A shinning example of American good will

[mikester]

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2005/11/17/BUGB3FPGT01.DTL&type=printable

We have a serious problem in this country.

[RallyJon]

While I never have "racist tantrums", I seriously resent being connected to a call center in India. They inevitably barely speak english and are trained to provide little better functionality than a web site. Also, they tend to be well aware of their limited abilities and have the attitude one might expect of a college-educated man asked to perform such a demeaning role.

Outsourcing customer service is baffling to me. This is the point of contact with your customers, and you're going to invite cultural issues into that critical relationship? Dumb, dumb, dumb.

[mikester]

I suppose that is understandable but is it their fault or the company's fault for going that route?

I mean these folks are just doing what you would do given the opportunity for a better life - jump on it.

That being said the problem I feel is that people do not respect eachother regardless of race, nationality or whatever.

Americans disrespect Americans on a daily basis as a rule...

This behavior goes on all the time in America against American Tech support workers as well, probably just as often. So I don't really think it is an issue with outsourcing and Indians but more an issues that Americans really do seem to be pretty arrogant and disrespectful of other people in general.

the problem I see is that we don't respect eachother enough to be decent.

So...I digress...

Yuo can resent being transferred to someone who you will have a hard time getting help from due to language boundaries and I feel you'd be correct in that resentment. But the resentment and dissatisfaction should likely be directed at the company and not the person.

Regardless of if that person can actually help you or not technically...

In that case I would contact the company about that issue and tell them if they did not fix it you'll take your business elsewhere.

I've worked with a looooooooot of Indians here in the states and find that they are all extremely polite; MUCH more polite than I am and they also seem to be sincere in it. I think I just might envy that.

[vash]

a nice woman, obviously from india, put up with my bonehead questions and got my laptop up and running. it was a pleasant experience. still hate the computer though.

when i read the title of this thread, i thought it was going to be about Rush. he offered this new program to let americans, "adopt a soldier". basically, some nice civilian is supposed to pay the $49 subscription fee to Rush, and this will allow the soldier to log on and read his ramblings. Rush generously offered a 15% discount for this program. what a dcik! he can easily just offer it up for free.

[RallyJon]

But the resentment and dissatisfaction should likely be directed at the company and not the person.

Sorry if I was unclear--that was my point. As I understand it, many of the call center workers are very intelligent, educated people. So, you're putting them in a role for which they are perhaps overqualified in general, yet without the tools (communication skills, cultural empathy, power to advocate for the customer to the company) to do the job well.

I take a few customer service calls a day, even though it's not my job. It is extremely important to make a customer feel "well taken care of" by a company representative that cares about them and has the will and the power to solve their problem as quickly and effortlessly as possible. Further, the best customer service makes the customer feel special and important--like he's one of your best, elite customers, deserving special care. If you can deliver that on a customer service call, you'll have a customer for life.

With what the Indian call centers deliver, it's a wonder those companies have any customers left at all.

[speeder]

I have gotten nothing but good tech help from SBC call center personnel in India. Outsourcing U.S. jobs doesn't thrill me, but to blame it on workers in some 3rd world country just shows the arrogance and stupidity of most Americans, and why we are hated in the world. Having a leader that personifies this doesn't help.

All call center employees should have a policy of giving abusive customers (1) warning before disconnecting them. There is a basic right not to have to suffer abuse in your job.

[RallyJon]

All call center employees should have a policy of giving abusive customers (1) warning before disconnecting them.

All customers should have the policy of given uncaring companies (1) warning before changing suppliers.

Bad manners are bad manners, but let's not forget who the customer is.

[notfarnow]

Originally posted by speeder
All call center employees should have a policy of giving abusive customers (1) warning before disconnecting them. There is a basic right not to have to suffer abuse in your job.

Having worked in and managed call centers up here in Canada, I think you'd find this is generally the case... at least on paper. Whether this is true in India, I couldn't venture a guess.

When I was going to university, I worked in a call center that dealt with customer service issues in Canada, the US and Europe. When you first started, you took calls in Canada only. Once you gained experience, you took calls from the US. It was a dreaded step, and you were compensated accordingly. The abuse was appalling... it was a real shocker to me personnally, as I had always felt Americans were kind, even-tempered folks. Something happens on the phone though, and it's a whole different ballgame altogether. I really, really hate to make generalizations but dealing with US customers was a part of the job that everyone dreaded. One notable exception: folks from the southern US.

Another observation: [edit: this part was also true of Canadians, if not more so] Many people I worked with were francophones, and although they spoke english fluently they did have noticeable accents. Not hard to understand, but you knew English wasn't their first language. They suffered far worse than those w/o an accent. This is something I also noticed when I was a manager at another call center a few years later.

[1967 R50/2]

I have Cablevision for my high speed on-line service. I called them...got routed to India. They young gentleman had me fixed up in no time. Kudos.

I use to work for AT&T a long time ago. Worked with the people in the call centers. Their's is a job I would not relish. Think about it...all day long, you listen to other people's problems. Turnover was very high and it was very difficult to find people to fill the seats.

[cowtown]

Having worked at a call center (briefly, and a lifetime ago when I did it to get by), I can tell you that Americans aren't just rude to Indian call center workers. They're rude to everyone. It's the same phenomenon as Internet manners: I don't see you, and I don't know you, so to hell with you, I'll say what I want to you. It's a rough job that requires a thick skin.

The racism part is unacceptable, and I agree that callers should be disconnected for that.

[legion]

Originally posted by mikester
In that case I would contact the company about that issue and tell them if they did not fix it you'll take your business elsewhere.

This is part of the problem that breeds frustration that results in the verbal abuse of call center employees. Most of the time, the call center is the ONLY way of contacting the company.

[notfarnow]

Originally posted by cowtown
Having worked at a call center (briefly, and a lifetime ago when I did it to get by), I can tell you that Americans aren't just rude to Indian call center workers. They're rude to everyone...

Agreed. It's really a shame, and I know a lot of people that have a skewed perception of americans as a result.

It was once explained to me that you guys in the states have A LOT more outbound telemarketers, making you more hostile towards call center employees - inbound or outbound.

edit: speelign

[legion]

I would say that you are correct, notfarnow.

Also, call centers here (particulary for government agencies) do things like make you go through a series of menus (which can take up to 20 minutes to navigate), only to put you all in the same call queue (which can take over an hour for your call to be answered).

I've also noticed that in Illinois, a lot of state agencies like to have call center hours like 11:00a.m. to 3:00p.m., Tuesday and Wednesday. Then, they only have one line, so you have to keep redialing just to get connected because you usually get a busy signal.

And people wonder why we are rude on the phone.

[RallyJon]

Legion, you've got the right answer: Americans don't start out rude, they're driven to it by poor customer service.

When you call a company, the phone should be answered by a person, not a machine. You should be talking to someone who can either help you right away, or will tell you within 20 seconds that they can't and transfer you to someone who can. Follow some basic rules that respect your customer and you'll find that Americans are polite and grateful.

[RallyJon]

Another way of looking at it: Americans are blunt and truthful. If you suck, they'll tell you so, and you might consider that rude.

[speeder]

Originally posted by RallyJon
When you call a company, the phone should be answered by a person, not a machine. You should be talking to someone who can either help you right away, or will tell you within 20 seconds that they can't and transfer you to someone who can. Follow some basic rules that respect your customer and you'll find that Americans are polite and grateful.

I agree w/ this statement 100% and I get very impatient w/ incompetence and poor service, (ie. endless electronic menus, etc...), but just don't excuse abusing the peons that have to work those jobs.

[David]

I had an issue with a friend's brand new Dell and I called the help line. What a ******* joke. They kept transferring me to nobody. Finally I asked the guy to stay on the line until the next person came on. They did, so did the automatic advertising. So now we had two Indians and an advertisment all at the same time. They couldn't figure out what was going on and hung up on me.

After I got no help from them I took the new computer apart. NO HARDDRIVE. My friend took it back to the Dell kiosk. The guy there called the help line. He (the Dell employee) got the same runaround I did. I hear Dell stopped their outsourcing shortly after this.

[fintstone]

There is nothing like spending and hour or two tracking down a number and finally reaching a human that talks down to you and knows less about their supposed area of expertise than you do. Add that to the fact that you are calling them because the the company they represent has already failed to provide a service they promised or an operational item that you paid an excessive amount for....

[Hugh R]

Funny, I was in London recently at a very international hotel and I went up the elevator with a couple from Texas (I think) and I said "Nice Hotel" and the wife said "Yeah, but can you believe all the foreigners though" True story.

[legion]

Funny Hugh!

Reminds me of the stories of U.S. tourists stuck in Cancun because of Hurricane Wilma. I caught one being interviewed on the news asking when FEMA was going to show up...