I am ticked off

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Norsky

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Jun 24, 2004
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Location
Petaluma, CA, USA.
Hello all.
I don't want to offend any one,but here is a copy of an email I sent to everyone on my contact list.
I have had it
Sid


I have decided not to patronize companies that require me to "Push 1 for English"
Also will not do business with companies that outsource their "Customer Service" to India or any other countries.
I know this will be hard to do,but I will try,and am forwarding this to companies to let them know I ,and hopefully others,are disgusted .
 
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Hope you don't have a bank account with Bank of America, Suntrust or Citibank. Although a ladyfriend who works for Citibank, transfered out of Customer care to another dept cause, I believe she said, they were outsourcing to Latin America...

Frankly it has nothing to do with service and everything to do with economics. Vote with your wallet, early and often.
 
I'll play devil's advocate for a minute, even though I only speak English personally, we do not have an official legal language in this country. Any business that wants to speak any language is certainly within it's legal rights and does not even have to offer English as an option. Most do just because it is certainly the most popular language in this country, but if any portion of my business spoke a different language I would do all I could to accomodate them. It part of what makes America be the country that we are.

Pressing 1 does not bother me, now speaking to service departments that can't accomodate me in my native language fluently does bother me. How many of you have ever thought about using one of those "homework hotlines" that you see offered? Almost none of those are based in America any more. It's all economics.
 
Sid, I agree with you but it is a a fact that call centers have been out sourced. My sun-in-law works for paypal. He has been to India twice to set up their call centers.
What I do is ask for the english speaking operator. Most call centers have someone that speaks fluent english on the floor.
 
We live in a global economy. English speaking nations are only one part of that global economy. I don't mind pressing one to let someone know which language I speak. Pressing one number on a dialpad isn't exactly a show stopper or beyond my expertise.

There seems to be an implication in the original post that companies outsource their customer service phone lines out of greed. That simply is not true. If a global company desires to stay competitive, they must outsource their labor when they can. With minimum wages as high as they are in the United States, the United States worker has priced themselves out of the competitive global labor market. The US automakers are a prime example. Right now, one of the few cars produced in the US is the Toyota. Ford, General Motors and Chrysler vehicles are almost exclusively manufactured in foreign countries these days. Figure it out, it isn't rocket science.

American companies have a choice. They can outsource their labor overseas, or they can hire US workers to do the job and incur labor costs that put them out of business. The American consumer also has a choice. They can boycott the companies that have enough foresight to do what it takes to stay in business, or they can buy from companies that won't be around in five years when the customer needs them. We may not like it, but it's a fact of business and isn't going to change simply because we don't like it.

So in order to do business with a company that will still be around five years down the road when I need to call them, I'll just get used to using my index finger on a dialpad and press a number. I don't like having to do it either, but it sure makes a lot more sense than having bought a Yugo in 1989.

Bob
 
Hi Norsky,

I recently had the pleasure of having to use Microsoft tech support. My call first went to the Philippine Islands and then I was transferred to their Indian (as in Bombay, India) support center. I agree we exist in a global economy but if a company is going to use foreign sources to supply support the techs should be able to clearly speak the language of the country that they are paid to support, whatever that country happens to be.

Anyway, a friend sent me this picture. I have no idea where it originally came from, who made it, etc. but I thought it says it all:

200761732858_image001.jpg
<br />

Bill Baumbeck
 
Bill,
I deal with this all the time. When I get one who doesn't speak or understand English clearly enough, I demand to be transferred to a native-English speaking support agent in the US. They do it too.
Gary
 
I am not an native English speaker, but I always get somehow offended when the "For English press 1" comes on. I speak English here, although it is not my native tongue, either. I came to this country on June 22, 1996 and took my driving license written test (in English) on the 24th and passed. I had the chance to do it in my own language, but why?? All signs are (still) only in English. As a funny side note, the same time I took the test, a guy next to me, who was an illiterate, took his commercial drives test via phone and pictures on the computer screen...

A friend of mine has an announcement on her answering machine that goes like this"
"Hi you reached the ..... residence. For English please press one.
If you do not speak English, hang up and call again when you have learned the language"

Well done, Claire.
 
May I make a recommendation?
Buy a copy of and read Thomas Friedman's Book entitled "The World Is Flat." I think it will give you a new perspective on your dilemma.
 
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