What is your reaction when you call a company's customer service line and you get someone with such a thick accent that you are unable to understand them?
by 
Morg the Army wife
ANSWERS: 13
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I usually get pissed off. Customer service is supposed to help you, not frustrate you.
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Speak VERY slowly and ask them where they're located. It's not their fault the company's higher powers decided to outsource, and I'm calling for a reason. I'll get irritated if they don't fix my problem, not because of an accent.
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I feel bad about it but I am immediately frustrated due to past experiences of difficult communication.
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Irritation.
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It can be very frustrating. If I'm calling for technical support, it's that much more difficult to work through a problem if we can't understand each others' speech. It's not a matter that I speak English and the other person speaks another language, it's that businesses have seen fit to place their customer support in a country whereby it's difficult for two parties to communicate. It may save money, but it's not very good business practice.
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i think i would try another language.
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I usually tell them I'm having difficulty understanding them and ask them to slow down. There have even been times I've asked them to spell something if I just can't figure it out from the context. Sometimes the CS rep will interpret that to mean that I am stupid, but I really don't care. The point is to get the problem fixed, and getting irritated and frustrated doesn't get me anywhere nearer the solution.
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Here is what i've always wondered, "Why do so many customer service people have heavy accents or regular accents in the first place"? Do their implyers like choose from some sort of pool of foreign people or something. Every forking time i call any kind of customer service rep, i get some spanish male/female that talk like they are still in Mexico or some other central american town.
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AT&T can be the worst. I finally made it to an operator, to ask a question about the three for one special(dsl, cellphone, web), for one price. The minute the operator answered the phone, i knew i was in trouble. he had an east India accent, that i could not understand......at all. I did the only polite act i could think of and asked this person, if he could transfer me to his supervisor. this he did. whoa! another east India accent came on the line. Finally, a woman with true American english came on the line and our conversation continued. I realize that companies are using people from all over the world to conduct their business. this is ok, but how about a number to press for english-speaking people, just like the one for Spanish?? Could it be that road rage is now becoming phone rage?
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2nd answer: Since the world has become a blend of different languages, why not resolve the communication problem and use access numbers to reach the appropriate business language operator? Here are a few examples: If you live in America, press 1. If you drink tea at 4 pm, press 2. If you grow rice, press 3. If you eat rice, press 4. If you live in the Valley of the Kings, press 5. If camels are your main transportation, press 6. If you drive on the Audubon.press 7. If you say "wee wee miseur", press 8. If your feet have grape stains, press 9. If you don't have a clue where you live, press 0.
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I have so many Indian and Filipino clients that I'm not used to those accents, so that part doesn't bother me so much. It does bother me that so many jobs have been outsourced. I try to complain to the company and switch to providers that don't outsource (when possible).
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i get frustrated. i really only call companies when i have a cust svc issue, so if i get someone who can't understand my problem to begin with because of a language barrier, i get pissed off. that's happened twice and it was about a rebate/credit card purchase. that guy just wasn't getting it.
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After going through two of their reps in where ever they were I found the number of the main office. It was in California. I called and told them that their reps evidently couldn't understand me and their accents were too thick for me to understand. I apologised for having to do what I was doing but I needed help. They were very accomodating and off the record I was told that this problem is not uncommon. India was my worst experience but never a problem in the Philippines. I got a lady in Scotland once and learned first hand that we are separated by a common language. We had a big laugh over it.
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