Telecommunication setup in India

[snopes]

This is where your calls are directed sometimes when you call for assistance for your new computer and you get somebody in India that can't speak very good English. Maybe its the wiring's fault ...

[FloridaGirl]

With India's rapid growth and limited space, I wouldn't be surprised if this was real.

[Morrigan]

http://www.kk.org/streetuse/archives/2006/08/

All the way down to the bottom are two pictures that are quite like the Indian ones-only these are claiming to be from China.

Morrigan

[Silas Sparkhammer]

I used to work in a "network closet" that looked like those pics.

What's really fun is when you run a new wire, and cut an old one loose. It remains in place, but isn't connected at one end! I would not be a bit surprised to learn that quite a few of the wires in those pictures are actually dead.

Silas

I vote fake, the shadows are all wrong

Seriously -- why do people take two completely unrelated things and attempt to tie them together:
1) Customer service is often outsourced to India, sometimes resulting in frustrating experiences
2) Picture of wires (which may or may not be phone wires, and may or may not be in India) look messy.

1+2 = Hey, it's the wiring's fault!
-Tim

[Elsie]

I think on the surface, that comment is supposed to be facetious. But, maybe the deeper meaning is that if they can't be organized/neat about the outwardly visible stuff, then how can they possibly be good at anything else like personal service. Sort of like how, if you find a stupid spelling error on a resume, you tend to just write off the candidate because they can't possibly be a good employee if they can't present themselves well.

I'm not sure I'm expressing myself well, but hopefully you get the drift.

Originally Posted by lacrossman

I think on the surface, that comment is supposed to be facetious. But, maybe the deeper meaning is that if they can't be organized/neat about the outwardly visible stuff, then how can they possibly be good at anything else like personal service. Sort of like how, if you find a stupid spelling error on a resume, you tend to just write off the candidate because they can't possibly be a good employee if they can't present themselves well.

I'm not sure I'm expressing myself well, but hopefully you get the drift.

I do.

As for the resume thing, if I'm reviewing one, and there's a minor typo, I'm probably not going to care. But if the document is riddled with errors, or if it's something really glaring, then it's going to reflect badly on the candidate. But I tend to be a little "old school" about such things. Some of the newer follks are more of the "can the guy code? if so, why do we care about his spelling" camp.

-Tim

[Mad Jay]

All the pictures are from India. All 3 have signs in Hindi

Seriously WTF? It's not like all of India is like that. This is probably an old part of some city that wasn't designed with the telephone in mind. Reading the signs, I see signs for jewellers, a temple, a stall advertising lemonade. The only thing that comes closest to being a "call center" is the business that has put up the "STD/ISD/PCO" sign in the second picture. That's a bsiness that probably has couple of phone booths where you can make long distance and international calls from. Not exactly a "call center" as we understand it.

The places where customer service is actually done has better infrastructure.

I mean, there are some pretty good arguments why outsourcing of customer rep jobs to India is bad. Why link that with a bunch of messed up wires in some other part of India? It doesn't make sense. That is like saying that software developed in US is buggy because it is being developed by a couple of hillbillies!

[Mad Jay]

I googled the big jeweler in the second picture there(Shri Ram Hari Ram Jewelers) and it turns up in Chandni Chowk, Delhi. Chandni Chowk was "designed" by the Mughals and resides is a very old part of Delhi. Chandni CHowk is famous for it's wiring problem, and there have been fires because of exposed wires. If that is Chandi Chowk, most of the wiring is exposed electric wiring Even if there are any "call centers" in there, they probably represent a very small percentage of India's call centers.

[Not_Done_Living]

Another issue that i have witnessed personally is the THEFT of the wires, so thy can recycle the copper cables.

that is a MAJOR issue...

[TuFurg]

I could care less if the city was buried in wire as long as I was talking to someone who could speak English and actually, you know- help me.

Sad thing is that I know they're probably doing their best...it's Dell (or insert company here) that I'd like to smack in the face.

[Eddylizard]

Originally Posted by TuFurg

I could care less if the city was buried in wire as long as I was talking to someone who could speak English and actually, you know- help me.

Sad thing is that I know they're probably doing their best...it's Dell (or insert company here) that I'd like to smack in the face.

Perhaps they should change their name to Dell(hi).

I know what you mean. The last time I contacted the UK's leading telecoms suppliers (I will not name them for legal reasons, but their name is formed from one of the various adjectives for the nation where I live, that begins with B, and the word 'Telecom') I reached a UK call centre. The guy couldn't help me, so he transferred me to a call centre in Mumbai. The guy in Mumbai was extremely helpful, but couldn't resolve the issue, so he transferred me back to another call centre in the UK. After my phone calll had a Cook's Tour of two continents, I did get some resolution.

[Mad Jay]

I think "free customer service" is an oxymoron. There is no way customer service can be good if the price of the customer service is included in the price of the product. Customers should pay for service, and should have a selection of competing service providers to select from.

Originally Posted by Mad Jay

I think "free customer service" is an oxymoron. There is no way customer service can be good if the price of the customer service is included in the price of the product. Customers should pay for service, and should have a selection of competing service providers to select from.

Depends on the product, and what type of "service" your asking for.

I'd be seriously pissed off if I had to pay the cable company to tell them my service went out again. I'd be pissed off to call Dell to tell them my power supply burned up a month after I bought the machine.

On the other hand, if I'm calling Dell 2 years later to have someone hold my hand while I attempt to install Vista on my machine -- I wouldn't expect that to be free (and I have no idea if they'd do that or not).

The company I work for (a software company) has free customer service and technical support for the life of the product. This service comes from a team right here in our office here in Minneapolis, not somewhere across the globe. It's not cheap to offer but it's one of the selling points of our product, and as far as I know, customers are very pleased with it. Not all "free" customer service has to be crappy.

-Tim

[Johnny Slick]

Generally speaking, I think that most companies big enough to offer customer service understand that it's part of the cost of doing business. They're going to offer it for free some way or another because they don't want their customers to have to pay to get the company's mistakes fixed. That would be the kind of thing that could cause someone to look elsewhere for their widget.

Of course, customer service != technical support, although there is some gray area between the two spheres. And there are some methods that are cheaper than others that any company worth their salt is going to try and steer you towards: adding a feature to your cell phone account via the Internet is way cheaper for the company than having you call in to do it, for example. Still, at some level there almost has to be someone somewhere that you can talk about regarding billing or general dissatisfaction.

[hambubba]

Is there something wrong with the wiring in the pictures?

[Mad Jay]

Originally Posted by Johnny Slick

Generally speaking, I think that most companies big enough to offer customer service understand that it's part of the cost of doing business. They're going to offer it for free some way or another because they don't want their customers to have to pay to get the company's mistakes fixed. That would be the kind of thing that could cause someone to look elsewhere for their widget.

Yes I agree the customer shouldn't pay for the company's mistake, but as a customer, why should I be limited to the company's customer support to diagnose and fix the company's mistake. The company should allow the customer to contract third parties to diagnose and fix the mistake and reimburse the third party for the parts and labor. That way, the customer has a choice.

Of course, customer service != technical support, although there is some gray area between the two spheres. And there are some methods that are cheaper than others that any company worth their salt is going to try and steer you towards: adding a feature to your cell phone account via the Internet is way cheaper for the company than having you call in to do it, for example. Still, at some level there almost has to be someone somewhere that you can talk about regarding billing or general dissatisfaction.

Again in this case, the company can give third parties access to their system, and allow them to provide customer service for the customer. That way, I have a choice regarding the customer service I get. Why should a wireless provider get into the business of serving the customer? Their core strength is providing wireless service. Also, why should a customer who knows how to access their account through the Internet be forced to bear the cost of customer service for other less savvy users?

A good analogy is the auto industry. Honda manufacturers cars. Their core strength is designing and manufacturing vehicle. Does that mean they get into the business of selling/fixing/diagnosing/maintaining cars? No! They license and train other people to do that. And those people compete amongst each other to provide their services to me. If a part is defective, Honda issues a recall, and the customer can get the part replaced for free. Honda reimburses the dealer for the parts and labor. That system works so well! I have choice of service providers. I can go to a Honda Authorized dealer, and for a reasonable cost I am guaranteed reasonably good service. I have a choice of outside contractors that will give me service that is roughly equivalent to what I pay for. Or I can attempt to fix my own car, and if I am savvy enogh and have the correct tools, I can fix my car and I am not forced to pay for fixing other people's cars.

I think the outsourcing that is going on now is sort of a step in this direction. The market is ripe for independent contractors that provide good paid customer service. Already, we see companies like Geek Squad that are in essence providing paid technical support. (never mind the partnership with Best Buy). The market is ready for more companies like Geek Squad.

Originally Posted by TuFurg

I could care less if the city was buried in wire as long as I was talking to someone who could speak English and actually, you know- help me.

Actually, I would take "help me" over a clear command of English.

I've called my share of call centers and I have not found a pattern of which provides better service, an "English" based one or a "Hindi" based one. Both have been equally bad.

There are already a good number of private companies that will fix your computer for a fee -- you don't HAVE to go back through Dell (or whoever the manufacturer is).

I can't speak for others, but the only time I dealt with Dell tech support was when my power supply fried itself, and I wasn't sure what was going on (computer wouldn't start up, literally days out of warranty). Their support sucked, by the way -- they first of all asked me ridiculous questions (like "how many lights are on" when I told them I had no power at all..) then told me I had to have a new motherboard. Even though I had already ran some tests on the power supply (jumping the correct pins to make it come on, and testing the voltages, which looked good) I decided it was worth a $30 power supply to make sure. I put the new one in and it fired right up. No thanks to Dell tech support.

As I said before, I'm in the software industry, and most of our calls (from what I understand -- I'm in engineering/development) are of the "how do I make your product do this" sort of questions. Although many colleges teach courses of our product, you're not likely to get support like this from anyone but us.

-Tim

[Nick Theodorakis]

Originally Posted by Doug4.7

Actually, I would take "help me" over a clear command of English.

I've called my share of call centers and I have not found a pattern of which provides better service, an "English" based one or a "Hindi" based one. Both have been equally bad.

I have good support from people with obvious Indian accents, and poor support from people who spoke American-accented English, and all permutations of above. The problem is, as I see it, that the same call center has people that know what they are doing, as well as new hires that are using a script, and unfortunately, there is no option on the voice mail system that says "press 9 to talk to someone who might know more about this problem than you do."

Nick