I purchase a DELL INSPIRON in May of 2003 In July of 2003 it tweaks out July 23rd, call tech agent, decide we have to send it in July 25th, send it in July 30th, talk to American, 5 minute call explaining that it is in depot, anticipates it will ship out in 1-2 days August 4th (2 AMish), talk to 5 non-English speakers, get 5 incoherent responses, 5 run-around calls, and FALSE tracking information (they keep telling that my computer shipped out to me on July 23rd, obviously mis-reading what’s on their screen OVER & OVER!) August 4th (morning), call another non-English speaker, again, get run-around August 4th, finally hit the jack-pot, an English speaker, albeit with a STRONG southern accent, resolve problem in 5 minutesOne thing I know, I will NEVER buy a DELL again, I will ALWAYS ask around to figure out the probability that I will encounter a non-English speaking person as “support.” It was quite clear in the 4 hours that I spent on the phone that the non-English speaking support individuals could barely comprehend the information on their screens. I had called so many times that I quickly realized how they were making mistakes over & over again, simplifying & reinterpreting, when the answers seemed straightforward from the hints & clues that they gave me. Of course, even if I had conjectured what the situation was, I wanted confirmation that my hunch about my computer was correct.
Once I got someone who spoke English natively, they quickly looked at the information and confirmed all my guesses, taking no more than 5 minutes. I literally spent no more than 10 minutes with the two Americans, but well north of 3 hours with the non-English speakers. There will over the years be more & more customers like me who demand that the person on the other end of the line speak fluent English-that will cost money, either in First World wages, or intense training or higher levels of education than no acceptable for customer service in off-shore call centers [1].
Please note I am prone to being irritated by this problem-that’s the thing I HATE about big cities, service employees who I can barely understand! My friends who live in such locales seem resigned & accepting of the fact that those who do such work will always speak with accents-if they can communicate in English at all-but if you experience the alternative, you have a much harder time adjusting.
[1] I too have read the charming tales of Indian lads & lasses speaking American English and familiarizing themselves with the culture-but cultural literacy does not technical literacy make, much of the information they have to relay is already opaque and confusing, a lack of English fluency is a deal-breaker. Of course, it could be asserted that the two “English speakers” that I spoke too were also foreigners, but both spoke with rather strong southern accents, stronger accents in fact than the Indians or Costa Ricans I talked to, though they could read English at a far higher level. If they were foreigners, my understanding is that they tend to speak general American, not a dialect from the backwoods of Louisana or west Texas (probably the closest aproximations of the two individuals in question)
Godless comments:
Personally, I think that this is the market in action. Razib will vote with his wallet for native-English speaking technical support. Others may or may not choose the discount line for a lower price. And still others, like myself, will build and maintain our own computers rather than buy from Dell 🙂
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