Offshoring Customer Support Calls

[Guest]

What are everyone's thoughts on this?

Really P's me off

Pretty much all the places I need to from time to time request customer support from have offshored their calls so it's the same old I don't understand them, they don't understand me and when/if they do finally understand what the problem is they don't know how to fix the problem unless it's on the script in front of them, oh and then there's the brilliant 10 minutes of silence here and there.

Companies don't seem to give a stuff about their customers anymore as long as they're saving money.

I really hope homeshoring takes off and replaces this dreadfull 'customer service' experience. Reports indicate it's actually cheaper to homeshore rather than offshore.

[lxskllr]

I have mixed feelings actually. They move that stuff offshore to shave costs, and give customers what they want(low prices). I'd like to see a model where the customer chooses the price they pay and the support they receive. Pay nothing get no support. Pay a little bit, get foreign support. Pay a lot, get domestic support.

[Snusdog]

Mike when you call ask the rep where he/she is located.

Then ask to be transfered to a rep in the UK.

I saw my attorney do this and it is brilliant..............I would not do it except for more important thing.................and expect to have a few of your calls dropped during the transfer process...............but you will eventually talk to a rep in your own country.

If you still can't understand them.................... ask for another rep (here we have a lot of Indian reps and at times their accent makes it hard to understand)

[snusgetter]

I usually avoid customer support like the plague. But Monday morning I had to call Verizon customer support 'cause my DSL modem was throwing a fit and I had no connection.

After ~20 minutes of doing the automated tech support dance I was connected with Joe in the Mexico (Tijuana to be exact) Mac Tech Support Center. Not only did Joe speak flawless, understandable English but he also knew his stuff. There was definitely no script involved; no long pauses; no hemming-and-hawing.

He ran his diagnostics, determined there was no problem with my modem; the line was clean. To paraphrase: the problem, said Joe, was at the Verizon station at my end and he would contact them. I got his direct number to avoid the wasted 20 minutes with the auto-voice system in the event of future problems, and we said adiós.

I settled in for a long wait but just minutes later my phone gave off a quick half-ring. I checked my internet connection and I was good to go.

Verizon did make an appointment for yesterday ("We'll be there between 8am and 5pm"!!) to double-check my line because intermittent fluctuations were detected. Sam finally showed up around 2pm and found no problems.

Don't know what kind of support Windows or Linux customers experience but the Verizon Mac support from Mexico is top-rate.

[lxskllr]

Verizon doesn't support Linux :^D

I was helping someone troubleshoot a modem and I called Verizon. I said Ubuntu when they asked what O/S I had, and they said they didn't support that. I told them to give me the Windows instructions, and I'd translate. That worked well enough, and the CS rep was helpful, if not knowledgeable.

[Guest]

My 'experience' was with Orange (maybe known as France Telecom internationally)

Didn't realise that all my cell calls were going straight to voicemail since the weekend until Tuesday when my girlfriend turned up and proceeded to lay into me for not answering my phone.

Went through the phone's menus and kept trying to deactivate the diverts but it kept refusing to cancel them.

Endured 'Help India' quite a while yesterday trying different GSM codes to cancel the diverts, also --take the SIM and battery out and put it back in, factory reset (the usual Help India stuff)-- No joy, told to try cancelling the diverts again next day myself as there could be a problem with 'the system' Of course still wouldn't cancel again this morning. Straight through to 'Help India' Pretty much forced to go through all the same stuff again and again (spent most of the morning) even though I made it clear I had already tried that stuff and then eventually their conclusion was that 'I had broken my SIM' and as a 'goodwill jesture' they would send me a new one free of charge but 'I was not to try activating call divert again' and if I did and 'I broke the SIM' again I would need to pay for a replacement next time. WTF!!?? I only ever touched the SIM once when I put in the phone just under a year ago and have never had any accidents with the phone so I find that incredible to believe, more a SIM failure that should be replaced under warranty anyway. Their brilliant conclusion was the diverts weren't cancelling as my SIM was blocked, strange that as I was speaking to them on the phone with the problem

[lxskllr]

That crap is frustrating, especially when they have you doing stupid stuff. You can thank your fellow people for that. If people weren't such idiots, you could skip the steps that include "charge your phone", and "go to the obvious menu option" :^D

[Guest]

I'd be in on that. I hardly ever call companies up unless I'm totally stuffed (can sort out most of my problems through the Net) so would be happy to pay extra to speak to a knowledgable onshore person that could solve my problem quickly, polietly and efficiently when I was totally stuck and had exhausted all over avenues.

I have mixed feelings actually. They move that stuff offshore to shave costs, and give customers what they want(low prices). I'd like to see a model where the customer chooses the price they pay and the support they receive. Pay nothing get no support. Pay a little bit, get foreign support. Pay a lot, get domestic support.

[WickedKitchen]

I can vouch for Sony's service as well as Vonage. In fact, I'm hooked on Sony because of the service.

As far as I can tell the US lines are connected to people in the US at least for Sony and Vonage. I get ticked right from the beginning when a clearly middle-eastern man tells me his name is Tom or something. GTFO. Tom. Puhleez. I've learned that if you tell them the basic steps that you've taken in resolving the problem on your own they're generally more agreeable and won't stick to the script. Also, be nice. They have to listen to pissed off people all day and night and it's a breath of fresh air when they get someone who's not irate or intolerant. If you recognize that they're only doing their job it makes your life easier. Ask to speak with the supervisor (will incur a wait) or like posted above someone in your country.

HP customer service SUCKS
Verizon too...terrible. The FiOS people are a little better, but not by much.

I understand why companies practice this offshoring. I don't like it, but then again I can manage most of my tech issues myself. I would be fairly pissed if my rates or the price of a product went up because of this 'cos I'm conditioned to expect our present reality. Part of me believes that our government uses corporations to help them collect taxes. I don't think that it's the hourly rates that are the problem but the workers' comp, SS, providing health benefits, etc. that are added onto the companies' wages paid. I'd also argue that it only saves the companies a few percent on labor...but a few percent of a billion dollars is a lot of friggin' money. It's not like it's going into one guy's pocket though.

[Guest]

I did try that.

Offshore rep just went quiet and then changed the subject when I asked so I called billing/sales (that is onshore) and asked to speak to onshore tech support and they said no as all tech support is offshore. That's not right though as you do rarely get onshore tech support. I would say 75% of the calls they're throwing offshore and only dealing with the remnant plus escalations. Never worked out how to achieve an escalation though short of shouting at them but would assume they would just hang up on you then or pretend not to understand you....

Mike when you call ask the rep where he/she is located.

Then ask to be transfered to a rep in the UK.

I saw my attorney do this and it is brilliant..............I would not do it except for more important thing.................and expect to have a few of your calls dropped during the transfer process...............but you will eventually talk to a rep in your own country.

If you still can't understand them.................... ask for another rep (here we have a lot of Indian reps and at times their accent makes it hard to understand)

[Guest]

Switch off/on seems to be a popular suggestion

That crap is frustrating, especially when they have you doing stupid stuff. You can thank your fellow people for that. If people weren't such idiots, you could skip the steps that include "charge your phone", and "go to the obvious menu option" :^D

[Premium Parrots]

I've been thru that crap. I'm really nice to them. Ask them how the weather is, tell them I'm cookin up some cat or rat stew with carrots and onions etc., tell them my wife has no arms or legs and how I have to take care of her all the time and wipe her ass etc. You know....general conversation.

[muddyfunkstar]

I had to call BT last week because my broadband went down. 5 minutes navigating a maze of button pushes before being put in a queue for ages, and finally getting an Indian call centre rep who was sticking rigidly to her script, and who clearly had no tech support knowledge at all.

All they needed to do was test the line and fix the problem at the exchange (it's happened before), but I had to put up with all the "Please check your cables, please restart this and that, all of which I'd done before calling, but despite me telling her this, it didn't matter, cos she had her damn script.

Eventually she got to the line test bit and lo and behold, it was a problem at the exchange and would be fixed remotely. I was probably on the phone for 25 minutes when it could have been done in 5. So frustrating.

At the end she gave me a reference number and told me I could use it to track the progress of the fix online. I managed to hold it together, and asked, without shouting "And how do you expect me to do that, bearing in mind I'm calling you because my broadband is down?"

[Guest]

Ha Ha! Have to try that

I've been thru that crap. I'm really nice to them. Ask them how the weather is, tell them I'm cookin up some cat or rat stew with carrots and onions etc., tell them my wife has no arms or legs and how I have to take care of her all the time and wiper her ass etc. You know....general conversation.

[Guest]

Ohhhhhhhhh....Don't talk to me about BT....Disgruntled ex-employee here :|

I can imagine the song and dance though, Sky seem to be the same these days too and then there's the banks and.....well the list goes on I guess *sigh*

I had to call BT last week because my broadband went down. 5 minutes navigating a maze of button pushes before being put in a queue for ages, and finally getting an Indian call centre rep who was sticking rigidly to her script, and who clearly had no tech support knowledge at all.

All they needed to do was test the line and fix the problem at the exchange (it's happened before), but I had to put up with all the "Please check your cables, please restart this and that, all of which I'd done before calling, but despite me telling her this, it didn't matter, cos she had her damn script.

Eventually she got to the line test bit and lo and behold, it was a problem at the exchange and would be fixed remotely. I was probably on the phone for 25 minutes when it could have been done in 5. So frustrating.

At the end she gave me a reference number and told me I could use it to track the progress of the fix online. I managed to hold it together, and asked, without shouting "And how do you expect me to do that, bearing in mind I'm calling you because my broadband is down?"