Gripe about the outsourcing of call centers

[Jeff Mottle]

Been traveling a lot and am in the process of booking more flights for the year and am running into more and more offshore call centers. Over the holidays my luggage was lost for a few days and it seems that now even the central baggage handling for the airline industry has been outsourced. This morning I was trying to get a quote from Travelocity, but because I had a 5 city trip I could not do it online and had to call in. After 20 min of listening to this agent, who I could barely understand, he tries to hard sell me into buying the ticket when I clearly told him I only needed a quote. I actually had to tell this idiot if he did not want to give me a quote to let me know and I would hang up. In the end he gave me a range and would not give me the exact price, despite going over the exact flight times 3 times! I think I'm going to start boycotting any business that employs offshore call centers as I'm getting so fed up with their poor service, incomprehensible language skills, and inability to do anything given they are located on the other side of the world.

 

ok rant done. I needed to vent.

[Brian Smith]

serenity now!

[Chad Warner]

What I found funny was that I had to call the IRS (part of the US government) the other day about an old tax matter, and got put on the phone with an outsourced call center.

[Justin Hunt]

Its one reason why I changed me ISP, half the time they could understand me and I couldnt understand them, dispite both of us speaking english.

 

The other is the cold calling sales people, calling at dinner time. Now I just hand the phone to my 4 year old daughter when ever they call.

 

JHV

[Ernest Burden III]

I think I'm going to start boycotting any business that employs offshore call centers as I'm getting so fed up with their poor service, incomprehensible language skills, and inability to do anything given they are located on the other side of the world.

 

So we only do business with those that speak the King's English? That rules out most of the United States. I can't even cross a state line and still know how to order a sandwich, much less a cup of coffee.

 

The real issue is covered in the last part of the quote: "ability to do anything". Forget the accent, can they make a decision? Meaning not are they smart enough, but are they allowed to? The issue for me is not outsourcing but sock-puppeting. I don't care if American Express has a guy in Bangladesh answer my call, I care if he has the authority to deal with what I need done as a customer. What we have is companies thinking that having someone--anyone--answer a phone is the same as actual customer service. It isn't. But try to get help on most software and you wish somebody in Mombai was there for you.

 

Honestly, I don't know how to reach companies that are dropping customer support by pretending to still offer it other than choosing other companies to work with. But who does that leave? I would like a more proactive way, like a divorce lawyer. This gives me an idea...

[IC]

There's been a trend recently in the UK of companies moving back away from offshore call centres. Firms are actually advertising with a big tagline about their UK-based centres.

 

Personally, I had no problem with it until I tried to buy car insurance and ended up going for a more expensive policy just so I didn't ever have to spend another 25 minutes saying "sorry", "say that again" and "pardon" over and over to someone in India whose English simply wasn't good enough to deal with English speaking people.

It's infuriating.