Indian Accent Doesn’t Fly (Delta Air Lines, J P Morgan drop use of Indian call centers)

LittleIndia ^

[nickcarraway]

Citing a backlash from customers who complained that they were finding Indian accents hard to understand, Delta Air Lines has dropped the use of Indian call centers to handle sales and reservations.

Delta is retaining its call centers in Jamaica and South Africa, which generate far fewer complaints.

Under criticism from angry Florida lawmakers, JP Morgan has also announced that it will no longer route food stamp recipient calls to Indian call centers. The company services Florida’s Electronic Benefit Transfer program. The company directed overflow calls from EBT card holders to two Indian call centers.

Sen. Ronda Storms, R-Valrico, said, “We should not have any jobs going outside of the country. We have enough people here in our country, we need to take care of our own who need to work.”

[3niner]

I think the Jamaican accents are often easier to understand than the Atlanta accents.

[Hop A Long Cassidy]

>>>And the result is crap code that NO ONE can decipher

No one is faster at completing the first 90 percent of a job... it’s the remaining 10 percent that’s the problem.

“Rajeh, have you started the project yet?”

“Yes, I’m 90 percent done.”

“Wow, you just started this morning. How can you be 90 percent complete on a 3 month project?”

“Oh, it’s an easy project.”

(a year later)

“Rajeh, D***, have you finished yet?”

“Oh yes, almost sir. We would be done, except for (blame it on someone who’s not there)”

---

The difference in productivity of programmers is infinite. In groups, the difference in productivities can be 40 times or more. The big worry is not the completion rate of these programmers... it’s the damage they can cause by their mistakes.

[Larry381]

Anybody who owns a Dell computer and has called their tech support in India can vouch for the idiocy of this policy.
While the Indians are polite and try to help it is still very difficult to understand them. Every time I have called Dell Tech Support I eventually have to ask to speak to someone in the states to get the problem resolved.

[calex59]

What gets me are the ones who say their name is John or Mary or some other American sounding name trying to make you think they are in America, but their accent is so thick you can’t understand anything else they say.

[Beagle8U]

I was in an auto accident a few years ago and suffered a mild concussion. The hospital scheduled me for a follow-up appointment with a specialist the next day who happened to be an Indian Doctor.

The first question he ask me was how I feel today.

I replied “fair to partly cloudy”. ( I felt fine.)

The idiot went off on a nut, walking around in circles saying he didn't understand cloudy...what makes you cloudy...bla bla bla.

I tried to explain that it meant nothing and was just a weather play on words, like a joke.

He then ask why the weather made me cloudy.

I told him he was a F’in moron and ended the conversation by walking out.

[the long march]

Roger that. And it isn’t just the off shore guys who do this kind of thing ( though they may be the most recognizable). I still remember the guy at a start up that I worked at who a) was not a programmer by training or trade; b) was barely a E.E.; c) bragged about how he had written 10,000 lines of code the first 6 weeks on the job; AND e) not one function that was supposed to be provided by his software worked.

[KarlInOhio]

Anybody who owns a Dell computer and has called their tech support in India can vouch for the idiocy of this policy.

Dell tech support.

step 1. I will need you to reboot your computer.

If this fixes the problem thank the customer for buying Dell. If it doesn't, then go onto step 2.

step 2. I will need you to get the restore CD which came with your computer. (and never tell the customer to back up his data because the restore disk will erase everything)

[Larry381]

priceless

[KarlInOhio]

Never make puns and other language jokes with foreign doctors. They have enough problems with strange English words for medical terms. An Argentine immigrant told me about when her husband, who was an M.D., just got here. One of his first patients complained about a charlie horse. He had to ask his nurse out in the hallway what a charlie horse was. I think he wanted to send the patient to a veterinarian.

[Beagle8U]

They should learn the language and the culture before they get a license to practice medicine here.

[Cyclone59]

Indian accountant are even worse than Indian programmers - I’ve worked with both. I was asked why the beginning balance for April was the same as the ending balance for March. Last month they attempted to load a journal entry where the amount of debits did not equal the amount of credits - ummm, it was a two line journal entry. For the month of April, they reloaded the March invoices into the system again. The latest was just the other day - we developed a large macro driven spreadsheet that is used for consolidating data with pivot tables and the like. This thing is so large that you need to put the spreadsheet on manual calculation before you import data - or else it will take hours. After the import is complete you put it back in autocalc then run the macro. These idiots had to get their IT department to look at it - it took them hours to figure it out. To make matters worse they didn’t even read their standard operating procedures doco - which they were here for 3 months writing - the instructions were clearly written out in black and white.

[max americana]

My HP laptop tech line was from India...I wanted to strangle the guy after 30 minutes.

[Condor51]

Citing a backlash from customers who complained that they were finding Indian accents hard to understand, Delta Air Lines has dropped the use of Indian call centers to handle sales and reservations.

Okay 'SERIES'.
I've seen this picture with Dell Computers. At first it was kind of funny, some Indian saying; "Hi, my name is Tommy, how can I help you".

But the humor wore off real quick when I got some 'Jimmy' that I couldn't understand at all. It got to the point that I'd just hang up and try to fix the problem myself.

And U.S. Telephone Customer Service isn't much better at times. The problem there is I don't speak or understand Ebonics. That too is a quick hangup when I get some mumbling 'LaTeesha'.

[Condor51]

Someone who can afford phone service while on the dole is someone who should get a cut in benefits.

You seem to have forgotten, or are unaware, that thanks to Al Gore and Jesse Jackson WE are paying for their telephone service.

Its a line item on YOUR BILL, but hidden by its language: Federal Universal Service Fee. And below that is your State Universal Service Fee. Here's a link that explains it in detail Phone Bill Detailed Charges (fcc.gov)

Bottom line, those 'Universal Service Fees' pay for the po' folk to have a land-line. Don't you feel better now? (just kidding)

[Rookie Cookie]

How much of it has to actually do with anti-outsourcing sentiments then real problem understanding accents?

[pnh102]

WE are paying for their telephone service.

Ugh... I hate the USF. Part of me hopes that Google Voice accepts number porting soon... I can at least consider dumping my cell phone and having it ring on my work cell phone instead.

[Condor51]

Ugh... I hate the USF. Part of me hopes that Google Voice accepts number porting soon... I can at least consider dumping my cell phone and having it ring on my work cell phone instead.

Grrrr, now I'm really depressed.

I went back to that link I posted and looked at a Sample Wireless (Cellphone) Bill. Even THAT has that "po Folk Fee".

"Universal Connectivity Charge" (sometimes called the Universal Services Fund):
"Although this fee is not required by the government, many service providers choose to pass their contribution costs to their customers in the form of a minimal fee. This money goes to a fund to assure telephone service to all households."

Those gubmint turds have us coming and going.
Besides a land-line, we're paying for Jamal to have a Cell Phone so he can do his drug deals.

So I'm going to check my next T-Mobile Bill real close. If that Fee is on there, I'm gonna be b**ching to someone. Let then recoup their 'contribution costs' from Jesse Jackson!
(I can't cancel. I'm still stuck in a plan when I got two new 'FREE' upgraded phones)

Plus, I know we're also paying for a 'Po Folk Internet Fee'.
Jesse Jagmo was moaning blacks didn't have Internet service. So Al Gore & Clinton pushed that onto us too.

[top 2 toe red]

...a lot of them are dumber than a box of rocks!

That's for sure...sadly, I learned from experience, that the ones that work for Dell can completely ruin a computer in under 3 hours!

[Cronos]

"I am veddy sorry for your problems getting twice as much for sitting on your butt all day than I do for getting a college degree and then working 60 hours a week." [mute] "Rajee, I cannot believe this. He is not working and he gets paid. I swear by the many arms of Vishnu that I would kick his butt if he was here with me."

That is HILARIOUS :))))

[Cronos]

Any time I need fast technical support for a production issue and they put me through to an Indian that I cannot understand (& I do try), I immediately ask for the supervisor to join the call. When the supervisor has to repeat every word in translation, they get the message.

Well, to be honest, I doubt you'd be able to understand a Manx or Geordie accent either. And if this was a yo-shizzle-muh-dizzle-gangsta (that could be black OR white, but rapper scum either way) accent would befuddle me too!