Outsourcing tech support ( non-English speaking countries)

[kimc]

You work through lots of the flowchart and eventually get stuck. Then you ring up Tech Support and you start from square one of the flowchart again.

Then if you start over at the beginning while on the line with them and figure out the answer yourself they will still want to charge you for the call. When that happened to me I tried to work a deal with the guy where I'd tell him my solution if he wouldn't charge me. He said he didn't have the power to make that kind of decision.

 

[Candlelight]

Please to be telling me what your problems are.

 

[Ar-Pharazon]

I ranted about this very thing in this thread about Sirius/XM filing bankruptcy.

Unfortunately, it's not confined to tech support. Most of my experiences have been with the "customer service" of a few different credit card companies and, of course, Sirius radio.

I dropped 2 credit cards and my Sirius subscription because of this garbage.

I found most of the Indian call centers to be populated by very rude people, who interrupt frequently and basically don't listen. There have been exceptions, of course. Microsoft has the same deal, but when I called hoping to find replacement "feet" for my Media Pro keyboard, they sent me a whole new keyboard. Which is in itself wasteful. But then, they save money by outsourcing to these call centers.

 

[Small White Car]

I have talked to dozens of people in what I assume is India, and I have never once had a problem with any of them.

Am I lucky? Super smart? Just plain handsome?

There's probably no way to really know what my secret is.

 

[Amaris]

Dell Computer had outsourced Tech Support to India some time ago..I was the victim of one person that was totally incompetent, at the time, my computer couldn't see a portion of it's hard drive therefore I called up the tech support number. the man's English was horrible, he was rude and insulting and he lied to me several times then told me that I was "just a stupid American" and hung up on me.. I called Dell Corporate, complained about my treatment and had a computer tech come to my house the very next day..whereupon he replaced the hard drive and transferred the information from the working parts of the drive to the new one..

perhaps they needed to screen their employees better..

They don't really care. Dell, like so many others, does just enough to get by. The difference is they like to brag about it to everyone. Their tech support is among the worst.

In fact, if you want understandable tech support, you buy gold service which costs extra. That's right, if you actually want knowledgeable help from Dell tech support, you pay extra for it.

J.

 

[lennier1]

...
In fact, if you want understandable tech support, you buy gold service which costs extra. That's right, if you actually want knowledgeable help from Dell tech support, you pay extra for it.
...

AppleCare anyone?

 

[Amaris]

...
In fact, if you want understandable tech support, you buy gold service which costs extra. That's right, if you actually want knowledgeable help from Dell tech support, you pay extra for it.
...

AppleCare anyone?

True. AppleCare does the same thing.
It's just that I worked for Dell.


J.

 

[FPAlpha]

The lady basically tried to walk me through step by step again.. she almost asked me if my computer was plugged in and i needed all my restraint not to tell her i've worked in IT and networks.

I don't blame her since she has to assume i'm a total noob but it was still annoying. Finally she realized it was a technical problem at their end and she placed a ticket with their technical service.

I usually avoid that by blurting out what I have already done, so this has never happenened to me. You should have told her you've been through the first steps already. I've worked at a call center and you wouldn't believe what kind of stupidity one sometimes has to deal with. With some callers I wondered how they actually manage to get through life.

I told her that before she started.. i just wanted her to check on the ISPs since i was pretty sure the problem was not on my side. Yet she started with her standard questionaire and procedures at which point the part with the self-restraint kicked in.

I try not to let out my anger with a company with the call center clerks.. those guys and girls have usually only basic knowledge of the products they're supposed to support. They're just there to solve very basic problems or enter your problem into their system so that someone specialized can take a look at it.

Sometimes however it is hard to remain calm.