"Kim" wrote in message
...
wrote in message
...
uncle arnie wrote:

Those who are interested, here's a link to a radio program about Indian
call
centres and the social conditions that bring them to India.

http://www.cbc.ca/dispatches/summer2003.html

This is the text, search for India and you'll come to the real audio
link:

College graduates often complain how hard it is to find a job these
days.
But imagine living in India, where unemployment among young people can
be
more than 50 percent.

Getting work on the subcontinent is kind of like staying dry in monsoon
season.

Except in the southern city of Bangalore, where the CBC's Mihira
Lakshman
says the ability to sound like you're from the American heartland, is
the
key to a whole new kind of career.

Depending on what you are calling about the last time I called for
assistance with my Dell was last month the call went to Manilla. The
month before that it was Deli.


It will generally depend upon the time of day that you are calling in for
assistance. Companies route their calls to the area of the world that is
"awake" when you are calling.

Mind everyone on ths thread: I keep seeing posts as though it is only
computer help that has call centers in foreign lands. That is incorrect.
There's a huge swing in the United States to outsource
any--*any*--telephone
contact to foreign "BPOs" (Business Process Outsourcers). That means any
customer service you can think of, is more than likely being answered
overseas. Why? It's not that call centers here in the United States
can't
be personed (being politically correct) 24-hrs a day. It's the bottom
line.
It's supposedly cheaper to have the work done overseas. I doubt that it
is,
given frustration levels of customers and, more definitely, the long term
effect of taking all that kind of work out of this country, putting people
out of work, and ultimately destroying your own customer base by not being
able to sell product. However, the short-term, money hungry, uncaring CEO
and affiliated BOD who are lining their pockets with their savings don't
care.

Kim W5TIT



Hello, Kim

A few years ago, I was with AT&T. It took, perhaps, only a minute or so to
be connected with the help desk.

I left for DSL and after two years went back to dial-up. Frontier (the DSL
provider) was good with the help desk. I only needed it once when they
changed my ISP address.

I needed the help desk once with AT&T. Reasonably fast, but obviously
Indian in origin, they kept offering me all of these "extras". Heck, I had
a problem with newgroups. Oh, no newsgroups. OK.

Well, I went back to Frontier. I received a new modem, but called the help
desk to see if I could use the old one from two years before. They answered
immediately. It was a local help desk. Yes, I could.

Well, no DSL signal. I called again and they informed me it would be turned
on two days later. Fine. I hung up and started watching television.

Suddenly, there were some "clicks" on the telephones in the house. I became
suspicious and turned on the modem. Sure enough, it synchronized with a DSL
signal. I turned on the computer and the internet came up with a rush that
I wasn't used to. A 3 megabaud pipe between me and the Internet. I was up
and running! Oh yes, free newsgroups

For this change from "decent" help support from India to "immediate" local
response and a change from 56k to 3,000k I had in increase from $15.00 per
month to $30.00 per month (ok, $29.95). I can handle that

You betcha. This short sighted sh*t will catch up with various companies.

Meanwhile, I'm waiting for my "agreement" to not work for a competitor to
end (24 months). I am thinking seriously of e-mailing a most interesting
program to a competitor. It was developed entirely at home on my computer
with my (purchased and legal) software. If they wish, they (the foreign
competitor) can mail me a dollar. No American company would pay me for it,
so the foreigners can have it; the former employer can deal with it later

In the meantime, by not working, not only don't I have to pay taxes off the
top (and worry about paying for gasoline off what I am left), I may be
entitled to free care at the V.A. next year! Of course, I'll still have to
pay co-payments for prescriptions, but WTH.

Also, I am keeping up the modest payments to maintain my health coverage
from my former employer. Life is sweet )

All I need is 4 more years to Social Insecurity.

As was stated in one of the "Startrek" movies, revenge is a dish best served
cold.



73 from Rochester, NY
Jim AA2QA