English Anyone?
Technorati Tags: call centers, communication, english speakingI’m so tired of calling tech support and speaking with someone that either doesn’t understand me or I can’t understand them. It is very annoying. I really wish that I could just boycott some of these companies that do this sort of thing.
When I call someone for support, I expect them to be supportive. What I do not expect is to ask them to repeat themselves multiple times. I just want to talk with someone that I can understand and that can understand me.
Just because you were taught English in school, does mean that your dialect is any good. In fact, it might down right suck. Which makes getting your problem resolved even more of a problem.
If I can’t understand your broken English, then you are surely not going to understand my southern draw. Then we end up in a communication stand off. I get angry because you are not listening to what I’m saying. The fact is that you are listening, you just can’t understand.
Companies that sub out call center work over seas because the labor is cheaper, should be heavily taxed. They are paying worker far cheaper than they would pay someone in the US. This does keep prices down though. Wouldn’t prices drop anyway from supply and demand? Was that not what we were taught in grade school?
Would our economy be any better off if we didn’t sub out work to companies overseas? I can’t really say that it would. Companies in America would charge more for products, and we might still be in the state that we are now.
Automobile makers are having a hard time in the US, at least the US ones are. Companies like Honda are thriving over here. Why? I have often wondered why such a thing could happen. Then I remember all of the tax breaks for 10 or even 20 years that towns, states, and other governments give foreign companies for starting a plant in a town in the US.
Towns people want their town to grow. So they tax break these companies. Then after the 10 or 20 years are up, then town is dead again because the companies up and leave. No tax break means that it will cost them a great deal of money to operate. Thus they leave for another town that will give them a tax break. It is cheaper to build a 10 million dollar plant, than it is to pay the taxes.
Back to the topic. I really do not like calling anywhere, even the local tel-co and getting someone that is in another country. I want to speak to someone that understands me clearly. I want to be able to understand them clearly. It is very frustrating trying to get things accomplished, when the lines of communication are not open.
What are your thoughts on this? Do you feel that subbing out call center work to other countries is right? Have you ever had trouble communicating with tech support or just billing support? Let me know your thoughts.
July 21st, 2008 at 10:31 am
If I get an overseas person I ask to be sent back to a person in the US.
August 1st, 2008 at 9:14 pm
I work in a call center for a telecommunications company right here in rural Missouri. I can tell you, so many customers say, “Thank God you speak English” when they get me. The overseas folks don’t understand our culture. No matter how well they speak, they can’t relate. We all seem rude from an Asian perspective for one thing. I see notes in accounts all the time from English second language agents stating “customer was very rude” and the customer is perfectly reasonable when I get them. Since people usually act like themselves all the time, I see it as a cultural difference.
I can tell you our client - we are a third party vendor site - doesn’t trust the overseas centers to do the sensitive things. How do I know? My center and two others in the USA take the calls from retail stores; so we deal with more activations and crazy problems then average customer care does. Plus, we have to have more power to do our jobs.
My advice: for every company you use, go to their website, find the “contact us” area, then call, write or email the corporate office. Let them know it is very important to you to have an American (or Canadian, even) to talk to when you call for assistance. A little bit at a time, we can get better service and bring jobs that can be done by someone without a college degree to our shores.