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Listen to the podcast: Outsourcing Tech
Support - Good, or Evil?. Transcript If you call the tech support lines for many major companies these days, you can't really be sure that the person you're talking to isn't a few miles away or on the other side of the planet. We've all heard of technical supporting being outsourced to overseas companies, often in India, to reduce costs. The current state of technology allows us to communicate anywhere on the planet cheaply and instantaneously, so it does make a certain amount of sense that, all else being equal, companies would be foolish not to consider it. But is it evil? Many think so. I don't. What I believe that most people actually find evil isn't where their tech support representatives might be located ... it's the quality of that tech support. They may believe that they're seeing a lower level of expertise when they can detect that the call has been routed off shore, and it's certainly possible that that's the case. But it's not the location that's the problem - it's the incompetence. And incompetence knows no geographical boundaries. I truly and honestly don't care if the person I'm speaking to on the phone is in my neighborhood, my country, or half way around the planet, as long as they can help me. That, typically, can be summed up in two measures: can we communicate, and do they know what they're talking about? You don't have to be overseas to blow it. I've nearly hung up the phone on U.S.-based support reps because their regional accent was so thick that I could barely understand them. I left my former ISP because their technical support staff was incompetent and could only follow the script that they had been given. I would have been quite happy in both cases if I could understand them, and if they could actually help me - even if they'd been overseas. My bottom line? Don't blame overseas outsourcing, per se, it's part of what's keeping your costs down - but do hold companies accountable for the quality of their service, regardless of where it's coming from. Article 9653 | Posted January 4, 2006 |
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For me it does not matter solong as the call is answered quickly and the techs are allowed to think a little on their own. One thing I can not stand is calling and hearing a script, asking a straight forward question and being forced to go through a few pages of written directions. Of course being able to understand them should go without saying
Chris Davis
Posted by: chrisdavistech.com at June 28, 2006 6:59 PMwww.chrisdavistech.com
I can't tell you how tired I am of calling or even emailing HP's technical support. It's always someone in India who just reads down the troubleshooting card. Most the times they know very little about computers and as they go through their troubleshooting charts they're always saying "A moment please" and then they start to read the English response. It's so frustrating! Give me someone who speaks English and cares!
I'd even be willing to pay a little more for the computer if the technical support were here in the United States with someone who understands, cares, and speaks in a way that I understand! Let HP, Dell, and other giant computer corporations outsource their "front-line face" to India. Meanwhile, I'll stick with the smaller companies where you can still call someone and get home-grown English!
Posted by: Lee Williams at July 3, 2006 5:36 AMThis is all I have to say
Posted by: Ethan at July 18, 2006 2:50 PMhttp://www.break.com/index/microsoft_support_center.html
Im trying to get my wireless router fixed. I called the tech support number they gave me and of course it sent me right to INDIA! I am sooo sick of talking to someone i CAN NOT understand. Im trying to run a business and it doesnt help me much to spend hours on the phone trying to work things out. Today i went as far as calling their sales center and of course... AN ENGLISH SPEAKING PERSON answers the phone. What a bunch of crap. I know it helps big companies to save a buck and adds more jobs for people in india... BUT man is it frustrating. I told the indian on the phone that he wasnt helping me and i wanted to speak to someone else and he got an attitude with me! "CORY, I KNOW WHAT I AM TALKING ABOUT!!" I just said "goodbye" and hung up. UHGUHGUHGUHGUGH NO need for a response, just thought this was a good way to get some frustrations out! THANKS!
Posted by: Cory at July 18, 2006 5:18 PMOutsourcing transcends your desire for cheap electronics Leo. It's bad for the USA's economy long term. Here is an interesting article that discusses why in more detail: http://www.memagazine.org/contents/current/webonly/wex30905.html
Posted by: Paul Armstrong at June 23, 2007 11:54 AMI am an a former Dell Technical Support Representative and I was based in a India center. I went through all the above posts and thought I would do a reality check on the above issue.
I hate my employers as well as Dell (same with my colleagues also) for making my life a living hell. I know that all the above experiences are true and in no way an attempt to defame the Outsourcing Industry in India. Now I have worked with Dell for about a year and half and I have customers in USA that I still interact with in other words my support was not that bad. And this people do seek my advice on how to get their computer working if there's a snag...so I was(am) good and almost all my colleagues were better than me so the service was not bad. The support or the accent was not that bad or else there would have many posts.
Take a look at the working condition at a Dell Contact Center 10 hours shift(often you have to work overtime and the 6th day for which you are not paid), only two breaks of 30 minutes and 15 minutes allowed during which you have to stuff your dinner (remember we work nights) and rush back to your station...Dell users often complain they have to wait a lot before reaching a human voice...trust me its Dell who is to blame for that..agents get 3 second interval between calls at the max it could be 30 seconds or it is a defect and you will have a pay cut. Now imagine someone on a station picking up calls for 10 continous hours do you expect that person to give you the best resolution...he reads out of a script because his brain and body stops working...my question is WOULD AN AMERICAN ACCEPT THIS TYPE OF WORK ENVIROMENT? And we are blamed that we are eating your jobs...we are even more under priveleged than you so we have to take this jobs and the effort is not to harass you from our side.
LOOK AT REAL PICTURE IT'S DELL (AN AMERICAN COMPANY) THATS HARASSING BOTH YOU AND US. SO YOU KNOW WHAT TO DO NOW.Try calling any of them (the agents) that you are dissatisfied with after they have left their jobs at Dell I am sure you will get a better service free of charge (which you won't get in US) provided you are willing to pay for the Long Distance call.
Posted by: Jimmy Mehta at October 12, 2007 8:41 AMI've had enough! Because of this horrible support in India, I Will NEVER buy another HP product and hope that others take heed. I called up to ask for a replacement power supply adapter, and it took me 3 calls and 3 days just to make sure they got the address right! THe first time I gave them the address, and it was not taken down. The second time, they had it but forgot to put it down on the order. Hopefully this time it is correct! You get the usual reply of "my sincerest apologies...." , "I can't find a supervisor around" and so on, but this level of incompetence is just not cutting it. They had better move their support elsewhere or more ppl will respond with their pockets. NO MORE HP STUFF for me as far as I'm concerned.
Posted by: nicholas lim at December 20, 2007 6:49 PMIm a tech. support from Hp and i tell you work in one of ur company in INDIA and then you would find out how hard it is to give support ..when there is huge call flow they dont even give breaks ..u have to take calls and calls ..there have been so many good people from US who do understand what the problem is ... and there have been few who only show attitude because they are from US ..oh god plz stop this ..i've tried to conference with the ISP's in US and i've found out how Good they are when it comes to tech support in US ..hahahha ..life working in a callcenter sucks ...come and work once in our company and u would enjoy ur life .trust me all u guys who have nothing to do except sharing ur experience with the world.
Posted by: vicky at March 13, 2008 3:23 AMI can understand both sides of this issue, probably only because I worked many years as a CSR. I have to say that I have, for the most part, not had a problem with the few support calls I have had to make. Yes there can be a problem understanding the technician but I think that may be a two way street, I suspect they may also have a problem understanding us as well. I personally have found that giving as much information as possible about the problem, and what I have already done to try and fix it, makes a big difference in the quality of help I get no matter where in the world it comes from.
Betty
Posted by: Betty at May 13, 2008 7:21 PMThe entire HP technical support is located in the Philippines, just call them up and ask them. I mean what the hell, they can't afford to hire people in the states? I don't care about globalization of economies, but the most important and the least each business can do is to ensure the same quality of service in every country, in this case, hire only the ones who can speak fluent English is not too much to ask. I don't want to hear Philippine-English or Indian-English, either you speak fluent English or find a different job. When you have to spell out every word in order for them to understand that is not technical support from their part, that is English support from our part... outsourcing is only good for the company, bad for the consumers. In the end I will recommend to all of you, buy any computer brand except for HP.
Posted by: George at October 3, 2008 12:50 AM