Re: Awesome Nokia support (sarcasm alert)
 

I think the word "racism" was a stretch of the word. But complaining about someone's accent in a globalized economy is a bit unfair. I mean Nokia is a Swedish company, so you might have gotten a representative with an accent like the Swedish chef on the Muppet show - Why do you assume that you deserve someone who speaks your exact language in your exact accent?
My English isn't bad, it's my second language though. When I call the US for customer service or other professional business, many times I have trouble understanding people's accents, sometimes it's not the accent but all sorts of idioms that are taken for granted in the US. Frustrating, but that's the way it goes.
It probably isn't racism but it is a bit anglo-centric to expect that everyone fits theirselves into your standards.

Re: Awesome Nokia support (sarcasm alert)
 

This is very true. The problem comes in .. while a perfect english speaking representative could be a complete idiot - and a non-english speaking (or poor english speaking) person is a genius.. the former might actually be of more help to the companies customer than the latter (assuming english speaking customers here).. simply because in the latter people get frustrated, annoyed, and angry (this on both sides, the rep and the client) because they are constantly repeating the same phrases, constantly reiterating things over and over, and feeling like you're getting absolutely no where.

I actually disagree with out-sourcing jobs not because I don't think we should be "helping" some "poor" people/country get "our" money (to me, that POV is borderline racist, actually, even in reverse: If you think it's a GOOD thing because we ARE, it's the same thing).. I disagree with it because of 2 fundamental principals: The companies do it to save money because these other countries are cheaper, IE, cheap labor. That is also somewhat a racist take - just because they are willing to take less money doesn't mean they should have to... and I also believe that the location of your call center/customer service is completely irrelevant, but what is perfectly relevant is that everyone that works for a specific branch that handles calls from a specific region should speak that regions language fluently.

That of course negates the whole reason the company is doing it in the first place, since now they have to spend even more money either training or finding fluent speaking people in every language they support and may as well just keep their center in the country being serviced in the first place.

And to that I say: Right. Stop penny pinching making customer service a near horrid experience for everyone. This has nothing to do with intellect of any party involved. I just think companies should care more about customer interaction and experiences. Unfortunately, most companies let that take a back seat to saving $$$ and I don't agree with that.

Re: Awesome Nokia support (sarcasm alert)
 

Just a joke mate

Re: Awesome Nokia support (sarcasm alert)
 

If i call customer service of a place called "NOKIA USA" i expect to speak to some one who speaks the main language of the USA. when i call NOKIA EURO or AFRICA i expect to speak with some one who speaks the applicable language.

imagine if you will for a second:

I see the phone advertised on NOKIA/usa (advertised in English writing to English speaking residents of america)

I buy the phone in NEW YORK (a English speaking American city)

I buy from a American English speaking cashier and talk with a American English speaking regional manager (English is the primary language in the USA runner up is Spanish)

I pay for this device in US DOLLARS (the official Currency of the United States)

These US Dollars have English words written on them

My receipt is printed out in English

The Language programed on the phone is English

Now imagine my frustration when i have a problem with this phone and i call a customer service rep who can not speak English to a reasonable degree? after the smooth transitions to the phone all being done in very easy to use and easy to understand English I now have to deal with a problem with some one who cant understand me and i cant understand them.

This is how regular old customer service calls escalate very quickly.

For the record if you call customer service and ask to speak with some one who speaks clear English (preferably a manager ) they will find one for you and it usually doesn't take too long

Re: Awesome Nokia support (sarcasm alert)
 

When I was living in Russia and working for a US company, were they outsourcing? I was always curious about that :) I was working for a Russian company at the same time -- were THEY outsourcing?

Re: Awesome Nokia support (sarcasm alert)
 

Well as I said the important thing is customer experience.. The actual location of the call center is mostly irrelevant to how well the rep speaks the language of the caller.

So, while it is still technically outsourcing since the US company wasn't really hiring "US" workers (they may have gotten a couple, but doubtful the majority there were :)) - it's not wholly a horrific thing if all of the people spoke that companies customers languages.

It's like, here in the US, we have a lot of "press 1 for English, 2 for Spanish".. what companies are advocating is me pressing 2 for Spanish, getting a guy who speaks greek, and happens to know the word "Hola"...

It just doesn't cut it. If I press 2 for Spanish I expect to get a Spanish speaking person (doesn't have to be of any latin/hispanic/whatever decent, could be totally white, or black, or whatever, it's how well they speak the language that matters.)

Re: Awesome Nokia support (sarcasm alert)
 

It isn't racism.

The issue is that customers want and deserve regional support. People who identify with them. The further support is removed from the issue, geographically and culturally, the more difficult problem resolution can be.

That's not to say ALL support must or should be regional. Obviously companies should be applying context and common sense to the subject.

Just as should the people reading forum posts.

That's certainly a reasonable expectation.

Re: Awesome Nokia support (sarcasm alert)
 

I understand it's frustrating. But the US has always prided itself as being open to immigration. Should immigrants be barred from customer service because of their accents? Should they not be teachers, policemen, postal clerks? Should they only be trash collectors and supermarket baggers?

Re: Awesome Nokia support (sarcasm alert)
 

They could be customer service for other immigrants of their language...

However - this touches on an entirely different subject: Should you be required to learn the language of a country that you plan to live in..... or should the country you are moving too be required to change everything for you?

Re: Awesome Nokia support (sarcasm alert)
 

Sure you should learn. But it takes time. And involves patience of all involved.