Outsourcing Technical Support Helplines

Hanse18

Hanse18

Audioholic
I'm assuming that most people on this forum, as AV fans, have run into some sort of problem that is beyond our control. It seems like every time I call into some technical support helpline, it is always someone whose native language is NOT English. I have read somewhere (maybe here, who knows) that alot of these helpline jobs are now being sent to countries like India. While my opinions on outsourcing itself are mixed, I feel that it is much easier to communicate MY problems with someone who speaks the same native tongue. I'm not trying to be a racist or anything like that, and I shouldn't get mad at them since I'm sure they are working hard for a fraction of what we make, but I think the nature of the job requires a firm grasp of our language.

Yesterday, I called to schedule a service call since I couldn't receive my HD channels all of a sudden. I eventually had to request to speak with a supervisor after 15 minutes of accomplishing nothing with a man who could barely speak English. Whatever, not the end of the world, the problem was fixed, whoo hoo... Today, I needed to inquire about HDMI cable boxes and swapping out my old ones and getting an amplified splitter installed. INstead of calling, i used the online "chat now" service that Charter Cable has. After setting up the cable box swap with Kevin, I got transferred to speak with Melchor about installing a cable splitter. Well for all I know, Melchor is the name of a computer program, because after the greeting he just started (i assume) copy / pasting the generic troubleshooting steps for any problem with your cable service. After each step I interjected with a paragraph explaining my problem. I actually copied the paragraph after the first time I typed it and ended up pasting it 5 times, once after each troubleshooting step, along with "I have already done this, there is nothing left to troubleshoot, I would like to schedule a technician to visit my house".

Finally, about an hour after I originally logged on to their "chat now" service, Melchor tells me a technician will come on monday between 8 am and 12 pm, and then cuts off the connection. Well thanks, now I have to miss school, and Im not going to risk rescheduling. I really wish I could have copy / pasted the conversation, but the chat window only displayed about the last 4 messages, and there was no way of scrolling down to read anything said before that. Maybe an attempt to hide how unhelpful that service really is?

So, that's my rant, but I know that this can't be the worst customer service hotline story out there. My best advice is to vastly exaggerate how long you have been a customer and how much you pay per month for whatever service (i.e. "I have been a customer for 23 years and pay close to $200 a month and you won't even include a $10 component video cable?!?!?"). It generally produces results as long as you don't over-use it.
 
Tomorrow

Tomorrow

Audioholic Ninja
Soul brother! And please...don't EVER sign up for anything having to do with EMBARQ....especially DSL (earthlink-India) or wireless (brainless). It has been over 3 months, 32 phone calls (cut off on 1/3 of them) and I'm still being being billed for services and equipment I neither ordered nor received, and the one service I do have doesn't yet work and they can't troubleshoot it(DSL). I estimate conservatively, that I've been on the phone or internet chat with these "people" for a minimum of 50 hours! Seriously.

I used to think Charter had the universe's worst customer/tech service available. NOT! There's a new king in town.
 
j_garcia

j_garcia

Audioholic Jedi
I had to call my credit card company recently, and of course the call went to India. I am normally a very patient person and I am even polite to telemarketers, but I actually YELLED at the idiot on the other end after answering the same question 4 times in a row to try to verify my identification...and it wasn't because he couldn't hear, it was because he was reading off a "script" when trying to talk to me and for some reason, he kept reading the same line :confused:
 
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stratman

stratman

Audioholic Ninja
I can't remember which US firm got rid of the outsourced customer service for the same reasons above. You can't blame the person on the other side, that's their income. You can blame the US firm though. What you have to do is become a major nuisance to them, e-mail, snail mail, phone calls, etc.
 
Hanse18

Hanse18

Audioholic
stratman said:
I can't remember which US firm got rid of the outsourced customer service for the same reasons above. You can't blame the person on the other side, that's their income. You can blame the US firm though. What you have to do is become a major nuisance to them, e-mail, snail mail, phone calls, etc.
Hahahaha... That would take way too much time... I would rather just complain about it here.

I'm the same way, J. garcia. I am usually really polite to anyone that is trying to HELP me, but when customer service is getting as bad as it is, it's hard for me to keep my cool.
 
Yamahaluver

Yamahaluver

Audioholic General
Are you aware of the pay they give to the people working in India or the standard of candidates willing to do call center work, its the lowest of the lows, who in their right mind would like to ruin their college career time and work in a call center unless that person is a total rank looser, and yes I find it equally frustrating to talk to call center idiots, be it India or US, problem is, they are just fed a format to memorize, they have no awareness of the product, one moment they could be servicing a complex amp, next moment a baracalounger, earlier on, when we placed calls to a company, it would usually be a paid number, not toll free and you were certain that the person across the line would be aware of the technical issues, those days are gone and its worse now. English is taught at almost all Indian schools in cities in a very good standard, point is, one who has command of the language won't be wasting their time in a call center, wait till non English speaking countries get their hands on call centers, that would be the end, not that its any better.
 
Hanse18

Hanse18

Audioholic
Ummm... yeah... That's kind of what this whole thread is about... How much it sucks. You basically just reiterated what we had already said and just added an aggressive tone to it. Thank you for that contribution.
 
Yamahaluver

Yamahaluver

Audioholic General
I just wanted to define about the pathetic situation in a typical customer service, customer service should be done by persons who are technically sound and have knowledge about the product they are talking about, country of origin regardless, I see the anger in this thread directed to India, just making everyone aware of what the true scenario is, if that sounds aggressive, I am sorry but thats how it is.
 

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