Call Centers in India...

[athithi]

For those of you who were wondering where your calls to tech support went...

Call Centers in India

 

[dabuddha]

Nice read.

 

[Triumph]

Let's just ship all of the work overseas! Who cares about the side effects!!

 

[Whitecloak]

you know, this will be an open invitation for more india-bashing

 

[athithi]

Originally posted by: whitecloak
you know, this will be an open invitation for more india-bashing

You think so? I just felt it would be interesting for people to see what was on the other side when they call customer support and hear a strange accent on the other end. Honestly, I've seen very few people bash India for the job losses. Yes, there are the odd insensitive remarks about accent, but even then I don't think they are bashing India or Indians - they seem to be venting against the American companies that deprive them of a familiar accent and that I can understand: a few months back when I called Dell Support for the first time ever, I got a CSR in India and I was speaking in my normal desi accent and he still wanted me to repeat every line twice and at the end of the call, I was left re-assuring him that it wasn't his fault that my problem could not be solved

But as someone who works in the U.S, even I am personally worried about tech jobs moving to India. Can't you guys find something do on your own

 

[dman]

Bush isn't doing anything to solve this problem.


There I made it a political bashing thread.

 

[gigapet]

Originally posted by: Triumph
Let's just ship all of the work overseas! Who cares about the side effects!!

I agree

 

[vi edit]

I feel the need to somewhat clarify myself here.

It's not just a matter of accent. It's a matter of being able to relate to the country that you are primarily providing support to.

For instance - when I call into support for my directway satellite internet service, I'm greated by someone saying "Hello, my name is Rakkyr Asyr Manju, but you may call me Bob". I have a tech on the line that doesn't know that Wisconsin and Iowa are different states. I have a tech on the line that doesn't understand the difference between hurricanes and tornados and doesn't understand why you can't have hurricanes in Iowa.

Satellite internet is very complicated and many of the descriptors that are used for different parts of the equipment/alignment are well....not very descriptive. You need to be able relay whats wrong effectively to the tech in order to get things fixed. When the tech doesn't understand what I'm saying because of language barriers, it makes both our jobs very difficult.

I appologize for being so harsh, but I have had an absolute nightmare experience in dealing with India based call centers. I had a satellite service installed the first week of May, and here it is August, and it STILL hasn't worked properly. Largely due to completely ineffective tech support.

 

[DurocShark]

Remember when companies had REGIONAL call centers? You'd get someone close to you answering the phone.

So when you say, "The flying pigs we had last night knocked my dish down," they'll know what you're talking about because those same flying pigs knocked THEIRS down too.

Sigh.

 

[UNCjigga]

I think I hate all call centers in general. Back in the day Sprint PCS had a regional call center I was routed to, and everyone there was some ghetto queen who hated her job and just loved to b!tch out the customer :|

 

[Viper GTS]

Originally posted by: gigapet

Originally posted by: Triumph
Let's just ship all of the work overseas! Who cares about the side effects!!

I agree

There will always be something new to employ us here, it's not like we're going to starve. We're a world leader, we push off our crap jobs on the rest of the world. We'd outsource fast food jobs if we didn't need someone to physically flip the burgers, take cash, & mop floors.

Viper GTS

 

[nicowju]

actually, a lot of the indians i've talked to in these call centers speak fairly good anglicized-English, so generally they're fairly understandable and knowledgeable. But as for the economics, I think it's a good idea, since it lowers the cost of products for the consumer (lower costs for the larger companies...) and also frees up more skilled labor to work in higher-level/more demanding fields. Like ViperGTS said, there will always be something to employ us here.

 

[athithi]

Originally posted by: vi_edit
I feel the need to somewhat clarify myself here.

It's not just a matter of accent. It's a matter of being able to relate to the country that you are primarily providing support to.

For instance - when I call into support for my directway satellite internet service, I'm greated by someone saying "Hello, my name is Rakkyr Asyr Manju, but you may call me Bob". I have a tech on the line that doesn't know that Wisconsin and Iowa are different states. I have a tech on the line that doesn't understand the difference between hurricanes and tornados and doesn't understand why you can't have hurricanes in Iowa.

Satellite internet is very complicated and many of the descriptors that are used for different parts of the equipment/alignment are well....not very descriptive. You need to be able relay whats wrong effectively to the tech in order to get things fixed. When the tech doesn't understand what I'm saying because of language barriers, it makes both our jobs very difficult.

I appologize for being so harsh, but I have had an absolute nightmare experience in dealing with India based call centers. I had a satellite service installed the first week of May, and here it is August, and it STILL hasn't worked properly. Largely due to completely ineffective tech support.

vi_edit, if this is Level 1 support then no matter which part of the world they are in, they are just going to check things off of a list and then raise a ticket. But I agree that it gets annoying when you call for a quick resolution or atleast quickly raising a problem ticket and instead are forced to spend 5 minutes repeating "d, not t!" because the CSR can't figure out your accent or vice-versa. I just get irritated when people say Indians talk like Apu - heck, that's Apu talking like an Indian! But believe it or not, Customer Support could get worse than India (and probably will in years to come).

I posted the link so people like you could see that it's fairly normal people working under very normal circumstances in Indian Call Centers and not some greasy warehouse stuffed with uneducated laborers They are making efforts to sound and behave more American to put people like you at ease - but after 6 years in the U.S, if I still cannot speak with a natural American accent, I think it's a bit unfair to expect people sitting half a world away to be able to do it.

 

[nicowju]

with regards to the accent: I know a few Indians (as in, Indians from India Indians) who speak very good English. Of course, they have an accent, but they're generally intelligible. Many of them learn English in their schooling system (at least, in the bigger cities...)

 

[dmurray14]

Originally posted by: uncJIGGA
I think I hate all call centers in general. Back in the day Sprint PCS had a regional call center I was routed to, and everyone there was some ghetto queen who hated her job and just loved to b!tch out the customer :|

ahhh, good old sprint customer support. SH1T.

 

[MrYogi]

When the offshore tech support (for eg: Dell) people do not know an answer to your question, they will hang up on you.

 

[Rogue]

We recently opened up a call center in India. I have heard internally that while the cost of operations has dropped dramatically, there are many other problems associated with this move. Data pipes are very hard to get and unreliable. Customers are growing increasingly less satisfied with their interactions in our off shore sites due to language barriers and cultural differences, etc. I think we will see this trend continue for a short while and things will come back home once the economy picks up.

 

[sniperruff]

my brother called dell tech support last year and the guy told that he's in INDIA

well maybe it's time to grab a paper from india and look in the classified section...

 

[AgaBoogaBoo]

Originally posted by: athithi

Originally posted by: whitecloak
you know, this will be an open invitation for more india-bashing

You think so? I just felt it would be interesting for people to see what was on the other side when they call customer support and hear a strange accent on the other end. Honestly, I've seen very few people bash India for the job losses. Yes, there are the odd insensitive remarks about accent, but even then I don't think they are bashing India or Indians - they seem to be venting against the American companies that deprive them of a familiar accent and that I can understand: a few months back when I called Dell Support for the first time ever, I got a CSR in India and I was speaking in my normal desi accent and he still wanted me to repeat every line twice and at the end of the call, I was left re-assuring him that it wasn't his fault that my problem could not be solved

But as someone who works in the U.S, even I am personally worried about tech jobs moving to India. Can't you guys find something do on your own

Actually, why would we bash about this? More people get jobs. Incase you don't know, so many people are jobless there that the cost of labor is very cheap. Most people have 1 or 2 servants everyday at their home. Some will do dishes, mop the floor, clean up the rooms, etc. Many people even have drivers!

I'm hindu and my parents are from India and these are good, why? because it also creates some competition over there because those tech support guys pay more than what support places in India normally pay.

 

[mAdD INDIAN]

Originally posted by: athithi


I posted the link so people like you could see that it's fairly normal people working under very normal circumstances in Indian Call Centers and not some greasy warehouse stuffed with uneducated laborers They are making efforts to sound and behave more American to put people like you at ease - but after 6 years in the U.S, if I still cannot speak with a natural American accent, I think it's a bit unfair to expect people sitting half a world away to be able to do it.

Why the hell should they do that? Why should they try to be "American" when they are clearly living in India. To them, this is a job. They are hired to help people, and are doing so. Why should they get an American accent? Now lets get one thing clear, an Indian accent isn't that hard to understand. even if its a thick one, atleast the words are still clear. Its not like the person is drawling out the words.

The Americans offered them a job, the Indian ppl took it. They shouldn't have to change their ways for that job.

 

[Whitecloak]

one of the requirement for call center jobs is an american accent.

 

[bozack]

Originally posted by: Viper GTSThere will always be something new to employ us here, it's not like we're going to starve. We're a world leader, we push off our crap jobs on the rest of the world. We'd outsource fast food jobs if we didn't need someone to physically flip the burgers, take cash, & mop floors.

Viper GTS

Funny you mention this because word has it McDonalds is testing Robots to cook their food and fill the drinks at a few locations, which will essentially kill a good number or low income positions....pretty scary

 

[notfred]

I've started boycotting companies as soon as I call them up and get an Indian tech on the line. I really don't want to hear "support for that product will cost twenty nine point ninety five dollars" in an accent that's barely understandable. Especially when there are plenty of unemployed Americans who would be glad to do that job, and would do it better. I don't care if it costs more, I'd rather pay more for a better product with better support. I can call up Apple tech support and get a guy in a call center in the same town I live in. It's worth the extra money to me. People buying $300 Dell computers are just helping to put Americans out of work, IMO.

 

[athithi]

Originally posted by: notfred
I've started boycotting companies as soon as I call them up and get an Indian tech on the line. I really don't want to hear "support for that product will cost twenty nine point ninety five dollars" in an accent that's barely understandable. Especially when there are plenty of unemployed Americans who would be glad to do that job, and would do it better. I don't care if it costs more, I'd rather pay more for a better product with better support. I can call up Apple tech support and get a guy in a call center in the same town I live in. It's worth the extra money to me. People buying $300 Dell computers are just helping to put Americans out of work, IMO.

Yeah, Americans are better at reading out "$29.95". Thanks for reminding us of that.

mAdD Indian:

Why should they try to be "American" when they are clearly living in India.

Because they are supporting an product sold in America to an American customer. It's not like they have to change who they are, but using the right aphorisms makes them communicate better and how can you support if you cannot communicate well enough? I don't have an American accent, but my American colleagues find it much easier to understand me than some fellow Indians simply because I construct statements in a manner that is familiar to them.

 

[ggavinmoss]

I've had a couple of experiences with call centers in India -- both positive. English was easily understandable (and probably more well spoken than some of the knuckle-draggers on ATOT).

-geoff