Hate our service? Pay a little more and we'll make it up to you...maybe
Filed under: Technology, Consumer Complaints
Slumdog Millionaire is tipped to be memorialized as Best Picture at the Oscars this Sunday, but customers are hanging up on the world of Indian call centers that it depicts. But report after report show that customers are sick of contending with polite but robotic script-reading phone operators from India, the Philippines, and Mexico. Companies originally moved their call centers offshore because the practice saved them money -- some 50% to 75% off the price of maintaining them in the United States. But now, they're finding a way to turn our collective distaste for overseas call centers into a new revenue stream. If you don't like Indian call centers, companies are saying, then you can pay more to be guaranteed an American one.
Americans' tolerance for companies' lousy service, and our increasing willingness to pay more to be treated the way we used to be, has not gone unnoticed. The Washington Post calls it the Bangalore Backlash, and its poster child is Dell, which has instituted an optional $12.95 monthly service fee for customers who want to talk to an American. One survey found that customer satisfaction with overseas calling centers was 23% less than satisfaction with American helplines.
Companies are doing it more and more. Take Royal Caribbean Cruise Line, which continues to "test" a $15 fee which gives passengers in the main dining room access to a certain kind of steak normally served in a surcharged dining room. With its own eye on the bottom line, Apple Computer is increasing its call-center presence in India, but then again, it already has a fee-based phone support plan in place for customers who have owned their products for more than three months. Even the TSA permits Clear, a version of security inspection that favors those who shell out extra cash.
Customers despise offshore call centers so much that they'll sometimes just hang up and try for another representative rather than endure them, but if you're willing to part with $13 every month to steer around them, you not only have a lot of problems with your computer (well, it is Dell), but you also must really hate Indians. The Bank of America, for one, responded to that dismal opinion by making its Indian call centers the equivalent of third-string team players, only letting them field overflow calls, easy questions, or calls that come in during the wee hours.
The Buy American movement is one thing. But the option to cut foreign employees out of the process reeks of xenophobia, and it turns customer service into a class concern. If you have the cash for decent treatment, you get it. Otherwise, take a number, Russia-style.
Indian call centers aren't going away. In fact, a newspaper in Bangalore, one of its hubs, reports that the recession is actually driving more companies to cut costs by using them.
The bigger problem is for companies' public image. When Dell asks you to pay more for attentive service or JetBlue charges you more for a more comfortable seat, you can only draw one conclusion: They're admitting their standard product isn't good enough.
Once a company starts saving money by moving its customer service offshore, it's unlikely to move that expense back onto its balance sheet by returning to America. So we get more wallet-bleeding plans like Dell's or Apple's, or companies do what United Airlines did. At the end of February, it will fix its Indian call center problem another way: by firing everyone. From now on, if you have a beef with United, you'll have to write a letter or an e-mail. Either way, customers can't win: Pay more for adequate service or keep your money for nineteenth-century customer support.
Is this what it's come to? Apologists may say that you get what you pay for. But what happens when you get less than what you used to pay for? I know I don't pay less to be a second-class customer. As least, I didn't used to.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
2-19-2009 @ 7:59PM
Tom P said...
" When ... JetBlue charges you more for a more comfortable seat, you can only draw one conclusion: They're admitting their standard product isn't good enough."
Umm, not sure about your logic. What about airlines that have first class -- same idea! There are only about three airlines in the USA that don't have first class. Are you saying all airlines are saying their seats suck?
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2-19-2009 @ 8:25PM
Jason Cochran said...
Pretty much. When a company offers you a higher-priced version of its standard product, it's pretty much sending the message that there's a good chance you won't find its standard product acceptable or satisfying.
Is that a moral judgment? No. They can make money any way they see fit and any way the market will bear. But it's something that we're going to start seeing a lot more of. We've lived with first class on airplanes for so long that we accept it. Now we're starting to see it creep into areas where you'd assume we were safe, like receiving quality customer support when things go wrong.
2-19-2009 @ 9:58PM
sfcat said...
It's not xenophobia, it's unwillingness to:
1) be treated like dirt
2) have a phone connection that's almost unusable
3) wait for 15 minutes to "speak" with someone who doesn't know english, cannot answer questions that aren't on script, cannot understand idioms or technical terms for the equipment under discussion, doesn't know anything about the company or the products offered (That's United, repeatedly, by the way)
4) be hung up on when they can't answer
5) be lied to.
Doesn't matter if it's Indian, Czeck, or right here, lousy service is lousy service. And the overseas service is usually really poor. They can't help and they try to rush you off the phone. You don't mention any of them, but several companies did bring back their American call centers, support services, but especially those who outsourced ordering to overseas call centers!
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2-20-2009 @ 11:49AM
Terri said...
What an irony that I happened on this article. I am not xenophobic, just a really frustrated consumer that would like to speak to someone who speaks "american" english when I encounter a problem with my credit card. I made SIX calls today using common terminology (debit, credit, mistake) and finally just cancelled the credit card. I researched the company to get the name of their CEO, put the card and a letter in an Express Mail envelope and sent it away.
I dread when I have to contact my credit card company. I pay for their service in interest charges, yet it is a service that I cannot use due to language barriers. YES, I WILL PAY EXTRA TO SPEAK TO AN AMERICAN!
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2-20-2009 @ 7:26AM
Vger said...
I concur with SFCat. It has nothing to do with the fact that CSR's are in New Delhi or the Phillipines. It's the fact that 1) we can't understand what the heck they are saying 2) The CSR's don't know how to fix the issues we call about and have no clue about the equipment 3) the phone connections between the US and these third world call centers are fraught with connectivity issues (you can't hear anything over the phonelines crackling). We once had TWO CSR's on the line at the same time because one couldn't figure out how to resolve our computer issue. The first CSR got another on the line, but the two of them ended up arguing over the phone with each other and NO ONE was able to help. After three hours of that BS we finally hung up and figured it out for ourselves (ended up de-installing and re-installing software. That was a total waste of time calling CS. We alwasy asked to be transfered to an ENGLISH speaking tech and are accomodated most of the time. We usually end upwith someone from Canada which is far better than Indian techs. At least they KNOW what we're talking about and can fix the problem. We have yet to be told we have to pay extra for getting an English speaking tech from Canada. If the company offers tech support there should be NO EXTRA charge for getting someone who KNOWS what they're talking about ,can speak thelanguage clearly enough so we can understand and can fix the issue.
People will get even more fed up and stop purchasing items from companies that lack proper support. Why do you think Sprint lost so many customers? POOR CUSTOMER SERVICE FROM NEW DELHI!
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4-19-2009 @ 3:10PM
Lisa said...
I agree with one of the people above. I simply cannot understand these people and want to speak to an American. Also, lets see, Americans are losing jobs left and right-DO WE WONDER WHY!!!?? American companies are selling Americans out to make more money. Sounds like treason to me. "Offshoring"off employment should be illegal pure and simple. We would no longer have a problem with a lack of jobs OR crappy paying employment.
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