Comments on: When Contacting A Software Help Desk, Do You Prefer That You Speak With An American Or An Indian Rep?

By: Fraggle

Fraggle — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 04:18:10 +0000

American, Canadian, British or Australian. Basically, I want to speak with someone who speaks English as their first language. I’ve had horrible nightmares when trying to get tech support in foreign countries where people don’t speak English natively. Sometimes it’s due to thick accents. Sometimes it’s due to a lack of vocabulary. But if I have an American reading off a script, at least I can make an attempt to communicate with them and it’s more effective than someone whose English is lacking. My office buys Gateways because they have American tech support (at least for us corporate customers). We have a few pieces of HP equipment and HP offshores their tech support. The few calls I’ve had to make for that equipment have been nightmares, to the point where we’ve told our users we are not buying HP. Period. It’s impossible to communicate with the people at their call centers, and it wastes our time and money.

By: Hatosan

Hatosan — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 04:18:10 +0000

I used to work with Indian before and my former colleagues are Indian. Actually they are good in IT and technicals but in terms of oral, it’s language barrier. Sometime I can’t even understand what are they trying to say or when presenting an important subject to clients, “oh crap” comes out from my inner self. It took some time for me before I understand and there’s no more language barrier.
No offense to any Indian.
If you don’t understand what they are saying, ask again and if you’re not satisfied or unsure or unclear verbally, you entitled to get another local reps to assist you.
Just a honest opinion.

By: Joey

Joey — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 04:18:10 +0000

Well, American support centers obviously keep jobs in this country, and the majority of people working there can actually be understood. However, they tend to be a bit more rude and uncaring, and usually treat every caller as an idiot. Although Indian support centers only read pre-written text off a website.
That’s my opinion on the topic. But it probably didn’t give you a clear answer, did it?

By: Bubba the Hutt

Bubba the Hutt — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 04:18:00 +0000

I personally prefer American because of the language barrier. Not all are rude, and if they are you can call them out on it by asking for a manager.
I’ve come to the conclusion that there are no managers in India.