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Who Am I Talking To and Where Are You Exactly? India?

Well, yes, as a matter of fact, she was in India. And we were having a communication problem, because the very polite representative from India kept reading her responses from a script. And no matter what I said, she wouldn’t deviate from it.

“But can’t you at least understand my plight?” I kept asking.

“I am very sorry, ma’am, but I am unable to make those changes,” she read in a monotone. “It is against policy.”

“Would you please listen to what I’m saying?” I begged. “This is a problem you caused, and there’s a simple solution. A click of a button on your end!”

“I am very sorry, ma’am, but I am unable to make those changes. It is against policy.”

“Okay,” I finally said, “then let me talk to your supervisor. Someone has to be able to help me.”

After a five minute wait, during which annoyingly loud and jarring music blasted my eardrum (was that designed to make me hang up?) a supervisor came on the line. And guess what? After listening to my dilemma, she gave me the same scripted line in the same accent. And both women sounded as though they were about fifteen-years-old.

I finally got the email address of this big company’s customer relations department (the rep refused to give me their phone number) and I e-mailed my complaint. Now my dilemma has become an incident number. I won’t go into the details, as the matter is under dispute, but suffice it to say that I am hopefully awaiting a phone call from someone from their company in the United States to straighten out the mess.

My friend had a similar experience when ordering ink cartridges from a major computer company. She could not make the person on the other end of the line understand what she wanted. Plus, the person was obviously reading her responses from a script. So now my friend takes her cartridges to a drug store that fills it for half the cost — and no aggravating phone calls are needed.

Have you had any experiences like these? What are we supposed to do when a communication problem arises? Who do we complain to? And how do we get these outsourced jobs back?

Kate, frustrated but determined

14 Responses to “Who Am I Talking To and Where Are You Exactly? India?”

Ah,

Not enough space for the ‘epic’ of my dealings with Dell. But after ‘the last’ time on the phone for 3 hours, refusing to give up, 8 people later-I finally told them that at $2.95 a minute I was going to bill them for $1,614.72 cents. :):):) AND I DID. Haven’t received the check yet. Need to send an overdue notice.

OUTSOURCING, the plague of modern times. I have begun to refer to all of them as Muqabar, or Muqabar’s Aunt/Cousin/Uncle/Sister/Wife/4th cousin on his mother’s side 17 times removed etc etc etc. Which of course has generated multiple ‘rants’ both verbal and written to my therapist (if I didn’t need one anyway I would AFTER dealing with Dell), my parents, my IM friend in England, the dog, the wall etc.

After being on the phone, at one point for over 2 hours, I was sorely tempted to take my cell phone away from my ear and slam it repeatedly into my desk. BUT. I hesitated. BECAUSE–when I broke it and had to call the 1-800-phonebroke line. I would end up talking to Muqabar-who moonlights at Cingular when not annoying the ‘h***’ out of me at Dell, who would no doubt inform me that breaking my phone by slamming it into my desk due to frustration at dealing with the ‘help line’ at Dell-WASN’T COVERED UNDER THE WARRANTY!!!!!!!

What I can offer though is numerous video emails, rants, stories, and a really great picture my therapist sent me-MUQABAR AT WORK. If you have any time-heck while you are on the phone dealing with……you would have plenty of time to read/view them all. :):):)

by Susan V.H. on May 4th, 2008 at 12:54 am
Kate, you hit on one of my biggest pet peeves. Now I have nothing against the operators who are making a buck a day and letting our corporate CEO’s make Billions, but give me a break!. I was a business office manager for a nursing home for several years. One insurance company called me each month on a resident.

Can I ask you some questions?
Yes.
You have time to answer?
Yes.
Did Mrs. Nursing Home resident stay in the facility all of last month?
Yes.
Did she stay all 30 days?
Yes.
Did she have any days she stayed anywhere else?
No
So she was there all month?
Yes.
So Mrs. Nursing Home was there the entire month of (Insert Month here)?
Yes.

Each month….. on and on. I finally asked where the lady was calling from and of course, it was India.

As far as trying to solve a problem on my credit card, forget about it….

by Lynn on May 4th, 2008 at 8:22 am
Susan, I may need a therapist after this whole dilemma I’m having is over — if it is EVER over. You have a pic of Muqubar? Oh, do send it to me at katecollinsbooks@yahoo.com, puhleeze? I need a laugh.

Lynn, was it the same person who called every month, or could you tell? I swear the first person I talked to was also the last, who would have been her supervisor. I think there was one person working all the lines and she just pretended to be different people.

Someone please stop this madness! I wish every single congress person had to spend 2 hours a month on one of these calls. Then, perhaps, action would be taken. Better yet, I wish that on the CEOs of those companies.

Kate, laughing devilishly

by Kate Collins on May 4th, 2008 at 12:03 pm
http://www.hardtofind800numbers.com/

This list might give you a different number to call - to someone who might actually help!!

by Karen B on May 4th, 2008 at 1:22 pm
Oh, man, do not get me started on my feelings about outsourcing. We’d be here for days.

by Tori Lennox on May 4th, 2008 at 2:06 pm
Pretend like you’re a buyer of some expensive product they sell… and get into the sales department. Then tell them your complaint and get transferred to a real higher-up. This is the only way to get anything accomplished really fast. The sales staff knows everything and everyone important to their mission. Part of the equation is happy potential customers.

by Dani on May 4th, 2008 at 5:06 pm
Positive reinforcement: whenever you deal with a company that has tech support in the US, send them a nice note saying how much you appreciate it. I pay a higher rate when I take credit cards than a couple of my friends do, but my credit card processing company is ALL IN ONE BUILDING. When I had a problem and called them, the guy who couldn’t help me said “can I put you on hold while I run down the hall and get someone who can?”

Negative reinforcement: whenever you have a negative experience with a company, particularly one that’s so bad you’re leaving that company for good, be sure to send them a letter explaining why. Once you are out of litigation, be sure to tell everyone you know about how awful your experience with the company was.

Unfortunately, this kind of thing is not restricted to outsourced jobs. I left an online company I used to work for when they asked me to write “customer service macros.” They wanted their customer service reps–who I’d been training for a couple of years–to be able to answer customer questions by pushing a button rather than actually listening to the questions and think about the answers. And that company wasn’t outsourcing…they were just hiring minimum wage workers who knew nothing about computers because people who *did* understand the system wouldn’t work for pittance.

by Laura K on May 4th, 2008 at 7:32 pm
Very good suggestions! Thanks, ladies!

And I agree, Laura, that it’s not just the outsourced jobs (which, by the way, is not just happening in India. I’ve also dealt with people in the Phillipines who weren’t quite understanding me.) I will wait to comment on the company I’m having problems with, but trust me, if they refuse to work with me, I will test the saying, “The pen is mightier than the sword.” This is one little guy ( girl) who will fight back.

I am so much my character Abby Knight in that respect. I HATE HATE HATE injustice and unfairness. They really push my buttons.

Kate, gritting her teeth

by Kate Collins on May 4th, 2008 at 7:42 pm
This is the type of incident that makes me want to move to the woods, live in a shack and write a manifesto. However, I’m too fond of cable tv, Johnny Carino’s pecan salmon salad and my family to actually ever disengage from society. There is a way to change how things are run in this country though, and it’s called voting! I highly recommend it.

by Melissa Balsam on May 5th, 2008 at 12:32 am
I own a Dell. I’ve had to call India more than once with unsatisfactory results. I am defecting this summer…Apple, here I come!

by JB on May 5th, 2008 at 7:21 am
I hate the fact that it bothers me so much, I know people need jobs all over the world but is it really too much to ask to have someone who speaks English clearly and coherently. Thankfully my technology is running smoothly so I haven’t a run-in them in a while, but the cell phone company and most recently Amazon.com customer service was especially frustrating.

by HWJ on May 5th, 2008 at 2:19 pm
I had a problem with my B&N Affiliates account. I tried calling their 800 number and got someone in India who also read from a script. No matter what I said, she gave me the same answer. I said, “forget it,” hung up the phone, and sent an e-mail to the CRM at my local store. It took a couple of days but they found a bug in the program and all should be fixed. But it’s aggravating to get a customer service rep who really doesn’t speak your language.

Next time I get someone from India, I’m just going to save time (and my breath) and hang up immediately.

by Lorraine Bartlett on May 5th, 2008 at 2:21 pm
Ahhhh, yes. I had a great time with the “outsource” guy when I was trying to figure out when I got high speed through phone line for desktop downstairs and then a router for wireless for my laptop. it took a long phone call to the little guy who was obnviously reading from a script before they decided to have the phone compnay come out and check the line. Meantime, I was able to have a little fun with script guy. He asked what time was listed on a screen that I was checking on the desktop. So—naughty thing that I am—I said it’s 4:00pm here in Fort Collins. Isn’t it the same where you are in Denver? (knowing full well he was half a world away from Denver). But it threw him and he stammered no, it wasn’t. So wickedly I asked, “well, where are you?” And he must have been so new he didn’t know any better. He whispered: “The Philippines (sp?).”

I couldn’t help it. I burst into laughter. And said, “Well, that explains a lot.” He was in a cubicle in Manila. . . .sigh. . .

Bnut when I contacted the Linksys folks for help making the wireless router work, that guy was in a cubicle in Mumbai and was he ever sharp. He analyzed the situation and came up with the solution. And even hung on the line for another ten minutes while I ran about the house and the front yard and the backyard to make sure the wireless signal was there.

by Maggie on May 5th, 2008 at 8:04 pm
Maggie, your experiences show the huge contrast between someone who is paid two rupees per hour to read from a script and someone who actually knows what they’re doing. I feel sorry for those low-wage workers. They’re doing what they’re told to do — read answers. It’s the executives who sit at the top of that ladder, pulling in seven figure salaries that my gripe is with. I understand that it costs money to hire good tech people, but they should worry that they will — and are — losing lots of customers who are fed up with those calls to India, the Phillipines, and the like.

I know that I’d take my business to a company that trains their tech people well in a heartbeat. But it’s all about profit, keeping the shareholders happy.

The only way I know to change it is, as the saying goes, vote with your wallet.

Kate, STILL grumbling — and still waiting for a call to solve my problem

by Kate Collins on May 6th, 2008 at 10:46 am

Who Am I Talking To and Where Are You Exactly? India?

14 Responses to “Who Am I Talking To and Where Are You Exactly? India?”

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