<p>I have never had a problem with Dell tech support in the Phillipines. I’ve dealt with several reps and all spoke English very fluently. I cannot understand the folks in India AT ALL. So, I learned to hang up and redial. Eventually, I was given the magic code. By dialing a certain extension, I always get the Phillipines. </p>
<p>I have also learned that if you buy the manufacturer’s extended warranty, you deal with folks abroad. If you buy Circuit City’s, they use Assurant–I think that’s the name–and you get to deal with folks in Oklahoma. So, when I bought a new computer, I bought the extended service package from Circuit City, not the manufacturer. I sure hope they still use Assurant!</p>
<p>The worst experience I had was when an Indian rep decided that I had STOLEN my computer and the “real” owner was someone named Raj. (Raj was the tech who had dealt with the previous problem.) She kept telling me “You are a thief! I am not going to help you because you STOLE that computer! The rightful owner is RAJ!!” I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.</p>
<p>Sueinphilly, that is hysterical. I’m from New Jersey (3rd generation) and in my family we always said, “Ahrenge, far head and Flahrida and harable” but I notice my son says, “O-range, forehead, Florida and horrible”. We crack up about HIS accent! Its the long “O” that I can’t get used to.</p>
<p>I got a lot more tolerant about accents after struggling to communicate in Germany for 3 years. People’s rude reactions made me a lot more sensitive to how I handle foreigners myself. It still doesn’t necessarily make them any easier to understand, though.</p>
<p>I had to talk to a customer service rep last week, whom I’m pretty sure was in India. He was friendly, and pretty easy to understand. The biggest clue was when I gave him my street address (spelling everything) and when I was done, he asked me if that was a post office box. An American generally knows that a post office box has a “PO” followed by a number, not a number followed by a street name.</p>
<p>haha. I say "or"ange and I’m from NY if that helps.
my cousins from philly make fun of me b/c I tend to say "chaw"clate instead of "choc"late :P</p>
<p>alamode–we in Virginia used to love having our cousins from Boston and NYC come down to visit. Their accents were the most exotic we had ever heard. (“Chawclate” reminded me.)</p>
<p>My DH is from Boston but he doesn’t have the accent cause his parents aren’t from there. But he can put it on when talking to the natives!</p>
<p>I’m a Dell customer and had the occasion to call customer service twice this year. My first experience was quite good with a female rep who solved my problem within minutes. The second time was rather frustrating. I spent about 90 minutes on the phone with a male rep. I had to ask him over and over to repeat himself. I don’t think he understood me any better. He would not listen to me when I told him what I wanted him to do. He finally authorized a tech to make a house call. I needed a replacement part. The tech informed me that there had been many complaints about this particular defective part. So why didn’t the customer rep know? In retrospect, I probably should’ve just hung up and called again. I wonder what they do with those customer satisfaction/service evaluations they email you?
Honestly, sometimes I find it’s just difficult to understand people in general over the phone–especially a cell phone. I find myself saying “what” again and again. People probably think I’m rude and not paying attention!</p>
<p>^^ Dell offers a higher level of support (you pay more) that states that the call center is NA based. </p>
<p>I also just noticed yesterday that Lenovo goes out of its way to let you know their call center is US based.
</p>
<p>I think it’s clear that the companies know that many people want NA based call centers - they just need to figure out how to have one and be cost-competetive.</p>
<p>BA… You didn’t just hang up because you had already invested too much of your time waiting for your chance to talk to someone, and didn’t want to double the time…</p>
<p>The most infuriating thing to me is when I’m calling a company because I’m having trouble with their website - or their website says that my problem must be handled on the phone - or I’m calling my internet provider because my internet is down - and before I’m even given an option to push a number to try to work my way through the never-ending phone tree to a human being, I have to listen to a 45-second blurb telling me all the wonderful things I can do on the company’s website, and repeating the spelling of the website 3 times. I’M CALLING YOU BECAUSE YOUR WEBSITE CAN’T HELP ME! Please stop torturing me with recordings about your wonderful website!</p>
<p>I hate listening to all the things Comcast can sell me when the stuff I’m already paying for doesn’t work. I mean, talk about rubbing salt into the wound…</p>
<p>I received an email yesterday with the following. I know I have spoken with him…</p>
<p>Mujibar was trying to get a job in India.
The Personnel Manager said, “Mujibar, you have passed all the tests, except one. Unless you pass it , you cannot qualify for this job.”
Mujibar said, “I am ready.”
The manager said, “Make a sentence using the words Yellow, Pink and Green.”
Mujibar thought for a few minutes and said, “Mister manager, I am ready”
The manager said, “Go ahead.”
Mujibar said, “The telephone goes green, green, and I pink it up, and say, ’ Yellow ', this is Mujibar.”
Mujibar now works at a call center.
No doubt you have spoken to him. I know I have.</p>
<p>It also bothers me that it bothers me, but one thing that I find insulting is when the tech introduces himself as “Bob.” Now I know his name is not Bob and I am perfectly capable of dealing with the fact that his name is “whatever his name is in India” so just say it for God’s sake. Next, I hate the mirror talk "Okay, Cartera, you are telling me that your computer is on fire and the keyboard is too hot to touch, is that correct?"Then it is “Cartera, is it okay for me to put you on hold while I research the issue of your computer being on fire and the keyboard is too hot to touch?” Minutes later, “Cartera, tell me what is on your screen.” “Okay, Cartera, you are telling me that flames are on your screen. Let me put you on hold while I do a little more research.” He comes back and I tell him not to worry because the computer is in ashes. “Okay Cartera, you are telling me that your problem has been solved. Is there anything else I can help you with today? Would you be so kind as to fill out the survey that I will email to you? Thank you, Cartera, please have a nice day.”</p>
<p>I emailed the Manager of the Digital Media section (sort of like the online PR Dept.) at Dell after more than 20 frustrating calls and one online chat session with overseas Customer Service Reps regarding my D’s laptop that I ordered in early July. Nobody was ever able to tell me exactly where the order stood.</p>
<p>Three weeks later, and 2 weeks after I’d cancelled the order, I finally got a response from him.</p>
<p>My response was to-the-point; as a Customer Service professional, Dell’s Customer Service was the worst I’d ever encountered. As long as they continued to farm it out overseas, I would never consider buying from Dell. :(</p>
<p>Well I just had a chat with one of the Dell rep and everything went great. He was nice, polite and to the point. His English was perfect and the whole thing went great. I’m not sure however if this is because I was using the Gold service (for more info about the gold service check: <a href=“Computers, Monitors & Technology Solutions | Dell USA”>http://www.dell.com/downloads/global/services/ds_gts.pdf</a>) but I ended that conversation feeling very please and satisfied.</p>
<p>I’ve had many (too many) calls to Indian customer service reps for various companies. Almost all of them were unfailingly polite, (in a British way) helpful, and concerned that my problem was resolved.<br>
Too polite, really. So polite (scripted, of course) that I wondered if there’d be any way to get them upset and talking rudely to a customer. (I would never test them on that–I just wondered because I’ve talked to plenty of inconsiderate, lazy, and rude American customer service reps–good riddance to them).</p>
<p>A week ago we had to call the HP help desk for a printer problem. After talking to 3 or 4 different people at the India call center with their inability to hear us, inability to comprehend anything outside of the scripted conversation they were expecting (don’t ever try asking them a question), and one of them being downright rude to us (he told my D “I can’t hear you - you are uncooperative”, I got on the phone the next time, eventually got the message to them that I was dissatisfied with their call center and needed to speak to someone who could understand me, and they switched me to a Canadian call center. That was a breath of fresh air - I could actually have a basic conversation with them and we could understand each other. </p>
<p>I’ll think twice about buying an HP product again because of their India based call center. If the product ends up costing me an extra $5, so be it.</p>
<p>They clearly train these customer service reps to stick to a script. They are apparently not allowed to think outside of this script. </p>
<p>We flew to the Florida Keys on a winter vacation a few years ago, and Delta lost my daughter’s luggage. When it didn’t appear after 24 hours, I called the number they gave me, and it was clearly in India. The guy asked me what was in the suitcase, specific articles of clothing, and I mentioned a few. Then he begans asking me (must have been a list of possible suitcases they had, with an inventory of items in it), “Did it have a brown skirt?” I said, No, no skirts, just shorts and t-shirts. “Did it have a floral skirt?” NO, NO SKIRTS. “Did it have a patterned dress?” I TOLD YOU, SHORTS AND TSHIRTS. </p>
<p>(Finally I asked him to write down word for word what I said: Outside pocket of the luggage had a black windbreaker with pink embroidery on the back that said “Name of Daughter’s Dance Studio.” Within 30 minutes Delta called me, the luggage had arrived in Miami on the flight after ours and was sitting there the whole time. When they finally sent it to the hotel it had all the correct tags on it. Why did they have to get an inventory from India to figure out what to do with it, when it had all the proper tags and I had filled out all the forms at the airport?)</p>
<p>I was a phone rep for a mutual-funds company, so I have great sympathy for phone reps. But at least I was able to THINK for myself and listen to what someone was saying, outside of a script! And Cartera, you are so right, the repeating my name and what I said? ARGH.</p>
<p>cartera and others,
There was a thread like this a year or so ago, and when I commented about wishing the overseas reps would not try to use “americanized” names, I got my head handed to me on a silver platter. How dare I think that their names might not be Bob or Sally or Kevin (the rep couldn’t even pronounce it correctly!!) Surely I must be a racist. Sheesh. I am pleasantly surprised that this thread hasn’t gone in that direction, and that we can “vent” our frustrations. </p>
<p>There is sa website that tells you how to “dial around” all the prompts and get to a customer service rep. I will find it and post it here.</p>