Outsourced Call Centers

The one thing I cannot stand is when I received a phone call from a company, agency or debt collector where I cannot understand just what in the heck they are trying to say. Often, they're using broken English or I have to get them to repeat what they said because I cannot understand them.

I cannot say how many times I have just up and hung the phone up on them because they weren't speaking clear enough so that I could understand what they're saying. While these outsourced call centers for American businesses and debt collectors can speak some English, often, their speech is so deep in their own culture that I cannot understand what they're saying. You know when someone's accent is so strong that you have a hard time trying to understand what they're saying?

It's not a slant and I can often try to understand what a lot of foreigners are trying to say, but some people's accent in their own language is so strong that it's hard to understand what they're saying. I don't know how else to explain it rather than that. They don't have to be able to speak English fluently, but, it would be nice if these call centers actually hired people where you could understand them the first time around. If I have to ask someone to repeat themselves because I cannot understand them, then it's not worth my time trying to speak to you. It's easier to understand the person when you're face to face, but, over the phone? It's just ridiculous.

Foreigners calling me to collect a debt that I can't pay because they got the jobs over there?? Not on my watch!

Before I was laid-off from my job, my company outsourced their internal IT department. It was, and I'm told still is, a nightmare. I often had to call two or three times to get a satisfactory resolution to my hardware or software problem, and language was always an issue.

The irony is, this was a software company. At one time, I worked as a tech support analyst at their call center. I moved into a different position shortly before they outsourced their tech support department, and laid-off all of my former coworkers. I stayed at that position, as a tech writer, for ten years, until they outsourced all of their writing to India.

When I was taking calls, I always tried my very best to resolve my customers' issues as quickly and accurately as possible. Still, there were always people who were angry and complained that they were on hold for 10 minutes, or that I might have to call them back after I researched their issue. I wonder how happy those people are now that the call center is in Pune?

I simply hang up on them. I had one person, whom I could not understand, calling me at home. I couldn't understand him and he started to get huffy with me on the phone so I just hung up on him. After several calls, he finally got the message.

Another caller basically told me I was breaking the law and that he would call the police on me if I didn't pay my debt. Told him to "screw off" then I hung up on him.

I don't like to be offended on the phone.

How many calls do you get from debt collection agencies that the person calling is not foreign???Might be easier to add them up....Nice to see that they made a T.V show out of this bad situation also..Outsourced...

Very few, maybe one or two. 99.99% of the callers are all from India. I can understand broken English to a degree. But these people, their accent is so heavy that it's impossible to understand them.

Well the language / accent divide may be getting resolved slowly, as the are now "out sourcing in the USA". Places like ACS (Xerox company) are hiring folks promising more than minimum wage then actually paying less for a "training period" of six weeks or more. You have scripts to read and are reprimanded if you deviate from said scripts.

Years ago I applied to Xerox in Seattle and was asked to come in for an unpaid "evaluation" work day. I did and proved (ok in my opinion) I could do the job. THEN they asked me to come in the next day; again unpaid!!! I declined. This company loves cloned, mindless, script reading workers.

The low pay isn't a big factor; when it's the lack of respect you get from both your employer and the people on the other end fed up with the poor scripting and the lack of help you could provide them if allowed.

If it's an unsolicited call and they ask for Mr. or Mrs. X; sorry that would be my parents and they are both dead. HEHEHEHE