Competing with Dell and other Indian companies

[time]

http://www.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,4057,5178705%5E15306,00.html

I'd use this to question the pro-Dell sentiment that some people here occasionally display. No doubt this will be yet more ammunition for Red Hill et al.

For several months now we've been receiving telemarketing calls (mostly for telcos, ironically) from Indian nationals, who we increasingly suspect are still in India. Actually, just from my favourite telco, Arstel, now that I think about it.

It used to be a given that canvassers calling from overseas were trying to con you with a scam. Looking at some of the companies that have embraced the concept (M$, HPQ, Dell, Telstra), I'm not sure what's changed.

 

[Adcadet]

I still refer friends and family to our local Mom&Pop shop in town. I just looked at a machine they built for a friend - great parts, good price, good service. A no brainer.

 

[Bartender]

HA! Here, at the Pub and Brewery, everything is still inhouse! If you don't like the service, food, or beverage - come see me! If I don't like you, I'll let Tea straighten things out.

 

[Mercutio]

It's a "multinational" thing. India has a decent education system and they're awake when most of the US is asleep, so they get hired for 24hr call center operations in the US. Somehow it's cheaper to pay an Indian in India to take your call than it is to pay for the international phone calls.

I've talked to Indians representing Gateway, HP (UNIX support), Xerox and IBM, all of whom admitted they were in India - believe me, I ask, since I usually can't understand them.

The worst support-center call I ever had was with a tech from BP. The guy a Pakistani who had been raised in Louisiana. He had a lilting, Indian-type accent along with a slow drawl and Creole inflection. Dreadful.

 

[SteveC]

It's not as bad as what we have here. We have prisoners answering the NJ Tourism Hot Line!

Steve

 

[timwhit]

It's not as bad as what we have here. We have prisoners answering the NJ Tourism Hot Line!

Steve

That's the craziest thing I have heard all day, even more crazy than the Freedom Ship. Haha

 

[Bartender]

It's not as bad as what we have here. We have prisoners answering the NJ Tourism Hot Line!

Steve

That is fantastic!

 

[SteveC]

Maybe Dell is just as bad.
http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/54/25343.html

Steve

 

[Bartender]

As much as I disagree with prisoners providing technical support, they do receive, or at least have the opportunity to receive, an excellent education on a variety of subjects (e.g. law, science, computers).

 

[SteveC]

As much as I disagree with prisoners providing technical support, they do receive, or at least have the opportunity to receive, an excellent education on a variety of subjects (e.g. law, science, computers).

That's true, but I'm not sure how much you can learn about computers from recycling them. I would feel different about it if it was computer training.

Steve

 

[Explorer]

...The worst support-center call I ever had was with a tech from BP. The guy a Pakistani who had been raised in Louisiana. He had a lilting, Indian-type accent along with a slow drawl and Creole inflection. Dreadful.

The hardest English for me to understand -- and probably a lot of "western" English speakers -- has to be India / South-Asian subcontinent English. The grammar is always correct, but the pronunciation can be off the mark, sometimes significantly. Many years ago, I was in an electrical engineering class and the professor was fresh from India. His pronunciation of the word "register" (ree-jist-er) was virtually identical to his pronunciation of the word "resistor" (ree-jhist-er). There were actually several of his words we had trouble with, but "register" and "resistor" were killing us all. Nobody, even the 3 Iranian students in the class, could understand him very well! We finally had to force him to start writing certain things he said on the blackboard.

 

[James]

Every time you phone Vodafone in Australia your call is in fact answered in India. They get 3 months of "Strine" language training, accent and all, and every day before they start their shift they are given a briefing on what the weather is like around Australia, what the results from the game last night were, etc.

Compaq does the exact same thing for its US support, except obviously they are language trained with a variety of US dialects.

For Australian Voda customers, next time you phone 123 see how much Aussie knowledge the person on the other end of the phone has. Also, they have been told to say that they are located in various places in Australia, but sometimes you get an honest one who will tell you they're actually in Bangalore.

 

[Pradeep]

Very interesting James, I guess the cost of routing the call to India is far less than the cost of paying an Australian to answer the phone. A friend of mine used to work in the call centre for I believe Vodaphone in Hobart a few years ago.

 

[Pradeep]

Hmm I guess that was in 1996, amazing how time flies.

 

[Fushigi]

It's not just call centers. All sorts of customer service is being handled in India. A coworker of mine, from India originally, knows the guy who runs the business that provides Amazon.com (and other etailers) with their email support. They get $2 per email.

- Fushigi

 

[James]

Very interesting James, I guess the cost of routing the call to India is far less than the cost of paying an Australian to answer the phone. A friend of mine used to work in the call centre for I believe Vodaphone in Hobart a few years ago.

We've just lately started selling a lot of IPLs from Australia to India, and also a few IPLs from Japan to Australia. Conclusion, it's cheaper to provide Japanese support in Australia and Australian support in India. Go figure. (Although it's tough to find Japanese speakers in India.)

 

[Mercutio]

James, I thought you were jumping C&W's ship. You haven't left for greener pastures yet?

 

[James]

No, they roped me into a "key employee" contract and what with one thing and another - basically more responsibility - it's been quite hard to get back out. KPMG has been very patient, and I'm aiming for a resolution pretty soon.

We had a VP out here last week, we have two senior managers and the director of the division I work for here this week. You can tell the weather's warming up here and cooling down in the northern hemisphere.