Salon - - Customer Support Language Barrier

Ed_L · #1 12-21-2002, 06:38 PM

It seems to me that if a company sells it's product (such as computers) to the people of any particular region, they should offer phone support in the language of that region. Two of the last three times I talked to tech support, I talked to people who spoke very poor English. Today, I spoke with tech support for my Dell computer, and I was on the phone for just about 1/2 hour. During that time, I had to ask the tech rep to repeat herself, probably 25 times, and I apologized for not being able to understand her (part of the time, I never did understand her). I have no idea where she was located, but it was a little embarassing to keep having to ask her to repeat herself. I think they should offer phone support in different languages that could be easily understood by the customer, whether they are from Mexico, U.S., Germany, or elsewhere. This is one pet peeve that just might cost the company my business in the future.

Ed

DJ Dubovsky · #2 12-21-2002, 09:58 PM

Could you have asked to speak to a different customer service rep because you were having difficulty understanding this one? I would imagine they have others who can speak better English. I know how difficult it can be when you don't understand what someone is telling you. I had a Spanish doctor I couldn't understand for the life of me and it became a laughable situation. Finally had to move on to another doctor who spoke better English.
DJ

platscha@cs.com · #3 12-22-2002, 01:24 AM

!00% I agree, I have jsut gotten to the point of saying I am sorry, I cannot understand you and requested someone else to help me. I have also just driven through to the window at drive up places because i could not understand or hear properly. It seems to me if you are in a service position you ought to be able to speak clearly in the local language.

chris h · #4 12-22-2002, 04:21 AM

There's a good chance that you customer support was in the far east Ed. I know over here because of costs many companies have transferred their customer support to locations abroad. I understand the phone support of my bank is somewhere in India but no language problems so far!!!

Ed_L · #5 12-22-2002, 06:54 AM

At one point, I did ask if there was someone else I could talk to because I had a hard time understanding her. She was reluctant to put someone else on the phone. At that point, I thought if I pushed the matter, it might jeopardize her job, and I wouldn't want to be the reason someone lost their job.
Chris, I think you might be right. I've been on the phone before with support from India. Good chance that's where she was. It might be a money saving technique for some companies, but when they start losing business because of it, I wonder if it's really worth it for them.

Ed