Touche....! Being in South Florida, (heavy Latin & Spanish accents) and having customers in Alabama, Tennessee (Heavy Southern accents) etc, we have had to "Tune" our ears as well as our Accents, including carefully choosing our words... It is not uncommon for us to have a new support Rep. get on a call and start making strange facial expressions.. saying.. " I know the caller is speaking English, but I cannot make out a word of what they are saying !"... Which of-course goes both ways, a Southern English speaker has equally hard time understanding heavy Latin and Eastern European accents. The sad part but true reality is, that most folks when they hear a different accent, automatically equate accent with professional competency .. and that is the toughest thing to overcome for phone support work. City folks, will often equate Southern accent with someone who is less proficient and slow, while the Southern folks will equate the Northern Accent with someone trying to be slick and pulling a fast one on them.. And then of course we have our favorite New Yorkers, (Manhattan / Queens etc) who simply equate politeness as a sing of weakness and try to railroad you if you are too polite. It's all good, it's all fun, it's all part of life, and surprising to most, this is COMMON HUMAN behavior across ALL Parts of the World. Not just unique to USA and Indian Call Centers.. :) Regards Faisal Imtiaz Snappy Internet& Telecom 7266 SW 48 Street Miami, Fl 33155 Tel: 305 663 5518 x 232 Helpdesk: 305 663 5518 option 2 Email: Support@Snappydsl.net On 3/3/2012 11:26 AM, Dave Pooser wrote:
On 3/3/12 9:57 AM, "Faisal Imtiaz"<faisal@snappydsl.net> wrote:
Especially if a human answers promptly without a horrible accent...
Jeff Like a heavy Southern Drawl ? Saah, Ah resemble that remahk!
:^)
I think no matter where you're located, having a tech support rep who speaks your language with an accent not too dissimilar to your own can be a huge help. I've had tech support calls go bad because of unintelligible accents when I was calling centers in India and in Ireland, but also in the US when I found the last of the Clampett clan answering phones for an ISP. (I've lived in Texas almost 16 years-- if you're so redneck that *I* can't understand you, you need a job where all your communication is in writing. Or pictures.)