Poor Call-Center Service Angers Indians, Too

With better-paid, better-trained operators working for foreign call centers, Indian consumers are often frustrated by the service they get

The other day, after her cell phone stopped working during a trip, Beth Tomlinson used a pay phone to call her cell-phone carrier. Her call, like so many others around the world, was answered in Noida, an outsourcing-driven boom town about 20 kilometers outside New Delhi. Tomlinson, a Kansas-native who has lived in India for several years, didn't really care. After all, she was in Noida, too.

But when 20 minutes with a nervous operator went by and her cell phone still didn't work, Tomlinson did start to care. "I've called my American cell-phone company and had the call answered in Noida, and I've called my Indian cell phone company and had the call answered in Noida," she says. "But there is such a huge difference in the quality of service. I could hear kids laughing and giggling in the back, and I needed to get to an important work meeting right away."

Since the late 1990s, when cheap Internet telephony made it possible for U.S. companies to outsource their call centers, Americans have been complaining, loudly and regularly, about the quality of service. Just last week, Delta (DAL) pulled a call center out of India because its customers said they hated the service. "The customer acceptance of call centers in foreign countries is low," Delta Chief Executive Richard Anderson told his employees in a message. "Our customers are not shy about letting us have that feedback."

Read More Article...

Related Posts by Categories

Widget by Hoctro | Jack Book