TIP: How to talk to reps.

Hey guys. I would like to share my recent experience with talking to the reps.
Once, I have upgraded my T60 to windows vista, then I decided to go back to xp, but I couldn't because I formatted the hard drive and couldn't access the rescue and recovery environment. I called the Lenovo tech support, one rude woman with indian accent picked up the phone, then I explained my issue, she told me that she can't do anything and that It would cost me 45 bucks to order recovery cds. I was very disappointed.
Then, I hung up the phone and called again in the hope of reaching another more helpful rep. Afterwards, a very friendly American woman pick the phone up, I explained the issue , she placed the order with no questions and the next day a DHL guy delivered my cds.
My conclusion is: if you can't resolve your issue with rep, just hang up the phone and call back again, it's very possible that another rep could solve your issue.
Just wanted to give some tips for people who can't resolve their issues.

 

i don't see why the ethnicity of the reps was necessary in this story.

 

He is from GA....it matters to him.

But seriously, the customer service is in US....right? Wouldn't they all be Americans?

 

I think it is necessary.

Most likely the indian rep was based in india, while the other rep was in America.

Damn outsourcing.

 

There are lots of Indian people and latinos working in call centers in the US and Canada.

 

But if he dialed the same number, wouldn't he have reached the same operation center?
I don't want to start a debate, but this is a big issue for a lot of people.
I am not a fan of outsourcing either as the answer never gets anywhere and I just get annoyed trying to understand what people are saying on the phone (it is easier in person but on the phone it is harder).

At my company, we do certain type of outsourcing, and their answer is usually based on FAQ they have available to them. Teams on US side (where I work) any other questions are answered by teams working to find additional information as well regarding an incident that come in, but people ask questions to predict follow up questions that may come up as well.
However, I do understand that I get paid quite a bit more than the people working in the outsourced location.

 

Yes, but he wouldn't have known that they were not Americans.

 

that's right.
2 Satch. I didn't mean that. I am not racist.
My point was that if you can't resolve your issue regardless wether it is American/Indian/Latino, just hang the phone up and call back again to reach a more helpful rep.

 

Dell outsources to India as well and I've made dozens of service calls there in the past 10 years for work and personal machines. I've had fantastic service, mediocre service, frustrating service -- you name it. Unless someone wants to claim it all depends upon which "caste" the rep belonged to, I'd second the suggestion that ethnicity and nationality be left out of this.... (and honestly, I don't think the original poster meant to imply that it was a factor) I personally oppose outsourcing, but not because I think service will automatically be more helpful in the U.S.

 

im pretty sure that he just trying to describe the details of the story and didnt have much to work with except how each person sounded over the phone.

 

I don't believe the OP meant to say it to mean what people thought it would be.....but we do live in America

It is like saying talking like a Black person and sounding Asian......nothing wrong with it, but it is viewed negative. I am cool with almost everything.....but if you are going to outsource....at least give them some more options on those FAQs.

 

I'd rather deal with an American call center for a varity of reasons. My experience with Dell service is exactly why I buy from Lenovo. The IBM call centers I had delt with are either Americans or Canadians; at least that was my past experience. IF nothing else, language is a BIG barrier (words as well as nuance), the quality of the phone line (there is always a delay or poor to passable voice quality) and they have to repeat the issue 500 times seemingly with every sentence "So the problem you're having is...".

No, I'm not from Georgia either, but that was pretty funny.

Regards-Michael G.

 

mgerbasio......so true.....and I agree that anyone that is going to discuss here will not mean to be derogatory to particular race. Unless I see someone post "F those (insert color here) people".

But I must say, they really like to confirm what you say too.

 

Agreed^^^^

As soon as somebody says black, indian, or whatever. Some people want to automatically assume it's some form of racism. These words can be used as descriptive words without any other implications.

BTW, "hotboy" also referred to both salespeople as being a "woman". So he's obviously a sexist as well.

 

no offense.. but everytime I called IBM tech support now, I got indian rep. (I think they are indians by their accent.) I sometimes have trouble understanding them and asked them to repeat. Some were nice and said that again, but some were kind of rude and impatient, like I am a dumb or something...

 

I had no idea how well the racist (thought) police have done their job.

very Orwellian!

 

Indeed! It really is sad sometimes isn't it?

On topic, I can definitely relate to this, as I've had both experiences with Dell reps. When calling tech support, language can be a TREMENDOUS barrier to actually getting the issue resolved, seeing as how the *only* method of communication when calling is, obviously, over the phone using words. As a customer, I honestly don't care what country a rep is from, as long as I can understand what they're saying and they know how to do their job properly.

It is kind of sad though that sometimes you have to hang up and call back in hopes of getting a different rep, but hey no tech support centers are perfect.

 

dell XPS support has been great for me. Outsources or not, they get on the chat right away, fix my problem, are polite, and professional. Im apprehaensive about Lenovo service, but we will find out soon.

 

everyone's sorta racist. white people, non-white people. There are so many minorities are racist against everyone but their own ethnicity/culture. I see so many black people that are angry with the whiteman for his being white and what that connotates. It's part of the culture. and of course, every culture for the most part would rather see its children married off into one of their own culture.

 

is this NBR or NPR?

 

While we're on the topic of tech support.

I had a router that wouldn't pull down a public IP from a DHCP server. I had reset it, upgraded its firmware, changed the settings, made sure it was correctly plugged in etc. And it still didn't pull down an IP so I gave up and called tech support. The Indian rep didn't even listen to me. I told him what I had already done and he basically walked me through everything I had already done. Only to say at the end of doing everything I had already done that my router was defective and I need to bring it in. Gee thanks.

I don't put much weight in tech support. Since then I haven't bought additional support on anything I own and it has worked out well. That's why I won't go for any of lenovo's extended support plans.

 

A-HA!.....So that's why my keyboard leans to the left!!!

 

I took some editing liberties with the original post, including adding the word "whiter" at the end, to show how I read it. Basically I see Indian/non-American = rude and unhelpful, while American = friendly, good. In all fairness, hotboy clarifies the statement a few posts later, but the undercurrent of racism in this thread really disturbs me. All of the people chiming in to defend the logic advocating "keep calling until you get an american/white rep and they will solve everything because they know your pain of dealing with those annoying foreigners with accents" is scary. I know that a lot of people on NBR are not stereotypical American types and things like this alienate them.

Sorry I can't make some feel better about not wanting to interact with foreigners. The world is a big place and you may have to get used to it.

 

I think everybody knows it's a fact that outsourced reps for most companies aren't as well trained than those here in America. Whenever I call I ask where they're located at if I get an out sourced location I'm a lot quicker to end the call sooner than if they aren't out sourced. I have had some major problems with customer service reps that are out sourced and on several occasions they have given me critically wrong information about my problem or question. In a nutshell...out sourced call centers aren't as good as American call centers...it's cheaper to out source and the companies get what they pay for...lower end customer service.

 

umm actually i would like to order a recovery dvd. can i just email them and ask for one? how much do they charge for original recovery dis?

 

null84. They didn't charge me anything. It depends on the rep. But if you try the way I did, it's likely that you will get them for free too.

 

I just want good service. I think this includes being able to understand the support person. I don't care if they have an accent as long as it is not so thick that you can't understand what they are saying.

Let's suppose you have three tech support reps to choose from: Indian with thick accent, Black American with thick accent, or White American with a mouth full of food. They are all a poor choice, and I don't care which one I talk to. Just give me the one that is the easiest to understand, the most knowledgeable, and the most likely to help me. I guess the only way to make the choice is if you have talked to all three in the past.

 

I have talked to all kinds of reps , except the White American with a mouth full of food.

 

haahaa...
sorry, can't help laughing...

 

Isn't the whole idea to give the customer what they want?

When I deal with American Express, my first call always goes overseas, I guess to India, who knows where and I don't care. My first comment is "switch me back to an American call center" which they immediately do. I pay a preimum for Amex and the level of service I expect is preimum. I don't want to deal with accents, different cultures and trying to explain myself; I want to state my problem once and not explain it seven different ways and want a quick resolution. I'm not interested in being politically correct, globalism or anything other than my problem.

Obviously when buying a PC my choices are much more limited as to where I can get tech support. I'd love to see a preimum price for American call centers as an option. I'm happy to vote with my wallet.

Regards-Michael G.

 

[edited by moderator]

 

Isn't the time of day that you call the deciding factor here? Where is the main American Lenovo call center located? Maybe some here have asked a rep? If it's just the one, deciding to call within business hours in that time zone, excluding lunchtime, should improve the chances of American rep responses.

 

Let's keep it civil in here please, avoid comments that could offend certain ethnic groups.

 

Assuming you are not simply trying to get a gratuitous rise out of us, exactly whom are you calling "ethnic"???

This mud-slinging is absurd. Language barriers aside, the real issue is outsourcing, whether it is foreign OR domestic. Ever tried to get good support out of ANY company that is subcontracting its customer service? The bottom line is that the subcontractor's real client isn't the purchaser of the product but the manufacturer. And what keeps a manufacturer happy with the subcontractor? CHEAP costs, as in cheap labor (hence overseas reps) AND cheap service with the fewest possible claims (hence the inane, endless scripts of questions.)

The original pp IMHO had a great tip... if you don't get a helpful rep the first time, try, try again. Ethnicity be ??!@, what we all want is simply customer support that cares about supporting US.

 

Thank you.