How Do You Feel About Customer Service Done Outside Your Country

hauntedtexan

hauntedtexan

Member
Location
Central TX
Many years ago, in the Bahamas, my late wife and I had our identities compromised financially and we had the nightmare of cleaning it up. So, we made the decision never to deal with personal information going outside the continental US where there are seemingly no criminal repercussions.

Just spent over an hour trying to deal with a fraudulent PayPal transaction with customer service that is inside the US. They told me, from the Philippines, that all they could do was recycle me through their "queue" until the US agents caught the call. After the 6th time reconnecting to the Philippines, the agent said I should just deal with her since there is no US customer service with this US company. I am positive that you know, or know of, an American who is out of work because of all the jobs leaving our shores. I closed my PayPal account today and the Philippine agent could not have cared less. Since credit card companies have done wonderful changes to their security, the need for PayPal is almost obsolete and hopefully, their policy of using cheap, foreign customer service will either change or cause their demise.

So, does it make you mad that your personal info is readily and regularly sent outside the safety of our shores and criminal justice system?

the cost of customer service.jpg
 

It does bother me that jobs are being created outside our country, that could be done here... but that is the world we live. My only issue with call centers outside the country is my age related loss of hearing and patience. I did have a cable outage a few years ago on the day before Thanksgiving, due to poor work by the cable company. When I insisted that someone from the company come back and repair their poor work, I was informed that Thanksgiving was a really big holiday in the U.S. I did lose it, when the individual started conveying the holiday's background.

As for our personal information, as it jumps from point to point... it likely jumps outside the U.S. at some point. It may be by design so the NSA can legally collect that metadata. Besides, the server for this very website is located in the U.S., but by whom and where?

Hackers can go after anyone connected to the internet.
 
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My biggest complaint is trying to talk to someone who I can understand. I find myself saying, "Spell that out" and I still can't understand them.

Which brings up a joke:

Mujibar goes to a hiring fair in Mumbai. The recruiter says, "Mujibar, we need to give you a test to determine your grasp of English. Please use the words green, pink and yellow in a sentence."

"Very well," says Mujibar, "the phone goes green, green, green, I pink it up and say 'yellow! here is Mujibar!'"

I'm sure you've spoken to Mujibar. He's in customer service for Microsoft.
 

Outsourcing customer service jobs has annoyed me, since the tech companies began the practice in the late '90s.

Displacing workers from their jobs[in America], so the company hires 3rd world people for 10 cents an hour, and pockets the differance. I call that un-American!.

Not being to communicate, due to heavy accent- aggravating!

So, does it make you mad that your personal info is readily and regularly sent outside the safety of our shores and criminal justice system?
Click to expand...

Our personal information is equally at risk everywhere, a physical or political border makes no differance.
 
As far as American companies using overseas employees, their stock holders seem to agree that's good thing. I found that generally overseas assistance is OK. You occasionally run into problems with both overseas and home grown assistance. As we grow increasingly into a cashless society, we won't have any "personal" information. I was looking at some products on the Sear's website. Later, when I switched to Amazon.com, there were ads for those same products.
 
The outsourcing and faux scripts they use to pretend they're in the US are the most annoying. The same ones have been calling for months to get us to switch utilities. I think it's the same rep as well.
 
It annoys me, especially when the representative's English is so heavily accented I cannot understand it. It would seem to me that if you were going to run a call center aimed at people in the English speaking world, you would make an effort to be sure the representatives could speak and understand basic English.
 
Some years ago, I had the "blessing" to call a provider's customer service. The gentleman who I first connected with was extremely helpful. Once he tried several fixes, he apologized and said he would need to pass me up to the next level of service. Having traveled throughout the U.S., the young man sounded as if he had a New England accent. I asked if he was in that area. He laughed and said, "I'm really not supposed to tell you, but I'm in India." I complimented him on both his attempt at providing a high level of service... and his ability to speak English. A few minutes later, the "higher level" customer service person was on the line. This person I could barely understand. His English was NOT English... at least a variety of our language I could come close to understanding. Upon asking him numerous times to repeat what he had said, I asked him where he was located. "Texas". No, it wasn't a "Southern" accent like one would expect from Texas. This was an extreme form of what has been referred to as Ebonics. I finally had to ask him to put on a supervisor as I simply could not understand more than half of what this young man was attempting to communicate.
I feel we live in a global market and we will have to communicate with people of other countries. If ANYONE ANYWHERE wishes to be employed in a customer service position, they MUST be able to communicate well with the customers they will be service each and every day.
 
There has been a trend to bring such jobs back here in the UK. I don't think it is so much to do with it being a 'good thing' as that it is better for business. I have certainly had experiences where the poor English of the person on the other end of the line has been a real hindrance.
 
We need more jobs in this country, so that aspect bothers me. Also, it's very annoying when I can hardly understand what the customer service rep is saying and/or they don't understand me.
 
I hate dealing with customer service. Most times I get an automated recording saying press 1 for this 2 for this and when I finally get a Representative they don't speak clear English. We have to go over things many many times and don't always get the issue resolved. Those jobs should be here and not in a foreign country. I did have a funny experience one time a few years back. I had returned my grandson's game boy. They were supposed to replace it. Weeks went and no results even after many calls. One day I got so aggravated that I called again and the rep said like they always say that the call was being monitored. I said that's Ok because I am also recording the call. The Rep said "You can't do that". I said "Well if you can so can I." Guess what in 2 days the game boy was delivered and I was a Champ in my Grandson's eyes. They still talk about that call.
 
Had an issue with our cable company and the client rep I ended up with had such a thick accent, couldn’t understand her. Not wanting to be rude or hurt her feelings, I very, very kindly and apologeticly asked to speak to another rep and why, she refused! i ended up hanging up on her. Don’t know which country I was dealing with, but man, if I can’t understand you, get me someone else!
 

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