Well, it certainly was pleasant to see the tolerance level of some Villagers regarding foreign people.

Your grandkids would be proud of you.

You can always tell them to transfer you to an American call center and I believe they have to do so. Me I would cancel the card and get a different one. I use Amex as much as possible because their customer service is normally excellent!

Perhaps if enough people requested to speak to an American call center these companies would consider bringing these jobs back home. I am more interested in growing our economy rather than that of another country. I know it costs more to service people with employees in the US, but sometimes that benefit may outweigh the cost to the company - i.e. customer loyalty.

One major company, Marriott, has very recently transferred their reservations call center to India. This was done for the purpose of increasing company profits.

It is surprising to me to see all these negative comments regarding the foreign call centers when it usually happens to be the same posters talking about a free economy and government hands off the free market. Or is it just a case of NIMBY?

I fully support a free economy in the US and the companies have the freedom to do business where they please. My point is if they start losing a loyal customer base because the customers are not happy with the customer service part of their business then it will not longer be as profitable to do business in that manner.

Are we talking about customer service from another country or expats?
 

I don't think that this is what was meant exactly by some posters.(Looking down on other countries)


I take it that when you are given customer service in another country sometimes their accents are very difficult to understand and you are not sure that the business that you are trying to conduct is going along correctly.


If you add a hearing deficit like some of us olders have, it sometimes is very difficult. My husband is not only very patient, but very polite and very calm and has normal hearing... but last week he said calmly, several times, I am sorry, I don't understand what you are saying to a person in customer service from another country. I am QUITE sure that no one could understand me if I tried to speak in their language and I applaud them for speaking in mine.

I have had the same problem and have been as polite as Henry. I once had to terminate the conversation and call back, hoping for another person I could understand better.

I think demeaningly referring to someone as "Hashish," as an example, displays a disregard for that human and for foreigners in general. There were some other posts that were dismissive of the employee, as well as the practice. That's what I was talking about, and I think what Buggy was talking about as well.

I don't know how people determine they're speaking to a call center in a foreign country. I sometimes initially assume that when I hear an "Indian" accent that I am speaking to someone in India, but I could very well be speaking to an American Citizen in anywhere USA. Being hard of hearing, I find that I have a harder time understanding young females (high pitched voices) than foreign sounding accents.

Most, if not all, of the major credit card companies have a 'live chat' feature on their website. This is a much quicker and easier way to communicate with these companies for things such as checking a payment, raising a debt limit, etc. The only thing I would call a company about would be fraud on my card.

Be careful what you wish for.

I have been trying to resolve a problem with a major airline since mid-November.

They do not respond to e-mails - no relevant e-mail addresses are even listed on their web-site - so a telephone call is the only way forward.

Customer Service is manned by nationals, but there are so few of them there that I have had to wait for over an hour, on hold, before I actually get to speak to anyone.

I would rather have my calls answered immediately, even if it means having to struggle a bit with a non-national.

From the title of the thread "Take Back the USA" and referring to an employee as Hashish does not show just the difficulty of understanding an employee but, to me, shows an attitude of intolerance toward others of foreign extraction.

CFrance seems to be in the Buggy camp. Welcome to the brightness!

The complaint should be addressed to the big business doing this for cheap labor and not to the person grateful for any any work at any pay. It is hard for CEOs to be filthy rich and pay far wages at the same time.

All you have to do is respectfully request transfer to the States. They must comply. If they give you grief just remind them legally they must respect your wishes. No need to get nasty. Just make the request. Works every time. I will not deal with agents outside of the States.

They only MUST if their company has that policy.

There has been a lot of talk on this subject in the US Senate, but no bills and no actions as of yet.

Many companies do have a policy to do what you suggest, but do not get yourself into a heated debate...there is NO law that says you must be transferred.

I do suggest that people do some research on why these jobs are being outsourced and not jump to irrational conclusions.

simply not true

http://www.snopes.com/politics/business/servicerep.asp