My New Friend in India

Today I had my first memorable conversation with an international call center. My roommate and I had not been able to get online because our Netgear Wireless Router was not working. So I decided to call Netgear’s support line. I was at first impressed to see all the different ways they allowed customers to contact them for help. They have a User Forum, which seems like a great way to offer feedback about products or for Netgear to see things that their customers don’t like. It reminds me of a blog simply focused on the feedback aspect. Because our problem was time sensitive, in other words my roommate and I had projects and neither of us enjoy going to the library, I decided to use the Regular Phone Support. After about 20 minutes on the phone with a very friendly agent, my problem was fixed with little frustration on my part. Yes, it was at times difficult to understand what he was saying, but he was always polite saying “yes ma’am” and “wonderful ma’am.” While we were waiting for my router to reboot, he asked what state I was from and I asked him where he was from. We small chatted about the time difference between Oregon and India and I told him about the beautiful spring day we were having here. It was a pleasant experience, and in no time my internet was back up and working.

 

I’m not only writing this post because The World is Flat 3.0 spends a great deal of time talking about call centers in India, but also because of the reactions so many American’s have about these call centers. So many people hate call centers because they hate not being able to understand someone when they have a problem. I know, it’s frustrating to repeat yourself and have someone not understand what you are trying to say. However, if you are patient and go into the phone call with enough time you might just have a pleasant experience.

 

I wonder if soon we will see a PR campaign to help American’s adjust to international call centers. I would be interested in what type of campaign would be effective?