customer support for online websites are bloody stupid

I cannot remember a time when customer support actually answered the question/s I was asking... properly. They either don't understand the question/s, they are just completely ignorant of the question/s or they live elsewhere in the World and don't understand English.

Why employ people in other countries to answer queries about stores/shops/online entertainment/whatever? My ISP for instance have people in Africa dealing with my queries ffs when the Company is in England and a few times they just put the phone down or there's a lot of noise in the background like they are having a party.

I think the latest support I'm complaining about initially is for an online service which are based in the Netherlands.. but seriously, if you don't understand the question/s, pass it on to someone who does.

This get's on my nerves!

Honestly I have yet to see a website that was not online

The reason is simple - cost. And that does not boil down to appeasing every customer, it just boils down to having someone take a call/online message so it gives the impression of some sort of contact. It's enough for many people (fools).

Customer service is basically a non existent feature of almost every business nowadays and for consumer products it makes no difference - the info is already on a billion other websites that you can find it and buy at the next cheapest convenient website of choice without any problem.

However I refuse to buy specialty products or services from a company that will not pick up the phone and where I can talk to a real person about what I need in advance.

Couldnt agree more with this.

If i have a concern about my internet cutting in and out, how in the hell would someone in Pakistan have the local answers im looking for?
I cant count how many times ive called Shaw, or Sirius XM and been directed to someone whom cant speak a lick of understandable English.
This is one of those things that drive me nuts

"Lots of noise in the background". Well, I'm sure they're not having a party! They are low-paid workers and probably work in cramped environments.

Why do companies pay for half-as$ed customer service? It's probably 10x cheaper. I think average pay for a call center around here is between $10 and $15 and hour. Not too bad, but not worth a career out of.

I bet this third-party foreign companies pay their employees a dollar or less an hour.

This is all a guess, but I'm sure that's how it works.

a reply to: blueman12

The Mentality of companies now: Why pay staff $15 bucks an hour when 90% of the call volume involves turning it on and off again or some other step by step script that a trained ape could handle.

So now they just hire staff who know how to say "turn it on an off again" and let the other 10% of complaints get handled by another (higher paid low staff) department on-shore but only "if" the customer complains enough to make a scene.

If i have a concern about my internet cutting in and out, how in the hell would someone in Pakistan have the local answers im looking for?

You are that 10% that they don't really want as a client - you cause hassle and your problems requires a real person not a script.

Pffft you should know better than to complain [/S]

I'm in SE Asia currently though and FYI the going staff rate is between $400-700 a month for decent call centers depending on the client.

Small/dodgy call centers with minor clients around $250 per month sometimes less for web chat support only (voiceless)

Overseas clients will probably pay around double or more that rate per agent which would includes phone service / computers / recruitment etc.

Of course hiring overseas staff is as much a result of customers nowadays demanding cheaper products & 24 hour "customer service" as companies trying to skimping on staff costs.


Cheap reliable products with a high level of customer service just do not exist.