Shop Talk
Customers want American agents
I've had on many occasions have customers say that they don't understand why cell phone companies open call centers oversees, that they don't like foreigners, or can't understand them. I've also have customers say that they don't want to be transfered because they don't want to get a "deep accent person" on the phone....."Sir, I cannot guarantee that you will get an American representative, but I do need to connect you to the finance dept for a payment extention. Thank you for choosing Sprint, please hold...." 🙄
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Customers also want cheaper phone bills. Americans looking for jobs also want higher pay. If we were to eliminate all foreign call centers and pay Americans to answer phones the bills would go up. Sometimes, you just can't win.
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I've been told AT&T has ALL of their call centers in North America. Customers still complain about not being able to understand the reps. I gather it is because they just like to complain when they have no other qualms with the company.
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Yup, I hear customers say that all the time. "The person I talked to over the phone didn't speak english at all" Of course I say, "well they were probably from the deep south. Stop being racist."
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AT&T owned call centers right? Do we still outsource though? I work for the company and have my problems understanding them. Perhaps the outsourced centers are overseas as well as companies like Young American and Asurion? That would still make that statement correct.
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I call AT&T Customer Care 4-8 times a day and never once have I been routed outside the US.
However I have called Sprint Customer Care a total of 5 times and 4 of those times have been outside the US. "South East Asia" was the most common response. (I always ask for the user id, full name and location of the call center.)
I have to say for the record, the one time I got someone in the US it was like 3am Pacific time. That might have something to do with it, but who knows.
However I have called Sprint Customer Care a total of 5 times and 4 of those times have been outside the US. "South East Asia" was the most common response. (I always ask for the user id, full name and location of the call center.)
I have to say for the record, the one time I got someone in the US it was like 3am Pacific time. That might have something to do with it, but who knows.
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Actual ATT centers? Probably. Outscourced centers? Definitly not. Half of xbm is in the Phillipiens, part of beuc is, and some regular care calls are handled by phillipiens reps as well.
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I know the warranty department for AT&T isn't in the US. I had some problems with a phone, and I was sent to them on about 10 different calls and not once did the person speak english well enough for me to not have to ask them to repeat everything multiple times. If not for working in a call center I'd never have gotten through the call because before this job I had no skills at understanding thick accents.
I get why they do it- you can save a ton of money. But I also know people have cancelled with Sprint over not being able to understand a care agent.
I get why they do it- you can save a ton of money. But I also know people have cancelled with Sprint over not being able to understand a care agent.
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I worked for a 3rd party AT&T/at&t CC In El Paso for 10 years. Majority where of Latino decent and didnt speak English all that well. Heavy Sanish accent. On the money side, my current CC has one in EP and one in Jaurez. We make $10+ an hour. In Jaurez, same company, Same Client for cell phones, they get $3 an hour
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yeah and i want customers that speak English as well, do i get my wish? No, because we live in the US and people do that thing called.....whats that word again? oh yeah! IMMIGRATE from other countries and have accents. Everybody just needs to get over themselves and understand that since we live in a "free" country, we are going to have people with other accents.
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i dont have a problem with that, i was just starting a thread about what customer's say 🙄
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and how did you get here? through those same doors via your ancestors. I was only trying to make a point that there is no way for a customer to tell whether someone is in the US or another country just by thier accent. They need to get over it because everyone has an accent of some nature and can make it difficult to communicate. my point is its life.
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I work at a call center in Ohio. We have nationwide dealers many of whom are Indian, Middle Eastern and others.
We get tons of calls of customers refusing to go to their stores. They call them every name in the book.
So it is not just call centers.
But if any of us can not understand the customer..... 🙄
We get tons of calls of customers refusing to go to their stores. They call them every name in the book.
So it is not just call centers.
But if any of us can not understand the customer..... 🙄
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I am from the south and speak with customers from all walks of life. I have a very difficult time understanding customers from across the country. It has nothing to do with accents,and everything to do with sobriety. It may take a few moments more, but someone with a thick Northeastern accent and I can communicate if we work on articulation. However, a drunken slur doesn't get any easier to comprehend until after the hangover phase. I hate talking to drunk folk; they are a huge waste of my time. They are calling because they have nothing better to do. They aren't going to remember anything we discuss, and they are typically very rude or expect me to morph into a 900 operator. Eww.
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