Customer support in a foreign country

[sperman]

I called USAir last night to book my flight to the Monster Match. I had to talk to a couple of different people to get my flight booked. Both of them were polite and helpful, but it was clear that they were on a different continent, and that English was not their native tongue. The first person I talked to had an accent so thick that I could barely make out what he was saying. I had to ask him to repeat himself multiple times.

If you are going to outsource your customer support to a different country, you should at lease make sure they can speak the English language intelligibly.

[Corey]

whats better is when you KNOW you are talking to somoen in and India call center or somewhere similar and they they anser the phone as "Bill" or "John", like using an American-ish name will not reveal where there are actually from.

[The_Vigilante]

One of my pet peeves-get someone who can speak English "clearly" and fluently!!! What happens is these companies contract the work out to a foreign "call center" and have no direct input over who is hired.

Edited October 14, 2010 by The_Vigilante

[shopgun]

Got a Mac recently and had a few questions. Called the customer support number and got a english speaking guy in the USA!!! What a concept.

[liljohnnie]

What really chaps my behind is when you try to tell the person politely that their English sucks,that you can't understand a word they are saying and you would like to speak to a different person you might be able to understand and they tell you that they speak very good English! And then get totally offended when you tell them in no uncertain terms that their English SUCKS! Then they speak slower and louder and i don't think that works in any language that i am aware of.

[mgood]

My hearing is not what it should be. Most of my trouble is in the frequency range where you get all the speech intelligibility. I often have trouble understanding people who have spoken English all their lives (or what passes for English here in Texas). A thick accent further complicates things.

Nothing racial here.

I don't hear well + they don't speak well = a lot of things not being communicated properly.

My doctor, who is a brilliant man, and who has been a friend of the family for 30 years or so, not only has an accent but is also very soft spoken. I get about every other word and put the rest together from context.

On the other hand, I had a fairly good experience with a couple of computer tech support guys in India. The accent was obvious, but they both spoke clearly and distinctly. And they didn't use made up American-sounding names. I think one was named Ahmet. (I don't believe Ahmet knew much more about computers than I do, which is to say not much, and was just reading answers out of his tech support handbook. But he did get me the part I needed quickly and without hassle.)

[Canuck223]

In Canada, we can often short cut the BS. When calling customer support where the user has the option of speaking French, we select it. The call center will be in Montreal, and all the operators tend to speak English as well as French.

Possibly the same might be true if you have the option of choosing Spanish??

Now when it comes to Telemarketers from India, who are hired to circumvent our Do Not Call List regulations, my solution is simple. Since I can't make the calls disappear, I ask the operator for a good recipe for Chicken Vindaloo or for a Tandoori marinade recipe.

[Tzygä]

That sucks when Customer support can't speak clearly your own language but when you have to speak foreing language to Customer support that is what really sucks.

[Mike Dame]

In Canada, we can often short cut the BS. When calling customer support where the user has the option of speaking French, we select it. The call center will be in Montreal, and all the operators tend to speak English as well as French.

used that a few times

[Mbauer67]

Just keeping saying you can't understand them, it drives them crazy and hopefully you will transferred to someone who actually does speak English.

I admit it might be a little evil, but I had one guy so mad he was yelling at me, and it was all I could do to keep from rolling on the floor laughing.