[PersonOfInterest]

Why do companies have representatives that deal with customers that are difficult to understand because of heavy accents or poor pronunciation skills of the English language? I often reach customer service representatives that I cannot understand and have a very difficult time dealing with these individuals. In other cases, there are many companies where you get trapped in an automated or speech recognition system and cannot speak to a human representative. Do you think with the advent of new AI systems that this will improve or will it worsen? My hope is that the AI will at least speak in an understandable, well pronounced English language.

[dewilson58]

There are phone apps for translation..........they work well for crappy English into clear English.

[rustyp]

Originally Posted by PersonOfInterest

Why do companies have representatives that deal with customers that are difficult to understand because of heavy accents or poor pronunciation skills of the English language? I often reach customer service representatives that I cannot understand and have a very difficult time dealing with these individuals. In other cases, there are many companies where you get trapped in an automated or speech recognition system and cannot speak to a human representative. Do you think with the advent of new AI systems that this will improve or will it worsen? My hope is that the AI will at least speak in an understandable, well pronounced English language.

Siri has 6 programmable accents today. Pretty safe bet AI will have it covered.

[tophcfa]

Jobs are outsourced to countries with no minimum wage requirements, where people answering the phone are willing to work for very low wages.

[VAtoFLA]

AI obviously can't help with being able to understand thick accents whether they be from a foreign based CSR or native English speaker with a thick accent (sometimes it's Louisiana folks for me. Nothing wrong with LA, but to my ear the accent is tough). Where AI can and likely will help is in the ACD system where you are dealing with the machine. AI learning should help those systems to be able to more clearly understand what you are asking and have the capability of responding to many many more issues than the very few it can today. All of that of course in the accent that it detects that you are speaking, so I get Northeastern US, the guy from LA that I can't understand well gets that LA Cajun English accent etc.

It is unlikely that businesses will be able to afford US staffed CSR systems to handle every call, or put another way, it's unlikely we'll be able to afford the products and services of companies that employ that higher cost labor.

[mraines]

Originally Posted by PersonOfInterest

Why do companies have representatives that deal with customers that are difficult to understand because of heavy accents or poor pronunciation skills of the English language? I often reach customer service representatives that I cannot understand and have a very difficult time dealing with these individuals. In other cases, there are many companies where you get trapped in an automated or speech recognition system and cannot speak to a human representative. Do you think with the advent of new AI systems that this will improve or will it worsen? My hope is that the AI will at least speak in an understandable, well pronounced English language.

I encountered this yesterday when I called Comcast. I apparently went over my usage allotment. I wanted to know where so I could cut back(have not done this in ten years). I got caught in the loop, of "do you want to speak to someone, can I send you a link?" I repeatedly said "no" and it continued. When I finally got a real person, with an accent, I could not understand her other than she wanted to sell me more data instead of telling me how I could cut back. I finally hung up.

[ThirdOfFive]

Originally Posted by PersonOfInterest

Why do companies have representatives that deal with customers that are difficult to understand because of heavy accents or poor pronunciation skills of the English language? I often reach customer service representatives that I cannot understand and have a very difficult time dealing with these individuals. In other cases, there are many companies where you get trapped in an automated or speech recognition system and cannot speak to a human representative. Do you think with the advent of new AI systems that this will improve or will it worsen? My hope is that the AI will at least speak in an understandable, well pronounced English language.

Though I have reservations about AI in general, it could very well be a positive for CSR - customer conversations. It certainly can't get much worse. "Frustrating" is a descriptor that is far too tame when it comes to some of those interactions. The same can be said for the online chat services that some companies provide in lieu of a live phone CSR. At best, you get someone to chat with who is obviously reading "solutions" from a computer monitor. At worst, you could be queued up for a wait that can be interminably long.

Amazon has a pretty nice new service though: "Rufus", an online chatbot to which you can direct written questions about a certain product and Rufus responds in kind. I haven't asked Rufus to help troubleshoot a problem I've been experiencing with a product obtained from Amazon (maybe it can't do that) but it is quite helpful when I have questions about a product I am thinking of ordering. Used it yesterday when ordering an external computer drive and the information provided on the website wasn't sufficient to make sure I was getting an item with the functions I needed.

[opinionist]

AI can speak clearly, but don't expect a sympathetic response.
AI is limited to what the programmers anticipated.
Ask about an unrelated topic, and you will likely get a blank.

[phylt]

perhaps, hopefully, AI will improve Air Traffic Control efficiency and safety. Or at least, positively supplement the antiquated systems ATC uses in our US airport towers.

[asianthree]

Originally Posted by phylt

perhaps, hopefully, AI will improve Air Traffic Control efficiency and safety. Or at least, positively supplement the antiquated systems ATC uses in our US airport towers.

Or hire enough staff, so those won’t be required to work multiple shifts causing an unsafe mental status

[fdpaq0580]

Originally Posted by mraines

I encountered this yesterday when I called Comcast. I apparently went over my usage allotment. I wanted to know where so I could cut back(have not done this in ten years). I got caught in the loop, of "do you want to speak to someone, can I send you a link?" I repeatedly said "no" and it continued. When I finally got a real person, with an accent, I could not understand her other than she wanted to sell me more data instead of telling me how I could cut back. I finally hung up.

HA? They won. You lost.

Any time I get an automated voice I say "representative". Usually works. If the rep is not understandable, I ask them to speak slower. That, also, usually works. You can also ask to speak with someone else (supervisor? ).

[OrangeBlossomBaby]

I guess none of you have ever had the displeasure of dealing with a hearing-impaired IVR system. It goes something like this:

"Hello, thank you for calling Ace Widgets. Your call is important to us. Please listen carefully to the menu as our options have changed. If you wish to place an order, say "ORDER." If you wish to check on an existing order, say "CHECK ON ORDER." If you wish to make a return, say "RETURN." If you wish to eat my shorts, say "SHORTS."

>OTHER

"I'm sorry, I didn't understand what you said. If you wish to place an order, say "ORDER." If you wish to check on an existing order, say "CHECK ON ORDER." If you wish to make a return, say "RETURN." If you wish to eat my shorts, say "SHORTS.""

>(me, thinking in normal plain English, "GRRR") SHORTS.

"You say you wish to discuss an existing order, is that correct? Please respond with YES or NO."

>No.

"Please say why you are calling."

>OPERATOR

"I'm sorry, I don't understand what you are saying. Thank you for calling Ace Widgets. Goodbye."

<CLICK>

(The above is an example of AI at work. Or rather, failing to work. If it can't understand YOU, then you'll get no help.)

[MandoMan]

Originally Posted by PersonOfInterest

Why do companies have representatives that deal with customers that are difficult to understand because of heavy accents or poor pronunciation skills of the English language? I often reach customer service representatives that I cannot understand and have a very difficult time dealing with these individuals. In other cases, there are many companies where you get trapped in an automated or speech recognition system and cannot speak to a human representative. Do you think with the advent of new AI systems that this will improve or will it worsen? My hope is that the AI will at least speak in an understandable, well pronounced English language.

Your first sentence is unclear, but I assume you mean the customer representatives are difficult to understand because of their accents and not that the customers are difficult to understand because of their accents. For a decade or so, many companies have contracted out this work to telephone sweat shops in India. Imagine twenty to a hundred lightly educated Indians sitting at long row as of tables in bare rooms with computers and phones in front of them. You have a hard time understanding them and yell at them, and they just have to take it. Can they understand your accent? I don’t know. But chances are, all they know about the product giving you trouble is the guide on the computer. They have probably never seen the item.

But it’s not just India. I remember a decade ago needing to ask questions of a real person in the IRS. A lot of the people answering IRS customer assistance phones at the lowest level are in Philadelphia, and they often have strong African-American accents that are nearly as difficult to understand as English spoken by less-well-educated reps in India. They also tend not to know much about tax questions. If your question is too difficult, they send you eventually to a supervisor who may be of any ethnicity (I don’t care) but speak standard, understandable English.

And then there are the horrible phone answering systems proliferating, and now there are computers that “chat” with us but really just waste out time. If we ever do reach a real person, chances are we will have to be transferred, be put on hold again, and the call will be lost. The worst offender I’ve come across recently is Verizon Prepaid. After hours of trying to reach a person, over several days, I finally went to the company-owned Verizon store on 441 (the others in the area are all franchises that are limited in their ability to help you) and canceled my prepaid Verizon contract and got a regular Verizon plan.

I remember 20 to 40 years ago buying a lot of the family clothes at Lands End and L.L. Bean. They both had outstanding phone reps. The spoke standard English. They seemed educated and interesting and sympathetic and knowledgable. Every order was done right and every question was answered. I wanted them all to become my good friends. Those were the days! But they lived in Dodgeville, Wisconsin or Freeport, Maine, where there are Americans who speak standard American English.

If the government sincerely wants to make America great, it should make it a criminal offense for companies to not have customer reps who speak good English and live in the U.S.and know what they are talking about and are easy to reach. Long times on hold should be a criminal offense that leads to automatic reimbursement to the customer, as with planes that leave late or overbook. All companies should be required to have easy to reach real people to answer questions. (Ever tried to reach a real person at Amazon or eBay? Not going to happen!) Companies are allowed to waste millions of hours of our time every year without recompense. People, this is why we need a strong Consumer Protection Bureau. Don’t think of it as government waste stymying business profits. Think of it as helping YOU get what you need in a timely manner,

[Eg_cruz]

Originally Posted by PersonOfInterest

Why do companies have representatives that deal with customers that are difficult to understand because of heavy accents or poor pronunciation skills of the English language? I often reach customer service representatives that I cannot understand and have a very difficult time dealing with these individuals. In other cases, there are many companies where you get trapped in an automated or speech recognition system and cannot speak to a human representative. Do you think with the advent of new AI systems that this will improve or will it worsen? My hope is that the AI will at least speak in an understandable, well pronounced English language.

AT&T uses AI and AI fix the problem right within minutes

[Shelbyh]

Originally Posted by MandoMan

Your first sentence is unclear, but I assume you mean the customer representatives are difficult to understand because of their accents and not that the customers are difficult to understand because of their accents. For a decade or so, many companies have contracted out this work to telephone sweat shops in India. Imagine twenty to a hundred lightly educated Indians sitting at long row as of tables in bare rooms with computers and phones in front of them. You have a hard time understanding them and yell at them, and they just have to take it. Can they understand your accent? I don’t know. But chances are, all they know about the product giving you trouble is the guide on the computer. They have probably never seen the item.

But it’s not just India. I remember a decade ago needing to ask questions of a real person in the IRS. A lot of the people answering IRS customer assistance phones at the lowest level are in Philadelphia, and they often have strong African-American accents that are nearly as difficult to understand as English spoken by less-well-educated reps in India. They also tend not to know much about tax questions. If your question is too difficult, they send you eventually to a supervisor who may be of any ethnicity (I don’t care) but speak standard, understandable English.

And then there are the horrible phone answering systems proliferating, and now there are computers that “chat” with us but really just waste out time. If we ever do reach a real person, chances are we will have to be transferred, be put on hold again, and the call will be lost. The worst offender I’ve come across recently is Verizon Prepaid. After hours of trying to reach a person, over several days, I finally went to the company-owned Verizon store on 441 (the others in the area are all franchises that are limited in their ability to help you) and canceled my prepaid Verizon contract and got a regular Verizon plan.

I remember 20 to 40 years ago buying a lot of the family clothes at Lands End and L.L. Bean. They both had outstanding phone reps. The spoke standard English. They seemed educated and interesting and sympathetic and knowledgable. Every order was done right and every question was answered. I wanted them all to become my good friends. Those were the days! But they lived in Dodgeville, Wisconsin or Freeport, Maine, where there are Americans who speak standard American English.

If the government sincerely wants to make America great, it should make it a criminal offense for companies to not have customer reps who speak good English and live in the U.S.and know what they are talking about and are easy to reach. Long times on hold should be a criminal offense that leads to automatic reimbursement to the customer, as with planes that leave late or overbook. All companies should be required to have easy to reach real people to answer questions. (Ever tried to reach a real person at Amazon or eBay? Not going to happen!) Companies are allowed to waste millions of hours of our time every year without recompense. People, this is why we need a strong Consumer Protection Bureau. Don’t think of it as government waste stymying business profits. Think of it as helping YOU get what you need in a timely manner,

Don’t think the answer is another government agency or expanding one already in place.