Customer service Outsource and Off-shore
Customer service fast friendly and understanding, right, wink…wink..nudge. nudge! Lately getting assistance from some companies is like participating in a Monty Python skit or working with Moe, Larry and Curley (The Three Stooges). I had my most recent experience with the Communication Giant Verizon and what a hoot it was. It was almost like trying to keep up with Abbott and Costello doing the Whos on First routine. So I called the 800 number on the bill and explained my issue to the Rep after 5 to 10 minutes of auto-attendant hell. You know answer 1 if you speak English, enter your account etc etc.. I finally get a real voice and I barley can understand them but they ask 1 question, is this business or residential, and the next thing I know is hew wants to redirect me to a different call center. Now in the new call center they inform me that my business account is a residential account and they send me back to Call Center 1, like I said it was and Abbott and Costello routine.
Now in fairness I believe that it is ok to have some support in foreign countries if you are trying to take advantage of daytime schedules across the Globe. Thus if it is 2 A.M. in the US I may find that I am talking to a call center on the other side of the world. This relieves the company of having to have overnight shifts. But at 2 P.M. in the US I believe I should be speaking to a call center in the US or Canada. Outsourcing the entire call center may be cheaper but in the long run could be more costly if customer loyalty drops because the customer is unhappy with your service. Just ask Dell.
If outsourcing is such a great thing than why do many people swear they will not do business this way anymore. Some people will say in America speak American, this is not the message I want to convey. I just feel that outsourcing needs to be looked at it and bottom line should not be the only factor to the decision.
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