Pet Peeve

I am less bothered by people who speak English with an accent, than with people who are clearly reading a script and appear to have no actual knowledge of the machine or system they are supposed to be supporting.

On the other side, someone told me (and I repeat this as mere rumor) that Apple Support is pulling out of India because they are too good! They are so competent at what they do that they are demanding higher wages, undermining the whole reason for outsourcing in the first place.

I have dealt with companies that consistently had extremely knowledgeable support staff, and with companies that consistently had support staff who knew as little as I did about the product.

A company whose services I have used several times in the past (an excellent company in other respects) has a first-layer phone support staff who do nothing but read from the company's catalog, which is available on-line. To get any information at all you have to ask to be put through to the next layer, or have a direct phone number (which I do now, as they give it to past customers).

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(marjflowers @ Sep 11 2006, 03:36 PM) [snapback]317897[/snapback]</div>

If I remember correctly, Dell outsources their tech support call centers to other countries, though I don't remember which one. Normally, I wouldn't have a problem with recieving help from someone who didn't learn English first, but if you're going to provide support to a nation that is primarily English speaking, you need to actually speak English, not pretend to. It's not so much what language is being spoken, it's pretending to speak a language when you really can't. If I tried to use my VERY limited French with a Frenchman, he would laugh his head off at me, because I would really only be pretending to speak French. Does Dell think it dosen't matter if we can't understaind their tech staff, just because America is supposed to be a diversified country? Wake up Dell, and make sure your staff can actually converse with a native speaker of the language they are supposed to be using!

I usually find it easier to go out on the net and learn from scratch how to solve my problem myself then to try and get help from tech support.

 

It's just a matter of course... the Capitolist end game. "There is nothing that can't be made a little worse and sold a little cheaper."

 

If buying things at the lowest possible price is the sine qua non of your shopping experience, then don't be surprised if customer service ranks lower than a snake's instep. We've shipped these jobs afar. India has legions of young people working for the Yankee half-dollar. Don't expect to hear your local dialect on the far end of your call for help.

Read Thomas Friedman's "The World Is Flat." And learn why "Buy American" doesn't mean very much anymore. Dell is in Texas but their help line people all sound like Peter Sellers imitations.

 

I have been in tech support myself for many years. When I call Intuit for help (for which I pay something like $400/year), or Dell...I expect the person on the other end of the line to know more than I do. Generally, they do not. And, yes, I can tell I am usually speaking to someone in India or thereabouts. My most recent Quickbooks call lasted for more than one hour, with my "helper" telling me "Quickbooks does not do that," and me saying, "Yes, it does, and has done for more than two years, and let me speak to your supervisor" for more than 20 minutes. In the "good old days," before all tech support was outsourced, I used to have some VERY interesting conversations with people who were impressed that I knew how to get to a DOS prompt. Now, I have to tell THEM. And pay for the privilege. They can have all the schools they like to get folks to speak idiomatic English, but they seem to be neglecting the tech part.