I'm new to call center industry... when we are educated by the product of the company who hired us, we tend to ask questions like "Why?, How?". Just like customers who ask questions to a customer service representative.

I even browsed all of the website forums concerning customers complaining about the customer service. And they say that they want a customer service representative to be an American. I don't want to say this but, if the company puts the CSR in America.. then the charge through the phone would be doubled or tripled because it is way cheaper to hire employees outside US. Don't blame us.. blame your government.

i am a rep for a US based credit card company, and i might be ending my relationship with them soon. i have been their rep for the longest time and i did a short stint as a substitute team lead. i may have encountered several of you people from my past experiences. if i have messed up your credit or made your blood pressure skyrocket, well then, please accept my apologies. but i know one thing is for sure: i did not mean to. i am just doing what i was told to do.

let me clear up some issues here:

1. Filipinos DO NOT GIVE A **** ABOUT YOUR CREDIT CARD FUNDS. trust me. yes, we deeply involve ourselves in customer service, and yes we understand that giving your credit card info may not be the safest thing to do. but your cards are useless to us because of the fact that the primary means of trade here is cash. we are a third world country. only a handful of Filipinos know what a credit card is, and only a few households has a computer that will allow any individual to make an online card purchase.

2. we do not know what made your rate change, other that what they train us to tell you.

3. we don't want to sell something. but we have to.

4. the supervisor REALLY CAN'T HELP YOU. because oftentimes, us front liners know more than what they know. they just sound so authoritative and smart, it would lead you to think that they know a lot. and oftentimes they no longer have access to the database because they forgot their login passwords.

5. we do not mean to misinform you. it is just that the individuals who run the company tells us too many things, we do not know what really is the truth.

6. we really do not mean to be rude. for real. and Filipinos (especially those who were lucky enough to get proper education, like me) can speak English fluently. we are trained to think in English, then speak (a non-call center employee would think in the vernacular, then translate in English). but the thing is, THERE ARE THINGS THAT THEY DON'T TELL US. OR THEY MAY INFORM US ABOUT THINGS BUT VERY VAGUELY. so when we try to communicate, we end up sounding so horribly dumb, or foreign. why? because we couldn't really come up with a very good explanation. we just do what we are told. In addition to that, you need to also realize that working conditions here are different. we are confined in our cubicles for hours, our breaks are limited, we cant go to the bathroom, it takes forever to ask for a leave, and we come to work even when we are horribly sick. worst is, the air conditioning makes us even more sick, we cant bring food on our desk, we wait and take calls for four hours before our next coffee break, and oftentimes we miss out on family gatherings and holidays because we have to talk to you people. i know you are frustrated. i really do. but please, be fair to us monkey people from the orient (self-defecating huh?). we become emotionally stressed not just with the hurtful words we get. but the environment we work in, the hazards involved (see: http://www.gmanews.tv/story/34... and the measly pay.

being Filipinos, when we say we understand, WE REALLY DO. and we don't mean to take the jobs away. we thank you for calling everyday, and we appreciate it that you have helped us put food on the table. but if you want to speak with your fellow countrymen, tell us. we will not be offended, and we will connect you right away.

As we say: thank you for calling, have a great day.

I had the not so pleasant customer service experience with Capital One as well. I won't go into detail but let's just say that I felt like was being tossed around from agent to agent just to get response to a simple question. I don't think it's the language barrier, I think it's the fact that the same banking procedures and system are not up to par with US expectations. We're dealing with a third world nation and their banking system is not equivalent to US standards. BRING BACK THOSE JOBS TO THE US!

I've been in business for 35 years and have experienced virtually
all of the "customer service" problems imaginable; before outsourcing when it was REALLY bad, to the present state where it is just bad. But bad CS has absolutely nothing to do with the geographical location or the "first language" of the rep. The real
problem seems to be lost on all of the posters here: A CSR is a
low-paying job, no matter where the rep is located. You have a
choice between an exceedingly polite filipina who may speak less-than-perfect English, or a rude, well-educated American,
a rude poorly educated American, a rude American college student or just a rude American, many of whom also speak less-than-perfect English. Comparing each country of origin: Mexico,
U.S., India or the Philippines, the latter is BY FAR provides the best CS.

I just had a bad experience with Capital One cust service. Got this link from google when I was tryin to find out what country my call was routed to.

Indians often speak very good english and communicate well. English is the official language of India.

I was sure this call did not go to India since I had to hang up on whoever took my call and call back in the hopes of finding someone else to talk to since they speak very slow and broken English. Turns out it went to Philippines. I just wish, tht if Capital One has to outsource cust service, they pick India and not any other country where English is not even their primary language!!

Dee: Just to inform you that English is not the "primary" language
of either India or the Philippines. However, English is the official language of the Philippines; Business, government and the legal system
are all conducted in English. I've heard much worse grammar and
syntax from people living in Eastern Tennessee or inner city Detroit
than from people staffing call centers in either India or the Philippines.

Capitol One customer service in India? Last month I was charged fraudulent charges to Indian Railways Catering, New Delhi, India one day after paying my bill online. Coincidence????

Also my account had been suspended after several other failed fraudulent attempts had been made. I called customer service and talked to a lady who was really hard to understand. She had my card cancelled and said I should recieve another card with a new number in 7-10 days

I just want to comment on the Abtran service.

I live in Dublin. In this summer, I have to attend a research conference in Turin, Italy. The Italian embassy outsourced their visa appointment process to Abtran. As an non-Eu person, I need to have a visa. So I called the Arbtran several times to make an appointment. What I experienced is that they always keep you waiting (1,75 Euro/minute), and they are never helpful. I am not sure if it is because of the embassy or just the Arbtran company itself. I called and emailed the embassy and you never get replied.

Written proof received regarding Capital One now discriminating by 'redlining' your city if they do not like where you live, or when you purchased your home. More on this unethical and bad practice by going here: http://davidgreen.com/credit-d...

I'm an indian working for capital one customer relations in Bangalore. Whenever u guys call ur call reaches us in India. You guys think we r stealing our jobs. But its ur american owners who are giving us jobs..... I completely agree with u guys. CapOne steals money. It has increased interest rates for most of its customers. The reason given is economy. Thats bullshit. The late n overlimit fee charges are $39 which is ridiculous. Their payment protection program is designed to squeeze money out of u guys. I'm sick of this company. I'm hunting for a new job. If u guys have any questions email me at ajay_1r@yahoo.co.in
By the way if there's a guy called Alex answering ur call when u call CapOne its me!

I just got my first (actually second) taste of the incompetence meted out by Capital One. They have totally mishandled a disputed charge. They requested information about the dispute, which I sent in on time and with great detail. I asked them to contact me if they had any questions or needed additional information. They ignored the documentation, sent a letter to me saying I didn't provide what they requested and that I had signed a purchase invoice thereby negating any action they could take against the merchant, then closed the case and notified me of such closure days AFTER my online balance reflected the transaction rebill. Every credit card transaction requires some sort of signature, either physically or electronically. Regardless, why have a dispute procedure if it's really non-existent? I have made several calls and talked to customer service aliens that just make my blood boil. "I'm sorry you're experiencing this," "Yes, I understand," and all these fluffy non-sensical comments that accomplish absolutely nothing. This is outrageous. I can think of better things to do than having to fight this and the merchant for no doubt the next several months using every agency or "fight back" outlet that I can. But, I will.

I just got off the phone with Capital One and Chase Mileage Plus Visa. I experienced the same customer service nightmares you all have talked about. I talked to the Phillipines twice and Canada twice and none of them could get me to an American call center until I started screaming at the rep at the last call center (Canada).
I wanted to talk to both companies regarding the "Notice of Account Changes" I received in the mail. The interest rates on all three of my cards with both companies jumped to prime plus 19.65%. My rates were at 11% and below. I have been an account holder of theirs for 16 yrs and 14 yrs. respectively.
The printed information said in essence if I didn't like it I could cancel the cards, close the accounts and retain the old rates. However, I would lose any rewards or miles I may have earned.
When I was finally able to speak with an American, I was informed that 80% of their customer bases received the notices. I asked what the criteria was for the selection of accounts for the rate increase. She gave me the following:
1. Today's economic climate has increased the cost of credit for the companies and these are passed along to the consumer.
2. How long the account has been opened. The longer it has been opened, the higher the rate increase.
3. Account handling was not a factor.
Translation:
1. We didn't get enough in the bail out and so we need to increase rates to maintain our profit margin, the upper level mangement salaries, bonuses and boondoggles.
2. Well, you've been with us for a long time and you've been a good customer, but well, you're not profitable for us anymore, so we are going to raise your rates, even though we've signed a contract. Oh by the way, if you don't like it go someplace else.
3. Doesn't matter that you've always paid your bills on time and you have great credit. Money talks and you're not making us any.

Both Chase and Capital One parrotted the same line. Seems they all got together to get their stories straight.

I told the "supervisor" I spoke with that this is just another example of American banking run amuck. They should all have been allowed to collapse. In today's economy, the smart company will try to hold prices steady or roll them back a bit. There isn't a sector that has not been hit by this depression. (Yes I said depression). When does the American consumer get a break? Decent, hard working Americans who have always paid their bills are getting to shoulder the burdens of out of control banks, investment banks and big business, not to mention the 10% of American consumers out there who have been living beyond their means, now at the expense of everyone else.

So, my answer to Capital One and Chase, their poor customer service and their attitude toward long standing account holders?
KEEP your cards and your rewards programs. My bank debit card functions as a credit card. I can use it for online purchases and for anything else. I don't have to pay interest on it, annual fees or deal with people who can't speak English who have access to sensitive information about me. Yes, I will be on a cash basis - but so what? I have been for quite a while.

So the losers here are Chase and Capital One. Especially when the 40% of the 80% who received these notices cancel their account. They only think the American public forgets. Not this time. Not in this economy!

Yeah this is why I cancelled my capital one card, completely. The funny thing is, the person I wound up getting was an english person from the states. I'm guessing when you have a real problem, you get sent to the outsourced, clueless trainees fresh from the training academy (or worse, YOU are the training academy).

Sadly, it's all about the money and capital one is no different from most other companies. It's only when you cancel that you get really good service because that means if you leave, they get zero money, and that's all they care about.

Also, I hate sony. The products I buy are like everquest or star wars galaxies (online games) and their service is terrible. Never buy from those cheap , inconsiderate pricks. I hate them.

Sounds like my nightmare experience with Sony over the last month.

Last month I get an email saying a purchase was made on the Playstation Network store using my account. I immediately changed my log on info and removed my credit card information from my account (I did not know it would automatically save my CC info to my account without asking me first).

Then I called Sony, well one of the 800 numbers. Turns out it was the wrong one (even though I got it from the playstation network website). After talking to 3 agents (all of them giving me new 800 numbers to call) I finally go to where I was suppose to be (or at least I thought). I explain the situation and ask if there was anyway to get a refund (only $6) for a purchase that I did not make or authorize.

Here is where the fun really begins. It seems that every time you ask for something, they are trained to say "sorry we cannot help you, there is nothing we can do". They told me that it is against policy to give out a refund, they recommended I call my CC company and dispute the charge.

So that is exactly what I did. One month later my account is suspended by Sony. I call, and the same run around for a while with same line, "we cannot help you". After talking to a supervisor I am told that the only way to get it reactivated is to call my CC company (actually capital one) and have them reverse the dispute. So then I call Capital One, spoke with someone with broken english that I had trouble understanding. He basically told me that since my dispute was closed and that I had received the credit, I would have to have Sony reapply the charge.

So now I am calling Sony again, and get the "sorry we cannot help you". I ask and talk to a supervisor who I'd like to string up and throw rotten food at! He was horrible, horrible, horrible. I got so angry that I hung up the phone (which does me no good). I call back and am lucky enough to get another supervisor. I explain the story again from the beginning and he tells me that he is sorry, but that I should of been transferred to a different division.

So this morning I call that division and ask for my account to be reinstated, that I am willing to pay the $6. Again, my first attempt and the first supervisor gets me no where. The second call gets me another person, who tells me that I have to send in a money order to get my account reinstated. I ask to pay over the phone, but I am told I cannot do that either, has to be a money order. He tells me that the system is all automated and that he cannot unfreeze my account.

Now, working in IT I know that is BS, I know there is a way, especially since the reason I was suspended was because I listened to one of their customer service reps and disputed the charge.

After asking for a different supervisor, I was put on hold for 5 minutes. A nice lady picks up and immediately says "I am going ahead and reinstating your account". Wow, that is what should of happened right away, not 2 days later and many hours on the phone. Now I get a week to pay them or I am suspended again.

Good news is I tried Capital One again, and this time the person who answered was kind enough to reverse the credit and give Sony their $6.

What Sony put me through left a bad taste, so being the way I am they are going to pay, or better said, I will not be paying for their brand anymore for a long time. I guess its a new Samsung TV instead of a Sony!

I have been traveling in the Middle East for a few months for work and brought my CapitalOne card with me because C.O. doesn't charge an additional percentage for overseas transactions. But instead, every other week C.O. keeps freezing my credit card because of "suspicious activity." Before I left, I put a travel notification on my credit card, but they seem not to notice. And when my care is refused in Amman or Tel Aviv, I have to pay cash or make a big fuss. And then I have to call C.O. customer service and explain the whole situation, again, to someone with poor English.

American consumers should simply refuse to do buisness with any firm that offhsors jobs jsut to save money-it makes our liives diffiuclt tryihg ot get things done, it risks privacy and we loose US jobs--Shame on CapitalOne! The Hassle Bank

i applied for a capital one card about 1odays ago now,maybe abit longer too. they said it would take 6-10 days. Anyone applied for one and it has taken longer?if so how long after did u recieve the card??

I TALK LOUD NOT YELLING BUT ENDED UP HAVING THE WORST CHEST PAIN I EVER HAD IN MY LIFE MY BLOOD PRESSURE WENT UP AND I HAD THE WORST HEADACHE .ALSO WHILE I WAS ON THE PHONE TO INDIA SOMEONE FROM THAT AREA WAS TRYING TO CUT IN ON CONVERSATIONHE KEPT ON SAYING HELLO HELLO HELLO CAN I HELP YOU .SO THOSE PEOPLE DO LISTEN TO CALLS

Were you by any chance yelling when you were on the phone with Capital One, Rick?

SAME THING WITH CAPITAL ONE THEY TOOK OUT TWO PAYMENT OUT OF MY ACCOUNT TOTALING 536.00 TRY CALLING NO SPEAKY ENGLISH TOO WELL AFTER AN HR AND 1/2 SPOKE TO AN ENGLISH SPEAKING PERSON WE DID A THREE WAY ME MY BANK AND CAPITAL ONE 3 DAYS LATER MY MONEY WAS CREDITED TO MY ACCOUNT .ALSO ASK ABOUT MY NEW CARD AS MY OLD ONE WAS DAMAGE THEY SAID IT WOULD BE SENT WITHIN 10 DAYS. WELL AFTER 12 DAYS I CALLED THEY SAID THEY WERN'T GOING TO SEND ME ONE WITH NEW NUMBER ANYONE HAVE A CLUE WHY THEY WOULD DO THIS

Found this article today on Digg, which some of you may have already seen: http://consumerist.com/5069018...

Reminds me of the Atlanta Olympics Ticket Sales Line where they refused to sell to a customer in New Mexico, all the while insisting that they only sell to customers based in USA.

Since we're sharing:

I recently called the British Embassy because their website wasn't serving up the forms I needed to renew my passport. I'd done some technical troubleshooting at this end and knew it wasn't my problem.

I discovered that the Embassy has outsourced their 'support' to a firm (Abtran) that charged $2.49 a minute. Having no choice (I need a passport!) I called. I was immediately placed on hold, listening to The Kinks sing Waterloo Sunset over and over again while I racked up $15 in charges. Then, when I got someone on the phone, they insisted the problem was with my browser. It's one thing to go around in circles with someone when the call is free, but to be put on hold and then read a script when you're PAYING...

Let me make what I think is a very logical case for why the outsourcing of customer service to India by Capital One may in fact be serious cause for concern. As we now know empirically, one hand does not know what the other is doing at Capital One. The individuals answering the phones over in Mumbai are privvy to nothing more than a database of cardholder information and a service history. Let me repeat that: the customer service reps answering the phones over in India simply are given a phone headset and access to your customer data. Now, it seems to be a consensus on this thread at least that there's no accountability...everyone seems to be caught in a loop with the Indian connection, an endless series of non-answers from outsourced CSRs who aren't in a position to help you. I believe they're well aware that by calling Capital One customer service, a cardholder stands little chance of making any headway or resolving issues successfully because they know where those calls go (to them.) They also have access to cardholder data. What do they have to lose by sharing a little information? Absolutely nothing. Capital One, again as we know now empirically, does not have the resources to properly pursue fraud investigations. They have less to lose from bad press than they do from spending their precious remaining bottom line on improved customer service and investigations.

The fox is in the henhouse. This sucks, sucks, sucks, sucks. What else is new? It is a sad, sad state of affairs in corporate America right now.

I, too, just experienced several custmer service calls from hell ... with Capital One. I applied for a Capital One card over two weeks ago and did not receive the card. My first call to Capital One was four days ago. The rep with whom I spoke kept placing me on hold to speak with his supervisor. We did have a "communication problem" but I was able to understand him. He ended the call by telling me the card would arrive in two days. That concerned me, but I waited for three days and did not receive the card. At 4:30 in the morning, I found that I could not sleep and had the "missing card" on my mind. I awoke to a nightmare when I called Capital One customer service to report fraudulent activity. It was verified that a card was mailed to me two weeks earlier but had not been activated. She kept asking me to repeat what I was saying and told me we had a bad connection. I could hear her fine but I could hardly understand her because her English was not very good. She agreed to cancel the card and issue a new one. She needed to update my address but said she was unable to do so and needed to transfer me to someone who could. The call was ended with a disconnection. I immediately called back but this time spoke with a gentleman who kept telling me he could not hear me. This gentleman told me he would cancel the card and send another one. He also informed me that the card had been activated! I informed him of the previous call and that I was told the card had not been activated. Apparently he became even more confused than I was, so he placed me on hold for a long time. He was very courteous and apologized for the lengthy hold. He then asked me for my DOB and said he needed it in order to send me the card. Reluctantly, I gave it to him. Then he told me he was unable to send me the card but that someone else in another department could. He agreed to transfer me to that department. Somehow I knew I would be disconnected! Wow, I got disconnected. I'm at a loss and want to find someone who can speak clear English. I am now thinking people who work at the call center might be engaged in fraudulent activity! So far Capital One is not in my wallet but I think some scammers are!

Talk about relating to these experiences.......

I just got off the phone with Capital one. Let me rephrase that, I just slammed the phone down on Capital one.
First I get a CSR who's English is limited to say the least.
I was requestiong a credit increase. She was obviously reading from a script and kept repeating the same thing over and over again no matter what question I asked.
She obviously didn't understand what I was asking most of the time and I am guessing they have some sort of prompter that tells them exactly what line to read for each general type of question.

Totally impossible conversation and a waste of my time. I finally reached a supervisor and although his English was substantially better everything was still restrictively scripted.

I finally told him. "You No Longer Have My Business".

It's bad enough that banks who make their money from the American People not only chose to pull the jobs out from under the very hands that feed them but add insult to injury by forcing us to deal with people who barely speak our language and certainly understand it even less.

I encourage people to find the corporate head office number and call and relay their experience to someone who we can only hope speaks and understands English.

How sad is all of this and why do we put up with it?

OK ok let me just get in on this here please. Capital One SUCKS I repeat Capital One SUCKS. Try to imagine seeing a strange unknown transaction on your Paypal account for $500+ that has swiped your Capital One credit card (my account's "backup funding" source, ostensibly protected against fraud) without your knowledge. This happened to me. When Paypal, who claims boldly to give you "100% protection against unauthorized payments sent from your account" summarily DISMISSED my fraud claim only three (3) days after I reported it (WOW!) I went to Capital One instead and asked for a chargeback, which they issued and credited me for. A month later, they send me a letter reversing the chargeback and rebilling me for the amount, indicating that the letter includes "supporting documentation" from the "merchant", whose name I do not recognize. This "documentation" is nothing but a six-page fax of nonsensical account information for some other strange person with references to my Paypal account name and transaction amount, and, if anything, seems to only SUPPORT my contention that the transaction was fraudulent. Anyway, the morning I get this "care package" from Capital One via UPS, I phone them immediately. Guess what? They transfer me to a goddamned call center in India. After 15 minutes on the phone with Rohit, I'm ready to jump out the window and Rohit eventually realizes what I'm calling about after playing 20 questions and re-routes me back to a disputes phone number in Salt Lake City. There, a young man tells me to simply respond to this letter's bullet points, where applicable, and send it to them. Huh? OK. Simple, and inexplicable. Does one hand know what the other is doing at Capital One? After recently traveling overseas and calling Delta's "Indian Connection" to locate my lost luggage (of course), I did some research and saw that the airline shaved a nice a fat $25 million off their overhead and added it to their bottom line simply by outsourcing all of their phone support to call centers in India. What is Capital One saving by doing the same? Are they passing the savings along somehow to their domestic customers? With crappy customer service that seems chaotic, disorganized and unmotivated, I can't imagine they are keeping many customers. It is very easy now to see why the U.S. economy is in the crapper. Large corporations like Capital One and Delta are saving money by sending jobs out of the country, but the proceeds are either being pocketed or used to offset the ridiculous rise in oil-related costs. Life sucks right now.

Sorry about the long post.

I'm having a similarly frustrating experience with Capital One and their crappy "service". Oops, my husband accidentally shredded his card, called for a new one then charged some tickets in Spain on my card. This triggered their fraud department. Too bad they didn't tell him not to use the card (mine). He explained it was him who made the charge and they said ok. Then their rude fraud people started calling, acting like he was a criminal or like they were talking to an imposter. We are still trying to get the card off their "hold" status so we can close it. Always a different story from these "customer service" people about what's required to straighten out the account. Granted, my husband did answer a credit question wrong, but not everyone knows what their car payment was 7 years ago. We've been through the wringer with Capital One. The whole reason we got the card was so we could use it to make international charges and now it's completely backfired and we're subject to their increasingly rude and obnoxious non-answers and non-help. I wish I'd never gotten an account with these non-professionals.

i'm just pissed at the fact that NOBODY speaks effing ENGLISH, and when you get transferred to the "US Representative call ctr" they're not in the office. i got transferred at 12pm on a monday and no one was there--MONDAY, of all days! this was AFTER arguing back and forth with some unsimpathetic indian guy who erred on HIS part with all these random charges on my acct. as soon as mine is paid off i am SOOOOO slicing my card up.

I found out some corporate numbers to capital one if anyone wants them. The 1800-955-7070 number will get you no where. “Senior account managers” at that nu,ber will apologize profusely and say that there is no one else who can help you besides them. Of, course, they will offer no help. The corporate office numbers are are 804-284-5xxx. Capital One seems to own most of the exchanges above 284-5200. If you try enough of them, you may actually get someone who will help. Some of their faxes are 804-284-5200, 804-284-5201, 804-284-5203, 804-284-5204, 804-284-5202, and 804-284-5704. god Bless the consumer!

I had a months long odyssey with Sprint. I move go new state and in my new location the reception was poor. Unfortunately I had them for Internet as well. Much too long a story but the highlights were Sprint admitting the tower was malfunctioning and doing nothing about it, a malfunctioning wi-fi card they refused to take off my bill, many hours speaking to ESL customer service people, finally winding up with a call to the telecommunications governing agency in my state that got months of crap taken care of in one phone call. Needless to say I'm no longer a Sprint customer.

mike, sad to hear about this. You still lucky. I call to Paypal UK mid of last year, a lady spoke to me, I ask her:"hi miss, my name is louiss. I would like to cancel my paypal account, can you help me to do it please? ". And she replied me,"pardon?" and I repeat,:"actually I just need to cancel my paypal, can I help me on this?" miss replied again:"pardon? I dont understand what you mean, what can I help you sir?"

Do I pronounce wrongly? Oh every lady in call center is like that?But I cut the phone on that day, sux. :P

Mike:

Could not resist sharing this story. Ten years ago, I had a giant company client (who was also a new bride). She unexpectedly left the US on a 3-month TDY to Guatemala with her Peace Corps husband. I was coordinating ALL her marcom programs (gulp!) and she begged me to find a way we could keep in touch via e-mail, to keep things going.

I was told that AOL had a Central American access phone number. So, I called AOL customer service (outside Washington). I will here render as exactly as I can, exactly how the woman answering my call sounded. She said: "Aol cuzomer service. Can ise help ya?"

I replied, "Yes, I need your access number in Guatemala."

She pondered for a moment, then replied: "Guallamalla? Where's dat?"

I answered: "Central America."

She said: "Oh! Ya mean out dere near Kansas an' Missouri an' all dem ?"

I tried to explain, all the while feeling myself being sucked down into the swamp of her ignorance. Clearly, geography was not this lady's forte. After two more tries, I slipped away like a coward and sat, stunned, for quite awhile.

Fortunately, I found another way to keep in touch with my client. But this definitely proved that the age of customer service by phone had come to an end. The moral is that you don't have to go overseas to get lousy customer service! It's available to you right here in the good ol' USA!

All the best,
George

Ah, Mike, you've discovered the joys of the customer service line! Let's see, I too have had issues with my credit card customer service - after my purse was stolen last year, the card company TEMPORARILY credited my account of over $500 of fraudulent purchases, while the investigation ensued, i.e. while they decided if I was lying or not. In about five follow-up calls in over the course of two months that I initiated, I was NEVER able to find out the status of the investigation or why the fraudulent charges kept reappearing and disappearing on my account. Ultimately it was resolved, but eesh!

My second favorite customer service hell experience, also from last year, was when my pay-as-you-go mobile phone company changed its policy to not allow account passwords with special characters. Since my original password had an @ symbol, this meant I could no longer access my account -- AND neither could anyone at the phone company. After two calls and no responses, I gave up and got a new phone.

I do appreciate the input from the customer service workers out there. In both my cases, lack of comprehension or a language barrier had nothing to do with the problems. More a case of the right hand not knowing what the left hand was doing.

Mike,

Get LifeLock. I just signed up for this service. The CEO is so confident that your identity will not be stolen that he posted his SSN on the Internet and in an ad in the WSJ.

Plus, they guarantee you against any fraudulent activity up to $1 million.

I signed up my son, too.

www.lifelock.com

Mike,

It's too bad there are so many stories like this out there. I'm sure we all have good stories, too, of someone whose gone out of their way for us. But they seem to fade quickly when you find yourself on the phone with someone who is much less than helpful.

The short version of my worst customer service story (my subsequent letter to their COO was 5 pages long). This snippet is only one call in a three week marathon of almost daily calls and botched service.
* Verizon Online
* 90 minutes on the phone
* transferred 17 times, each time to someone who couldn't help (of course)
* final person spent less than 2 minutes on the line with me to say: we don't support that and can't help you. It must be your computer, so call that support line. (you won't be surprised to learn that it wasn't my computer and was, in fact, a problem with Verizon)
* somewhere after about the 10th transfer or about the 40th or 50th minute, I was crying. Not proud of that, but that's how frustrated I was.

And I'm pretty sure the call center was here in the U.S. Or at least I got folks with very good American accents.

Hi, Mike!

Wow! A killer bad customer-service story!

In my book, outsourcing customer service to countries where English may be a "distant third" as a language choice indicates a company has a "de-marketing" strategy. The damage done to the company's business and reputation by poor communication cannot possibly be offset by the "savings."

Nicely done, Mike!

Regards,
George

Thanks for sharing

Hi Everyone;

Glad to hear I am not along with this crazy service quality problem!

Mike

Ha - reminds me of calling United and American airlines!

I lost my wallet while on vacation in New Mexico. The credit cards were easy to cancel and replace. What wasn't easy was getting permission to return home by a major commercial airline without a driver's license.

We booked our flight with a travel site. They told us to call American. Who told us to call United, because our American Airlines return ticket was actually on a United flight.

The United phone support people were nice enough, but kept telling me that I needed a passport to travel back home to Seattle from Sante Fe, New Mexico. Even the supervisor refused to believe that New Mexico was in the US. (Never mind the logic of driving several thousand miles to Seattle to get my passport and then driving back to Sante Fe to fly home to Seattle.)

One all to the TSA straightened it out. They asked me to get a police report, bring anything I had with my name and address on it, and go through the extra screening.

I believe most large US airlines and credit card companies would benefit from having a US-based group to handle the more sensitive time-sensitive calls - cancelling a credit card, losing your ID prior to boarding a flight, etc. The internationally-based call centers often do a great job, but no one can be an expert in everything.

TIP: The TSA may be able to help if you lose your ID. And always travel with a AMEX card. They will overnight a new card (with a new account #) to your hotel if you lose your card while traveling.

Reminds me of an experience we had with Dell and their center in India. Call time was almost 2 hours and we ended up doing an end-around and calling Dell sales, which was US call center and they helped us. Actual story is too long for this box!

Not blaming the folks who work in these centers. I'm sure they are great people - probably more intelligent than many in the US. But these companies who outsource need to do some QA monitoring and should consider offering a way to get to someone who can meet their needs.

I do appreciate the post above from the Call Center Vet - just surprised to see them on your blog.

Hello Sir, I found your post through a google alert I have set-up and I can relate to your experience in a different perspective. You see I work as a customer service manager and formerly a customer service supervisor for a call center here in the Philippines. One of many I should say.

Reading your story is like reading a nightmare story. It downright sounds like the person you spoke with failed to comprehend a simple question. Which is often the case for new employees after the phone. But I'm also assuming the person who you spoke with understood the question as it is but failed to respond correctly. Both assumptions can be rooted to poor training.

I most definitely agree that your experience could have been a lot better and faster. On a different day, it might have been. Training the right people for the right job to correctly respond to customer queries is a challenge not only here in the call centers in the Philippines but also in other parts of the world. There is no excuse for the mishandling of your call. Rest assured we Filipinos are doing the best we can to improve the services we provide our client's customers not only because we want to keep our jobs but also we believe pleasure of being provided good customer service as we all are customers in our own right. I sincerely hope you find your next dealings with a customer service person from the Philippines satisfactory.

Thanks for letting me post a comment on your blog. Happy New Year!

Sounds exactly like Bell Canada - they outsource all their calls to a call center in India. Considering most people in Quebec speak French, it certainly makes getting any help at all a challenge.

I had a friend who worked for Bell shortly before the call center in Ontario shut down and was outsourced (it was too expensive to pay Canadians.) She was instructed and trained to tell callers (if they asked) that the call center is located in Montreal (which is another province than the one the call center was located in). She got caught in that one day when someone asked what the weather was like.

"Beautiful and sunny!" she answered.

"Wow, that's nice, you're so lucky," the caller answered. "Where are you located?"

"Montreal," my friend replied, following protocol.

A pause. "Where in Montreal?" The caller sounded puzzled.

My friend named the street they'd been told to respond.

"Uh... That's funny, because my office is one block away from that address," the caller replied. "And it's currently snowing like a bastard, we haven't seen the sun since last night, and the weather sucks."

Doh.

There are plenty of customer service hell story from Apple Quality Complaints: http://applequalitycomplaints....

Bad quality products.