Comments on: Customer Service, How Can I Help You?

By: Chris Phippen

Chris Phippen — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 21:43:25 +0000

I also have had mixed experiences with outsourced customer service calls. I’d say they have been mostly negative experiences, but not all. Normally, I call for some type of tech support for a router or computer or software issue and the call always goes to India. Most of the time, I’ve had to just keep hanging up until I can get someone who speaks English clearly enough to make out their instructions. When that isn’t the case, I’ve wasted countless hours on the phone while they run through the little “playbook” they must have to find the problem, and I usually tell them what the problem is when they pick up.

Hold on, I’m not done yet. That being said, the positive experiences I’ve had have been extremely positive. And now that I think about it, they have gotten better as time has gone by, suggesting that training has possibly improved at the call centers. The more recent calls have been very pleasant, easy, and short in duration. The operators have been very helpful and have gone out of their way to ensure that the customer is satisfied. I used to dread hearing an accent on a customer service call. but lately, I think outsourced CS is better than domestic. If this trend continues, I’ll remain a fan.

By: Jeff

Jeff — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 16:12:24 +0000

Michael, it’s interesting that you said the call center for Lenovo wasn’t outsourced…in reality it is. Lenovo is a Chinese company, so in theory, since it’s not in China, but in the US, it’s out-sourced.

Anyway, I have to concur with most of the comments here. That most of my experiences with phone support from foreign countries has been good. My problem nearly every time has more to do with the scripts and escalating of the problem to someone who actually has the power to make a decision that’s not pre-written.

Since the support person is not responsible for anything other than asking questions and guiding you through their script, I can’t blame them for anything.

They have been unwavering in their politeness, helpfulness (to the degree they’re allowed) and their attitude.

By: Leslie Mann

Leslie Mann — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 12:28:53 +0000

Help is what I need and help is what I get. Customer service through a call center can be frustrating for anyone but I agree that if you try to have a good time on the phone, so too will your experience be. As Will pointed out, having a personal conversation with the person on the other end can be rewarding and at the very least, a good filler of time while you wait for the rep to type in some information and pull up your account. I often find myself in awkward silence with a customer rep and so, just for entertainment and out of shear boredom find myself asking the representative questions about themselves. They are often engaged and probably a bit shocked that I would even be interested in their life, but what better way to make use of your 5 minute call than to spark up conversation with a complete stranger halfway around the world. You can learn some interesting things and brighten their day as well. For anyone who hasn’t worked in a call center, it takes more patience than most are willing to give, especially working for minimum wage. This type of patience and friendly attitude with irate customers should be respected. Customer service reps get a bad rap; they may read from a script and they may tell you their name is ‘John’ when it is really ‘Ravish’, but ultimately they have a job to do and since we are the ones calling for the help, perhaps it best to let them do just that…help us.

By: Vitus Holzner

Vitus Holzner — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 01:56:25 +0000

Ha, I used vistaprint.com for my business cards and I had the same problem. After clicking thru millions of ads I couldn’t figure out how on earth I can finally complete my order! (Reading that it’s not only me, makes me feel a lot better about myself.)
My experiences with Indian customer service reps are very different depending on the issue at hand. As a negative example I can talk about my experience with IT support outsourcing to India. A few years ago I was working for a US based company in Germany that decided to off shore its IT helpdesk to India. Without going into details I have to say this move was a disaster. Prior to that date the helpdesk was organized in regional helpdesks and these local employees had amassed so much knowledge about the IT infrastructure and processes that it was virtually impossible to transfer this knowledge to some large call center operator in India.
My point is that for some generic, well documented tasks such as password resets or there like a helpdesk in India is a very viable solution. More specific and specialised tasks are less suitable for off shoring.

By: Jordan Wente

Jordan Wente — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 21:11:18 +0000

I have also had similar experiences with customer service from India. They have always been really polite and eager to assist the customer. I also think of the multiple instances in which I have spoken to a customer service representative from the United States, while I am not say all of my experiences were negative the majority of them were. I have experienced the rudest people and you can just tell from the sound of their voice they hate their job. After hanging up the phone from one of these calls I remember my frustration and wanting to just throw the phone across the room. So maybe its just the negative experiences that make me think customer service from India is so great but it sure was refreshing to hear a happy person ready to help me fix the problem. Its sad sometimes the negative reputation Indian customer service representatives get just because of the negative connotation surrounding outsourcing.

By: Frederick Peemoeller

Frederick Peemoeller — Sat, 13 Mar 2010 02:14:05 +0000

I personally have never had any good luck with call center support from India. Of course, the last time I received any help was four years ago with my sprint cell phone, but I was still amazed at how helpful they were. It shows that this support has most definitely become more efficient and people are gaining more experience and becoming more qualified for the job in India. After reading The World is Flat by Friedman and watching Outsourced, I have a better understanding of the call centers on the other side of the globe. For the most part, they are motivated, educated, and young employees that are striving to get better at their job and produce the best numbers possible. The job is extremely desirable, which attracts qualified workers. Personally, I still won’t make a call to a call center unless I have no other options, but I feel confident that they will be extremely helpful fixing my problems.

By: Michael Minasian

Michael Minasian — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 18:33:48 +0000

I have personally had a varying degree of success with outsourced customer service. I have found that Lenovo computer support (which does not outsource its service, in fact when you call they proudly announce that they are transferring you to their support center in Atlanta, GA) is the best service I have received. I have also recieved both good service outsourced (from Dell), and bad service outsourced from companies like ATT and Linksys.

I do not have the same level of initial bias towards outsourced support. I have a lot of experience with tech support through my job as a computer consultant. I have found that no matter where the support center is located, often times the only way anything will get fixed is if I get past the first person on the phone. I only call support if there is a serious issue. Generally I know more about the problem then the person on the other end of the line. I think support services need to approve across the board.

By: Tim Lynds

Tim Lynds — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 05:54:23 +0000

I have had both positive and negative experiences with customer services reps in India (or at least people who I thought were in India). My most recent experience was a call (actually ended up being multiple calls) to the HP customer service line. I first spoke with a woman who was located in India who really was not very helpful at all. I spent about 30 minutes on the phone talking with her about my computer problems and ended up being completely confused about the repair process and almost paid a lot more money than I needed to. Now that I think about it, maybe she just knew how to sell. Anyway, I got pretty upset and decided to try again later and ended the call.

Even though I was upset and may not have been the nicest person on the phone, the woman remained completely upbeat and still really wanted to help. I have worked in customer service and have helped irate and unreasonable customers over the phone, so I know that it is not easy to keep upbeat and friendly with pissed off customers. I had to hand it to her, even though she really did not know how to help me, her attitude kept me from having a terrible view of HP’s customer service line. Attitude means a lot in customer service and she had a great one.

By: Catherine Kristensen

Catherine Kristensen — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 04:04:11 +0000

Phil - you have always struck me as a very patient person and after reading about your call center history, I feel like I can understand where some of that stems from.

I have to agree with Danielle - I am always annoyed by the time I get on the phone with someone and when they shuffle me around from department to department my annoyance continues to build!

I like the Will/John chit-chat approach and may have to try that next time I find myself on the phone with a Bangalore call center. I am going to assume that the conversations such as these are very rare; they probably don’t eat into their workday productivity too much and provide a much-needed pick-me-up! Who knows, maybe the chit-chat will result in some great tips for our upcoming trip!

By: Danielle Steussy

Danielle Steussy — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 00:30:09 +0000

Usually I only call customer service for one reason–because something is broken. By that point I’m already angry and irritated and have thrown around a couple of four letter words. So when I call customer service, I’m already in a bad mood and that absolutely affects how I handle the person on the other side of the line. Given that many people react similarly, the true challenge of customer service representatives is if they can bring the customer down a couple of notches and fix the problem effectively.

Unfortunately, I have had representatives handle this challenge with varying degrees of effectiveness, particularly representatives in India. Like many have stated already, I feel like I’m not being listened to about what the problem actually is. I’ve had to call Microsoft a number of times about software (first of all, their customer service number is impossible to find) and when I finally reached a man with a heavy accent on the other line, he asked me a simple yes or no question before handing me off to another customer service rep who proceeded to ask me another yes or no question. I was asked a series of yes or no questions and passed through so many people that I finally got someone by the fifth person who asked me what my problem was. When I finally got to tell him, he said that he couldn’t help me because that wasn’t his area of knowledge. I had to start the yes/no process all over again and ultimately my problem never got solved.

This was a poor experience with customer service representatives in India that unfortunately overshadows all the perfectly fine experiences that I have had, almost identical to Raquel’s VistaPrint success. I actually enjoy calling HP if my printer acts up because I know that I am speaking with an incredibly knowledgeable and intelligent person on the other side. I think what many people fail to recognize is that these people really are well educated and are more qualified and more patient than most Americans. I’m sure that it’s a job that I wouldn’t be able to handle as gracefully.