How can you beat routing your customer service calls offshore to benefit from much lower costs? The calls go through VOIP (Voice Over Internet Protocol) which is basically free and they are handled by people making a fraction of our domestic counterparts.
Corporate America figured this long ago, and now most large corporations route their calls elsewhere in the globe.
Besides the downside to the Nation resulting on the exporting of so many jobs, the service we receive is consistently lousy.
When we call Customer Service or Technical Support, an English speaking person on the other end is not enough.
A language is made of more than using and understanding the right words. It includes the rhythm, energy level and all the nuances implicated in 'communicating' orally.
I.e. if I call and describe my entire question or issue while the agent patiently waits for the whole explanation only to say (at his/her turn) that I am talking with the wrong person and I need to be transferred just to start again, from scratch. This would not happen if my call is handled locally, as we allow for the apparent rudeness of 'interruption" as I am describing the wrong problem to the wrong person.
In that case I expect to be interrupted, as a way to save my time. Politeness indicates these foreign call-takers to let me talk, and waste my time.
I also need somebody that will go right to the point, quickly, saving me time. I don't need to talk with someone that spends half of her/his (and my) time apologizing for putting me on hold, asking permission again and again to put me on hold, reciting my name at every chance, etc. Just solve my problem, and do it fast. That is the real American Way.
I also expect the person to emphasize what is important, not to have a low, monotone, polite tone of voice out of 'respect' for me. True respect is for my time.
None of this works with foreign call takers in remote locations. Service rendered abroad really sucks.
Pablo Vitaver.
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