Am I “The Ugly American”?

The last few weeks I have had to call various customer services and tech supports. The calls have been answered by “Kevin,” “Mike,” or “Steve,” and sometimes “Sarah,” all of whom have strong foreign accents.

Now I have taught a lot of college foreign students, I live in an area with a lot of non-native English speakers and I have no problems understanding them.

But over a phone connection halfway around the world when I am stressed anyway, talking with “Kevin,” “Mike,” or “Steve,” and sometimes “Sarah,” can be beyond frustrating. I keep saying “I don’t understand,” “please say that again,” “can you spell that?”

I try to be polite. That's how I am. Usually.

My stress level rises. And they always call me “Han.”

They are trained to be patient and polite, but on occasion I have been “accidentally” disconnected. I once asked to speak to a native English speaking person when my head was exploding. After about fifteen minutes on hold, the phone went dead. When I called back, I had to start all over with “Kevin,” “Mike,” or “Steve,” and sometimes “Sarah.”

I purposely chose one company because their tech support was in Las Vegas. My problems were quickly solved. They are no longer there. Now I get “Kevin,” “Mike,” or “Steve,” and sometimes “Sarah.” I miss my friends in Las Vegas. I wonder if they were able to find new jobs.

“The Ugly American” is used to refer to obnoxious Americans who travel abroad and become angry when they can't communicate.

Is it me? Or am I just dealing with the wrong companies?

Comments

[Sherry in MT]

Wrong companies and you are among the majority with your frustrations. Wish these US companies would "get it" when it comes to customer service!

[jackie]

I got so enraged after 20-30 minutes of 'what?, say again, can't understand you.'..that I said 'look assholes, if I'm going to have to speak to an Indian, I wanna speak to an American Indian..give me one with a feather and not a dot.'...sigh*

[Stumpy and me]

Wavin' to you from 70 miles east of Vegas!

When HP moved their entire tech support to the middle east I was out of my mind and swore I would never buy an HP product. That vow is still good today. I understand that these peoples speak English, as a second language, brilliantly. But man, it's hard enough communicating tech problems over the phone with out a heavy accent thrown in. It also upsets me that these people are being payed peanuts to deal with irate, bitchy,ugly Americans, like me.

I hope our dogs know how lucky they are that we deal with that crap for them!
Happy, Waggin' Tails, FUREVER!
Stumpy and me

[Bob]

Jan---I indeed understand your frustration in dealing with trying to resolve technical issues on the other side of the world. It seems our US Companies are only concerned about their bottom line profit and Customer Service is no longer a "pride point". Studebaker had the same philosophy years ago when it came to quality workmanship and told there workers that the production line never stops. If there is a quality problem let the Dealership fix it as they are being paid a lower hourly rate. They ignored the fact that the Customer got the car first and was the Customer who had to take the car to the Dealership to be made right. Hence loyality to the product line declined. Maybe that needs to happen to Companies now who do not take Customer Service seriously.

[EmilyS]

you know I remember some years ago when the offshoring of customer service was starting.... there were all kinds of articles and tv news items about how Indians (the India kind...) were learning how to talk colloquially in English. It was all a fraud. The only part that remained was the staff taking on American names. "Sarah" was bad enough... it's the "Tiffany", "Courtney" and "Ashton" names that get my goat.

[Karen Friesecke]

I must be an Ugly Canadian because my head almost explodes when I call certain customer service hot lines. I live in an area that is heavily populated with South Asians and I still can't understand what the reps on the other end of the line in India are saying. If I was buying a product or service and the only difference was customer service support in North America, you know what my choice would be.

[Anji]

My son works for a telephone company in the UK. Yes they only employ UK residents. He says that his problem is not being able to understand customers because they are not born English speakers and not only their accents are terrible but their grammar is too.

Seems it goes both ways

[Heather]

You are not alone! I try to always be polite & pleasant to EVERYONE, but after a few minutes on the phone with tech support trying to fix my HP printer, I was a MAD woman.

[Jodi]

I totally understand your frustration; customer service is practically non-existent and until the PTB start seeing a decline in their salaries, profits and bonus' you will not see any changes.

I recently went to purchase new sneakers and found that only ONE shoe manufacturer makes a portion of their shoes in the US.

I went directly to the New Balance store (not a dept store that carries NB) and paid an arm and a leg for a pair of sneakers, BUT I made a point to tell the salesman WHY I was spending my money in their store. Because I want "MADE IN AMERICA" on my shoes, on a lable across my ass and on my car.

[Kristine]

It's definitely frustrating. And against my better nature I have been known to sigh upon hearing the voice at the other end. I do try to look at it from their point of view - it's not as if they are thrilled with their jobs either. I highly doubt "Sarah's" dream was to grow up and help Ugly Americans fix their computers. It kind of just sucks all around.

[melf]

Nope. It's not just you. Our company has recently decided to move some call enters back on shore. I don't know the reasons behind it, but I do know there were often complaints about not being able to understand the people answering the phones. They also had common American names.

[Pamela]

I don't generally have phone customer service problems because I buy so little to begin with. But I did have the opposite situation of yours when dealing with Sears.

I bought a gas grill as a housewarming gift for my sister. When we started to assemble it, a bag of parts was missing. I called SEARS customer service where I talked to three different very nice people with Southern accents. They were so sympathetic and so sweet my teeth started to hurt but they were absolutely unable to resolve my problem.

After the last "Aww, Hon, I understand why you're so frustrated. Let me transfer you to..." I lost it and bought new parts at the hardware store.

Mac customer service in India, on the other hand, was fabulous as the tech person on the other end talked us through a sticky problem.

Of course, Apple is well-known for its excellent customer service while Sears is not.

I've never bought anything from Sears since but I'm on my second Apple computer. :)

[Karen F]

I don't buy from companies that outsource American jobs to other countries. Its wrong and it creates poverty within their local American communities. Lost jobs means poorer people, some of who wind up in the street.

On another note, I can not stand those trilling Indian accents. They drive me up the wall. I don't have to buy or do business with them, so I don't. My choice.