Can't understand your customer service Rep in another country?

[Paper Roses]

The following text was part of an e-mail was sent to me today. I don't know yet if it works but is worth a try.


"I want to ask each of you to consider doing the following when you are talking on the phone to any US customer service representative that is based in a foreign country (like India ). I have done this twice and it works! Any time you call an 800 number (for a credit card, banking, charter communications, health insurance, insurance, you name it) and you are transferred to a representative (like in India), please consider doing the following:

After you connect and you realize that the customer service representative is not from the USA (you can always ask if you are not sure about the accent), please very politely (very politely - this is not about trashing other cultures) say, "I'd like to speak to a customer service representative in the United States of America ." The rep might suggest talking to his/her manager, but, again, politely say, "Thank you, but I'd like to speak to a customer service representative in the USA ." YOU WILL BE IMMEDIATELY CONNECTED to a rep in the USA . It only takes less than one minute to have your call re-directed to the USA . Tonight when I got redirected to a USA rep, I asked again to make sure - and yes, she was from Fort Lauderdale."

I hope it does work because there have been many times when I have needed help and could not understand the accent of the person to whom I was speaking.

[qb]

1. I like this idea. It's about promoting jobs in the USA.

:bounce:

[Tansy_Gold]

2. And yet it gets an unrec??? WTF???

Well, *I* recced it. I'm all for bringing jobs back home.



TG, TT

[superduperfarleft]

8. That would be me.

(1) It sounds like something my grandma would forward me, with 5000 AOL emails behind it.

(2) If you ask to transfer to someone else because you genuinely can't understand them, fine, but screwing with a low-wage employee to make some lofty political point is just obnoxious. I've done both telemarketing and CSR, and the job sucks enough without people messing with you for art's sake.

[thereismore]

10. No it doesn't sound like something MY grandma would forward me. nt

[wpelb]

78. Mine either

But that's because she passed away many years ago. :(

Seriously, I have doubts about any "simple solution" to a common problem.

[TheEuclideanOne]

79. Well if it was forwarded to you by your grandmother

you would have bigger problems than customer service. :)

[mimitabby]

14. some customer reps cannot/will not tell you where they are from

I always want to know where they are from and I am friendly about it, because I'm basically just interested. Some of them cannot/will not tell you.

[Hassin Bin Sober]

28. Yep. One week I had a Citibank rep ask ME how the weather was going in Chicago...

.... and volunteer how nice it was "here in Dallas"

The next week, after getting very frustrated with a heavy Indian accent I couldn't understand, I asked the rep where she was speaking to me from - I was told she couldn't reveal the location for "security reasons"

BULLSHIT!!!

The next twenty minutes was spent going round and round with her about a package the bank was supposed to send me and why she couldn't give me a "tracking number". She told me it was shipped via FedEx but she couldn't give me a tracking number as it was against company policy and the tracking number wouldn't do me any good because you can't track a package with it. :banghead: Twenty minutes later her supervisor and I determined she REALLY meant "reference number" - as in internal reference number for her mail department. :banghead:

[tblue37]

40. I am hearing impaired, and people with accents are even harder for me to understand

than people without accents--and I don't understand those without accents all that well. If this works, I am certainly going to use it! I will rec to cancel your unrec.

[Hepburn]

55. Same here...

...the telephone is a nightmare at times. I have a special phone for the hearing impaired...not just a volume control phone, but one which is specific to my hearing aids. And still, the phone is a nightmare many times for me. Yep...add a heavy accent to that and it results in a total lack of communication at times. I will be asking for a US phone customer rep at all times in the future...starting now!

:hi:

[superduperfarleft]

76. So is it only "Indian" accents, or do you also ask to be transferred

when speaking to someone with a thick Southern accent? Or a thick British accent? I find both almost as incomprehensible.

[droidamus2]

85. I think the point would be

If the person you are dealing with has a 'foreign' accent that you can't understand, to me you should have a right to deal with somebody that can help and not being able to understand them is part of that, then ask to be transferred to the US rep as the OP states. In the same vein if you are talking to somebody in the US (I haven't had this happen but I guess its possible) that you can't understand then politely ask to speak to another rep. If you really want to be over polite and they ask why you want to be transferred just tell them you have a problem with accents. I have found that in most cases the 'screeners' who are the first people you talk many times can't do anything for you anyway. I ususally end up asking to talk to a supervisor before I am able to take care of my problem.

[superduperfarleft]

87. And I already said, in my original post, that this is a legitimate complaint. n/t

[tblue37]

105. I have actually *never* asked to be transferred at all. I am just saying it's nice to know I could.

No, I cannot understand any thick accent, no matter what the type. I also cannot understand people who talk too fast or who slur their words.

[susanr516]

133. I have a heavy Texas drawl

and many overseas reps cannot understand ME. I almost always ask for a US-based rep by saying I know my accent makes ME hard to understand, and I have never been turned down. Saves a ton of frustration on both ends of the line.

[EnviroBat]

60. Way to miss the point.

There are plenty of people in THIS country that could use those jobs right about now, "low-wage" or not. This is an excellent way of letting companies know that we are fed up with their outsourcing bullshit.

[superduperfarleft]

73. Oh I get the point. It's just that harassing low-wage employees isn't the way to do it.

Be thankful you never had to take a shit job like this to support your family while armchair activists go out of their way to make your already crummy day even worse because they think you can do anything about it.

This reminds me of the crazy old men who used to harass me about the price of potato chips when I was mopping the floor in a grocery store.

[lark]

102. Asking to speak to someone in the US isn't harassment

as long as rquested politely. I don't use credit cards, so never have to call those companies, but when I get telemarketing calls I just advise the people that I don't support outsourcing jobs that people here need and refuse to talk to them. I like the OP's idea better and will start using that going forward.

[superduperfarleft]

117. So which is it, is it about good customer service or striking a blow for the workin' man

by screwing with the funny-sounding furriner on the other end of the phone?

If it's about good customer service, hey, I get it. I clearly pointed out in my original post that that's a legitimate complaint.

[rhett o rick]

61. I guess you just dont get it. This has nothing to do with harassing people. But again you

obviously dont get it.

[Name removed]

74. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[madmax]

70. Lofty political point?

There are no fucking jobs HERE! I have a family of 5. Four of whom are out of work. WTF!

Charity begins at HOME. Sorry some poor schlub may lose a job but, the fucking job should be here in the first place.

When they find a way to outsource grandma's ass to be wiped they'll do that, too. Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr :mad:

[superduperfarleft]

75. So harassing low-wage employees is the way to do it?

Making an already shitty job even more miserable for the employee on the other end of that phone won't do a thing to prevent outsourcing, it'll just make you feel good without actually having to do anything.

[madmax]

82. This is what you consider harassment?

"After you connect and you realize that the customer service representative is not from the USA (you can always ask if you are not sure about the accent), please very politely (very politely - this is not about trashing other cultures) say, "I'd like to speak to a customer service representative in the United States of America ." The rep might suggest talking to his/her manager, but, again, politely say, "Thank you, but I'd like to speak to a customer service representative in the USA."

:eyes:

I'm sick and tired of playing by someone else's rules that most of us have had no say. There is more sand at the bottom of my hour glass than at the top. Waiting for 'someday' or 'when I have time' is not an option any longer. I'd like to see change, enjoy a few years that I busted my ass for and leave this shit hole a little better for my 2 Grandkids and their generation.

[superduperfarleft]

86. Right, and fucking with the indian guy on the phone will strike a deathblow against Teh Man.

:eyes: right back atcha.

[madmax]

89. Pffffffffffft nt

[superduperfarleft]

91. Yeah, that's about what I thought. n/t

[snooper2]

98. hey, customer is always right remember...

You forget your training classes, or just opt out?

:P

[superduperfarleft]

99. After having worked customer service for many years,

both on the phone and *shudder* in person, I can tell you that the customer is rarely right. And more often than not, said customer is also usually a loud-mouthed, entitled, blustering shithead.

Hence the reason I don't work with people anymore. We didn't get along. :)

Although I'd gladly put an application in for this place: http://www.comedycentral.com/videos/index.jhtml?title=popcopy&videoId=189931

[lark]

100. Look at this another way

They aren't you, they are actually paid high for their country and are taking money and jobs from your countrymen(women).

[efhmc]

109. Having struggled through these calls countless times, using

up my time asking for things to be repeated and feeling embarrassed for the service rep because they can't make themselves understood, I find this suggestion wonderful. Why should I be made to suffer because a multimegabucks corporation wants to save money by outsourcing calls?? This is especially frustrating when working out a computer problem.

[superduperfarleft]

111. Why are you and your fellow activists patronizing companies that outsource american labor

in the first place, since you all feel so strongly about it?

[efhmc]

113. Please tell me where I can buy a computer that is made in

the US? My latest contact, in September, was about my new hp and my call went to India. I tried to understand the person I was talking to and struggled for 30 minutes to get my problem understood and resolved. The person I was speaking with was trying and I was polite and empathetic. They sent me a box to send the computer back to HP for work. Meanwhile, while waiting for my box, my problem was taken care of in the store after 5 minutes. This is an example of what you call bias and I call good customer service. It would have certainly been better for this customer to have gotten a service rep who could have taken care of the matter on the phone.

[superduperfarleft]

116. You can't do without a computer?

Clearly you're much more bothered about this than I am, so why don't you just go without?

Or you and your fellow respondents could figure out whether this is really about good customer service or some silly political game at the expense of furriners turking our jurbs.

[efhmc]

120. I run a business that replies on the internet for

customers. Guess in order to avoid "being biased" against outsourced workers of big business, I should go out of business myself.

[superduperfarleft]

122. And those furriners working the phones rely on that measley, outsourced paycheck to feed their kids.

Guess they should quit so that Americans won't have to talk to someone with a foreign accent?

[j420norcal]

141. "It sounds like something my grandma would forward me, with 5000 AOL emails behind it."

You have no idea how hard this made me laugh...

I totally agree, well maybe not my Grandma, but definitely some of my other family members.

[uppityperson]

72. I unrecced because prejudging someone based on accent is wrong.

The OP assumes that if someone has an accent, they are not in or of or from USA and therefore you shouldn't talk to them.
"After you connect and you realize that the customer service representative is not from the USA (you can always ask if you are not sure about the accent)"

So, unrec for bigotry against those funny speaking furriners.

[droidamus2]

90. No

It is not bigotry if you can't understand the accent and as somebody pointed out that could be a strong Southern accent as well you have a right as a customer to get quality customer service and if you can't understand the person, for whatever reason, then you should not be shy about asking to talk to somebody else. Just as you should not be shy to ask to talk to a supervisor if the initial screener can't take care of your problem.

[pampango]

118. It's only bigotry if you don't like talking to Blacks, women, Southerners (or Northerners depending)

Americans, etc. :) If any of us heard an old white guy say that he can't stand talking with customer service people who are women or Blacks (you know - good ol' Americans, even if minorities) we would rightly consider him to be a racist or misogynist. But if the same guy says it about an Indian, well that's OK. Nationalism certainly trumps racism and misogyny.

Imagine if the OP stated, "After you connect and you realize that the customer service representative is an African American (you can always ask if you are not sure about the accent) or a woman, please very politely (very politely - this is not about trashing Blacks or women) say, "I'd like to speak to a customer service representative who is a white male." As progressives we would never articulate such a request and would yell at the customer if we were on the other end of the line.

After all African Americans and women do not, on average, make as much as whites males and are often hired for customer service jobs in the US in part because they are paid less because society restricts their options. (Kind of sounds like the reason that Indians are hired.) As a white male is it acceptable to define "us" (in the "us vs them" mindset) based on nationality, but not on race or gender, if African Americans, women and Indians are all being hired for customer service jobs instead of white me for the same reason?

[christx30]

126. I do telephone

technical support for an ISP in the northern US. I get asked where I'm from all the time, and it's because I have a very neutral accent (I'm from Austin, TX, but with the way I talk, I could be from just about anywhere in the US.
People are tired of talking to reps in other countries that they can't understand. Simple as that.
I'm glad customer service's opening is "Thank you for calling _________, where 100% of our jobs are in the U.S. My name is _______, how may I help you?"
I wish I could work that into my opening too. But "Thank you for calling ______ technical support, where we offer Peace of Mind. My name is Christopher. May I have your billing telephone number with the area code, please?" is too long as it is.

[peace frog]

96. Don't allow the unrec patrol to deter you

"Dogs bark, but the caravan passes on."

[BonnieJW]

97. I looked for this on Snopes

and it was being researched. The exact wording was used.

[RZM]

3. When I set up my cable a few months ago, I ran into this

I love languages, accents, and cultures, so I didn't really care that the rep spoke with a heavy Indian accent. But what bothered me was that he was unable to answer my questions about what channels I would or would not receive with this or that package. I wasn't about to sign on without knowing what I was getting. So I said goodbye (they must be trained to not let you hang up because he all but threatened me to stay on the phone) and instead went to our provider's local headquarters, where I waited less than 2 minutes in line and had all my questions answered promptly and thoroughly.

[Name removed]

4. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Tansy_Gold]

9. Actually, it sometimes works the other way around

Sometimes THEY can't understand.

[uppityperson]

29. Being hard of hearing, I find some accents very difficult to understand. You say I'm a bigot

for not being able to understand an accent? I do not think that word means what you think it means.

[a la izquierda]

57. damn, glad i missed that post.

you shouldn't feel bad (i'm betting you don't). i'm bilingual and understand parts of three additional languages, and i can't understand English spoken in the South sometimes, let alone on the other side of the planet.

[uppityperson]

71. There is a difference between not being able to understand someone and prejudging them based on

their accent.

In the first case, you cannot understand or have difficulty understanding what they are saying. There are many different languages and accents around. It doesn't have any subjective judgment put on it, simply understanding.

In the second, thinking someone is in a "foreign" country, insulting and bashing them because of xenophobia or some other "ism", that is bigotry.

The post at start of this subthread didn't understand the difference, or else just wasn't clear in their posting.

[guruoo]

114. No problem, just (politely, and respectfully) ask every CS rep if they're in the US

And if they're not, then (again, politely, and respectfully) request that you be transferred
to a rep located in the US.

Feel better now?

[a la izquierda]

137. Well put.

[pampango]

144. "thinking someone is in a "foreign" country, insulting...them because of xenophobia ... is bigotry."

Agreed. Exactly the same as thinking someone is an African American, a woman, or gay, insulting and bashing them because of racism, misogyny or homophobia, that is bigotry.

To give someone a hard time because they were born Indian, African American, female or gay is stupid.

If one has a hard time understanding someone, we have every right request to speak with someone else, but no right to specifically ask for an American, a white, a male or a straight customer service person.

[L0oniX]

37. What a huge bucket of shit!

[Cirque du So-What]

5. In many cases, the need for a CSR in the US based on more than accent

I've found that those based overseas are often not as empowered to accomplish my goal as those based stateside.

On edit: the overseas CSRs are often not as knowledgeable either.

[Lint Head]

6. This is a great way to protest outsourcing.

[peacetalksforall]

7. Earthlink/Mindspring won't transfer me. edited to add - I don't ask for the transfer unless

I feel I am not being taken care of. There are extremely rigid limits on what employyes outside the country can resolve - they are techies, not customer relations. My finding.

[MurrayDelph]

12. I haven't tried in a while,

but they were the ones I did this for trick most-often, not as a racial thing, but just after experience had shown that if the problem was not something that was in their playbook/decision tree, they were useless. eg:

me: Have you made an xxx change to your mail server?
them in India: What OS are you running?
me: I am an experienced SysAdmin. I have a very simple question. Have you made an xxx change to your mail server?
them in India: Have you rebooted your computer/router/dslmodem/dachshund?
me: Will you please transfer me to a rep in the states?
...
me: Have you made an xxx change to your mail server?
them in the US: Why, yes. You will have to change the ...

[seabeyond]

16. my husband is a computer dude. he finds this when dealing with outsource

he is also easy going and shrugs it off. me, it pisses me off.

[MurrayDelph]

20. I should point out that the idea

of requesting a rep in the states was suggested to me by an Earthlink salesman at Fry's electronics
(This was long before the company I used to work for starting employing outsourced help, who seemed to think that all they had to do was ask those of us left to do their job for them).


I hope I never-again hear the line "Please do the needful" (except in parody).

[seabeyond]

21. rude too. i had one when i first bought my car. i didnt get a coupon book

to make payments. 2 months went by. this person called me chewing me out for not making my car payment. he was such a pig, asshole, fucker i was yellin at him on the phone. first three times he called insisted on hubby cause he is on the paperwork, but my car.

i called my local dealership and gave them shit, first for not getting me the info, and second me having to listen to someone treat me like i was an irresponsible piece of dirt not paying my bills and regardless of what i said, he told me i was wrong while he didnt know fckin shit. so mad.

i will do what you say if i ever get in that position.

[REP]

24. Sounds familiar

They have a script that wouldn't be helpful to any but the most most inept users. And that's not what I'm calling about!

[Statistical]

66. You will like this xkcd cartoon then ...

Tier 1 technical support almost universally sucks. It is a low wage job, they are looking for script kiddies not anyone with talent. Today most Tier 1 jobs have gone to India and the Tier 2,3, higher reps are in US still even Tier 1 reps in US are nearly worthless for someone in the "industry".

I had to call cable company because my cable modem wouldn't connect. I remoted into the modem using undocumented IP address 192.168.100.1 and saw SNR on return path was horrible. Nothing was getting through that noise. Obviously a physical problem in the RF network. Still cox customer support made me do the "reboot computer, unplug and plug in cable modem, try going to google, empty your cache". Now I know why they do that and for 99% of people that is a good start but I 100% know the issue was on the physical network.

They finally 45 minutes later rolled a truck. The tech found a loose insulator in the junction box, cleaned it up, repaired some water damage and my SNR jumped back into workable range.

http://xkcd.com/806/

[trud]

130. xkcd

Thank you, that made my day.

[cottonseed]

11. Is this to be done immediately or upon realizing you can't understand the person?

Because if it's the first act, it's a waste of time, increases costs, and deepens the queue for others trying to get through.

[pipi_k]

13. I absolutely hate talking to ANYONE in customer service...

India, China, Canada, or the US.

I have hearing problems, which is bad enough, but what often happens is that the person I end up getting is young and has a high voice andtalksreallyreallyfast and it's just a huge pain in the ass no matter what.

So I prefer doing any customer service stuff via email, but that's not always possible.

sucks

[Name removed]

15. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Paper Roses]

17. I have had this happen to me many times.Computer problems

with my old machine. I was always transferred to India. I have NO problem dealing with someone in another country but when I have to constantly say,"please repeat that,I don't understand", it is very frustrating. I have no prejudice toward these people trying to do a job but sometimes it goes beyond acceptable.

[efhmc]

110. Exactly.

[kctim]

18. It's the VERY FIRST thing I always say

[ZombieHorde]

41. Then what happens? nt

[kctim]

59. Excuses why they can't transfer.

Transferred to better english speaking person.
Somehow get "disconnected."
End up taking care of it thru email.

[safeinOhio]

19. I got a sales call from a major bank one time.

Wanted to sign me up for a credit card.

Me..I don't deal with your bank because they outsource American jobs, like yours. Are you in India?

Caller..No, I'm in Denver Col. and I was born here.


Me..I don't believe you. You are just trained to talk perfect english.

Caller.. No I swear I'm an American born American.


Me...Ok, who plays third base for the Reds(I have no idea myself)?

Caller... hangs up.

[Alameda]

34. The Reds??? That's your test?

I don't know who the Reds are, or any other kick, catch, throw, chase the ball games. I think you/we need another question, like something more specific to now.

[safeinOhio]

54. That is my point.

[OhioChick]

22. This is true...I've been doing it for years n/t

[Shandris]

23. You do realize many of them are also allowed to SAY they're in some major US city, right?

I've had a couple in India insist they were in Chicago. Ask them how the weather is there sometime. :)

But really...unless you have a physical hardship with hearing or something of that nature, or the speaker JUST can't communicate in English at all, why would you bother? The poor guy on the phone has no problem with us, and he's just a working guy in another country trying to earn a living also. I can't get upset about that. Do you REALLY think asking for a US rep is going to accomplish anything more than overworking the US reps? Citibank, Chase, whoever-the-hell it is isn't going to change their policy and bring the jobs back because one CSR gets a few too many calls.

I don't know, maybe someone can help me see something I'm overlooking. But as it stands, I don't really see the point in this.

[rhett o rick]

64. This isnt at all about the poor guy working in India. This is about being able to understand your

rep. If the rep was speaking Japanese, I hope you wouldnt have a problem asking for someone else. It doesnt matter what country, it matters whether you can understand them. I have been very frustrated when trying to fix a computer problem and the person has a strong Indian accent. Having to ask them to repeat over and over gets terribly frustrating. I deserve to speak to someone I can understand.

[Violet_Crumble]

25. Sorry, but that email is xenophobic nonsense...

After you connect and you realize that the customer service representative is not from the USA...

Yeah, coz if someone speaks with one of those funny foreign accents, it's obvious they can't be an American or calling you from the US...

on edit: on making assumptions about where people are from when yr talking to someone in a call centre. I encountered a taxi driver in Sydney who on discovering what organisation I worked for, proceeded to complain about our call centre in India where he couldn't understand the accent of the Indian who took his call. He went pretty quiet after I told him that would be our call centre in Albury (that's here in Australia) where he spoke to an Australian citizen, because our permanent employees must be Australian citizens...

[L0oniX]

39. LOL "our call centre in India". It doesn't matter what country they are from. What matters is...

that people can understand what they are hearing. Ever listen to someone from the Louisiana swamps? Tell me you'd have no problem understanding that accent. Right!

[Starbucks Anarchist]

48. I think Queens would scare some DUers to death.

:rofl:

[jobycom]

104. I like the part where they say to ask, just in case you can't be sure you can't understand them.

I agree, it's xenophobia. The US built its incredible commercial edge through predatory business, tariffs, and sometimes outright military conquest, but we get pissed off when a company gives someone in another country a chance. It reminds me of the people who claim Affirmative Action is a quota system because it stops giving white people an unfair advantage.

[MineralMan]

26. In most cases, they'll just disconnect you.

This has been poster here on DU before, with exactly the same words. It's an email forward thing, and is incorrect. They don't have to connect you with anyone, and they will just disconnect you so you can call back and wait some more.

Bogus.

[BuelahWitch]

27. And that's when you call back and ask to speak to a supervisor

I've worked customer service and on almost every job I've had I've been told we NEVER disconnect the call (unless it's a heavy breather, then you warn them). And if that doesn't work you call/write corporate and complain about the bad service you've gotten.
I don't agree that the customer is always right, but if a customer is calling and asking for something that is in the rep's power to do, they should do it. If not, they should transfer them to supervisor or someone who can. Businesses should be doing everything they can to hold onto customers in this economy.

[pitohui]

30. how many jobs have you had in india?

i don't understand how you think your old, stale call center advice has any relevance to someone caught up in call center hell in a foreign country

i know many people who used to work in call centers, NONE who pretend their pre 911 experience has any relevance to THIS century tho

[BuelahWitch]

32. Customer service is customer service whether its India, Kansas or Utah

How do you know my experience was "pre-911"? There are still plenty of call centers left in the USA "post-911," I worked for one last summer. It's a sucky job, but easy to get if you have experience because the turnover is so high.
I know rudeness is your "MO" around here, but I was giving advice to people who get hung up on, and you are WAY fucking off base!

[trud]

132. supervisor

Forget asking for a supervisor. That's a guaranteed way to go on permanent hold or get "accidentally" disconnected.

BTW, I would have no problem with reps in another country (except for the not so little matter of outsourcing US jobs), but my 100% experience is they are ignorant morons,

[uppityperson]

31. Plenty of people in the USA have strong accents, don't assume where they are based on accent

It is prejudice or bigotry to assume someone is somewhere based soley on their accent.

[lovelyrita]

33. This is so true.

The girl in the cubicle next to mine takes customer service calls. She has an accent but speaks English well. People insult her, demand to speak to someone else, and can be generally nasty/borderline racist.

[kath]

49. "Girl"? They employ children?

[lovelyrita]

135. Yes, the company I work for employs children.

Is there something wrong with the use of the word girl? I am female and must have missed the memo.

[kath]

136. Do you refer to an adult male as a "boy"?

[lightningandsnow]

68. Pretty much this.

I live in one of the most multicultural cities in the world, Toronto. If you call a business here, there's a very good chance that someone you're speaking to will have an accent.

My grandfather ran a furniture store here. He had a strong Polish accent, but his English was quite good. It makes me sick to know that "progressives" would refuse to talk to someone who has an accent to "protest outsourcing".

[undeterred]

35. I am employed in a call center in Madison Wisconsin

where we have several reps who are foreign- in fact some of them were hired because they are bilingual. They are American citizens working at an American insurance company. They aren't hard to understand. Every day the ones who have accents (Pakistan, Guatemala, Mexico, Israel) have to deal with some kind of question or insult from people who assume that they must be talking to some other part of the world.

Just a reminder- you can't tell from an accent what part of the world you are talking to. Americans can have accents from other countries.

[Gormy Cuss]

112. That's why asking to speak to a different CSR is sometimes warranted

but asking to speak to one in the U.S. isn't. It's rare that I can't understand what someone is saying because of a thick accent but it has happened. I usually request that they repeat what they've said and if I can't understand them the second time I ask politely for a different CSR.

I had an experience recently where I spoke to four CSRs at the same company over the course of two days and all of them sounded Filipina. I have no idea whether I was talking to someone in the Philipines or to a call center in CA that employed Filipinas. It didn't matter because I could understand them and they could understand me and more importantly, they were fluent enough to handle the job.

[newtothegame]

36. Sounds racist. And nativist. nt

[BoWanZi]

46. Bullcrap, I just can't understand people with strong accents.

[pampango]

58. Would you prefer an American with an accent to a foreigner who was more understandable?

Do you have a problem with the accent or the nationality of the speaker? Or are all Americans more understandable than any foreigner?

[droidamus2]

93. The problem here

and you aren't the only one to miss the point is the reference about 'India' was an example as it seems many of the out sourced 'call centers' are in India. The OPs point is that if you can't understand the person you are talking to ask to be transferred. Personally I don't have any bias about whether the person is in the US or not (though I would much prefer that the jobs stay here rather than being outsourced keeping unemployment low in India or anyplace else doesn't really seem like it should be my problem) I do have a problem with not being able to get decent service because I can't understand who I am speaking to. Don't even get me started on the number of times I get connected to somebody I can understand but the connection is either so bad I can't hear them or so loud I have to hold the phone away from my ear.

[BoWanZi]

134. I have problems with the accent themselves. I would gladly switch to a more understandable...

...foreigner than a hard to understand American.

[bigwillq]

38. I've done it.

And have always gotten someone who speaks better English and based in the USA (I ask where they were from--one guy said "Brazil", and I asked to be switched, and was).

I ask for it, not only because I can understand them better, and when I call, it's usually because I am confused about something and I want to be completely sure I understand what they are saying, but also because I am not pleased that the job was sent overseas.

Any time I can speak to somewhere based in the USA, I jump at the chance. If the caller based in the USA has an accent and I can't quite understand what they were saying, I also asked to be switched.

[Ruby the Liberal]

42. I tried this a few weeks ago when contacting DELL. No go.

Was told that I was connected to Bangalore and that there was no one they could transfer me to. I was asking for Customer Service, BTW, not Tech Support. It was also 3pm EST.

I KNOW for a fact that this is bullshit. Enterprise/Corporate service tags for DELL have been routed directly to Florida for years now because of complaints. Home users - SOL.

[robinlynne]

43. I have tried that for years and it never worked.. I'm always thrilled when

the person is American or Canadian and I tell them so. they appreciate it.

[badgerpup]

44. It takes time and experience...

...to learn to bend your ear (and brain!) around another person's (to us) heavily accented ESL.

I don't hang around with that many people from India so while the accent is pleasant and almost musical, it's sometimes very hard to understand.

It took several months for me to be able to listen to my friend Kenichi (Japanese) who spoke with a heavy accent and at normal conversational speed before I could understand him well enough and not have to constantly ask him to slow down or 'say again please, I didn't quite catch that.'

In return I learned a few 'courtesy phrases' of Japanese...
and got stuck explaining a lot of the sneaky double entendres and sexual references that he really ought to have had explained to him by a guy...:blush:

[Quantess]

56. Yes, ESPECIALLY over the phone.

I am really good at deciphering hard-to-understand speech, but it becomes a thousand fold more difficult over the phone.

[pipi_k]

67. Oh, the phone is a big problem for me, too

I hate talking on the phone. Even non-accented English is hard for me to hear/understand sometimes.


Age...hearing difficulties...

[pipi_k]

65. Yes, it does...

Back 20+ years ago I worked in a group home setting with relatively high functioning (mentally disabled) people...of the three in my "home", two had Downs, and the third was hydrocephalic.

It really took a while to attune my ear to their language...then, to top it off, there were the staff people, many of whom were foreign students studying at a major college. So then I had to tune my ear to speech accented by Chinese (they made up the majority of foreign students working on staff).


It actually was lots of fun... :)

[BoWanZi]

45. I have a very hard time understanding accents on the phone but...

...its not just overseas people that I can't understand, its even Americans with thick accents like southerners with thick accents.

I Just don't understand them well at all. I have had to do the transfer thing a few times trying to find someone who I can understand.

[SoCalDemGrrl]

47. Excellent idea - let's hope this thing snowballs!!

[defendandprotect]

50. We have been doing exactly this for quite some time...

[dreamnightwind]

51. Many here seem to miss the point

It isn't about whether it's easy to understand them, and it's not about xenophobia, it's about not being a willing participant in the migration of jobs to the lowest paid, most desperate, least regulated labor markets on the planet, lowering the chances of any of the rest of us finding employment, and worsening the conditions of employment if we're even lucky enough to get a job.

I bet this would work sometimes and not others. It seems like good strategy to me.

Being polite is a good thing, the person on the other end is a human being trying to work just like we are. But they're being hired based on an exploitive system that locates jobs where the corporation can get away with the most, which makes this world a worse place to live.

[JDPriestly]

84. I don't like giving personal information or access to my compuer

to someone who is not subject to American law.

Whatever you think about Wikileaks, it demonstrates that we in America have great difficulty applying our justice system to people in other countries. They are bound by the same code of conduct that we are.

Here, we impose confidentiality agreements. How enforceable they are depends. I have no idea how confidentiality laws are enforced in say India. I also doubt that they respect our privacy laws. And here in California we have pretty strict privacy laws. Of course, lack of enforcement of privacy laws is both a national and an international problem.

The Wikileaks, ironically, put all this lack of respect for privacy and difficulty in enforcing privacy and confidentiality agreements internationally in a new light. Think of all the extreme efforts governments go to in order to protect intellectual property rights.

[superduperfarleft]

92. You're absolutely correct.

But the systemic change that is needed is not going to be accomplished by stupid email forwards asking us to make the day-to-day jobs of these employees miserable. The individual employees can't do anything about it, the supervisors don't care, and acting like a dick on the phone won't impress corporate behemoths like Comcast or Verizon or Microsoft or whoever in the least.

[dreamnightwind]

145. But it's a small act in the right direction

And I agree about not acting like a dick, just opt out of the offshoring of customer service whenever possible, and be polite to the foreign worker, it isn't their fault.

[geardaddy]

127. Exactly.

It's no different from going to a store and seeing a label marked "Made in (somewhere not the US)" and refusing to buy that product.

[timtom]

52. I have done exactly this

on a few occasions. I truly do get frustrated, especially since I am in crisis mode at these times. I may not have been exactly polite, but my motivation has never been jingoistic or racist. I don't think that way.

[jeanpalmer]

53. It's too bad Obama

doesn't have to make one of these calls. It would clue him in to where all the jobs have gone. He doesn't seem to know.

[Statistical]

62. "she was from Fort Lauderdale." Fort Lauderdale, India.

That is where the best speaking Indian customer service reps work.

[rhett o rick]

63. As a customer you deserve to get service that you like. No excuse for being rude but essential that

you be able to understand the rep. esp for computer problems. It is very frustrating to have to ask the rep to repeat over and over.

[DirkGently]

69. I like this idea as well. Good customer service includes employing Americans.

[Celtic Raven]

77. But we love Peggy!

Happy times :evilgrin:

[keepCAblue]

80. Fort Lauderdale, India? n/t

[Drale]

81. It doesn't always matter where they are

I had to call Microsoft about my 360 a few months ago, and I got someone in the US, and they still had no idea what they where doing. Even though I explained exactly what was wrong, and what I thought could be done to fix it(send it in for repairs.) It took like 45 minutes to get this person to transfer me to his supervisor, who eventually worked it out. But its not always about where they are, but if they know what they are doing.

[FloriTexan]

83. Wish I had known this last night...

when I was talking to the rep from XM Radio. It took five minutes for her to get my address and phone numbers correct. I didn't understand half of what she said.

[superduperfarleft]

88. DAMN FURRINERS! THEY TALK FUNNY! n/t

[newspeak]

94. First, I'd like to say

I remember when Clinton publicly told us that we were going to be the service sector to the world. It was after NAFTA-GATT was passed, and I remember chuckling and telling my hubby we were all going to be working for McDonalds.

Second, my mom recently died and I've been attempting to settle her debts. Now one debtor I called, no problem, fax the death certificate and the Letter of Testamentary. I called another debtor, it was to India. The service rep put me on hold four times, like he couldn't handle the situation. I told him if you want payment then you're going to have to change the billing address and tell me where to fax the proper information (POD). He finally gave me an address in the US where I was to send an original DC and letter. The first call took less than three-four minutes, the second took more than twenty.

I am aware that these are workers like you and I, but it is, in some instances, inconvenient and not very efficient. Of course, some corporations must be saving a hunk on poor customer service.

[davidwparker]

95. Will do. Spoke to one this week named "Alan." I had to

stop myself from laughing.

[rollin74]

101. K & R

[onlyadream]

103. I find that THEY can't understand me

and it's like banging my head against the wall.

[Skittles]

121. imagine being on a conference call for ten hours with them

welcome to my world

[superduperfarleft]

123. You have to talk to furriners? That talk weird?

Oh my god, my condolences.

[Skittles]

124. it is much, much worse than that

and they LIE to me to, all the time

[superduperfarleft]

125. Damn shifty indians.

Although I hope the irony of a person from Texas complaining about not being able to understand someone else's accent isn't lost on you.

[Skittles]

146. I grew up in Iowa, Wisconsin, Illinois, Minnesota and England

no one has a problem understanding me!

and yes, offshore (many countries but especially India) does lie to me - very often. Stuff I can easily disprove by looking through a system log and identifying logon IDs.

[DainBramaged]

106. Doesn't work with Dell unless you are a business customer

:shrug: Been doing that for years.

[Swamp Rat]

107. k&r for simple, but great advice

[lukasahero]

108. You do realize folks right here in the good ol' USofA speak with accents, right?

And they're allowed?

[Capitalocracy]

115. Interesting. Having worked in a foreign call center...

I'm going to guess that this is the exception, not the rule. Either way, I know it's not universal... my wife has worked in several, and none of them had that option.

Also interesting, I worked at a call center here in Argentina where we were required to tell people we were in Miami. Of course, I'm from Kansas, so you wouldn't be able to tell the difference with me (my lack of an accent was actually notable, supposedly being in Miami).

[superduperfarleft]

119. You mean a stupid email forward happened to be untrue???!!!

And only served to rile up the xenophobes that think they're striking some great blow against outsourcing by screwing with Sanjay? I'm shocked, I tell ya...

[trud]

131. Also interesting, I worked at a call center here in Argentina where we were required to tell people

"Also interesting, I worked at a call center here in Argentina where we were required to tell people we were in Miami."

Like HP has all its India reps who amazingly have vanilla US names like Mary Smith.

[geardaddy]

128. delete

[trud]

129. I don't think this always works

I was driven insane by India-based HP tech support(sic). If you called at the right time of day, you had a slight chance of getting connected to US-based or Canadian-based support. But asking India-based support to transfer you there never worked. So you had to do phone roulette until you got English speakers with IQs above the 80s.

[MissDeeds]

138. Thanks so much for this info

Several years ago, I called AMEX and was connected to someone who definitely was in another country. After much consternation and embarrassment on my part (how many times can you say "Pardon? Would you mind repeating that?"), the telephone transaction ended. It was not until I received the next statement that I discovered I had been signed up for numerous services and add-ons - none of which I knowingly agreed to.

It all was eventually worked out, but not without several additional calls and numerous hours on the telephone.

K&R

[old mark]

139. Our mortgage holder is based in New Jersey, but their phone is answered in India...

the people there are courteous, but didn't seem to understand what I want to talk to them about...they also told me they could connect me to a US customer service person, but that there would be a 20 minute wait.

I finally found a phone number that answered in the USA, and they were no better than the people in India, and had a bad attitude on top of it.

We were trying to get the paperwork to pay off our loan, and it took months to finally get it accomplished, but we finally did it.


mark

[indimuse]

140. Thank youo~

knr! :hi:

[Violet_Crumble]

142. Of course! Why should I have to put up with some American accent I find hard to follow?

In future, when I strike anyone in a call centre with an American accent, I'll ask to be transferred to a less annoying and hard to follow accent! ;)

[mwooldri]

143. For who I work for, the OP is standard operating procedure.

Or "should be".

I am on the receiving end, and because I'm a Brit in the USA, and as an "Supervisor", it gets interesting at times.

If the individual from our "global partners" are transferring the call to me because of a perceived "accent issue", I do advise the individual to re-dial as I have had issues where the individual was transferred to me, stated they couldn't understand me, and asked to speak to my supervisor, who as luck would have it is from the UK, with a lovely "Home Counties" accent. It got further transferred - to someone with a nice broad Southern accent...

However most of the time it is a "interpersonal misunderstanding". The accent doesn't matter. The empowerment doesn't matter. It's a case of whether I "get them" - i.e. am I understanding my customer... do I understand what their need is, and am I in the best place to meet their need? I have this misunderstanding happen often enough within my own peer group!!!!

I must state though the bulk of the calls I get are dealing with customers who do not get what they want from the front line and hope the "supervisor" can deliver. Sometimes I can, sometimes I can't, sometimes it's a case of negotiating of meeting in the middle.

[WinkyDink]

147. Peggy?