scribblet Posted April 11, 2006 Report Share Posted April 11, 2006 I'm not altogether convinced that these were even call centres IN India.. Instead, I think they were call centres in Canada, employed by people of those ethnicities whose accents I find incredibly difficult to understand. It just makes doing business incredibly difficult. How would you know where they are? Well, when I said I'm moving to New Brunswick and she said, "Oh! That's where I'm at," it was a sure giveaway. At least I think that's what she said...it was hard to understand, you see. Take your business elsewhere. That's what I do, can't understand call centre people because of cheap labour practices, then I'll use someone else's services thank you very much. Thats kind of hard to do. I really object to paying for the extended warranty when you cannot understand the technicians. Dell computers have their call centre in India, can't sell the computer so have to use their service. I sat on the phone for ages one time, and never did understand the guy, I hung up. I kept calling back until I actually got an english speaking tech in Ontario...got my problem solved, but he wouldn't give me a number to call him back. You just have to keep phoning until you get someone you can understand. Shouldn't have to do that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Riverwind Posted April 11, 2006 Report Share Posted April 11, 2006 I think, as Renegade said, clear and concise communication should be a pre-requisite for working in a call centre.This is what passes for logic iin the executive suites in most corporations:AID: We will save a bundle if we move our support centers to India. CEO: Do they speak English AID: Yes - huge poor of English speakers willing to work for peanuts Later: CEO: Customers are complaining about people not speaking English at the call centers AID: We are having problems recruiting enough qualified people in India CEO: Why? AID: Too many foreign companies and too few people that really speak English CEO: What can we do? AID: Move our call center back to North America. CEO: That would be embarrassing can't do that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cybercoma Posted April 11, 2006 Author Report Share Posted April 11, 2006 I think, as Renegade said, clear and concise communication should be a pre-requisite for working in a call centre.This is what passes for logic iin the executive suites in most corporations:AID: We will save a bundle if we move our support centers to India. CEO: Do they speak English AID: Yes - huge poor of English speakers willing to work for peanuts Later: CEO: Customers are complaining about people not speaking English at the call centers AID: We are having problems recruiting enough qualified people in India CEO: Why? AID: Too many foreign companies and too few people that really speak English CEO: What can we do? AID: Move our call center back to North America. CEO: That would be embarrassing can't do that. It makes you wonder sometimes, seriously. The problem is am I being a racist if I can't understand someone with a foreign accent in Canada. (Cogeco is the only cable provider in the Windsor area and I know for a fact their call centre is in Hamilton, RBC's call centre is in New Brunswick, etc....) The problem of outsourcing is one aspect of this, but I know for a fact some of these companies don't outsource. Should an employer be able to discriminate based on the quality of someone's english when they're hired for a call centre in Canada? If the person speaks english but is difficult to understand, should a potential employer be able to not hire them for this particular job? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Renegade Posted April 11, 2006 Report Share Posted April 11, 2006 Should an employer be able to discriminate based on the quality of someone's english when they're hired for a call centre in Canada? If the person speaks english but is difficult to understand, should a potential employer be able to not hire them for this particular job? Absolutely! It's a job requirement. Should a modeling agency be able to discrimminate againsty ugly people? You bet. Appearance is a job requrement. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GostHacked Posted April 11, 2006 Report Share Posted April 11, 2006 Companies outsource for a few reasons. 1) cheaper labour 2) Most companies feel better about outsourcing certain aspects of the company for they are not professionals in that area. 3) ...... 4) Profit! Outsourcing makes sense to some companies for the reason that they cannot handle some things. Call center companies specialize in that area and that is why they are hired. A professional company that can handle the customer service. Gives the company more time to focus on what they actually do best. It also creates a problem of the company being decentralized. And can be just as bad for customer service as it can be good. Outsourced companies have to put up with constant changes from the client, for their business model changes with time. They are good. and bad, in many ways. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fryingpan Posted April 12, 2006 Report Share Posted April 12, 2006 I heard somewhere that they now have schools in India that teach their students how to speak English with an American accent, so Americans won't be able to tell that these people are from India. It will be interesting to see how this affects our call centre industry here in Canada... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cybercoma Posted April 13, 2006 Author Report Share Posted April 13, 2006 I heard somewhere that they now have schools in India that teach their students how to speak English with an American accent, so Americans won't be able to tell that these people are from India. It will be interesting to see how this affects our call centre industry here in Canada... That's good. If it makes them easier to understand when North Americans are calling them, I'm all for it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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