Because if you can’t understand each other, the problem won’t get solved.
I used to work for an American multinational with call centers in Philadelphia (the one where 2nd tier was - I was part of 3rd tier, we moved around a lot and were not considered part of CS), Shanghai and Mumbai. You got one or the other depending on what time you called. For several years, the only possible mode of communication was by phone; users could not send email, get an email with the proposed solution, use the company-wide IM service… and we were located in 60 countries, including several where English would not be anybody’s first or even second language.
Most people could not understand the Indian shift’s workers. The Chinese were the ones non-Anglos preferred, as they pronounced very clearly, had no problem repeating or talking slowly and always managed to sound like they were both interested in your issue and happy to talk with you; the Indians were actively avoided by both Anglos and non-.
The 2nd-in-command from CS was an arrogant ass who was known to his subordinates as TB (the bastard); every three months he’d send this letter to every user, along the lines of:
The 6th or so time around, he caught me on a bad day, and I wrote back
Dude flew off the handle, I got called in by my boss (pal of his), then a phone call from his boss - who had not read the original email, was horrified when he did, admitted he did not understand the Indians either and changed protocols so that:
email would be monitored,
callers could ask to move to IM,
if you had a CS Person’s IM addy, you could use it to contact them.
I still count it as one of my biggest victories ever.
And what Nava said in regard to accents- if they are so thick (the accents) that it is difficult to understand, the customer will not be satisfied. There is no great mystique about that- I would never dream of getting a job in a call centre in Ireland or Scotland as I can have difficulty understanding their accents and I am sure they would have the same problem with my accent.
:: knocks on wood: I’ve been really lucky that I haven’t had to call for customer service for anything for quite a while. In the past it seems I mostly get American accents with the occasional Indian accent.
When I was an undergrad I worked customer service jobs because they were plentiful and worked around my schedule. I would often get people who were THRILLED to get an American on the phone. Honestly I could understand it for elderly folks because many of them don’t hear so great over the phone and had a hard time understanding. It was disappointing how often people that were younger would make disparaging comments about talking to foreigners or would come right out and say racially/ethnically offensive things.
This one time I had to call up the Royal Bank Of Scotland.
It’s the only time I’ve ever wished I was put through to an Indian call centre.
Couldn’t understand a damn word of this woman’s Glaswegian accent! lol