Tech support: non-people vs people that may have an accent vs people with your accent

[Fbot1]

Personally, I would take a non-person over person that may have an unfamiliar accent and a person that may have an unfamiliar accent over person with my accent.

[aysiu]

I voted whatever works. Obviously, if someone's accent is so strong that I can't understand what she's saying, it's not going to work. So whatever works. Accent. No accent. Non-person. Whatever.

[Frak]

Whatever works, or my accent, but I'd rather them come from my country. Also, non-ppl operators are so buggy it hurts.

[popch]

What was the question?

[Frak]

When calling tech support, would you rather hear a computer, a person with your accent, a person with a different accent, or whatever works.

[walkerk]

Luckily I don't have to talk to users.

If I did I'm sure I would be considered a non-person.


but... whatever works. +1

[popch]

Nominally, it is 'whatever works'.

However, I have yet to 'meet' the non-person which is useful in that function. Also, I have had a fair share of people with 'accents', meaning that they were not reasonably fluent in any of the languages I am fluent in, especially since they started to place support off-shore.

But then, I have also had to put up with tech 'support' which would have been perfectly able to communicate, only they did not know the first thing about the subject or were otherwise unable or unwilling to 'support'.

'Whatever works' it is, then.

[nonewmsgs]

i picture an indian who might as well be a machine. i have had trouble with forgeign tech-support.

i dont have anything against indians, but i would much rather talk to an american who speaks english instead of looking up the manual for where device manager is located in which version of windows.

[Frak]

i picture an indian who might as well be a machine. i have had trouble with forgeign tech-support.

i dont have anything against indians, but i would much rather talk to an american who speaks english instead of looking up the manual for where device manager is located in which version of windows.
From another thread.

http://ubuntuforums.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=44733&d=1191089845

:lolflag:

[steveneddy]

I don't mind the accent as much as knowing that I am talking to someone that isn't n this country. I believe in employing folks in this country.

[Warren Watts]

Luckily I don't have to talk to users. I make my living on the other end of the tech support connection. I provide tech support for a major provider of broadband DSL here in the US. My employer also contracts with offshore call centers to provide tech support as well, and a lot of the customers I talk to are overjoyed when they realize I speak english as my native language.
The two major complaints I hear from customers about offshore tech support agents are difficulty understanding their accents and basic communication problems caused by english not being their primary language. Most say that they felt the agent probably could have resolved their issue but was unable to because they couldn't make the agent understand the issue and they couldn't understand the questions the agent was asking about the issue.
Also, a large majority of the customers calling for tech support aren't technically savvy and tend not to use standard terms to describe their issue. Foreign agents have trouble understanding the customers as a result, and if an agent doesn't understand the issue, he/she is going to have difficulty resolving it.
So it really works both ways.


....I have also had to put up with tech 'support' which would have been perfectly able to communicate, only they did not know the first thing about the subject or were otherwise unable or unwilling to 'support'.
Unfortunately, I have to deal with this issue as a tech support agent as well. I often get calls from customers who have hung up on the previous agent because the agent was unable to resolve a particular issue after 45 minutes or more of troubleshooting. They are usually irritated and angry by the time they get to me, and unwilling to believe that I can help.
Often times it's a relatively simple issue that can easily be corrected in five minutes or less. Its embarrassing to me to have to follow a bad agent; it makes my job harder because I have trouble gaining the customer's trust, and its a poor reflection on the company.
As in any field, there are people that are really good at their job, and people that aren't. Just be aware that the really bad tech support agents don't generally keep their jobs very long... :wink:

[Het Irv]

Whatever Works

I also work on the other end of the line, but for a small college. My biggest pevee is when a user calls and says "My computer/e-mail/laptop is not working. Can you fix it?" and then waits for an answer to the question. In a case like this the accent really does not matter.

[moffatt666]

I put 'with my accent,' but judging by my new, horrible, hybrid southern/general midlands accent, it would be quite difficult.

[glotz]

There's nothing in the world I loathe more than a support robot. If I have to call a f*cking support line, then I have a problem no silly bot can fix for me. And I want answers and I want them now!

Of course also totally clueless human support is totally useless. Actually it is far worse than useless, it's major waste of (everybody's) time.

Accent or no accent makes no difference.

[Fbot1]

Wow, no one else wants neato robots to give you tech support?

[Dimitriid]

The accent is a non issue. Americans need to leave their little bubbles and learn to deal with people having an accent. It shows you right there they are still a profoundly racist society since they have millions of immigrants yet they still bitch about it instead of learning to listen a little better.

As for the "taking jobs away from people here" I actually agree with that, I am not happy about being exploited by American Companies and getting paid 1/10 of the salary I would otherwise make while I do A BETTER JOB than an american ( thats right, outsourced call centers are so competitive we still give better service and support, even with the "accent" and the white trash complaining about it ). Its typical that they plunder everything outside their country and destroy other economies with outsourcing and thanks to that I have no choice at all ( other than starving ) but to work for an outsourced job that means our economy will never improve one bit.

Outsourcing also hurts us, you might think different but we got the worst end of the deal.

[popch]

The accent is a non issue. Americans need to leave their little bubbles.

Accent can be an issue, when the parties fail to communicate. That actually happened to me. I am not an American and I do not live in America.