m II wrote in news:E39oe.42532$tt5.1042@edtnps90:

Cmd Buzz Corey wrote:
Blue Cornchips wrote:


Vijay Mukhi, a call centre analyst, said websites have sprung up in
the US giving phone numbers of companies which use call centres in
India, and listing Hindi swear words to be used to abuse staff.
'When you move jobs away from a country, there's going to be a lot
of pent-up frustration which gets let out on Indian workers,' he
said.


There might not be so much frustration if they could understand enough
English to understand your problem. I delt with a help desk in India
over a credit card issue...never could get it across what my problem
was no matter how many ways I attempted to expalin it, when I asked to
speak to a manager, she hung up.
Maybe these companies will finally get the message that customers are
getting tired of dealing with people who can't understand enough
English to be of any help and bring the support centers back to the
U.S. Don't hold your breath.


It's worse than you think. The US politicians seem addicted to using
overseas call centres. You'd think they would keep the jobs at home,
being your public servants and all...

=============================================

Georgia is one of 32 states using the same two call centers in India
and another in Mexico for Spanish-speaking callers.

http://www.11alive.com/specials/uswo...e.aspx?storyid
=49513 =============================================




mike


Most Indians speak very good English, at least in the cities, AFAIK. I've
never been to India, but all the Indians I've met elsewhere spoke perfect
English, albeit sometimes heavily accented. They have many different
languages and use English as a lingua franca to talk to other Indians in
their own country, so complete fluency is more the rule than the exception.

Of course, they do speak what you would regard as British English, but I
understand that the call centres all give training in American
colloquialisms. I've never had the least trouble communicating with anyone
in Indian call centres, but then I am British, after all. Perhaps you will
all have to learn the Queen's English? It makes a change from learning to
label your rubbish 'basura'. Perhaps I could offer classes in how to
communicate with call centres in proper English. Note that they are call
'centres', not 'centers'. The British Empire strikes back!

They always seem particularly pleased to hear an English voice on the line,
and sometimes ask me if I like cricket. I think it is a relief for them not
to have to talk American. They can get quite chatty. There was one funny
incident when I asked one of them if he was in India and he told me that he
wasn't allowed to answer that question!

I agree. My experience with american call centers has been about as
good as those that appear to be located overseas. The quality of the
response is directly related to the skills and knowlege of the
individual - their location has little to do with it. Tucson, Arizona
has numerous call centers operating there, and I would guess many of
the operators have a non-U.S. accent as well. When calling a call
center my purpose is to get information. I've found that by staying
cordial and sometimes repeating a question that I get the results I'm
looking for. Some on this forum(not you) seem to be more focused on
insulting the operators and generally causing problems. They must have
a lot of free time.

"Alun L. Palmer" wrote in message
.. .
m II wrote in news:E39oe.42532$tt5.1042@edtnps90:

Cmd Buzz Corey wrote:
Blue Cornchips wrote:


Vijay Mukhi, a call centre analyst, said websites have sprung up in
the US giving phone numbers of companies which use call centres in
India, and listing Hindi swear words to be used to abuse staff.
'When you move jobs away from a country, there's going to be a lot
of pent-up frustration which gets let out on Indian workers,' he
said.


There might not be so much frustration if they could understand enough
English to understand your problem. I delt with a help desk in India
over a credit card issue...never could get it across what my problem
was no matter how many ways I attempted to expalin it, when I asked to
speak to a manager, she hung up.
Maybe these companies will finally get the message that customers are
getting tired of dealing with people who can't understand enough
English to be of any help and bring the support centers back to the
U.S. Don't hold your breath.


It's worse than you think. The US politicians seem addicted to using
overseas call centres. You'd think they would keep the jobs at home,
being your public servants and all...

=============================================

Georgia is one of 32 states using the same two call centers in India
and another in Mexico for Spanish-speaking callers.

http://www.11alive.com/specials/uswo...e.aspx?storyid
=49513 =============================================




mike


Most Indians speak very good English, at least in the cities, AFAIK. I've
never been to India, but all the Indians I've met elsewhere spoke perfect
English, albeit sometimes heavily accented. They have many different
languages and use English as a lingua franca to talk to other Indians in
their own country, so complete fluency is more the rule than the
exception.

Of course, they do speak what you would regard as British English, but I
understand that the call centres all give training in American
colloquialisms. I've never had the least trouble communicating with anyone
in Indian call centres, but then I am British, after all. Perhaps you will
all have to learn the Queen's English? It makes a change from learning to
label your rubbish 'basura'. Perhaps I could offer classes in how to
communicate with call centres in proper English. Note that they are call
'centres', not 'centers'. The British Empire strikes back!

They always seem particularly pleased to hear an English voice on the
line,
and sometimes ask me if I like cricket. I think it is a relief for them
not
to have to talk American. They can get quite chatty. There was one funny
incident when I asked one of them if he was in India and he told me that
he
wasn't allowed to answer that question!


Hello, Alan


Thank you for your kind offer, but I have a few friends in the U.K. who have
kindly offered to teach me the Queen's English.

I did catch some flak one time when I created a database and had a
sub-category of "moulded" components. We tend to drop the letter "u" over
here quite a bit. And we had better, given the political climate over here
)

Unfortunately, I have no idea if I can set my spell checker for the Queen's
English; if I could, I most certainly would as I would use it especially to
communicate with a couple of extreme right-wing friends on the net

For what it is worth, my grandfather (my father's dad) was Scottish; he
emigrated to the U.S. when he was 7 years old.



73 from Rochester, NY
Jim AA2QA

Most Indians speak very good English, at least in the cities, AFAIK. I've
never been to India, but all the Indians I've met elsewhere spoke perfect
English, albeit sometimes heavily accented. They have many different
languages and use English as a lingua franca to talk to other Indians in
their own country, so complete fluency is more the rule than the exception.

I know that most Indians speak good English, and I have no problem
with their accent. But I had one once who apparently did not
understand English. It was as if he was reading from a script and was
expecting a certain answer back. It was VERY frustrating. Perhaps if
these call centers were a little more discriminating in who they
hired.

On Sat, 04 Jun 2005 23:22:04 GMT, Aristotle wrote:

I know that most Indians speak good English, and I have no problem
with their accent. But I had one once who apparently did not
understand English. It was as if he was reading from a script and was
expecting a certain answer back. It was VERY frustrating. Perhaps if
these call centers were a little more discriminating in who they
hired.

The problem which I find most is not lack of fluency with English
(in any of its variations) but lack of fluency in the subject at
hand. How can you get assistance with a PC card driver, for
instance, when the person doesn't know (or denies) that the
particular operating system which is being used exists?

Fortunately these problems don't crop up that often for me.

--
73 de K2ASP - Phil Kane

Aristotle wrote in
:


Most Indians speak very good English, at least in the cities, AFAIK.
I've never been to India, but all the Indians I've met elsewhere spoke
perfect English, albeit sometimes heavily accented. They have many
different languages and use English as a lingua franca to talk to other
Indians in their own country, so complete fluency is more the rule than
the exception.

I know that most Indians speak good English, and I have no problem
with their accent. But I had one once who apparently did not
understand English. It was as if he was reading from a script and was
expecting a certain answer back. It was VERY frustrating. Perhaps if
these call centers were a little more discriminating in who they
hired.







Reading from a script reminds me of encounters in various fast food places
that go something like this:-

Customer: I'd like a burger and fries please

Staff person: Would you like fries with that?

The moral is that you don't have to be ignorant of the language to be
reading from a script