This post has perfect timing for me. I received a sales call today from someone overseas, I assume in India as I could not understand him. For about 30 seconds he said something like "can I speak to..." and I kept saying what? who? what do you want? and then I hung up.
His company was trying to sell something I could tell. I bet the person I talked to has zero sales day after day after day as he could not be understood. And the company that hired him, the managers are probably giving themselves bonuses saying we hire poor slobs overseas and pay them $10/day instead of $100/day to hire Americans. So what if they never sell anything. Think of how much we save by exporting jobs.
Last year, I had a problem with my American Express card. I called the toll free number on the back of the credit card. I got a call center in I assume India. The first 2 or 3 people I talked with, I could not understand. One of them a "supervisor" said he was the only one who could solve my problem and refused to route me to someone else. I struggled with him for maybe 15 minutes. I called someone else who I couldn't understand. I got the same unintelligible "supervisor" who I hung up on again.
Finally, I called on a weekend and got someone who had a working knowledge of English and got my problem resolved. I bet I wasted about 90 minutes of my time on a simple 10 minute problem and to this day this experience has left a bad impression of American Express with me. I have never had this problem with my Citibank card. Guess which one I use the most.
We used to have 3 Dell computers at work. About 3 years ago we had a problem with one. I wasted I don't know how much time (maybe 3 or 4 hours) dealing with people who couldn't speak English at the Dell call centers and they couldn't help me.
Finally, I paid a local computer repair person to help me and he confirmed we had a defective hard disk which was sent by Dell to us for free as it was under warrenty. However, my experience made me so unhappy, my next 2 computers were not Dell's and the next one I buy, guess what, it will NOT be a Dell.
Why do American companies think that by infuriating their customers in hiring companies that hire people that barely speak English, it is good business?
Finally, some companies are starting to see the light. Here is the story:
The Bangalore Backlash: Call Centers Return to U.S.
Some Firms See Value in Familiar Voices
If you prefer a customer service agent who speaks "American," then computer maker Dell has a deal for you.
Catering to consumers put off by the accents of Bangalore, Manila and other call-center hubs around the globe, Dell will guarantee -- for a price -- that the person who picks up the phone on a support call will be, as company ads mention in bold text, "based in North America."
The Your Tech Team service, with agents in the United States, costs $12.95 a month for customers with a Dell account, or $99 a year for people who buy a new computer. It also promises that wait times will average two minutes or less. Without the upgrade, a customer is likely to get technical help from someone in India, the Philippines or the other places where Dell has operators...
Occasionally, "we've heard from customers that it's hard to understand a particular accent and that they couldn't understand the instructions they were getting," said Dell spokesman Bob Kaufman. "This illustrates Dell's commitment to customer choice."
Complaints about customer service agents based in other countries are an everyday phenomenon across several industries. For many U.S. consumers, the diverse accents that come across customer service lines constitute one of the most pervasive reminders of globalization and the offshoring of jobs. That can make personnel in the call center targets for American anger.
Companies can save 50 to 75 percent on their call centers by putting them overseas, according to industry analysts.
But getting a customer service agent with whom it is easy to communicate ought to be a service that is provided gratis, some industry analysts said...
Although airlines, banks and some retailers have overseas call centers, computer makers have been particularly apt to put call centers in foreign countries. According to an online survey conducted by CFI Group, more than a third of respondents who recently made a call for computer support reported that the person they reached was outside the United States...
The customer satisfaction score for overseas PC call centers was 23 percent lower than for U.S. call centers, CFI Group reported.
"The customers say, 'The agent just doesn't understand what I'm trying to do,' " Kramer said. "The customer explains his or her request three or four times, and then they get a rote answer back."...
Though some have suggested that the friction between U.S. consumers and foreign operators arises from prejudice, some observers see it differently.
"I hear people say all the time that people who complain about call centers in India are being racist or nativist -- but it's not as simple as that," said Sharmila Rudrappa, a sociology professor at University of Texas at Austin and native of Bangalore, India. "If you need tech support, it already shows you're having a crazy time getting your Dell computer to work. And when things go haywire, you want assurance, you want familiarity, you want someone to hold your hand and say it's okay. What you don't want is to have to work at understanding the person on the other end of the line."...
"People in the developing countries are hungry for any material that will improve their skills," Desai said. "There's a real hunger to improve. It's not that we want these people to be speaking with an American accent. We want them to be intelligible."
Enough Americans are frustrated by them, however, that companies such as Jitterbug have concluded that keeping their call centers in the United States is the best option.
Inns said the company briefly considered putting call center overseas -- he, too, had heard that costs could be radically cut.
But he said those estimates leave out the cost of frustrating customers.
"What's missing from those estimates is what the impact is on customer satisfaction and what is the impact on first-call resolution" -- that is, resolving the issue in one try...
Dell declined to release numbers on how many people had signed up for the Your Tech Team service, but Kaufman said officials have been pleased by the response.
"That part of the business -- the Your Tech Team -- has grown, and we think that customers will continue to value it," Kaufman said.
For the full article click here
Sorry Dell, you are doing too little, too late. When I can call and not have to pay extra to speak to someone who knows English, I will consider busying a Dell again.
Yes, you save some money outsourcing, but how much do you lose by turning people off to your products because of your call centers?
Here at The Terra Cotta Inn we believe in excellent customer service which is why we have one of the highest repeat guest rates in the travel industry and why this summer Tripadvisor.com picked us as one of the 10 best clothing optional resorts in the world. Last year AOL.com did the same. Also even though we have been in a recession all year, our resort will probably be the only one that increased its occupancy this year in ALL of Palm Springs. That is due to our great service.
I sure hope American companies wise up to the fact that customer service is very important if you want to retain customers.
Tom
The Terra Cotta Inn
Palm Springs, CA
1-800-786-6938
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