Press 1 For English
By tessah
@tessah (6617)
United States
April 19, 2010 10:46am CST
;sigh; its so damned frustrating when yer needing to call customer service at all..
yer already annoyed with whatever the problem is that makes you have to call in the first place.. then you get the automated answering recordings crap of press this for that.. press that for this and it takes forever to get to a real person to explain what the problem is that is NEVER in the options from the automated answering recordings crap.
then you finally DO get a person!
yey!!
but you cant understand a damned thing they say and they cant understand you either because even tho you pressed the 1 for english.. the person that finally gets on the line can barely speak a word of it 
i dont give a crap if yer located in india.. or the phillipines.. or in unicorn and faery land.. if i press 1 for english.. the person i finally manage to get connected with ought speak the damned language i chose!!
am i the only one frustrated with this?? has customer service for you become such a pain in the a55 to get any results that most of the time you just dont bother calling?
i dont give a crap if yer located in india.. or the phillipines.. or in unicorn and faery land.. if i press 1 for english.. the person i finally manage to get connected with ought speak the damned language i chose!!
am i the only one frustrated with this?? has customer service for you become such a pain in the a55 to get any results that most of the time you just dont bother calling?5 people like this
12 responses
@AnnieOakley1 (5596)
• Canada
19 Apr 10
NOPE, not at all. I hung up on someone calling me from the phone company, saying my bill was overdue, for THAT very reason just last week. It drove me UP THE WALL! 
And yes, that is why most of the time I don't bother unless it is absolutely necessary. So, when I called them back on their toll free number, the person I got DID speak english well. But I still complained about it and told her if she hadn't spoken good english I would have made them get someone who did. I mean, if you can't understand them, they may as well be speaking another tongue.
And yes, that is why most of the time I don't bother unless it is absolutely necessary. So, when I called them back on their toll free number, the person I got DID speak english well. But I still complained about it and told her if she hadn't spoken good english I would have made them get someone who did. I mean, if you can't understand them, they may as well be speaking another tongue.1 person likes this
@AnnieOakley1 (5596)
• Canada
20 Apr 10
Now there's a nice vengeful thought, without having to be the instrument of revenge. I like the way you think, Draeke. 
1 person likes this
@hvedra (1619)
•
19 Apr 10
Foreign call centres are annoying and shouldn't be allowed. I'm not necessarily blaming the operators - hey a job's a job - but the companies that employ them just want a cheap solution instead of employing competent staff.
Back when I was working I ran foul of Indian call centres a couple of times. "Hello my name is Alaistair", yeah, right. One time I handed the 'phone to my boss who went through the same steps as I did until he got the same problems I did - then he switched to speaking Hindi and told the operator what he thought of their "English" and that they should stop blaming the callers for "misunderstandings".
1 person likes this
@tessah (6617)
• United States
19 Apr 10
i really dont have a problem where my call goes to.. if outsourcing is how places stay in business, fine. but the people that are hired for these jobs should be FLUENT in the language theyre taking calls for!! not broken, or accents so damned thick you cant understand them anyway! more than 90% of customer service calls ive had to make have been answered by people whose only understandable english is 'thank you for calling" or the most popular " im sorry for your inconvenience" and thats IT!!
@palonghorn (5479)
• United States
20 Apr 10
OMG. I am so sick of the automated systems out there. And I soooo agree, I don't want to talk to someone that can't even speak English. Not only that, I'm in America people, why should I have to press 1 for English, that should be automatic, and if ya don't understand or speak it........learn! Let me tell you the most dangerous update with recorded systems, there is a city in my home state that has done this with 911 calls! yep you saw it right. If you need a fire truck, it might come from around the corner, but odds are it's gonna come from across town, it sends out the first 'available' engine!! All I can say is it's going to just take that one call, that one delayed fire engine, someone's house is gonna burn to the ground and it will be Game On, and will cost that city 100's of thousands of dollars.
@gemini_rose (16264)
•
26 Apr 10
We do not get the choice of picking english speaking customer service people and so phone calls can be extremely frustrating. I always feel so ignorant when I have to keep saying " I am sorry can you say that again" or "pardon?" a few times in every sentence.
@pratheep87 (1227)
• India
19 Apr 10
Yes i too get irritated when i call my service provider like mobile,internet and etc. They ask to select the language and give some automated messages for frequent problems. Then i will be put in a queue to directly talk to an representative. All customer care talk time to respond.
1 person likes this
@warvial (1146)
• Singapore
20 Apr 10
Yes, it does. Not able to communicate in the language you opt for is like being served a cold dish when you ordered for hot soup. I hate the waiting time and also the very soft/low volume of the person on the other line. I don't understand why is it they are so soft that I was practically pushing the phone's so tightly to my ear but I can barely hear what they are saying...
@lingli_78 (12822)
• Australia
19 Apr 10
i am also annoyed that everytime i call customer service, i have to go through this process first before i can talk to somebody... but fortunately, when i get to talk to somebody (at last), i get to talk with the person who can speak english fluently and understand me... otherwise, i will be so annoyed and don't know what i will say to the person... take care and have a nice day...
@recycledgoth (9894)
•
19 Apr 10
You are not alone hun, it drives me nuts especially when I am trying to get important information and I can't understand a word of what is being said. One of my pet peeves is call centres that are based thousands of miles away from me, and staffed by people who simply cannot speak my language. I appreciate that the staff in call centres work hard BUT they don't understand me and I certainly don't understand them
@callarse1 (4783)
• United States
20 Apr 10
Hey tessah! How are you doing? Well, I feel you! I hate it when I try to call somewhere and I can barely understand them. I am very sympathetic and patient. It gets even on my nerves to not understand what they are saying.
However, a few times what we've done 
before....if we cannot understand them at all, hang up on them, then call back. Usually that helps, but only if we didn't have to wait for a long time.
It really is a two way street, sometimes people will be rude to the representatives, too, saying they don't know how to speak (English) and they are speaking it fairly well or even native speakers. 
before....if we cannot understand them at all, hang up on them, then call back. Usually that helps, but only if we didn't have to wait for a long time.
It really is a two way street, sometimes people will be rude to the representatives, too, saying they don't know how to speak (English) and they are speaking it fairly well or even native speakers. 
@Opal26 (17679)
• United States
19 Apr 10
Hey tess! How phucking appropriate and true! If we press "1"
for English and get India or some other Country that can't
speak English than WTF? I get that all the time and just don't
get it! Why am I pressing one if they can't speak the language?
Doh! I hate automated voicemails! I want a human that speaks
English-English like me! Not like a second language! Again, WTF!
It takes forever to get to the "human" to begin with and I am
already agitated from the problem so agitate me some more before
I get a "human" and then they don't understand me and I don't
understand them! I hate voicemail!!!!Grrrrrrrrrr!As my cat
Luna would say!!!! Next time I'm putting him on the phone and
let them deal with him! He's lots of fun!!!! And he can say
"mama"!!! That should freak them out for awhile! I am losing my
freaking mind!
@lipstick2009 (1236)
• Philippines
19 Apr 10
Well so far i haven't encountered any problem yet where i can't understand the kind of english that a customer service staff is speaking.
The only problem i have is when they speak way too low or way too fast.And i dont hesitate to tell him/her the hardship im having talking to him/her.
(^_^)
