thought this would make an interesting topic of discussion!

anyone else hate it when they call up a company- like their internet provider, a theater, or what ever... and the person on the other end does not have a clue what you're on about? and it takes like 5 hours to try and explain to them what's wrong, and eventually you get so sick of it and just hang up

or you go to somewhere like mcdonalds and the server behind the desk is standing their... not being able to count the right amount of chips or not including something that was asked for..

hahaha discuss!

share your stories and things.. this will be an interesting topic

[likewater]

I work cust svc over the phone. the worst is calling my insurance for a mental health referral abd talking to some stranger who is 20 something about why I need a counselor. Once I said I was abused and this chipper, musical voice asked physical or sexual ? As if I wanted fries or a coke. I hung up.

[No Fuse No Flame]

I had to deal with dell guy for an hour. Screen was blank and he kept telling me to press these buttons and then say it's not supposed to do that. Thats why I'm here I tried all that stuff. Back and forth for an hour till I got someone who knew what too do.

I worked for a major utility and there is a book or a sequence of things the rep must do or ask when talking to you. If you say this page 2b if you say such and such page 2a so forth and so on.

[whenwillitend]

I absolutely hate it when I call customer service and get some guy whose English is so bad that I can not understand him. And I really love it when they answer the phone "Hello, my name is William". Umm, no, it's not. I really don't think customer service should be outsourced. It's very difficult to explain a problem and then try to understand the solution when the person on the other end of the line doesn't speak English.
Maybe it's just me, I'm an immigrant too, and sometimes I have trouble understanding people. Indian people who are attempting to speak English, over the phone, really doesn't help.

All in all I don't have problems with customer service. I'm always friendly and polite, and I get treated accordingly.

i also hate the automated services. those lines where you call up and select about a dozen options before you're put through to a human, and even then transfered to about 6 other departments.

and their's the queue's with that anoying music...

uggg

[DenisDonnacha]

I worked in customer service over the phone, I supported a piece of software, I have to say it's not nice being on the other end when people decide to take it out on you... I didn't make the software I'm just here to help, but hey there was still people who were really thankful when you helped them too.

The only people I ever call is my internet provider, who I do find rather unhelpful, where I worked in a call centre we did a lot to make sure we solved problems quickly, not put people on hold etc,(I actually felt bad putting people on hold lol) but when I call my ISP they just stick me on hold and then give me instructions that sound like they're being read from a screen, I'd really question the training some of them get.

[Leed]

I too absolutely HATE when I call a company and get some Iranian who cannot speak English more than "hello" or "goodbye" so I can understand it!!! It drives me insane. If they want to come to this country and take our JOBS away from us, then LEARN THE DARN LANGUAGE BEFORE YOU COME!!! Don't wait til you get here and expect to immediately get a job before you can speak the language perfectly! That's not fair to our people who NEED jobs to feed their families!!!

I just wish they'd go back where they came from. ARRGGGHHH.

Originally Posted by Leed

I too absolutely HATE when I call a company and get some Iranian who cannot speak English more than "hello" or "goodbye" so I can understand it!!! It drives me insane. If they want to come to this country and take our JOBS away from us, then LEARN THE DARN LANGUAGE BEFORE YOU COME!!! Don't wait til you get here and expect to immediately get a job before you can speak the language perfectly! That's not fair to our people who NEED jobs to feed their families!!!

I just wish they'd go back where they came from. ARRGGGHHH.

lol.... you just hit the nail right on the head

good for you

Hey everyone is just trying to make a living. There's a reason these jobs are outsourced. No-one on high is deciding to screw their own by doing this. It's business and this is the most profitable way to run it without having to perhaps reduce services or lose it altogether. As far as the accent stuff goes these aren't evil little brown gnomes on the other end of the line. They're people who have to feed their families and answered a job app. like me or you. If an accent ruins your day get a coupla cups and a string. Yah. Give people a break. Everyone is making a go of it in this world. Begrudge no-one and for the love of whatever don't be rude to people. Sh** happens in all aspects of life. Especially in the realm of economics. Pick on true injustice not this stuff. It just propogates discrimination and idiotic racial BS. I'm not accusing anyone of racial bigotry but seeing the bigger picture is tough sometimes for some. Have a cola...relax...you'll be fine. Don't be offended by these remarks anyone. It's just another free thinking point of view. Wouldn't deny me that wouldja? WOULDJA???

By the way Leeds many of these jobs are outsourced. That means the contract is given to certain countries who can do the job competitively. It's business and altho a little frustrating at times [really...a little..if it's more than that then it's probably you with the bigger problem] it's a way for companies to compete and stay in business. Just saying...and please knock off the go home cracks. Keep that **** to yourself. Not here. You're likely old enough to be told.

[whenwillitend]

Back home in Germany, I worked at McDonald's for a while. We, too, have people who don't speak any or little German in our country. At McDonald's, those people worked in the back, cooking food, assembling burgers, that kind of stuff. They only let "actual Germans" work the counter and the drive through.
It might sound awful, but the non-Germans got a paycheck and the whole experience was much less frustrating for the customers than it is over here. Seriously, I usually avoid drivethroughs for that very reason.

And I have to agree with Leed. If you want to work over here, especially in customer service, you should learn to speak the language properly. If you don't want to/can't do that, find a different job that doesn't revolve around talking to customers.

And I think it's simple greed that leads to outsourcing of those jobs to India or whatever. They would make plenty of profit employing people over here. But it's never ENOUGH. It's always, how can we make MORE money? And the customer pays the price, as always.

[whenwillitend]

I just had to think of a recent Apple store experience. We just signed up with a cellphone carrier, so I got a new phone (don't you just LOVE those discounts?? ), and I gave my son my old ancient iPhone. Well, my new phone wouldn't connect to our WiFi, and my son's phone got stuck in recovery mode when I tried to wipe it out and restore it.
So, we went to the Apple store, seeking advice. We got to deal with two different "experts", one looked at my phone, the other at my son's. The guy looking at my phone just told me I had to select something like "WAP2" when trying to connect to WiFi. He didn't actually look at my phone. The other guy hooked up my son's phone to a computer and tried to restore it. Surprise, surprise, didn'dt work. So he said he didn't know what was wrong with it, that it was probably not fixable, that I could *try* to take it to the corporate Apple store, and that those "geniuses" might be able to figure it out.
Home we went. I tried to connect my phone again, just to discover that there is no option "WAP2". So, I did a google search for my problem, that apparently many others had too, and I fixed it myself.
Then I did a google search for "Error 1015", which was what my son's phone had. And guess what, I found the solution for that too. Seems to be quite common, but the Apple "expert" had no idea what it was. It took me a bit longer to fix it, it was a bit more complicated, but I did it!! Works fine now.

I told my husband I should get a job at Apple, since those people have no clue what they're doing.

Originally Posted by shattered sanity

thought this would make an interesting topic of discussion!

anyone else hate it when they call up a company- like their internet provider, a theater, or what ever... and the person on the other end does not have a clue what you're on about? and it takes like 5 hours to try and explain to them what's wrong, and eventually you get so sick of it and just hang up

or you go to somewhere like mcdonalds and the server behind the desk is standing their... not being able to count the right amount of chips or not including something that was asked for..

hahaha discuss!

share your stories and things.. this will be an interesting topic

tolerance is a 4 letter word for so many. ah well...them ain't comin' in my yard...not missed either

sigh...I guess I'll waste a moment...

Greed. Sure if greed = available markets to start a business and use methods completely legal and yes ethical to feed oneself and provide employment for others. oh btw...using 'locals' so to speak isn't quite practical in some cases due to the currency values extant in said companies land of origin. these jobs are outsourced because they'd have to pay too much to make the business viable. Soo...whattaya do? Not try to start a business? Greed huh? That's a pretty simplistic answer. Yes. Yes it is. Good luck to ya.

whenwillitend,

sounds like my experiences in pc world too many times!

1 time i went to buy this racing game, and the expert informed that it would work on windows 7, and actually on closer inspection of the game.. it only worked on windows95!

same for when i went to buy the game theme park, they sold me a forign copy.. so the instilation was in every language but english

[whenwillitend]

Quizzicle, I don't think you can say that companies like Apple, Comcast, Dell, Walmart..... are just starting up and need every penny they can get their hands on so they don't have to shut down. And it's especially those companies that outsource to non-english speaking countries. The BIG companies.

And I do not appreciate you talking like this. Do not EVER call me intolerant again. And nobody asked you to "waste a moment" of your precious time to throw in your 2 cents. Don't act like you're so much better than people with a different opinion. *sigh*

Glad to know this isn't just a British thing - our customer service is ATROCIOUS. There have been many a time when ive either hung up or walked out of a shop because ive simply run out of patience. I hate being on the phone to someone i can barely understand - as a consumer its the last thing you want. I know it sounds terrible and it probably is but i always ask now to be put through to british contact centres - i don't even have a landline so half an hour calls to people who don't quite get what im saying is just too expensive. I understand its all about saving as much money as possible but some centres also need better training - the fact that a couple of days ago it took me nearly an hour to get hold of my internet company only to be redirected 4 times and still end up in the wrong department says it all.

Originally Posted by whenwillitend

Quizzicle, I don't think you can say that companies like Apple, Comcast, Dell, Walmart..... are just starting up and need every penny they can get their hands on so they don't have to shut down. And it's especially those companies that outsource to non-english speaking countries. The BIG companies.

And I do not appreciate you talking like this. Do not EVER call me intolerant again. And nobody asked you to "waste a moment" of your precious time to throw in your 2 cents. Don't act like you're so much better than people with a different opinion. *sigh*

thank you.

you took the words right out of my mouth (was about to post an even harsher message than you posted) but yeah.... thanks.

I am above bigotry. If that makes me above then that's fine. And if i ruffle a feather in my indignation I'm fine with that too. getting angry at a system and taking it out on the poor blokes at the bottom of the ladder who are trying to get by isn't my idea of pleasant human behavior. i don't give a **** who agrees or disagrees but i'll not zip it for anyone. 'nuff said on that. This **** lights my fire is all. It always will. Yes I'm above cheap shots at people trying to make a go of it in a tough world. Screw it...I apologize to no-one.

That said I WILL zip it for the moderator who no doubt will be telling me to curb it. Ok. And I DO apologize to y'all...for that. Crass commentary about differences in race bother me. I may get fired up a little about that.

[whenwillitend]

It's just too bad you're not above cheap shots at the people here.

Go and wallow in your superiority, which you believe YOUR opinion gives you.
You know, you talk about tolerance, but you have none for people who have a different opinion.
Well, good thing you won't be in my yard either.

I stated why i was pissed off. if it applies to you then be pissed. if not....what the hell are you mad for??? Did I target your comments? I commented on another posters comment that was uncalled for on this forum. Defend it and your words speak volumes perhaps.

[FooZe]

Unfortunately this thread has strayed from the original topic and become contentious. I am now going to close it.