I'm outsourcing to india [Archive] - RonFez.net Messageboard

FMJeff

11-27-2006, 08:30 AM

So I bit the global services bullet. Today I began researching the outsourcing of customer service to India. It is almost impossible to find reliable & articulate customer service agents in the Long Island area. I imagine this island has all but priced them out of the area. In any event, the reps in India were extremely well spoken, courteous and dramatically cheaper than US labor in this particular category. I can't say I was surprised. I can't wait to start working with them. My customers will finally get the customer service experience they deserve.

feralBoy

11-27-2006, 08:38 AM

I was in india a few months ago, and they have these ads for schools all over that teach you how to act/talk/sound like an american.  It's really funny. 

FUNKMAN

11-27-2006, 08:38 AM

what were the local employee salaries and what will you be paying the outsourcing employees?

Tenbatsuzen

11-27-2006, 08:38 AM

Will they start harassing me if I show them I have superhuman powers?

Death Metal Moe

11-27-2006, 08:39 AM

I only hope the actual tech support people are are well spoken and curtious as the people you spoke to about starting an account with them.  Personal experience tells me they won't be, but I understand how tempting the savings were.  We can't compete with them.

johnniewalker

11-27-2006, 08:40 AM

I like the food, don't like the customer service.

FMJeff

11-27-2006, 08:40 AM

FUNKMAN wrote: what were the local employee salaries and what will you be paying the outsourcing employees?  About 13 dollars an hour and they're getting like 1/4 of that plus a maintenance fee which i image goes to the company itself for training materials and other paperwork.

FUNKMAN

11-27-2006, 08:42 AM

FMJeff wrote:  FUNKMAN wrote: what were the local employee salaries and what will you be paying the outsourcing employees?   About 13 dollars an hour and they're getting like 1/4 of that plus a maintenance fee which i image goes to the company itself for training materials and other paperwork.  too bad someone can't outsource all inept CEO's and Corporate Executives. but as usual the people at the bottom get the shaft

FMJeff

11-27-2006, 08:44 AM

Death Metal Moe wrote: I only hope the actual tech support people are are well spoken and curtious as the people you spoke to about starting an account with them. Personal experience tells me they won't be, but I understand how tempting the savings were. We can't compete with them.  We can't compete, and we shouldn't. I see a world with countries of specialization, each country contributing what they do best. We're still the best in research, technology, and finance. India it seems is the best for offloading positions that don't necessarily require an in-house employee.

Furtherman

11-27-2006, 08:46 AM

Indian lover!!

FUNKMAN

11-27-2006, 08:47 AM

FMJeff wrote:  Death Metal Moe wrote: I only hope the actual tech support people are are well spoken and curtious as the people you spoke to about starting an account with them. Personal experience tells me they won't be, but I understand how tempting the savings were. We can't compete with them.   We can't compete, and we shouldn't. I see a world with countries of specialization, each country contributing what they do best. We're still the best in research, technology, and finance. India it seems is the best for offloading positions that don't necessarily require an in-house employee. Customer Service in the corporate world is a crock of shit. These customer service employees get paid the least and get treated like shit not only from their employer but by the customer.Customer Service is #1 - It's the biggest/blatant lie in the corporate world...

johnniewalker

11-27-2006, 08:47 AM

FMJeff wrote: So I bit the global services bullet. Today I began researching the outsourcing of customer service to India. It is almost impossible to find reliable & articulate customer service agents in the Long Island area. I imagine this island has all but priced them out of the area. In any event, the reps in India were extremely well spoken, courteous and dramatically cheaper than US labor in this particular category. I can't say I was surprised. I can't wait to start working with them. My customers will finally get the customer service experience they deserve.   How do you regulate the quality of the customer service?  Do you trust the intermediary, or do you have an independent way to test customer service quality?

Tenbatsuzen

11-27-2006, 08:50 AM

<a href="http://www.ronfez.net/messageboard/viewmessages.cfm/Forum/73/Topic/54080/page/Street_Fighter__The_Later_Years.htm">Dhalsim might be looking for work...</a>

FUNKMAN

11-27-2006, 08:52 AM

come on Jeff, be honest with yourself. you're saying things about "better service" to try and justify your decision but isn't the end result more money in your pocket or managements pocket?

Tenbatsuzen

11-27-2006, 08:56 AM

FUNKMAN wrote: come on Jeff, be honest with yourself. you're saying things about "better service" to try and justify your decision but isn't the end result more money in your pocket or managements pocket? Actually, 13 bucks/hour is under 30 grand.  There is no way you can live on that by your self in Long Island, and also be well-spoken and have a clam demeanor on the phone.  Jeff and I had several conversations about this previously, and he's had issues with customer service people.  For what he can afford, the turnover rate is too high and customer dissatisfaction is also an issue because you get unqualified warm bodies in the call center. I've had call center experience, and the only way you can keep people is to give them a salary of at least 35K plus, and that's in central Jersey, which is cheaper to live on than Long Island.

KC2OSO

11-27-2006, 09:05 AM

Tenbatsuzen wrote: FUNKMAN wrote: come on Jeff, be honest with yourself. you're saying things about "better service" to try and justify your decision but isn't the end result more money in your pocket or managements pocket? Actually, 13 bucks/hour is under 30 grand. There is no way you can live on that by your self in Long Island, and also be well-spoken and have a clam demeanor on the phone. Jeff and I had several conversations about this previously, and he's had issues with customer service people. For what he can afford, the turnover rate is too high and customer dissatisfaction is also an issue because you get unqualified warm bodies in the call center. I've had call center experience, and the only way you can keep people is to give them a salary of at least 35K plus, and that's in central Jersey, which is cheaper to live on than Long Island.  Offer them $6/hr.  $13 sounds a bit high.

This message was edited by KC2OSO on 11-27-06 @ 1:06 PM

angrymissy

11-27-2006, 09:07 AM

I already poo-poohed jeff for this.  I have yet to have a good experience with an indian call center.But, he has had MAJOR problems retaining staff at his company.  They keep leaving because the boss will not offer benefits, higher salary, etc.  This may be the only way to even HAVE a customer service dept for his company

Tenbatsuzen

11-27-2006, 09:12 AM

angrymissy wrote: I already poo-poohed jeff for this.  I have yet to have a good experience with an indian <a href="http://www.rfbabies.com">BIAS!!!!</a>

FMJeff

11-27-2006, 09:12 AM

FUNKMAN wrote: come on Jeff, be honest with yourself. you're saying things about "better service" to try and justify your decision but isn't the end result more money in your pocket or managements pocket?   To the jaded, I could see your point. I'm not going to debate corporate america's responsibility to american citizens as it relates to employment. We're here to make money. In all fairness though, I did give american firms a shot, and they were actually MORE expensive per call agent than our employees now, plus a one-time setup charge of 15 grand. The indian firm is offering $5/hr per agent with no setup costs. I don't care what you think about globalization and its impact on the domestic economy, but even the naysayers have to admit that's a bargain.

FUNKMAN

11-27-2006, 09:14 AM

angrymissy wrote: I already poo-poohed jeff for this.  I have yet to have a good experience with an indian call center.But, he has had MAJOR problems retaining staff at his company.  They keep leaving because the boss will not offer benefits, higher salary, etc.  This may be the only way to even HAVE a customer service dept for his company i'm not trying to bust Jeff's stones. i'm not really sure of the size of Jeff's company and his budgets but i do know large corporations have enough budget money to pay Customer Service employees a decent wage but as i see in my company this Dept is considered SHIT. They get grilled for every little mistake, get paid the least, have to account for every minute of their time, get the brunt of the customers rage for the fuckups of the higher ups, and even have to indicate with a code when they are going to the bathroom. Yet the company preaches Customer Service Is #1 Priority, it is TOTAL Busllshit!

bobrobot

11-27-2006, 09:28 AM

Tenbatsuzen wrote:  There is no way you can live on that by your self in Long Island, and also be well-spoken and have a clam demeanor on the phone.              <img src="http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y46/bobogolem/ClamOnPhone.jpg" border="0" width="400" height="272" />

FUNKMAN

11-27-2006, 09:31 AM

FMJeff wrote:  FUNKMAN wrote: come on Jeff, be honest with yourself. you're saying things about "better service" to try and justify your decision but isn't the end result more money in your pocket or managements pocket?    To the jaded, I could see your point. I'm not going to debate corporate america's responsibility to american citizens as it relates to employment. We're here to make money. In all fairness though, I did give american firms a shot, and they were actually MORE expensive per call agent than our employees now, plus a one-time setup charge of 15 grand. The indian firm is offering $5/hr per agent with no setup costs. I don't care what you think about globalization and its impact on the domestic economy, but even the naysayers have to admit that's a bargain.  i don't want to begrudge you from making more money. I just like to call things as i see them. for me the root factor in decisions like this is money and not better customer service.my experience in the larger corporate world has an influence on how i see it. there is excess at the top yet they pull resources from the bottom, salaries, benefits, et,  yet you'll see an article about once a month about record salaries and profits for CEO'swhat can be done about it?  organized labor strikes, revolution?  there are so many people today in debt that they can't afford to go on-strike for a week even a month and it's just the way the wealthiest most powerful like it. all that interest being paid is paying the interest on their money

JustJon

11-27-2006, 09:34 AM

I didn't know Foundry Music even had customer support

crb1

11-27-2006, 09:48 AM

FMJeff wrote: To the jaded, I could see your point. I'm not going to debate corporate america's responsibility to american citizens as it relates to employment. We're here to make money. In all fairness though, I did give american firms a shot, and they were actually MORE expensive per call agent than our employees now, plus a one-time setup charge of 15 grand. The indian firm is offering $5/hr per agent with no setup costs. I don't care what you think about globalization and its impact on the domestic economy, but even the naysayers have to admit that's a bargain.  I don't think anyone will argue it's a bargain to work with overseas firms for CS.  The main issue is the quality/level of the support.  Find me one person anywhere, ever that has had a positive experience with CS people in India.  In my personal experience, they have been a combination of uninformed, rude, unhelpful, and generally poor at following up with issues.  That's just CS.  At my old company, we used Indian and Belgian companies for our basic programming work, and found them both to be incompetent.  They actually got rid of a guy I used to work with and were using 7(yes, 7!) Indian consultants to do what he did by himself.  In the end, the headache of going over and over the same problems and constant repair/bug fixing of our proprietary software and office systems really saved no money at all.

Doctor Z

11-27-2006, 09:53 AM

Thanks a lot, America-hater.

Fallon

11-27-2006, 09:54 AM

This is why people don't like you.      Kidding... I hate all customer support. Even the white people.

FMJeff

11-27-2006, 10:39 AM

FUNKMAN wrote: FMJeff wrote: FUNKMAN wrote: come on Jeff, be honest with yourself. you're saying things about "better service" to try and justify your decision but isn't the end result more money in your pocket or managements pocket? To the jaded, I could see your point. I'm not going to debate corporate america's responsibility to american citizens as it relates to employment. We're here to make money. In all fairness though, I did give american firms a shot, and they were actually MORE expensive per call agent than our employees now, plus a one-time setup charge of 15 grand. The indian firm is offering $5/hr per agent with no setup costs. I don't care what you think about globalization and its impact on the domestic economy, but even the naysayers have to admit that's a bargain. i don't want to begrudge you from making more money. I just like to call things as i see them. for me the root factor in decisions like this is money and not better customer service.my experience in the larger corporate world has an influence on how i see it. there is excess at the top yet they pull resources from the bottom, salaries, benefits, et, yet you'll see an article about once a month about record salaries and profits for CEO'swhat can be done about it? organized labor strikes, revolution? there are so many people today in debt that they can't afford to go on-strike for a week even a month and it's just the way the wealthiest most powerful like it. all that interest being paid is paying the interest on their money   Let me be clear here.We are a small-medium sized company. We are not a conglomerate. We have five brick and mortar stores and our website operation. Total employees about 60. This is not a cost cutting measure. In the last six months, we've gone through eleven customer service agents. They want 40K, the work isn't worth 40k. We offer 13/hr. It is an entry level position. There's no arguement otherwise. Never the less, they take the job, and in my opinion if you take a job you agree to the compensation, but in thier case, they use it as a foot in the door so they can negotiate later. While this is happening, they show up late, don't show up at all, are rude on the phone, cant work a computer and are generally not pleasant people to be around. Something about 13/hr attracts the dregs on Long Island. And no, im not implying its just black people. The lower income wage earners in this country just cannot compete with India.They have progressive training programs for all times of service agents. For them, customer service is an art worth learning. In the states, customer service is the regrettable bi-product of retail sales.That's the mindset I'm dealing with, hands down. Customer service is the foot in the door to bigger and better things in the US. We are a constantly upwardly mobile country. In India, being a good customer service agent is the pinnacle of success. Soon that will change, but for now, its a mindset im happy to take advantage of.

Tenbatsuzen

11-27-2006, 12:03 PM

JustJon wrote: I didn't know Foundry Music even had customer support  The customer support is this:If you don't like the design, go fuck yourself.(Caroline's, this Friday)

Alice S. Fuzzybutt

11-27-2006, 02:00 PM

I'm a proofreader and editor and my job is being outsourced. I'm seriously considering moonlighting on a phone sex line. Well sort of. If it pays under the table...

lleeder

11-27-2006, 02:07 PM

FMJeff wrote:  FUNKMAN wrote: what were the local employee salaries and what will you be paying the outsourcing employees?   About 13 dollars an hour and they're getting like 1/4 of that plus a maintenance fee which i image goes to the company itself for training materials and other paperwork.  More like goes to bullets to "deal with" the employees that are underperforming.

UnknownPD

11-27-2006, 03:52 PM

FMJeff wrote:  FUNKMAN wrote: FMJeff wrote:  FUNKMAN wrote: come on Jeff, be honest with yourself. you're saying things about "better service" to try and justify your decision but isn't the end result more money in your pocket or managements pocket?    To the jaded, I could see your point. I'm not going to debate corporate america's responsibility to american citizens as it relates to employment. We're here to make money. In all fairness though, I did give american firms a shot, and they were actually MORE expensive per call agent than our employees now, plus a one-time setup charge of 15 grand. The indian firm is offering $5/hr per agent with no setup costs. I don't care what you think about globalization and its impact on the domestic economy, but even the naysayers have to admit that's a bargain.  i don't want to begrudge you from making more money. I just like to call things as i see them. for me the root factor in decisions like this is money and not better customer service.my experience in the larger corporate world has an influence on how i see it. there is excess at the top yet they pull resources from the bottom, salaries, benefits, et, yet you'll see an article about once a month about record salaries and profits for CEO'swhat can be done about it? organized labor strikes, revolution? there are so many people today in debt that they can't afford to go on-strike for a week even a month and it's just the way the wealthiest most powerful like it. all that interest being paid is paying the interest on their money   Let me be clear here.We are a small-medium sized company. We are not a conglomerate. We have five brick and mortar stores and our website operation. Total employees about 60. This is not a cost cutting measure. In the last six months, we've gone through eleven customer service agents. They want 40K, the work isn't worth 40k. We offer 13/hr. It is an entry level position. There's no arguement otherwise. Never the less, they take the job, and in my opinion if you take a job you agree to the compensation, but in thier case, they use it as a foot in the door so they can negotiate later. While this is happening, they show up late, don't show up at all, are rude on the phone, cant work a computer and are generally not pleasant people to be around. Something about 13/hr attracts the dregs on Long Island. And no, im not implying its just black people. The lower income wage earners in this country just cannot compete with India.They have progressive training programs for all times of service agents. For them, customer service is an art worth learning. In the states, customer service is the regrettable bi-product of retail sales.That's the mindset I'm dealing with, hands down. Customer service is the foot in the door to bigger and better things in the US. We are a constantly upwardly mobile country. In India, being a good customer service agent is the pinnacle of success. Soon that will change, but for now, its a mindset im happy to take advantage of.  Amazing the things you can rationalize when it affects you personally. Paying slave wages to third world workers somehow has evolved into the "pinnacle" of success. There has been nothing upwardly mobile about our country. Real wages have been stagnant for years and all the strides made by labor to create a fair and equitable society have been vanquished by companies looking to save a few bucks. Welcome to the dark side.

FUNKMAN

11-27-2006, 03:59 PM

Alice S. Fuzzybutt wrote: I'm a proofreader and editor and my job is being outsourced. I'm seriously considering moonlighting on a phone sex line. Well sort of. If it pays under the table... where do i sign up?<img src="/messageboard/tiny_mce/plugins/emotions/images/smile.gif" border="0" alt="Smile" title="Smile" width="20" height="20" />

BYOBKenobi

11-27-2006, 04:19 PM

crb1 wrote: I don't think anyone will argue it's a bargain to work with overseas firms for CS.  The main issue is the quality/level of the support.  Find me one person anywhere, ever that has had a positive experience with CS people in India.  In my personal experience, they have been a combination of uninformed, rude, unhelpful, and generally poor at following up with issues.  That's just CS.  At my old company, we used Indian and Belgian companies for our basic programming work, and found them both to be incompetent.  They actually got rid of a guy I used to work with and were using 7(yes, 7!) Indian consultants to do what he did by himself.  In the end, the headache of going over and over the same problems and constant repair/bug fixing of our proprietary software and office systems really saved no money at all.  I have had many great experiences working with Indian customer service.  I have had many bad ones too, but here are the good ones:Dell - about 1 year ago - monitor blew out.  Nothing was showing up on the screen.  It seriously "popped" on the inside and was gone.  I call support (india) and they answer the phone within the first 5 minutes, get my service ID number, and ship me a new monitor.  No questions asked.  Even called me to make sure I got it and everything was OK 2 days later.Dell - about 2 months ago - I was having trouble figuring out what kind of port I had for my video card.  I wanted a new one but I don't know the port type by looking at it.  Called Dell, Guy from india answers the phone in under 5 minutes, talks me through my question, gives me a clear answer and asks if I'd like to be forwarded to their sales department to talk with someone about upgrades.  Indian Web Design company - One of my best friends runs a few big websites.  He looked into a dozen different american companies and a few indian ones before deciding on the one he uses now.  The American dev teams wanted 30/hr minimum.  The indian team wanted 5/hr.  He told them as long as they get things done on time and exactly the way he wants them he'll pay 10/hr and he's had nothing but perfect work ahead of schedule for something like 5 years running.I decided I wanted to start up a website and he gave me their "porfolio" and chatted with the guys over in india to see what it would cost.  Not only do they do a wonderful job, but they would do it cheap and fast.Xbox Live Customer Support - last week - woman spoke english, but was shakey on it.  You could tell she was new.  I didn't like the fact that she was obviously from India and new to the job, but in 10 minutes my complicated and annoying questions were answered above my satisfaction.  She even recomended something to me that I hadn't thought of and confirmed all my information over the phone just to make sure my records were correct.  Nice woman, needs work, but did her job perfectly. Oh, and FMJeff... I'd work for 30k and no benefits in the long island area... if you count jersey as long island area.  I'm a well spoken college grad who has  been given a good deep dicking from the job market and currently has no idea what direction my life is headed.

Death Metal Moe

11-27-2006, 04:26 PM

I've had nothing but bad experiences with Indian Customer Service.  I was on the phone with some Indian guy for 2 hours with Gateway once.  All the fucking XM reps seem to be Indian or from one of the islands.  I recently found that you get English speaking people with Nintendo, and I'm going to buy more Nintendo stuff because of it.  I re-subscribed to Nintendo Power just because of the good experience I had with their service.I would distance myself from any company I found had fucking outsourced customer service if I had other choices.

BYOBKenobi

11-27-2006, 04:27 PM

"Amazing the things you can rationalize when it affects you personally. Paying slave wages to third world workers somehow has evolved into the "pinnacle" of success. There has been nothing upwardly mobile about our country. Real wages have been stagnant for years and all the strides made by labor to create a fair and equitable society have been vanquished by companies looking to save a few bucks. Welcome to the dark side."If you make 5/hr in india you are rich.  That is what you want here in america right?  To be rich?  Then why are those slave wages?  A dude from india who pumped gas in my town used to talk to me every time I came in about his son, his wife, his home, everything.  He was just a friendly guy who enjoyed using the english language with americans.  I asked him why he came here.  He said that making 10/hr here for just 9 months to a year would be enough for him to go back home and be rich for the next few years.  Then he'd rotate back to america again for another 9 month to a year stint.  Said a family member owned the station and would put them up in his house while they were working.  If someone from another country who's richer than the US wanted me to dig ditches for a million a year (which to them would be slave wages) I'd take it with a smile on my face.  You're being ethnocentric and you need to just stop it.There are problems that are difficult to solve which result in the economics working in this fashion.  Competition drives down prices.  New lower prices mean lower margins.  Old employees with high benefits and pentions become liabilities.  As they keep on living into their 90s the benefits stack up... which wouldn't have been a problem in the old higher margin world.  You need more people to do work behind the scenes because people require more service... which means more money... which means less to go around.If you seriously don't remember what customer service was like 10 to 15 years ago then you need to think about it.  I remember shit flat out not working out of the box and the company saying "oh well..." only after I called 50 different numbers and ran up a ton of long distance charges (remember those?)Seriously, you need to think about yourself.  If you run a company and it's either A. Go out of business.  Or B. Do something about it.  You will select B every time.

BYOBKenobi

11-27-2006, 04:29 PM

Death Metal Moe wrote: I've had nothing but bad experiences with Indian Customer Service.  I was on the phone with some Indian guy for 2 hours with Gateway once.  All the fucking XM reps seem to be Indian or from one of the islands.  I recently found that you get English speaking people with Nintendo, and I'm going to buy more Nintendo stuff because of it.  I re-subscribed to Nintendo Power just because of the good experience I had with their service.I would distance myself from any company I found had fucking outsourced customer service if I had other choices.I subscribed to nintendo power when a free mag came with a UPC from a cereal box (aka mag #1).  I should really bust out some and scan them to show what used to be in that rag.  I actually have 1 through 100 and am only missing 3 (with clay characters on the front... I think link is one of them) but then after the N64 I haven't owned a nintendo console, so I stopped getting it... oh the memories.

nwm

11-27-2006, 04:31 PM

   Just remeber you get what you pay for.  Plus it is our responsibility as Americans to keep sweat shops in busines.

sr71blackbird

11-27-2006, 04:35 PM

It sucks that its coming to this.  When all the jobs leave, what will we have left?  I want Long Island jobs to stay on Long Island.  I can only do my own personal best, but there are so fucking many people out there that don't give a shit about anything, and whats going to happen?  There wont be jobs in the US soon.  Then we will have our own civil war again eventually.  It makes me sick.

BYOBKenobi

11-27-2006, 04:43 PM

nwm wrote:    Just remeber you get what you pay for.  Plus it is our responsibility as Americans to keep sweat shops in busines. It's called "prevailing rate."  Sweatshop is what fucking idiots say.

BYOBKenobi

11-27-2006, 04:45 PM

sr71blackbird wrote: It sucks that its coming to this.  When all the jobs leave, what will we have left?  I want Long Island jobs to stay on Long Island.  I can only do my own personal best, but there are so fucking many people out there that don't give a shit about anything, and whats going to happen?  There wont be jobs in the US soon.  Then we will have our own civil war again eventually.  It makes me sick. I can tell you right now that I'd take the same job you would for less.  I've been desperate for work.  When the job market sucks balls like it does now, people will work for less.  If you think it sucks in the North East, then you should see where there aren't so many big corporations.  Thus, they are even more desparate than I am.I have an awesome business degree from a great school and I couldn't find a single job tha twould pay me more than 20k.  That would have to be called a foot in the door because one year, before taxes, would only pay for one semester of the education I received to get that shitty job.

furie

11-27-2006, 04:50 PM

i don't understand....the mods are going to be indians now? explain it to me.

Tenbatsuzen

11-27-2006, 04:52 PM

I'm still annoyed nobody gave me props for a killer callback I had.

led37zep

11-27-2006, 05:46 PM

I'm sure 13 bucks an hour goes pretty far in the south.  I know it goes pretty far in New Mexico as well.  Maybe a better idea to "keep it American" would be to look for your needs.

Stankfoot

11-27-2006, 05:48 PM

FMJeff wrote:  Something about 13/hr attracts the dregs on Long Island. And no, im not implying its just black people. The lower income wage earners in this country just cannot compete with India.          Have you tried recruiting at WALMART?

Death Metal Moe

11-27-2006, 05:49 PM

Tenbatsuzen wrote: I'm still annoyed nobody gave me props for a killer callback I had.  <img src="http://www.plusonegallery.com/images/Thumbs/Lollypop.jpg" border="0" width="180" height="244" />

HBox

11-27-2006, 05:50 PM

led37zep wrote: I'm sure 13 bucks an hour goes pretty far in the south. I know it goes pretty far in New Mexico as well. Maybe a better idea to "keep it American" would be to look for your needs.Yeah, but that's the South. Those people are more foreign to the Northeast than India.

sr71blackbird

11-27-2006, 06:07 PM

Yeah, throwing our money into the Muslim and Hindu world has really helped bring the US into a favorable light in that part of the world...Throw more money!  Maybe it will help!  <img src="/messageboard/tiny_mce/plugins/emotions/images/wallbash.gif" border="0" width="30" height="23" />

Alice S. Fuzzybutt

11-27-2006, 06:21 PM

I don't understand why, although I put myself on the DO NOT CALL registry, I get a call from a guy named "Chad" or "Todd" who's trying to sell me crap I don't want.

FMJeff

11-27-2006, 08:27 PM

sr71blackbird wrote: Yeah, throwing our money into the Muslim and Hindu world has really helped bring the US into a favorable light in that part of the world...Throw more money!  Maybe it will help!  <img src="/messageboard/tiny_mce/plugins/emotions/images/wallbash.gif" border="0" width="30" height="23" />You'd have an arguement if all we threw into the Muslim and Hindu world was money. You and I both know our contributions to India and Pakistan have been less than altruistic. I'm not "throwing money" at the Hindu and Muslim world to spite America. As for "sweatshops", I suggest you do a little research so you know what you're talking about. 30 Days actually did a special on this very topic. The facilities were EXTREMELY modern, with high speed internet connections, VOIP call centers, security teams...certainly exponentially better than the facility I'm currently working in. As for the wages, the workers are paid more and more each year as India stakes its claim on the american service industry. Cities are being erected. College campuses are spitting out more and more high level educated students. They're on the right path. They're not sitting in some dark, wet room answering phones. It's fucking customer service for christ's sake, not knitting sweaters for Kathy Lee.

FMJeff

11-27-2006, 08:28 PM

Alice S. Fuzzybutt wrote: I don't understand why, although I put myself on the DO NOT CALL registry, I get a call from a guy named "Chad" or "Todd" who's trying to sell me crap I don't want. India does not honor the do not call registry. It's one of those fabulous loopholes. Cold calling works, or they wouldn't be doing it anymore. Eventually someone buys something.

PapaBear

11-27-2006, 08:35 PM

Yeah, throwing our money into the Muslim and Hindu world has really helped bring the US into a favorable light in that part of the world...When did the Hindus start hating us? Ok... Who the fuck killed the cow?

FUNKMAN

11-27-2006, 10:20 PM

Death Metal Moe wrote: Tenbatsuzen wrote: I'm still annoyed nobody gave me props for a killer callback I had.  <img src="http://www.plusonegallery.com/images/Thumbs/Lollypop.jpg" border="0" width="180" height="244" /><img src="http://www.props.com.au/new_images/propeller.jpg" border="0" width="130" height="120" />

TheMojoPin

11-28-2006, 04:05 AM

sr71blackbird wrote: There wont be jobs in the US soon.  Then we will have our own civil war again eventually.  How the hell does THAT work?  That is a truly bizarre leap of logic.

FMJeff

11-28-2006, 08:37 AM

TheMojoPin wrote: sr71blackbird wrote: There wont be jobs in the US soon.  Then we will have our own civil war again eventually.  How the hell does THAT work?  That is a truly bizarre leap of logic.It work's in SR71's bizarro world of common sense where students of history no longer study history and instead focus on cotton candy making.

crb1

11-28-2006, 08:54 AM

FMJeff wrote: You'd have an arguement if all we threw into the Muslim and Hindu world was money. You and I both know our contributions to India and Pakistan have been less than altruistic. I'm not "throwing money" at the Hindu and Muslim world to spite America. As for "sweatshops", I suggest you do a little research so you know what you're talking about. 30 Days actually did a special on this very topic. The facilities were EXTREMELY modern, with high speed internet connections, VOIP call centers, security teams...certainly exponentially better than the facility I'm currently working in. As for the wages, the workers are paid more and more each year as India stakes its claim on the american service industry. Cities are being erected. College campuses are spitting out more and more high level educated students. They're on the right path. They're not sitting in some dark, wet room answering phones. It's fucking customer service for christ's sake, not knitting sweaters for Kathy Lee. I actually did see that 30 days with "Ron Rocks."  I don't think the quality of their facilities and power of their wages in India is what concerns the average American.  The belief is that company executives outsource labor to save money, and they become rich while contributing nothing to the country from which they extract their obscene and unjustified salaries and bonuses.  I'm not saying you, or your company, is like that, but there are several companies that are.  Customer Service hits home more from a consumer point of view of having to deal with people named "Greg" that don't help you at all.  The bigger hit from outsourcing is the higher-paying professional jobs being lost to consultants being paid $7-an-hour.  It never seems to bear any positives to anyone either.  Consumers don't see the benefits in lower prices, or better products/service.  So, what's the end gain in all of this?  More money for executives, VPs, and Directors.And please note, I say this as a person whose job is enhanced by increased outsourcing. I'm a technical writer, so I have to create documentation that customers can understand since the foreign markets can't put together coherent material.  The only difference is that I work for a Japanese company, so I deal with Japan instead of India.

BYOBKenobi

11-28-2006, 09:04 AM

Alice S. Fuzzybutt wrote: I don't understand why, although I put myself on the DO NOT CALL registry, I get a call from a guy named "Chad" or "Todd" who's trying to sell me crap I don't want. I was a telemarketer at AG Edwards a while back.  If you don't want them to call.  You only have to say "take me off your list" and you will be taken off the list.If you've done business with the company in the past 9 months they can call you 10 times a day regardless of what you say.  Once the 9 months are up, you can be put on the DNC again.

ralphbxny

11-28-2006, 12:38 PM

I need to move to India to teach! Like cheech Marin in Born in East LA!

SatCam

11-28-2006, 01:45 PM

The facilities were EXTREMELY modern, with high speed internet connections, VOIP call centers, security teams...

security teams? so none of them can leave, right?

K.C.

11-28-2006, 01:45 PM

I'll say this...I fucking hate outsourcing, but FMJeff has a bit of a point in this. $13/hr, even without benefits isn't bad for an entry level job and I'm sure Jeff could deal with the turnover at that type of job (which has to be expected) if he thought he was getting quality work. The bottom line is that there's a lot of jobs you can't find quality workers for anymore, customer service being one. And we live in a culture where a lot of the adults, and subsequently, their kids, just aren't taught to take pride in their work. Because of that the quality suffers. If this was him outsourcing because it's just cheaper, I'd be annoyed by that. But I believe him when he says he can't find quality workers to do it. Because that's the type of job that people who are "quality workers" won't take because they can get better ones, and the people who do apply for it, just don't care and are there to do as little as possible and still collect a check.  It pains me to read what I just wrote because it sounds so fucking Republican, but it is true.