Sly Bald Guys Forum
Various Non-Bald Discussions => General Discussion => Topic started by: warhawk on October 19, 2007, 08:19:59 AM
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hello fellow chrome domes.....just wondering if u feel the same. don't ya hate when u call customer service or any business establishment & u hear this: press 1 for english, press 2 for spanish or press 1 for hours, press 2 for department, press 3 for appointment. 5t*mp 5t*mp 5t*mp. DANG!!! .....i need 2 speak 2 a human being...NOW!!!
anyways....how 'bout u? do u feel the same? i know i'm not the only one. what's your story?
WARHAWK O0
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I totally agree. I can't stand that!! B@n% p0@^
Usually, I just press '0' or don't press anything at all and let it get kicked over to Customer Service by default.
AND.....even if you do press 1 for English, the person you end up talking to does not have a good handle on the English language (IMO).
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I have faced this many times. I always hit 0 (or whatever) to talk to a representative.
I have talked to guys with very thick accents that say "Hello, this is Jeff. How may I help you?"
I literally say "Your name is Jeff, really? Thats the name you were born with?"
Many times I have gotten the guys to tell me where they are and that they are told to use an American name to make the customer feel more comfortable. Some are really kinda cool if you break the ice and get them to smile. You can get a lot more info a lot faster this way.
"Jeff, when you start our conversation with a lie, that doesn't make me feel comfortable at all. Can you please tell your manager that I said that or put him on the phone so I can tell him".
There are many ways to have some fun with this situation and lighten up a dreary call center workers day as well.
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"Jeff, when you start our conversation with a lie, that doesn't make me feel comfortable at all. Can you please tell your manager that I said that or put him on the phone so I can tell him".
In general, I think most of the offshore customer service sucks. I've actually stopped using the service of certain companies due to this, and embraced their competitor that does not. I hate to generalize, and it's nothing personal against the folks offering the service, but I've had many situations where I've needed immediate help (technical assistance, credit card, etc...) and have been given the run-around from someone reading from a script.
I'm willing to deal with a few IVR menus (1 for technical support, 2 for ...) if I end up with a competent person handling the call.
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I agree completely about speaking to a person, but I had one instance that I talked to a person that allways makes me laugh. I bought some thing for my computor and it wasn't working right, so I called the help line. When I got some one on the line, In the deepest indian accent she said "hello my names is Sara Johnson how may I help you".
I had to laugh that name and that accent did not match at all and I told her so. I sald to her "no its not" and laughed some more then hung up the phone.
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Yeah I have done that before too. I was like come on your name really is Clint. Im come on...you have an accent taht isnt from around here. He was finally ok my name is Jesus. And be careful what you ask for because I think before the conversation was over with I found out more things about him then I ever wanted to know.
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Living out here in CA, I've been exposed to a lot of different accents, so those don't both me. What I don't like is the guess work with choosing which option to get your question answered. And don't get me started on the voice activiated help lines....those are the worst. I'd like to say something like, "Look you piece of s**t f**kin' stupid a**, I just help with __________. Can you at least do that?" However, I'm afraid the PC police will lock me up for violating the civil rights of someone.
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With the outsourcing of customer service to other countries like India, it is pretty funny to hear them give themselves an American name. But one thing to remember is that if they gave you their real name, you probably wouldn't be able to pronounce it or understand it. So, at least they are giving you a name that you can understand and pronounce.
As for the topic, I also get frustrated with all of the menu items that you have to push to get to a person. I'm all for using technology when it's convenient for me, but give me the ability to talk to a person when I want to talk to one. The other thing I hate is when I get false information from the person and when I call them on it they deny that they are just guessing at what they are supposed to tell me.
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What I can't stand is when you get a company that does NOT let you press "0" to get a human. Then you get that message that says "Invalid entry". It makes me want to reach my hand through the receiver and physically damage their message computer! Whew! I needed to get that off my chest!
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I will prob stand alone here but I don't agree, I work for a telecommunication company and as much as it is annoying to press 1 for customer service, 2 for sales etc, they have it for a reason - if there are high call volumes - which almost every company has do you really want to wait in an even longer call queue's to then be transferred to another department and wait again. Its the fastest easiest way to direct call volumes. If you are calling up about paying your bill do you really want to wait in the same call queue's as customer service, sales, tech support - you would be waiting forever, taking 1 second to press 1 for customer service cuts wait times down big time.
We get pissed off customers waiting in customer service so they jump to sales cos of a shorter wait time only to be transferred back to customer service, there you are waiting again.
I think its more annoying just to be waiting for service cos business's are understaffed then to wait to speak to a human!
By the way we have 6 + Indian people working in our call center which is in Sydney, 3 are our highest tech support op's and we get a$$holes calling up saying I don't want to speak to you puck puck ding sing Indian put me onto an Australian, or what has your company done now, moved it off shore??? Don't always assume they cos they have an accent that the company is off shore, some countries have a very diverse mix of races.
I manage the complaints department, so I cop it even worse, I love it when I get told to F**K off by customers......and I kindly reply now I am terminating this call and I get to press my button. :*)) :*))
I'm done ranting now:D :D
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Great topic, Warhawk. This is one of my greates pet peaves. And as someone else has already said, the worst are the ones that don't give you the option to speak to a person. Sometimes I just stand there pressing zero over and over hoping to the the call system to kick me over to a live person. Only the companies that are poor in the customer service area fall into this category and it drives me nuts. g@@4
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Coming from someone who works in a call centre, I can assure you that those options are there for a reason.
If every single person just pressed 0 to speak to a human being than there would be no real use to have those specific areas in place would there.
The Call Centres have specific departments that deal with SPECIFIC problems..If your service is not working WHY DO YOU CALL THE SALES DEPARTMENT :/O :/O
If you want to pay a bill, WHY CALL THE TECHNICAL SUPPORT DEPARTMENT :/O :/O
You wouldnt buy a car and drive it back to the salesroom floor if you had mechanical problems would you? That is why the have a Service department, to service the vehicle.
And another tip to anyone calling a Customer Support Centre,
Swearing and screaming at the represenative is a sure fire way to have them NOT GIVE A sh*t ABOUT HELPING YOU.
These people are human beings too and are just trying to do their job.
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The big with these systems is they don't work worth a ...... so most of the time you end up going to a person anyway and you've just spent an hour for nothing. Schro I completely agree about the voice activated deals.
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I try to be as patient as possible with making these calls. I don't mind outsourcing customer service too much, but I do mind when the people they hire are not competent enough to speak or understand English very well, or as someone already said, are obviously going by a script, making me feel like they really aren't listening to me but only guessing as to what part of the script they should choose to read. My hats are off to anyone who works in a call center; you have a very difficult job, and I try to treat you decently. The thing that will really set me off, and I'm sure the day is coming, is when I hear, 'Press 1 for Spanish, and 2 for English.' Please don't persecute me for that last comment.
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the ones that get me are when my phone rings while i am eating dinner on sunday evening and when i answer, i hear "PLEASE HOLD FOR AN IMPORTANT MESSAGE." yeah right, like that is gonna happen.
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P and Stew I'm with ya.
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awesome discussion & viewpoints.... this topic did not ,by any means, bash the customer service dept. it's just that i wish that there would b a quicker/swifter way 2 get my questions/concerns answered. i most definitely give respect 2 the workers there and by anyone i meet. i just posted this topic 2 vent on my experiences with calling customer service. that's what i luv about this place....we can give our viewpoints & not get crucified 4 it.
when I hear, 'Press 1 for Spanish, and 2 for English.' Please don't persecute me for that last comment.
stew.... i totally agree. as a very PROUD FILIPINO-AMERICAN who has lived here since i was 2 years old...i feel that i shouldn't hear this sentence: "press 1 for English or press 2 for Spanish" if i am calling in the usa. if i was in mexico or cuba.... u will not hear "press 1 for English or press 2 for Spanish" because i am expected 2 know spanish. if i was a resident of china....u will not hear "press 1 for English or press 2 for chinese/mandarin" because i am expected 2 know chinese. in other words.... the united states should just make English the main language spoken. we should NEVER hear "press 1 for english or press 2 for spanish" because we r americans. if that were the case then we should also hear "press 3 for tagalog (filipino), press 4 for german, press 5 for french, press 6 for latin, and so forth and so forth. i mean....that is the beauty of being an american we have many backgrounds and heritages but we should just have one main language and that is ENGLISH. anyways..... i hope that i didn't offend anyone. it is my 2cents. so.... please don't "bash" me 4 my comments. thank u and i'm off the soap box right about now. O0
take care & have a good day or night,
WARHAWK O0
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awesome discussion & viewpoints.... this topic did not ,by any means, bash the customer service dept. it's just that i wish that there would b a quicker/swifter way 2 get my questions/concerns answered. i most definitely give respect 2 the workers there and by anyone i meet. i just posted this topic 2 vent on my experiences with calling customer service. that's what i luv about this place....we can give our viewpoints & not get crucified 4 it.
when I hear, 'Press 1 for Spanish, and 2 for English.' Please don't persecute me for that last comment.
stew.... i totally agree. as a very PROUD FILIPINO-AMERICAN who has lived here since i was 2 years old...i feel that i shouldn't hear this sentence: "press 1 for English or press 2 for Spanish" if i am calling in the usa. if i was in mexico or cuba.... u will not hear "press 1 for English or press 2 for Spanish" because i am expected 2 know spanish. if i was a resident of china....u will not hear "press 1 for English or press 2 for chinese/mandarin" because i am expected 2 know chinese. in other words.... the united states should just make English the main language spoken. we should NEVER hear "press 1 for english or press 2 for spanish" because we r americans. if that were the case then we should also hear "press 3 for tagalog (filipino), press 4 for german, press 5 for french, press 6 for latin, and so forth and so forth. i mean....that is the beauty of being an american we have many backgrounds and heritages but we should just have one main language and that is ENGLISH. anyways..... i hope that i didn't offend anyone. it is my 2cents. so.... please don't "bash" me 4 my comments. thank u and i'm off the soap box right about now. O0
take care & have a good day or night,
WARHAWK O0
AMEN Brother!!! O0 O0 O0
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...... the united states should just make English the main language spoken. we should NEVER hear "press 1 for english or press 2 for spanish" because we r americans. if that were the case then we should also hear "press 3 for tagalog (filipino), press 4 for german, press 5 for french, press 6 for latin, and so forth and so forth. i mean....that is the beauty of being an american we have many backgrounds and heritages but we should just have one main language and that is ENGLISH. anyways.....
Hawk ... Gotta agree with you on that one.
Should you be allowed to immigrate to the US if you don't speak English? Yes
Should you be free to speak the language(s) of choice in your home? Yes
Should we be forced to absorb the cost of the government, businesses (and even churches) printing ALL publications in other languages? HELL NO
Part of immigrating to this country - and becoming American - is assimilating into the existing culture , while at the same time, preserving bits of your own. This occurred with the new immigration in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. It made our culture for the better. Now, however, foreign cultures coming into the US expect the existing citizens to assimilate to theirs, and not vice - versa.
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Ok, I'm going to chime in a bit more on this topic.
I used to work as a call center rep. I know it doesn't make sense to be able to press 0 to go to a person when there's multiple departments that you may want to talk to - sales, tech support, etc. But, once I hit the button to go to my department, I should have the ability to hit 0 or another button to skip the remaining automated menu to get to a person. Once I get there, I should have a confident person waiting on the other line. One of the biggest problem many companies face is that they don't consider customer service as an extension of their product. So instead they try to get the cheapest people possible to do that job and it tends to show. This is why companies like American Express are the leaders in their area. They go out of their way to provide great service.
On the topic of English and Spanish menus, you can't blame the immigrants for the button, blame the companies. In the US and many other capitalist countries, things aren't done unless there is a FINANCIAL reason to do them. If you live in California or any other farming state you know that the Hispanic population is the largest growing population. Well, companies want to get their money. And in order for them to get their money, they need to cater to them, such as speak their native language. If you don't think this happens in other countries, then you haven't traveled much. Japan for example has English all over the place because they know it will help cater to the US, British, Canadian, and Australian visitors. Look at China, they are going through a whole program to better the English signs in preparation for the Olympics. Even Mexico has English all over the place.
Just around my neighborhood I could take you to one bank that has signs in English and Chinese. Down the street there's store that all tags are in English and Korean. Next to that is a deli that has their sign in English and Hindi. These are all within a mile of each other. Why? Because they know it will help attract customers.
Heck, if I could find a way to have Sly Bald Guys translated into Spanish, German, Chinese, and other languages, I would! Luckily there's sites out there that do that for the person coming to Sly Bald Guys. I know, because my stats show that there are several people per day from around the world that use them.
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Interesting information, Tyler. My big concern is when it starts to interfere with a person's ability to get a job... e.g. when it comes down to a very qualified person who speaks only English, and a less qualified person who also speaks Spanish (or another language depending on where you are) and having the Spanish speaking person hired. There is something wrong with that scenario, but I'm sure it happens all the time but never broadcast because it wouldn't be PC. I can go into my kids' school during the day and not hear a lick of English for the first 5 minutes. I don't have a problem with ESL (English as a second language), but when the parents don't learn it also, the kids never advance and are simply strung along year after year. Tyler, I have heard that in Cali, your state has a one-year immersion program. Is that true, and if so, does it work? I'm not trying to stir anything up, just expressing some of my observation/concerns. As Warhawk alluded to, we are not really a melting pot anymore. People used to come here for the opportunities to better themselves and were just glad to have the chance and adjusted to learning the language. Now we seem to be separating into little enclaves which leads to distrust and hatred... not the American way and not what made this country great.
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...I can go into my kids' school during the day and not hear a lick of English for the first 5 minutes. I don't have a problem with ESL (English as a second language), but when the parents don't learn it also, the kids never advance and are simply strung along year after year.... As Warhawk alluded to, we are not really a melting pot anymore. People used to come here for the opportunities to better themselves and were just glad to have the chance and adjusted to learning the language. Now we seem to be separating into little enclaves which leads to distrust and hatred...
In education, this has become quite a problem. We had kids last year who spoke English only in class. When they hung with their friends at school, or family, they spoke ONLY the native tongue, which in this case was Spanish. They did not practice English skills. Even when talking with friends in class, they spoke Spanish. This presents a double whammy: The teacher does NOT know what they are saying nor are they getting practice with English. The long and short is that they will never have good communication skills, which will hinder their educational opportunities. In the long run, employment will be limited since communication is a must.
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I do agree that its the big companies going for financial gain go with whats easy, but I do not agree completely with the notion that we can't blame the imigrants. I have worked around alot of imigrants and they don't want or care to learn our lanuage or to become part of this country other than to have things a bit better than they had it where ever they may have come from. I think there is a need to fix some of our imigration policies.
I also understand that in other countries they have adopted a bit of our lanuage, but that again is for their financial gain, they want to be in business with us, so they do what they can do. I don't think this is the same thing we are talking about with the imigrants coming into this country though.
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First off, this topic was about the menu buttons when calling customer service, not about English as a second language. And I do think that it is 100% the companies' fault for this button. They saw a market and filled it. Plain and simple.
I don't think you should lump everyone in when you say "They don't practice English skills" or "They don't want to learn English" because that's absolutely false in 100% of the people that I know that have immigrated to the US, both Spanish speaking and other language speaking immigrants. I'm not saying there aren't people out there that are ignorant enough to think they can have a prosperous life without learning English living in America, but I think it's very few.
Language is the root of communication and people are going to communicate in the way that it's easiest to communicate a message. I didn't always think this way, but after spending time with my wife's family, I've realized that it's often easier for people to get a point across in their native language than it is to say it in English. One of the reasons is that English is a very inefficient language, especially compared to Spanish and other Latin based languages. This doesn't mean that they don't want to learn English or want to speak it when they feel right. And it does NOT mean that they will have bad communication skills. Now, if they don't practice on their own with other kids that speak English, then that's a different story. Oh, and that kid that knows both Spanish and English is going to get your teaching job in the future because they will be able to communicate more effectively to both groups of students and help those Spanish speaking kids learn English much better while still being able to do a great job at teaching English. How do I know this? Because I have 3 friends who all are teachers now that are fluent in both English and Spanish and whose first language was Spanish and I'm sure they beat out 3 candidates that only spoke English.
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I knew where this topic could go in a hurry and it did. With this topic there is alot of things tied into our call centers that bring alot of feelings out of most people. I think this topic needs to be locked out because it has become a battle that I don't want to be a part of anymore on this site. This could go way to far if it continues, I would much rather agree to disagree, than for this to get ugly, this subject goes way deep for some people and this a political battle for the CNN site not here. I'm here for fun, I know I added to the argument and for that I'm sorry. I do love a good debate but this is not the place. When its done in type people can read more into whats being written than is needed.
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Since I was the first one to reply on this thread AND posted in the comment about someone not having a good grasp on the English language, I feel somewhat responsible for the direction this thread went in. For that, I am truly sorry. I know that companies are in business to make money and do that in cost effective ways. I also know that the staff in the call centers are just trying to make a living to support their family. I did not mean to knock on either.
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I feel somewhat responsible for the direction this thread went in. For that, I am truly sorry.
baldoug....hey brah....no need 2 apologize...that's the beauty of this site. we learn 2 respect one anothers viewpoints/opinions. i wouldn't sweat it at all. this is a sly fraternity. like a fraternity...we r like "family" in that we will disagree on many viewpoints. the main thing is that we have respect & brotherly love 4 one another.
WARHAWK O0
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I dont believe this thread needs to be closed or locked.
Everyone has posted valid opinions/viewpoints.
We cant agree 100% on everything! Makes for good conversation.
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Doug, I'm not blaming anybody, hell I'm just as much if not more to blame if thats the case. I just don't want things to get ugly. Like Warhawk said this is a Fraternity like site and we're not allways gonna agree on everything. I just thought before this got any of us mad at each other we needed to end it. Some people take a good debate to heart and I do it some times myself. Like I said no one is blaming anyone
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Maybe locking it down is a bit harsh, Just don't want anybody getting mad at anybody else.
Can't we just all get along O0 O0 O0
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I actually like these kinds of threads, I think its allows everyone to see things from an alternative perspective - keeps things interesting.
I never take peoples comments personally anyhow, def no need to close this thread.
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Warhawk & Nomad, thanks! I just felt that my comment may have started this threads "tailspin." Glad to know that I don't have to go in to the SBG Thread Commentor Protection program! No hard feelings here. O0
I actually like these kinds of threads, I think its allows everyone to see things from an alternative perspective - keeps things interesting.
I never take peoples comments personally anyhow, def no need to close this thread.
I agree!
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Hey guys, I want to apologize if I've been pretty strong in my replies to this topic, but it's something that I see everyday living in one of the most culturally diverse areas of the U.S., if not the world. I know we all have our own lens that we look through and I think it's important that we share what we see so that others can learn from it.
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Hey guys, I want to apologize if I've been pretty strong in my replies to this topic, but it's something that I see everyday living in one of the most culturally diverse areas of the U.S., if not the world. I know we all have our own lens that we look through and I think it's important that we share what we see so that others can learn from it.
hey ty...no need 2 apologize, brah. i enjoy & welcome everyone's viewpoints in all the topics that we discuss. because....like u said...that others can learn from it. well said, ty. O0
WARHAWK O0
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I'm usually patient unless they put me on hold.
I don't care if they've got in accent, I've noticed that even though "outsourced" call center staffing is slower and can be frustrating, they do try harder than the few American based call centers I've had the "joy" of speaking with.
I usually get in to a human by pressing 0 repeatedly....
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Hey guys, I want to apologize if I've been pretty strong in my replies to this topic, but it's something that I see everyday living in one of the most culturally diverse areas of the U.S., if not the world. I know we all have our own lens that we look through and I think it's important that we share what we see so that others can learn from it.
Ty I'm in the same boat, I lived in Florida for 20 years and I travel ALL over this country and maybe my lens is dirty. I just see alot of the bad side of this issue, maybe I need to look a little harder to see the good side.