Calling Customer Service

ClassicRockr

ClassicRockr

Well-known Member
How often have you called Customer Service about something and you simply can't understand what the person is saying to you. IOW, a heavy accent. You have to keep saying, "what did you say?" and then after saying that multiple times, get fed up and hang up. Then you think, "how am I going to get the problem solved?"

I've had this happen to me more times than I'd really like to think about.

So, what can be done about this???? When you simply can't understand half or most of what the person in Customer Service is saying to you.
 

In another thread, someone referred to ads asking if you have a difficult time following a conversation. I bet the hearing aid people would have a quick solution for your problem! ;)
 
It's an important problem and I hate it.
Some of the workers from Phillipines speak well
but they still do not answer my questions. They don't realize
how thick their accents are--and probably don't care.
Sometimes I ask to speak to a supervisor but then I have to hold a
while so they find one. Even worse if you are hard of hearing like me.
Meanwhile you can chitchat about Manila or India!
 

Just yesterday I call Sirius XM to cancel our subscription and had to talk to a lady with a strong Asian accent. It just could not understand her. She kept asking questions that I could not answer. After about five minutes, we both were getting frustrated and I had to yell...Just cancel my order. I wanted to do it online, but they wouldn’t let me. I had to call.

It it must have gone through because I got an email it was cancelled.

I don’t know what can be down because it seems to be the normal thing to hire these folks. Maybe the companies want to frustrate people so they will give up.
 
I've had this happen a lot. Very frustrating. I used to try to be nice and suffer thru it, but now after asking them to slow down and repeat I ask to be transferred to someone else. Life's too short for such nonsense, especially when I'm paying for a service.
 
Yep. The other day I tried phoning the cable co, got someone who sounded like Desi Arnaz with a bad cold. Hung up. Tried on line chat & East Asian responses were so convoluted I got disgusted & disconnected. They have a store in ABQ, going to have to go there to get my questions answered. Such barriers to service!
 
I had that happen when I called Dell customer support. It was awful. I ended up going online to research my issue.
A few days after I got a survey about my experience. Since it allowed me to type in a narrative, I told them exactly why I gave them low ratings. Not sure if anything will come of it, but I think it is important that companies do get this feedback.
 
Actually, sometimes I have to tell a young person "please slow down" when talking to me in Customer Service or somewhere else . Not because of my hearing problem, but more because they are talking so fast.

Guess, once those young folks get to be in their late 60's and up, they will understand. Do they really talk this fast to each other?
 
Although I’m more tolerant of people with accents since my parents had them and maybe I’m more used to it and understand them better but there are times I can’t understand what someone is saying so I simply tell them that in a nice way and ask to speak to someone that I can understand.

I get more upset being on hold for half an hour and getting disconnected and having to start all over.
 
CeeCee said:
Although I’m more tolerant of people with accents since my parents had them and maybe I’m more used to it and understand them better but there are times I can’t understand what someone is saying so I simply tell them that in a nice way and ask to speak to someone that I can understand.

I get more upset being on hold for half an hour and getting disconnected and having to start all over.
Click to expand...

Oh yes, have had that happen to me. Definitely frustrating.
 
I can usually understand the folks in customer service call centers but I get frustrated when my question is not about one of their scripted responses.

We go round and round until I finally get frustrated with the person.

Before I hang up they usually ask me if they can help me with anything else and then it starts!

cartoon-fight45.gif
 
In my opinion AT&T takes first prize for worst customer service in all categories!

I dread having to call them...their online chat is just as bad.

By the time you get to the heart of the issue...the person has gone offline. :(
 
They have phones like Hamilton Captel that show the text of the person speaking, wonder if that would work with some really heavy accents....not sure. I just ask them to repeat themselves or speak slower if I'm really having trouble, but I usually can understand what they're saying.

hamilton-captel-phone-2400i.png
 
If you really want to hear some fast talkers, go to YouTube and type in “air traffic control conversations.” Those guys can talk really fast and so do many pilots. It just becomes very routine, but what really amazed me was their accuracy.

I generally spoke normally, except after the wheels went down. At that time, it’s more important to concentrate with getting the plane to the center of the runway and having the wheels touch down just after the threshold.
 
I'm good with accents I can understand most accents despite their origin, but sometimes i think that the Phone company employ those with the thickest accents of all.. I reckon they pay them the least, so I do have trouble sometimes with those , mainly in India...
 
One pet peeve of mine is being given digital-only options, in other words, no way to get through to a human being. Drives me nuts.
 
SeaBreeze said:
They have phones like Hamilton Captel that show the text of the person speaking, wonder if that would work with some really heavy accents....not sure. I just ask them to repeat themselves or speak slower if I'm really having trouble, but I usually can understand what they're saying.
Click to expand...

My dad's Samsung smartphone turns voice into text. He refuses to get an hearing aid. I do know a hearing aid is not a total fix and they can be frustrating and even my 92-year old father thinks it would make him look old. :D Let's face it, we humans have a lot of misplaced pride. :rolleyes:

Maybe I'm just weird or maybe I'm making it up, but my customer service experiences have been positive. On Monday, I had to call Petco customer service because I only received half of my order. The customer service rep was totally helpful and spent around half an hour with me correcting the problem and also setting me up with a membership to get credits and other benefits of membership. He also gave me $15 in coupons with Petco. He did have an accent and told me that he was situated in some Asian country and we talked a bit about Hawaii (where I'm located). I had no problem understanding him at all. It was a really good experience. I just wish they had an after service survey where I could give him an excellent report.

And not long ago I talked to Verizon customer service about my bill and she was extremely helpful.

I don't know. As I said, maybe I'm just weird. Or I'm just making it up. But I'm not.
 
There was a hiring fair in Mumbai recently. Mujibar attended with the intention of getting a customer service job.

The recruiter said, "Mujibar, you will need to take a vocabulary test first. Please use the words green, pink, and yellow in a sentence."

"Oh, excellent very good," said Mujibar, "I will quickly and immediately do that! The phone goes greeeen, greeen, greeeen, I pink it up and say 'Yellow, here is Mujibar to assist you!'"

I'm sure you've spoken to Mujibar. He currently works for AT&T customer service, but he calls himself "Bob" now.
 
Spectrum either ties for 1st or a close 2nd.
I have never had a person I could understand and their chat is even worse!
My prepaid credit card is good for giving wrong information.
 

Telstra ( the phone company we use) is the worst in Australia all their call centres are in Philippines
The rare times I’ve calked them I can not understand them ,As they talk to fast and it all becomes a babble.

Ive even asked if I can talk to someone else and they have always been polite and useally got someone to phone me back
 
If I cannot understand the person, I tell them I cannot understand them and ask to speak to someone else. I do OK with most of the Indian accents, but for some reason I have an extremely hard time understanding women's voices with a strong Asian accent.
 

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