am I racist?

[swee'pea99]

C'mon, you're from Glasgow. You guys are completely incomprehensible.

 

[Globalti]

Maz, Hundi and Urdu are similar aren't they?

How would I say "welcome" in Urdu?

 

[alecstilleyedye]

Why not speak to them in Hindi if they struggle with English?
That's what I'd do.

show off…

maybe they should hire the chap from my local curry house. he's clearly of indian sub-continent origin, but i've no problem understanding him at all.

 

[Maz]

Maz, Hundi and Urdu are similar aren't they?

How would I say "welcome" in Urdu?

You mean as a greeting, right?

Urdu is predominantly (only?) spoken in Pakistan, so the normal way to greet them would actually be with the universal Arabic Muslim greeting, as-salaamu-alaikum (Peace be with you).

 

[dan_bo]

Ha ha not everyone has that luxury Maz

Dell have a FCC (in Mumbai I think)

Seconded. Dells' Helpline is really really good and is a very good reason for buying Dell. The only small problem being the quality of the line sometimes.

 

[phaedrus]

[quote name='swee'pea99']C'mon, you're from Glasgow. You guys are completely incomprehensible.[/quote]

Not to each other we're not. The only problem is when we're trying to understand someone with a thick Lancashire accent.

 

[simonali]

3 Customer Service is terrible. The only way I will deal with them now is go in the local store and make one of the staff there talk to them for me!

 

[User482]

IME, all call centres are rubbish, it's just a question of to what degree. Add in a thick accent plus a dodgy phone line, and that's usually enough to try my patience. I don't see that as racist at all.

 

[ChrisKH]

I really struggle with Indian call centres because I'm partially deaf anyway (ask anyone who has overtaken and chatted to me on my RHS on a CC ride! ) and their accents take some getting used to. Eventually as long as I get it resolved I don't mind, but I find all call centres treat you with impatient disdain these days.

Language can be an issue, especially if you're trying to explain a medical condition (e.g. getting travel insurance coverage) which doesn't normally arise in third world countries and surgical speak is difficult enough with people in this country where English is the first language without transferring to India where culture and social differences can get in the way. I also once tried to get confirmation from the operative on the end of the phone that I hadn't been sent a travel policy document and could he confirm there had been no substantive changes in the policy since the last document I received. Could he heck.

 

[Black Sheep]

Have you ever phoned bt?

yes, i often get quite drunk while doing so - i always ring them with a pint or two near by and watching stand up comedy

i drink for every time i'm put on hold and every 5 mins that i am kept waiting and yes, i have been too tipsy to know what i wanted to talk to them about!

 

[Black Sheep]

Similar to my experience with them... Despise BT so expect them to dissapoint, but I was expecting better from Virgin.

Although I agree its the company not the staff to blame.

if you ever cancel with virgin, watch your direct debits, they have a bad habit of setting them up again even a few years later!

 

[jack the lad]

I can't say I've ever experienced any more problems dealing with overseas call centres than UK based ones. My only issue with the foreign ones is that I feel slightly embarassed if I am doing something like querying an overcharge of £1.57 on my account, when that would cover the entire wage bill of the call centre for 3 months!

 

[User482]

if you ever cancel with virgin, watch your direct debits, they have a bad habit of setting them up again even a few years later!

Despairing of talktalk, we moved to Virgin last year. Never again! We ended up with a debt collection agency after us, when all along it was Virgin who owed us money!

 

[Maz]

If they are punjabi just ask them to

"Chummi mera bond"

bond? 'bond' dey matalab kee hai?
[What does 'bond' mean?]

 

[ArDee]

Crikey, don't get me started on the 3Mobile Indian call centre I dealt with They rang me, on my mobile, to confirm my bank details and accused me of being 'unwilling to deal with non-English people' when I politely declined and pointed out I had no idea if they were from 3Mobile or International Scams R Us. So absolutely no language problems, but I guess they get quite a bit of that sort of thing and jump as quickly to conclusions as everyone else in the world.

I changed to Vodafone the very next day, but now I deal with a Scottish call centre which I must say is much more of a language barrier

I know the feeling; I recently picked up a hire car from Glasgow airport and couldn’t understand the details I was given on how to find the hire car. After the asking for the fifth time and still not understanding, I was too embarrassed to keep asking. So ended up wondering around the car park for 30 minutes pushing the unlock car button waiting for a car to go “beep, beep” so I knew which car I’d hired.