an order to LLBean and spoke to someone with a Maine accent?”</p>
<p>Perhaps the Maine accent is missing, but I would hold up the LL Bean call center as the model for every call center to emulate. Every time that I get off the phone with them, I can’t help but think, wow, they are really, really good.</p>
<p>I once got an almost incomprehensible call asking survey questions for a US candidate. Either they weren’t very careful who they got to represent them to the public, or it was an opponent trying to undermine the candidate by making annoying survey calls. Rather strange.</p>
<p>Princedog,</p>
<p>Asking someone with a heavy accent to “slow down” is obvious. You have missed the (obvious) point here. OP asked about CUSTOMER SERVICE reps - when the customer is forced to service the rep in order to get proper information or gets no info at all, the company is not providing acceptable customer service. The (obvious) course of action would be to avoid doing business with that company if possible.</p>
<p>I disagree with NAFTA however- I haven’t found the difficulty with language from folks on the Indian subcontinent- Ive had more problems with those from the deep south- including an inability to understand what I am asking/ or an inability to do any more trouble shooting than respond with the phrases that come up on the computer screen.</p>
<p>However- I rarely request help that way- I usually use live chat if I need to contact an actual person- because then I have a record of the transaction.</p>
<p>The worst service agent I came across was for Dell. My dad had bought a new computer with a flat LCD screen for me/brother for christmas and when we went to set it up, and the screen wouldn’t turn on at all. So we called Dell up in India and after explaining the problem, twice, and going through one or two steps, she kept trying to get us to “look at something on the screen” and “click through” this and that. Um, hello! Our screen won’t turn ON! Duh.</p>
<p>Dell has particularly difficult customer service because their India call centers have scripted questions for their reps to go through. We Americans prefer to get to the “meat of the problem”, which skips over a lot of their script. A little more flexibility and a little less formality would help.</p>
<p>An interesting reversal of this is customer service agents in call centers in places like Oregon or Idaho who speak great English and are very nice and sometimes even knowledgeable. But they dont’ understand why you don’t want to arrange a service/repaira/diagnostic call to your home, because they don’t know that good, skilled, trained service personnel are not provided by their company in sme other parts of the U.S. This happens regularly with my Internet provider.</p>
<p>I remember calling customer service once while trying out a new ISP - I needed tech support, and so, the call went to India. Had great difficulty understanding the person - at one point I tried to clarify something he said: “you’re telling me I’m supposed to plug the cable into my TOASTER???” and he said no, no, no, and, anyway, we both burst out laughing and couldn’t stop, and, when we finally could each catch our breath the rest of the call was fine…I think it’s a matter of relaxing and actually listening to the other person…fireflyscout hit it on the head, we just wanna know what time it is, we don’t want to be taken through the steps of building the clock.</p>
<p>I talk to people all over the world and have found that when both parties take a deep breath, relax, slow down, understanding increases exponentially. But that’s hard to do if you’re the person with the malfunctioning widget and you just a solution asap.</p>
<p>When you build comps, you are your own customer service! Can’t beat that :P</p>
<p>A few months ago I had an out of body experience when I was required to spell “Elizabeth” about 6 times to one of those heavy-accent operators for an airline… in despair, I said “you know, like Queen Elizabeth.” The operator did not get the reference!! (So, probably not Indian…?)</p>