Frustrated with "Language barrier".

[DawnCt1]

I am up late tonight because I am trying to finish up the itinerary for our Hawaii trip next summer. I have the difficult to get parts of the flight confirmed and I am wait listed for the rest. Delta hasn't put them into the system yet. I call the regular Sky Miles number and end up in India. I give them the record locator numbers, explain what I need, speaking slowly, with the date that I am working on. Five minutes later she returns with the wrong information that has almost nothing to do with what I asked. This hasn't happened once. It has happened almost every night that I have used the two main numbers. At the end of the call, she/he then asks if I need help with a car rental or hotel. I haven't even completed the flights yet! Thankfully someone on Flyer Talk gave me another number that always puts me through to someone in the United States and they are always helpful even if I am on a waitlist. They never ask me if I need a car or a hotel because they understand that I can't make plans until our flights are solidified. Another big helpful hint was CarolA giving me the 9/4 telephone response to the automated voice. That gets me right through without putting in numbers, destinations or dates. A big time saver.

 

[safetymom]

It's a good idea to notify the company of your frustration. They need to know that you can't complete your travel plans because of the person(s) you are dealing with.

 

[Planogirl]

I understand that this is becoming a widespread problem. Supposedly Dell is looking into reopening their American call centers because of complaints. Nothing against the overseas CSR's but I'm confused enough when I call and the language barriers only add to the aggravation for both sides!

 

[Cindy B]

Earthlink is terrible as well. My DH has tons of frustration working with thier overseas center.

 

[DawnCt1]

The company that I used to work for outsourced all of its IT issues overseas. It is difficult enough trouble shooting a crashed computer with someone who speaks your language but when you have to ask for clarification on every word, it's difficult. Finally that brought the IT support dept back to the US of A. At this point, I don't think that Delta would care that I am having a problem getting my free award seats. It might be part of their "restructuring plan".

 

[NMAmy]

I had the same problem with Delta a couple of weeks ago. I did get it straightened out but it took forever--thankfully, the woman I was dealing with ended up transferring me to someone else (I have no idea why)--this person spoke English and was able to verify that the changes made were indeed correct. It's very frustrating to have to deal with.

 

[CheshireVal]

I had this problem when I was calling all my credit card companies (way too many of them ) to change my name and address after I married.

I got this person in India who couldn't even pull up my account because she couldn't understand me. Finally, after about 20 minutes of repeating my account # she pulled it up. It took about 10 minutes to get her to understand my new address.... and then when I finally got the bill, it had been forwarded because she had entered in my new address completely wrong. Luckily the postmaster figured it out.

 

[minkydog]

I have spoken to the gals in India a number of times. It seems they are encourged to call themselves something "American", as though you aren't going to notice that "Debbie" has a heavy Indian accent. Last week I got ahold of "Shaniqua" You guessed it--from the subcontinent.

 

[snoopy]

Thats odd. All the Indian people I speak with have a very good command of the English language, most speak very proper English.

 

[LoraJ]

I had the same problem with Delta a few weeks ago too.
And the girl said she had done everything nd then had to transfer me to someone so they could do the credit card processing. The guy I was transfered to in the states, re-did everything she did. I don't understand what the point was then for having the first person even do what she did.

 

[Bob Slydell]

Thats odd. All the Indian people I speak with have a very good command of the English language, most speak very proper English.

That's been my experience as well. I worked with a number of Indian programmers when I was working on ERP projects. Most of them, as long as you're paying attention and focus on what they're saying, are not that hard to understand, accent and all.

 

[yeartolate]

I have not had a problem with the accent so much as lack of command of the product. But then again, I feel lack of command of product is available right here in the good ol' USA.

 

[CheshireVal]

That's been my experience as well. I worked with a number of Indian programmers when I was working on ERP projects. Most of them, as long as you're paying attention and focus on what they're saying, are not that hard to understand, accent and all.

I don't normally have a hard time understanding them. They're just reading a script-- I used to work in a call center so I know the drill. But when it's time for them to go off script and get my information, they seem to have a hard time understanding ME. Not all of them, but a good number of the calls I've made/received from India have been frustrating to say the least.

 

[RitaZ.]

That's what I get when I call my medical insurance customer service center. I feel like a total moron repeating over and over again, "Excuse me?" They never have a solution for my question/problem and have given me erroneous information. I'm usually the one that suggests a solution and their reply is always, "You could do that." It's so frustrating!!!!!!!! At the end of conversation, they always ask if I have time to take a survey. I wrote a letter to DH's employer telling them how horrible this service is, I don't think they care.

A friend sent me a link to a funny toon from Illwillpress.com that illustrates this problem really well. If anyone wants to have a good laugh, just pm me.

 

[Bob Slydell]

I have not had a problem with the accent so much as lack of command of the product. But then again, I feel lack of command of product is available right here in the good ol' USA.

That's a problem I run into all the time. When you know more about something than the help line (and you're calling them because you're stumped), you're pretty much screwed.

 

[Cindy B]

Again, its not an accent issue. My DH gets frustrated because they don't know the product.

I have had many Indian friends/acquaitances so I am used to the dialect and tone.

The Earthlink reps can't understand the technical specs that DH is trying to get across.

 

[Crankyshank]

I don't normally have a hard time understanding them. They're just reading a script-- I used to work in a call center so I know the drill. But when it's time for them to go off script and get my information, they seem to have a hard time understanding ME. Not all of them, but a good number of the calls I've made/received from India have been frustrating to say the least.

That's been my experience as well.

 

[DawnCt1]

That's been my experience as well. I worked with a number of Indian programmers when I was working on ERP projects. Most of them, as long as you're paying attention and focus on what they're saying, are not that hard to understand, accent and all.

I have friends that are Indian and I there is no language barrier. Perhaps the type of job (programmers, which is more complex) demands more of a command of the English language than scheduling "free flights" for sky miles. I note when I call the Medallion number at Delta I ALWAYS get an American reservationist. Delta knows that medallion members are the members that keep their airline afloat and they are not outsourcing that job. I am not a medallion member by the way, which might just start another debate.

 

[cardaway]

I recently had to cell tech support and had a bad experience as well. Having a hard time understanding the guy was only half the problem. He also didn't know much about the product and was obviously searching off a script for the solution that I could do myself on the website.

To make matters worse I told him I was from Washington (State) and he started reading off cards asking me questions about how I liked the Redskins, Nationals, and Wizards.

 

[NMAmy]

I had the same problem with Delta a few weeks ago too.
And the girl said she had done everything nd then had to transfer me to someone so they could do the credit card processing. The guy I was transfered to in the states, re-did everything she did. I don't understand what the point was then for having the first person even do what she did.

Loraj--now that I think about it, that's exactly what happened when I was transferred to the other guy. It made absolutely no sense and was a big waste of my time.

Oh, and I agree that I don't usually have a problem with those with an Indian accent--I work with several folks from India. The person I spoke with had an Asian accent of some kind and she seemed to have as hard a time understanding me as I had understanding her.