Speak English.... 21

[snootalope]

Wow, I don't know about you all, but I'm SICK of talking to tech support people who can't speak a darn bit of good english.

I spend a reasonable amount of time on the phone with different support teams and every single one of them from Arcserve to Microsoft Windows 2003 have moved all their support stuff out of the country (USA) and into the middle of places where people can barely pronounce the word Windows.. How the heck are we supposed to get something done when we can't even understand what they're telling us.

I've been playing phone tag with one company for three weeks because everytime they leave me a message and tell me to email them something for a particular support case, I CAN'T EVEN UNDERSTAND WHAT THEIR SAYING WHEN THEY SPELL OUT THE EMAIL ADDRESS!!! Of course, when i call back, i get someone who can even pronounce my 5 letter name, and they can't seem to reach the tech who just called me 5 minutes before...

Anyway.. I just had to vent.

If you ask me, IT is going the way of whatever is cheapest is best. It's BS and not customer friendly at all!! If I call the United States support number, I want to talk to someone who's from the United States!!!

 

[ctopher06]

My absolute last step is to call the product support. I will do what I can first to fix the problem first.
Any calls I have made to Linksys have been the worst! I can not understand ANYTHING they say.

Chris

 

[AlexCuse]

That's why Tek-Tips is the best. People might be telling you some nonsense, but at least you can read and understand it ;-)

And the reason that whatever is cheapest is best is that (most management types that I have worked with) don't understand what all goes into different aspects of IT, and that it takes more than just a geek with a computer. They should make all MBA students going forward take Computer 101 class or something!

Stay off the phone!

Alex

Professor: But what about your superintelligence?
Gunther: When I had that there was too much pressure to use it. All I want out of life is to be a monkey of moderate intelligence who wears a suit. That's why I've decided to transfer to Business School.
Professor: NOOOOOOOOOOOO.

 

[Tarwn]

On that note, I would suggest everyone take computer 101 (or 105 in my colleges case) as even programmers should get an idea of what portions fo the GUI or types of interaction are difficult foir users to get the hang of.

 

[kHz]

Open a tech support call with Red Hat using Web support and they automatically send it to India! So you will be gone for the day before you get a reply.

And if you have another question, wait till you go home to get another response. Repeat. Until you call and have it switched to North American operations.

Why don't they route the call based on the caller's timezone? That would be more efficient.

 

[ctopher06]

efficient?? That's why it's outsourced.

Chris

 

[gpastorelli]

I make up excuses not to have watchguard's tech support call me b/c I can't understand them. First thing they want when you use their web based chat is to call you, I tell them I'm at a site with no phone or that I'm on my way out the door or that my wife is giving birth but I really need to figure out why my firewall has stopped logging, haha.

 

[snootalope]

LOL, wife is giving birth!! Good one!

Wow, glad to hear I'm not the only one that gets frustrated by it.. When it comes to the customer being satisfied after the purchase, you'd think they'd consider the ease of assistance. ???

 

[gbaughma]

Actually... a friend of mine went to India to train their support people.

She said that people there all work the "midnight shift", so that they are available during (US) business hours.



Just my 2¢

"In order to start solving a problem, one must first identify its owner." --Me
--Greg

http://parallel.tzo.com

 

[Alcar]

Now they use more 'americanized' names:

"Helo.. me name is MARK.. hoow can I halp you?"

I once tried to discuss the item with one of the 'techs':

"Come on.." I said " We both know your name isn't Jessica... What is your real name?"

... "Wat wood you like mee to be named?"

..."Oh boy..." click.

Daren J. Lahey
Just another computer guy...
FAQ183-874 contains Suggestions for Getting Quick and Appropriate Answers to your questions.

 

[pete91z]

I am finding HP's tech support the most troublesome at the moment. I will always log a webcase with them now and only tick Reply electronically. The other annoying thing is that HP's overseas support centres never seem to have the 'appropriate knowledge' and have to refer it somewhere else....

 

[philhege]

I just had a (rare) decent experience with India-based tech support. The gentleman at the other end of the line was knowledgeable, courteous, and spoke almost-uninflected Midwestern English. That's what happens when you go to school in Chicago.

The best method for language acquisition is immersion; ask anyone who's been to the Defense Language School in Monterey (I think my cousin STILL dreams in Russian after having gone there).

Anyhoo... To us poor schlubs in need of support, the keys to quality of service are knowledge, experience, and effective communication. To the bean-counters who outsource said support, the key to quality (on the balance sheet) is price. I doubt they'd invest in top-notch language education just to please us poor schlubs.

In the meantime, I hope you get someone like Deepak the next time your call's routed halfway across the world.

Phil Hegedusich
Senior Programmer/Analyst
IIMAK

http://www.iimak.com

-----------
I'll have the roast duck with the mango salsa.

 

[Tarwn]

On the other hand, if all of the major support is moving to India, mayhaps it's time you learned there language instead, since your using a service in their country?

Only half-kidding

 

[mikeydidit]

Being on the Telecomm side of things, I think I can help describe what is going on.

The main thing is these are call centers. Their has to be special software in place on the telephone systems in order to route and take that many calls at once which is VERY expensive.

Next you route calls (via IP trunking) which is virtually free after installations cost, to someone in India which will be happy to work in this call center or anywhere else they can make a living,(at a fraction of the cost vs. American labor) and there you have it.

The companies save billions in salaries by doing this and we get to work with someone on the phone we can't even understand.

Now that’s customer service for you.

Oh and you should get used to it. More and more companies are farming out their technical support groups to other countries, Including the major telephone system manufactures.


Below was my response to a survey that I was asked to do after being routed to India twice. I haven’t been asked to do one since. J

Normally I do not respond to any type of survey. But my experience in the last couple of months dealing with Avaya has not been very good as a whole. This started out the same way. After being routed to your call centre in India (or whatever country it is), on two of my three calls, It was a great pleasure to deal with someone that was fluent in English. Lynn xxxxxx is a truly an asset to your department and went above and beyond to get me the information I needed. I could even understand what she said in our conversation the first time and I didn’t have to get her to repeat what she said. I didn’t have to repeat myself even once, as she understood perfectly what I was saying.

I understand that Avaya can outsource call center duties to foreign counties (like Cisco and others do) and save money, but it really makes it difficult to work with someone when there is a major language barrier. Is it really worth customer service to save a few bucks on a call centre?

"You don't stop playing because you get old. You get old because you stopped playing."

 

[ctopher06]

I responded to a survey for Linksys. My response to them was that because it had taken 3 calls to solve my problem, and I could not understand any of them, I will not purchase one of their products again.
IMO, go cheap on customer service, the company loses in the long run.

Chris

 

[Tarwn]

Actually, someone might want to make the point that in some cases they are losing customers, in others they have customers calling back multiple times due to a language or cultural barrier, and the issue could have been solved in one call, at perhaps lesser cost then the 3 or 4 that were made to the "low cost" call center.

In the long term, there are many places where Quality is cheaper than Cheap.

 

[Alcar]

... just call two tech support numbers and put them on a conference call... then sit back, grab some pocorn... and enjoy the show

Daren J. Lahey
Programmer Analyst
FAQ183-874 contains Suggestions for Getting Quick and Appropriate Answers to your questions.

 

[LadySlinger]

What gets me though, is that even if the company is paying them $2 per hour flat out, how is the company saving money when the number gets routed to an international support number, then on top of that the number of phone calls and CSRs they have to pay to deal with the complaints.

I only phone when its the last resort and neither Tek Tips or their online documentation can answer the question for me.

 

[gbaughma]

LadySlinger:

IP Telephony.

Toll bypass.



Just my 2¢

"In order to start solving a problem, one must first identify its owner." --Me
--Greg

http://parallel.tzo.com

 

[LadySlinger]

Ahhh...duh...thanks Greg. Still though..I remember a report somewhere that critisized ooutsourcing overseas...If I find it I'll post it.