Info on Dialing 1-800 Phone Numbers
 

Try this - it works...(good advice to pass on to everyone in the USA)

Any time you call an 800 number (for a credit card, banking, charter communications, health insurance, insurance, you name it) and you are transferred to a representative (like in India), please consider doing the following:

After you connect and you realize that the customer service representative is not from the USA (you can always ask if you are not sure about the accent), please very politely (very politely - this is not about trashing other cultures) say, "I'd like to speak to a customer service representative in the United States of America ."

The rep might suggest talking to his/her manager, but, again, politely say, "Thank you, but I'd like to speak to a customer service representative in the USA ." YOU WILL BE IMMEDIATELY CONNECTED to a rep in the USA . It only takes less than one minute to have your call re-directed to the USA .

Tonight when I got redirected to a USA rep, I asked again to make sure - and yes, she was from Fort Lauderdale ..

Imagine if tomorrow, every US citizen who has to make such a call and then requests a US rep, imagine how that would ultimately impact the number of US jobs that would need to be created ASAP. Imagine what would happen if every US citizen insisted on talking to only US phone reps from this day on.

If I tell 10 people to consider this and you tell 10 people to consider doing this - see what I mean... it becomes an exercise in viral marketing 101.

Remember - the goal here is to restore jobs back here at home - not to be abrupt or rude to a foreign phone rep. If you agree, please tell 10 people you know and tell them to tell 10 people they know...etc...etc..

Barb, Thank you for the suggestion. At my job I sometimes need to call a major manufacturer of copying equipment, company name starts with the letter X, for service on one of their machines my company leases. And I'm sure I'm not talking to anyone in the U.S. Same thing with my bank if I call their 24 hour number after about 7:00 pm.

I have called Discover Card several times in the past several months. The call is answered; " this is Bobby Jones and I am helping you from Salt Lake City (or where ever).
USA help, the first time, that's why I try to use Discover when possible.

Interesting. But lets consider another point of view. There is a reason those jobs are located someplace else. Cost of doing business. Are you also willing to pay higher fee's? There is a reason we have a very high standard of living in the US. It's called productivity. In the past the highest in the world. High productivity equals high standard of living for everyone. We improve our productivity by things like automation and moving lower skill jobs to lower cost labor. There is an issue in the news right now about ATM's and Kiosks. Those increase productivity, improve customer service, lower cost of doing business and move jobs to higher skills which provides higher pay.

Sure, more US jobs would be great right now, but also think about the kind of jobs we want and how we want that to impact the rest of us. Stopping or slowing down the productivity train may not be the best answer.

Barb:

Thanks for the tip. I have a slight hearing loss and have difficulty understanding heavy accents, (not trashing other cultures as everyone has the right to make a living).

I recently called a toll free number to cancel an order and got a person with a heavy foreign accent. I always get a kick out of where an 800 toll free number connects to but this time, I didn't ask. I usually do ask.

One time I called SSA and it connected to Green Bay, Wiscosin.

I was at the doctor's office and after he finished examing me, he was talking into his cell phone. I asked what he was doing. He said he was calling India with my results, they would type up the summation and send it to my GP.

My GP was loacted less than 2 miles away. :)

Ask and you shall not necessarily receive, according to Snopes...
http://www.snopes.com/politics/business/servicerep.asp

And I thought it was all about the cash-back bonus. :p

I've noticed that every time I have occasion to call ConsumerCellular our Mobile Phone Service, I get to speak with someone in the USA.

In the past when I called AT&T to speak about our home phone long distance service, I would usually get connected to someone outside of the USA. When I asked where his/her call center was located, I was informed that was against company policy to disclose that information.