Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[Firechief2]

I go out of my way to buy North American and I am proud of it. Redneck? Hell Yes -- and damn proud of it !!

I recently had some difficulties with my Norton/Symantec anti-virus so I called the toll free number that was clearly marked Canada on their site. Now the fun starts -- I can barely understand the lady who answered (she said her name was BJ). After 5 minutes of me asking her to repeat herself -- we have a language barrier here -- I ask her where she is physically located ---- are you ready------India----and she can't help me!
  I hang up and try the (Canadian) number again. Kumar answers ----very thick accent----asked where he was physically located-----you guessed it----India---and he can't help me.
  I looked up the # for Symantec Corporation in Springfield Oregon ---there it is--a 541 area code, but when I call it I get a lady who, when asked, states that she is based in the Phillipines----and she can't help me with my problem either.
What the H*ll is going on-----how many other companies that "fly the North American flags" are using our money to employ people in other countries. Pis*es me off ----BIG TIME.
Rant Completed and yes----I feel a little better, but not as good as I am going to feel when I kick my Norton A/V to the curb.

[RickC]

FIrst of all, FireChief, I fell your pain... deeply.

Truthfully, you might be amazed to learn how many call centers for customer service have been relocated to India. In the technology sector, companies such as Microsoft and Symantec have done it. It is happening in the travel industry and in virtually every other industry you can name...

Why? Because Indian workers are much less expensive than American workers and Indian national are some of the most educated people on the planet. Unforunately, many of them have degrees, but no real-world experience. So, they are trying to support products and services which the don't understand. Often, they are relegated to reading scripts prepared by their employer. This is the reason you can't get them to "think outside the box" and actually trouble-shoot a problem.

I have worked with many Indian nationals in my 30 years in the technology business. Indian people are the same as other people. Some are very good at what they do, some are not so good at what they do. Some care and some don't. But, you know, that makes them just like Americans... and the Japanese... and the Russians... and the Germans... doesn't it?

Just my $0.02.

[sportygordy]

You think this is bad....? try calling one of your credit card companies to report a lost card and find out you are calling India.. Not bad ya think?? well the person in India had access to all my personal info.. my birth date, address, SSN, ... figure that one out. 

[Firechief2]

I think I mistakenly sent you down the wrong road Rick. I have no problem with a persons nationality, skin color, race, sex or religion. During my career I have "put it all on the line" regardless of any of the above.
The point that I was trying to make is that if a company, lets use HD for example, was going to farm it's work out to other countries, would we be as willing to fork out our $ for their product --- not me. I drive a Ford, I ride a Harley, I shop at home !!

[RickC]

I think I mistakenly sent you down the wrong road Rick. I have no problem with a persons nationality, skin color, race, sex or religion. During my career I have "put it all on the line" regardless of any of the above.
The point that I was trying to make is that if a company, lets use HD for example, was going to farm it's work out to other countries, would we be as willing to fork out our $ for their product --- not me. I drive a Ford, I ride a Harley, I shop at home !!

FireChief,

I apologize. I didn't mean to imply that you are or were prejudiced. In fact, I agree with you, wholeheartedly.

For me, the problem is that I get a person on the phone who, though they may be educated and though they may mean well, is less qualified than I am myself to address the problem I am calling about.

That is what frustrates me!

[RJ749]

I think I mistakenly sent you down the wrong road Rick. I have no problem with a persons nationality, skin color, race, sex or religion. During my career I have "put it all on the line" regardless of any of the above.
The point that I was trying to make is that if a company, lets use HD for example, was going to farm it's work out to other countries, would we be as willing to fork out our $ for their product --- not me. I drive a Ford, I ride a Harley, I shop at home !!

Been down this road with Norton as well, however I did get the problem fixed.

Try calling the help line during business hours on the west coast and as I recall I spoke with a technician that is here in the USA

PS:  United Airlines uses out sourced phone help, Macy's (credit) and many others, just damned hard to know anymore.

[JCZ]

You must have pressed #1 for English.

Symantec World Headquarters is in the bay area....Cupertino, Sunnyvale.....one of those little towns in the silicon valley.  Hope that helps.

By the way.........not to rain on your parade but you might be surprised to learn that Ford's largest and most modern plant is in Brazil (and the COO said that they'd love to open a plant like that in the US but the unions will not let them....it's all automated) and that many parts on your HD are made in various countries over seas.  

[RJ749]

You must have pressed #1 for English.

Symantec World Headquarters is in the bay area....Cupertino, Sunnyvale.....one of those little towns in the silicon valley.  Hope that helps.

By the way.........not to rain on your parade but you might be surprised to learn that Ford's largest and most modern plant is in Brazil (and the COO said that they'd love to open a plant like that in the US but the unions will not let them....it's all automated) and that many parts on your HD are made in various countries over seas.  

Let alone that many of the big 3 are built in Canada and Mexico today.

[RJ749]

Looks like Germany is supporting India as well.

This in today's Automotive News bulletin:


  Daimler opens new car factory in India
Daimler opened a 50 million euro ($63.7 million) manufacturing plant in India today. The factory will build Mercedes-Benz C-, E- and S-class cars.

The factory in Pune, western India, has a capacity to build 5,000 cars and 1,200 trucks and buses a year on a single shift.

Daimler plans to add more shifts at the factory in the future.

"This is a totally demand-driven market and we will gradually increase production to three shifts depending on the demand," said Wilfried Aulbur, CEO of Daimler's India unit.

Aulbur said the new facility could also make other models if needed.

"We have a flexible manufacturing process and it will allow all of our other global products on the same assembly line," he said.

 
 

[grc]

I go out of my way to buy North American and I am proud of it. Redneck? Hell Yes -- and damn proud of it !!

I recently had some difficulties with my Norton/Symantec anti-virus so I called the toll free number that was clearly marked Canada on their site. Now the fun starts -- I can barely understand the lady who answered (she said her name was BJ). After 5 minutes of me asking her to repeat herself -- we have a language barrier here -- I ask her where she is physically located ---- are you ready------India----and she can't help me!
  I hang up and try the (Canadian) number again. Kumar answers ----very thick accent----asked where he was physically located-----you guessed it----India---and he can't help me.
  I looked up the # for Symantec Corporation in Springfield Oregon ---there it is--a 541 area code, but when I call it I get a lady who, when asked, states that she is based in the Phillipines----and she can't help me with my problem either.
What the H*ll is going on-----how many other companies that "fly the North American flags" are using our money to employ people in other countries. Pis*es me off ----BIG TIME.
Rant Completed and yes----I feel a little better, but not as good as I am going to feel when I kick my Norton A/V to the curb.

Hate to burst your bubble, but it has been my experience that Symantec tech support pretty much sucked no matter if I talked to the folks in India or in prior years to the folks in the USA.  The only difference was related to the language barrier; otherwise it was still someone without a clue basically reading from a script as opposed to a true tech expert.  Kind of like when you call most companies these days (including H-D) and ask a question tougher than what's for lunch, if the correct answer isn't in the little computer generated script then you are basically on your own. 

Jerry

[ice6900]

Its not just in england that the call centres r based in India then!

I^d like 2 know which high powered a$$hole $$saving idiot/individual originally thought of this brainstorming idea.

[Elmar]

Actually it is a language thing.
All the English speaking customers could be connected with an Indian based call center.
But - you may not believe it - you are the lucky ones.
We here in Germany speak obviously German and this language is spoken only in a handful of countries (Germany, Austria, Switzerlands, North Italy, East-Belgium and surprisingly in Namibia) which leads to the fact that the call centers have to be local.
So far so good.
But for the salary level of an well trained trilingual indian engineer you will get an analphabetical German with migration background, who neither speaks a proper understandable German nor has any clue about what you want from him.
That is valid for public transportation services, airline hotlines, customer services, mail, ... you name it.
From time to time I would be delighted to hear a : "Mynameis Ranjid howcanIhelpyou?" instead.

[spydglide]

It is a language thing more so than anything else.....and awfully frustrating not to be able to communicate when you need to solve your problem and they're your 'help center'.  Just like replacing the torrington bearing with the less expensive one.  aaaargh.  spyder