Talking To India

Lon · Post by **Lon** » Wed May 09, 2007 5:58 pm

I am back in California after a five month respite in New Zealand and in attempting to get back On Line, Cable TV up and running, Telephone hooked back up, and Utilities turned back on, dealing with Credit Card people, have found that in every case other than the local utilities, I have had to deal with the good folks in INDIA. What used to take one or two days at most, has now taken me a week to get the California household up and running.

Now I have nothing against Indians, in fact, I love Indian food and their melodious way of speaking, HOWEVER, I have had some real communication problems in understanding their English. I know many of them have gone to school to learn American English, even the different accents. It ain't working.

I understand that many businesses are having service functions handled offshore, primarily by Indians, but it is totally frustrating in trying to deal with the continual communication problems. Is it just me?

yuki · Post by **yuki** » Wed May 09, 2007 6:08 pm

I have that problem too and it's compounded by the fact that I also have an accent. They can't understand me and I can't understand them. :-2

Peg · Post by **Peg** » Wed May 09, 2007 6:18 pm

It seems any where you call any more they speak everything but English. Calling tech support for my internet, or tracfone, is a total nightmare and I hate it.:-5

JacksDad · Post by **JacksDad** » Wed May 09, 2007 6:30 pm

I love that their names are, 'William, George, Steve.....'

I know I'm in for a hard time as soon as I hear that.

:wah:

Try calling them Steve in the middle of the phone call.

:-5

RedGlitter · Post by **RedGlitter** » Wed May 09, 2007 6:56 pm

Nope, it's not just you, Lon. It's everywhere. And like Peg mentioned, Tracfone is a particular nightmare.

I hang up a lot. And I call back until I get someone I can undertstand. Of course some say this is a racist thing but dang, it's just common sense that part of good phone manners is the ability to make yourself understood!

I have a theory that this is why people shoot each other. It all has to do with not being able to communicate and the frustration of "press one for English!"

Peg · Post by **Peg** » Wed May 09, 2007 7:18 pm

Oh I soooo have a problem with the "press 1 for English" thing.

All week I've had a business calling my house every half hour for four hours. I don't know what nationality the guy and lady are that call here, but they are hard to understand. Apparently, they have a hard time understanding English unless you yell at them. My daughter and my husband both asked them to stop calling here because the guy they want has not had this phone number in years. I finally yelled at the guy and asked him what part of stop calling and this is the wrong number he did'nt understand. I told him I was tired of being harrassed when I don't even know the guy they want. Tonight was the first night the phone was actually quiet.

gmc · Post by **gmc** » Wed May 09, 2007 11:42 pm

Lon;609987 wrote: I am back in California after a five month respite in New Zealand and in attempting to get back On Line, Cable TV up and running, Telephone hooked back up, and Utilities turned back on, dealing with Credit Card people, have found that in every case other than the local utilities, I have had to deal with the good folks in INDIA. What used to take one or two days at most, has now taken me a week to get the California household up and running.

Now I have nothing against Indians, in fact, I love Indian food and their melodious way of speaking, HOWEVER, I have had some real communication problems in understanding their English. I know many of them have gone to school to learn American English, even the different accents. It ain't working.

I understand that many businesses are having service functions handled offshore, primarily by Indians, but it is totally frustrating in trying to deal with the continual communication problems. Is it just me?

Try talking to them with a scots accent.

sharedfastlane · Post by **sharedfastlane** » Thu May 10, 2007 9:24 am

Apparently they have a script. It was fingernails scratching the desk time when part of my instructions were repeated back to me telling me letter by letter how to spell my own email address as I was instructed to type it in to refresh something to do with my broadband.!! I always thought I responded well to good manners but the 4 or so times I've dealt with the overseas call centres the manners have been faultless but it hasn't helped overmuch! I think they are aware they have disgruntled customers. I read somewhere they are meeting to discuss how they can improve customer service. When I asked a British based person from the company how I could be sure I didn't get the call centre I was told it was pretty random; once a member in England has dealt with their quota it gets re-routed.

along-for-the-ride · Post by **along-for-the-ride** » Thu May 10, 2007 1:30 pm

Press "5" for English with an accent.:wah:

sharedfastlane · Post by **sharedfastlane** » Fri May 11, 2007 8:17 am

Could you try e.mail from their website?

Post by **Bryn Mawr** » Fri May 11, 2007 8:47 am

Kathy Ellen;610795 wrote: Hi Shared,

Tried to email this company. Just as I thought. There was no place where I could write a short synopsis of my problem. I just kept getting prompts that listed problems that I didn't have.

I just give up. It's so hard to fight a big company that won't respond to your problems. The only thing I can do is contact my attorney if this nonsense continues.

Thanks for your advice though.

Do you not have an ombudsman to adjudicate cases like this?

I am currently going to the UK Telecoms Ombudsman over my ex-ISP as they are still trying to debit my account and will not discuss the problem with me because it is not longer my account.

WonderWendy3 · Post by **WonderWendy3** » Fri May 11, 2007 9:03 am

I am feeling the same pain with you Lon...been there done that and have bruises on my head to prove it...hope this puts a smile on your face.

sharedfastlane · Post by **sharedfastlane** » Fri May 11, 2007 10:00 am

http://groups.google.com/group/comp.dco ... d48e8e96ef

Hello,

I typed in " problems with AT&T bill" in *search* Google Groups and the above entry was an interesting one. You are never alone!

sharedfastlane · Post by **sharedfastlane** » Fri May 11, 2007 12:24 pm

Kathy Ellen;610860 wrote: Wow, Thank you. I will more time next week to work on this problem. They shouldn't get away with this nonsense. Are you a detective:wah:

Thanks again.

Coooee,

No, just bored at work!

Post by **Bryn Mawr** » Sun May 13, 2007 3:42 pm

Kathy Ellen;610806 wrote: Hi Bryn,

What is an ombudsman?? I'm having the same problem as you. I cancelled my account with AT&T last June and they sent me a letter telling me that somehow they forgot to send me a bill. I've told them that I haven't used this phone number since last June and the number has been disconnected, but they won't respond to me.

The Ombudsman is a government sponsered adjudicator who has the power to force "them" to obey the judgement handed down.

As my payments were on Direct Debit I've cancelled the ISP's right to bill the account and I've recovered the money they've taken but I'm going to the Ombudsman to object to the deliberately obstructive nature of their complaints procedure.

Lon · Post by **Lon** » Mon May 14, 2007 4:38 pm

Kathy Ellen;612947 wrote: Hi Bryn,

Thanks for the info. I'm waiting until I hear from AT&T before I decide what to do. Lon, how's it going with your problem?

Thanks for asking---------Everything is fine now, cept the two guys that came to hook up the Cable were Vietnamese. Highly competent and did a great job, but I could not understand one word they said