Aliens

The phone rings at home around dinner time and there’s a connection delay at the other end. Uh oh, I think, India calling. "Hello, this is John from ..... International," the caller announces with a distinct Asian accent. "John," I reply, "do I know you..?" "Err, nooo," he cautiously says. "Okay, then," I suggest, "let’s leave it that way. Bye." Click. Cruel, I know, but that’s how it’s become with unsolicited tele-marketer calls.

Yet one can’t simply brush-off workers in offshore call-centers contracted to Aussie companies. If there’s a service relationship with that company, one has to grin and bear the sometimes unfathomable accents and resultant frustration. Not to mention a natural reluctance to dealing with international staff for local matters. But then, what's 'local' in today's world ?

To date I’ve never stopped to consider that in many respects these staffers are just like me, providing a needed service and struggling to make a buck.

Until now, that is, after reading an article on Indian taxi drivers contracted to ferrying those employees to and from work. They work all night carrying staff who fix the world’s banking, computer and accounting glitches,

Arya looked out at all the call-center vehicles speeding past. "At this hour, there are only call-center cabs on the road," she said. "I told you we are a breed apart. The aliens are out in the night."

Then, like her cabbie, she retires at dawn and attempts to sleep throughout the day.

Right now, at 6.03am, it’s a routine which sounds terribly familiar and I must admit to a certain affinity with these people, providing the exact same service in today’s global economy. Therefore, good luck to them, I say.

It’s a neat article and well worth reading, for a rare personal perspective on life for offshore staffers. Me, I’m off to bed.

Comments

[enkew]

I had a problem with a product, called their helpline and ran the usual gauntlet. The time must come when big name businesses realise that the cost savings do not equate with the amount of dissatisfaction for their clients. F'rinstance, I personally won't buy that particular product again if there is an alternative and, if anyone asks me about that product, I will invariably bring up the hassle I had.

[Fedup Passenger]

Now you know how taxi passengers feel when we get in a cab with foreign music playing and a driver with an accent that we can't understand in a cab decorated in foreign flags and strange religious symbols.
At least the Indian call centre worker is competent in his product knowledge which is not the case with most of these cab drivers.

[Greg]

The delay isn't the international call connection, but the auto-dialer, detecting and alerting the operator to the presence of a human rather than an answering machine. It's your opportunity to hang up, fast.

I'd feel bad about it, on the theory that these people are paid on commission, but they're not going to sell me anything anyway, so I'm really just giving them more time to find another sucker.

[steve at the pub]

If I am in the office alone, I can now (thanks to a hands free phone) keep them on the line for up to half an hour, sometimes more, before they realise I am just humming and hahing and letting them rattle on with wasting their time.

If I play it right, I can be put onto the supervisor, and waste quite a bit of their time also.
There is a lot of anger when finally realisation dawns!

Though lately I am not as tolerant and mostly I just hang up on them.

[Dataceptionist]

My father in law says hello, then seems interested, says "can you hang on a minute?" then puts down the phone and walks away. He plays the game to see how long they will stay on the line for.

Telemarketers are one of many reasons we don't have a home phone.

[Sprite]

I used to try and be nice to telemarketers, a legacy of the nine months I spent telemarketing whilst at university. I would cringe when people boasted about how they'd managed to upset telemarketers who'd called them.

But recently I've had several experiences with callers (from India, I think) who are so pushy - verging on aggressive - that I've lost sympathy for them. Next time I'm going to pretend to be an answering machine!

[Peter]

A couple of years ago I spent four weeks in India on business. Every morning 3 of us were picked up from our accommodation by a local taxi and taken to the campus - and then back again in the evening.
The trip took about 1/2 hour in the morning and 1.5-2 hours in the evening (due to the traffic in Bangalore).
It was only in the last week that we realised that the taxi driver was waiting outside the gates ALL DAY, just in case we needed him before the time we had said. Apparently our fare (about 450 rupees = $15) was sufficient income for him for the day. He was still regularly half an hour late in the mornings.

[thaleia]

I like getting into taxis with foreign music and accents and weird religious symbols. Meeting people from all over the World is what I love most about living in Sydney and why I stay here. These 'different' people always have a story and are frequently well educated and interesting, even if they don't have an encycolpaedic knowledge of the back streets of Sydney.

[SurferCam]

Haven't you signed up to www.donotcall.gov.au ?

One trick I used to do was as soon as I heard that connection delay, I would hang up.
If it was these telemarketers fine.
If it was a friend, I knew they'd call back.
And you know what, I never once got a call back!

[manly cabbie]

the same goes for people who ring me and the caller id says private,i just don't answer it.if you don't want to let me know your phone number then i won't answer ,and if its important you can leave a message.

[Dataceptionist]

manly cabbie just letting you know if someone's home phone is with Optus (and I assume any carrier but Telstra?) their number will never show up on caller ID. I discovered this when my parents changed to Optus. I just took to assuming when it said Witheld that it was them LOL.
They've since changed back to Telstra (grrr) and bingo, their number is recognised again.

[art]

the secret to telemarketers: "could you give us a call back in about an hour or so?" they'll respond "sure" but will NEVER call back. problem solved, and all parties with dignity. :)

as for service calls, i've had to deal with the people on the Dell line from India a couple times and they're completely useless. i assumed that this was just what all indian call centres were like. but the dell line is for repairs, warranty etc so they are probably instructed (or on commission) to waste your time/discourage you from making claims. once i had modem troubles with a different company and had help via india call centre, and the people i talked to couldn't have been more friendly and helpful.