Outsourcing Human Resources? Really?

[z31maniac]

I just got a call from some indian guy, as in the country, asking me if I was interested in a Technical Writing job.

1. He doesn't understand that the middle name isn't the last name.
2. I can't understand his accent for the life of me.
3. I ask him where the company is located and he tells me again, "Its a Technical Writing position"

I finally get out of him that the company is in Chicago, Illinois, but I couldn't understand the name of the company or anything else he was trying to say.

I finally just had to tell him that I would only relocate to Chicago if lots of $$$$$$ were involved.

How insane is that? Have someone trying to recruit people who can barely speak or comprehend the language.

[Charlie]

They've been doing this for a long time man. Staffing firms suck.

-Charlie

[Restoman]

I love it when headhunters call me up. I can't leave my job, it's a family business and I would not leave. I had one guy call me up and offer double my salary plus commission. I didn't have to move and all I had to do was go to the same customers I do now and sell bearings. BTW the HH spoke English. It just makes you feel better about yourself.

[2Big4a3Series]

That is very insane. I don't know what these corporate CEO's are thinking. Sure, using foreign labor reduces their bottom line but at what expense? From what I understand, these call center people are actually the poorest of their citizens and many of them are faking it by remembering certain responses and phrases without really understanding what they are saying either.

I don't mind the foreign accent or slight language barrier but it's very difficult to tolerate someone who is too arrogant to accept that they do not know the language.

Every now and then when I call Indian tech support I get someone with a brain who knows exactly what I am talking about and I get my situation resolved but for the most part, I experience the same thing:

Me: I am calling because the screen was not shipped with my new computer.
Him: So you are saying that you are not able to view anything on your screen?
Me: Noo... I am saying that there is NO screen. It was not in the box.
Him: Can you check to make sure that all of your cables are plugged in tightly?
Me: There is no screen to plug them in.
Him: Can I put you on hold for 5 to 7 minutes? (time goes by)
Him: OK. can you go to the START menu?
Me: No, my computer isn't on or connected.
Him: Can you power up your computer and connect your monitor and tell me what you see?
Me: No, the monitor isn't here.
Him: Well, sir. Unfortunately you will not be able to use your computer without connecting it to the monitor. Do you see a black cable with a blue plug?
Me: Nope, all I have is a computer with one black cable attached to it.
Him: Well apparently you are missing the monitor. That is your problem.

ARRRRRGH!

[DarkWing6]

That is very insane. I don't know what these corporate CEO's are thinking. Sure, using foreign labor reduces their bottom line but at what expense? From what I understand, these call center people are actually the poorest of their citizens and many of them are faking it by remembering certain responses and phrases without really understanding what they are saying either.

I don't mind the foreign accent or slight language barrier but it's very difficult to tolerate someone who is too arrogant to accept that they do not know the language.

Every now and then when I call Indian tech support I get someone with a brain who knows exactly what I am talking about and I get my situation resolved but for the most part, I experience the same thing:

Me: I am calling because the screen was not shipped with my new computer.
Him: So you are saying that you are not able to view anything on your screen?
Me: Noo... I am saying that there is NO screen. It was not in the box.
Him: Can you check to make sure that all of your cables are plugged in tightly?
Me: There is no screen to plug them in.
Him: Can I put you on hold for 5 to 7 minutes? (time goes by)
Him: OK. can you go to the START menu?
Me: No, my computer isn't on or connected.
Him: Can you power up your computer and connect your monitor and tell me what you see?
Me: No, the monitor isn't here.
Him: Well, sir. Unfortunately you will not be able to use your computer without connecting it to the monitor. Do you see a black cable with a blue plug?
Me: Nope, all I have is a computer with one black cable attached to it.
Him: Well apparently you are missing the monitor. That is your problem.

ARRRRRGH!

I've actually been to India, visited multiple call centers (including Microsoft), listened in to live calls, and talked to the people off of the phones.

These are compitent people, and these jobs are highly sought after. Much of the ball is actually dropped on the end of the company that is hiring them (no product training, etc).

Obviously there are some that are bad and some that are good just like in the US, but as a general rule India based call centers are good and the people working them are smart people. I'll put you on the phones trying to sell products or give technical help on products that you have never seen or used. I'm sure you would be doing about as good as they do. Most of the crappy ones you talk to are people just given a script to follow.

[Charlie]

That is very insane. I don't know what these corporate CEO's are thinking. Sure, using foreign labor reduces their bottom line

There you go. I've just accurately modeled your typical CEO's mindset. Everything you put in after that last word is entirely superflous.

-Charlie

[Farbin Kaiber]

You know, sometimes when I buy a product, and have issues, call in and get an Indian/Phillipino accent of which I do not understand, I return the product and buy a competitor's unit. I went thru 10 WiFi routers, no joke.

[Aptyp]

I work for At&t.

Our personal call center is in Georgia. But our standard 800-number gets routed to India.

Hate when I have to call on behalf of a customer.

[TheEtaUnderdog]

I love it when headhunters call me up. I can't leave my job, it's a family business and I would not leave. I had one guy call me up and offer double my salary plus commission. I didn't have to move and all I had to do was go to the same customers I do now and sell bearings. BTW the HH spoke English. It just makes you feel better about yourself.

Uhhhh double salary plus commission with no move or change in customers... its a family business but someones gotta support the family part...

props on loyalty

[kylebes1]

I actually think it's a voice recognition program... not even a real person.

[DarkWing6]

The funny thing is people complain about all of this, but most people are not willing to pay for the service anyways. Dell had a program for a while that offered an upgraded customer service package that essentially gave you US call centers instead of outsourced call centers. They no longer do this becasue nobody wanted to pay for the US call centers.

You speak louder with your dollar than you do with your voice.

[2Big4a3Series]

These are compitent people, and these jobs are highly sought after. Much of the ball is actually dropped on the end of the company that is hiring them (no product training, etc).

Thank you for enlightening me with that. But don't get me wrong- even if what I said was accurate, I wouldn't blame the Indians because they are working to earn a living just like everyone else around the world. Either way I still blame the company for putting me on the phone with someone who can't effectively help me regardless of where they are located.I've worked in a call center before and I admit that I've played the role of the "stupid phone rep" when I got a call that I just couldn't handle but somehow, it would seem to me that if I have a customer on my line looking for an easy way to slice his apples and the only instructions that I have for him is on how to peel oranges, I should not keep insisting that he has an orange problem until he can prove to me that he actually has apples.

[Ryan Stewart]

That this is tapering off thankfully. Now that the dollar is low and the cost of labor in India is up the cost savings is no longer greater than the revenue lost because of the shitty customer service.

[Turf1600]

I've actually been pleased with the people I've spoken with in india. We were talking about this at work yesterday. It makes sense - we pay schedulers $15 an hour to do what people over there could do for much less. What you have to realize though is that even people stateside who have an accent get significantly lower customer service scores than "Americans". So, even though you save money you will lose customer satisfaction - regardless of how nice or well spoken the outsourced staff is. I guess to highly competitive companies like mine it's worth the additional cost.

[E30ownerwithanopinion]

I will tell my cousins to do a better job.. and to watch more TGIF so they can pick up the accents.

India is played out the new out sourcing hub is Singapore.