OT: Off shore call center workers mad at American

[geoschmo]

As someone who has worked in customer support for almost ten years I can tell you that the problem you describe isn't really caused by the outsourcing. Language problems aside, you are likely to get the same level of non-support from a help-desk staffed by people right here in the good ole USA. It's a lack of training by the company, and understaffing caused by stetching too few people over too many product lines. It's difficult as hell for those first and second level people to really get proficcent with the products they are supporting, since they rarely if ever actually use them and only spend their days sitting at a desk taking calls. And when only metric your company judges your performance by is how quickly you answer the phone and the number of calls you take, you can see how actually helping the customer to resolve their problems gets lost in the shuffle.

At any rate, being rude with the person answering the phone isn't helpful. I'm sure given their preferance they would want to help you with your problem. It's not their fault they don't speak english fluently and aren't sufficently trained. They are just trying to earn a living like everybody else. Save your anger for the manufacturer that hired them for not supporting their product. Oh, and the telemarketers.