Any of this sound familiar?

Over the last 10 years or so corporations have gone outside this country for cheap labor to boost their profits and provide customer service. That's OK except when I can't get customer service anymore.
So many of these people that answer either cannot speak our language or do not understand it.

As an example, in early November I got a letter from Citibank telling me I would be getting a new Master Card soon in the mail. So I put a note in my calender 3 weeks out to see if I have received it yet. It makes me really nervous if they don't show up and somebody else got them or stole them.
When it did not show I called and got a lady that could not understand me at all. Frankly I had a lot of trouble understanding her too.

But she could not or would not answer simple questions either. She told me my cards should have been here by now and she would cancel that account number and send new ones. At the same time she really seemed confused. Note here that she would not let me talk to anyone else or her supervisor so I did try to work this out.

So I hung up on her and called back. This time I got someone who was very professional and said the previous rep was wrong and that my cards had not in fact even been mailed out yet. So now I have no credit card account as the cards I have that are or were still good for another 6 months anyway have been canceled.

The new guy says he can reverse what she did and he would send me new cards. Guess what, 4 weeks later I still don't have them so I called them again. Another foreign lady that I had a hard time understanding answered the phone and could not seem to understand me. So I hung up and sent an email to the bank via their secured system.

All I ask is if the cards had been mailed and if so that I had not received them yet.
I get an email back within 2 hours telling me that my current account is now canceled out and they are sending new cards and accounts to me ASAP. They apparently thought I was reporting lost cards. I have no idea if the new cards were mailed out or not.
I called repeatedly until I got someone who spoke a language I could understand and told them to put all the stuff on hold and just cancel the account entirely.

I told them that I have no use for customer service that cannot converse in my language and/or cannot understand simple questions and consistently misinterpret what I want or am asking.
I told them the cards that were in my custody were destroyed and I had no further use for CitiBank.

From now on, if I get a language challenged customer service rep I will call back until I get someone I can talk with. If I can't I will try my best not to do business with that company again.

Sometimes you get what you pay for folks.
It's just not worth the hassle to me anymore.

Anyone else had it with poor customer service?

You know the really scary part? They have access to your account controls.

On the occasions that I get a representative based in the U.S., I thank them for not being outsourced - I hope they pass this on to their bosses.
Citibank, had a large call center near/in Tampa, along I-75. Nice looking building - too bad there is no one in there taking calls.

Not all foreign reps that I have talked with are bad - some speak english rather well; and on a few occasions, better than their U.S. counterpart.

Like with most things, Quality control is an issue that must be addressed.

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It is a truism that almost any sect, cult, or religion will legislate its creed into law if it acquires the political power to do so. Robert A. Heinlein


09 Jetta TDI
1985 300D

Yep, it's now pervasive. Help from India is never going to solve your issue and leaves you beyond frustration.

So, agreed............don't do business with those vendors. I have a Dell that needs to be replaced soon. Dell wants another $100. for North American based customer support. Guess what? HP will be getting my business. Excellent customer service, and, AFAIK still North American based.

Speak with your wallets. Avoid businesses with poor customer support...........Citibank is one of the worst.

They want $100 more for US based tech support? Good gawd

I've had mixed success with customer service both domestic and outsourced. I have spoken to reps that sound like they are from the deep south that I can't understand a word of. I've also had good and bad experience with the India based services; I think it's just a sign of the times, and it will be unavoidable to deal with.

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1993 300E 2.8 185k miles
2006 Mustang Convertible 4.0 Eaton Supercharged

Well everyone wants stuff cheap, and it costs a lot more money to hire American's. $100 is about right, figure an American probably costs them $15-$20 an hour to hire, they can get a dozen Indians for that. Not to mention the Indians will probably take twice as many calls each day as the Americans because they work longer.


Dell's customer support is God awful! My sister has one, getting it fixed is like pulling teeth!

Thats why I LOVE my Sikorsky card, I called up customer service once and I'm like where are you guys. She said Stratford CT, yeah!

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1999 SL500
1969 280SE
2023 Ram 1500
2007 Tiara 3200

Brian,
I just bought an HP 6633 laptop from Circuit City, for use when travelling in my motorcoach. So far I love it!

I fired Dell after years of using their computers. --Even though I still own perhaps a thousand shares or so of their stock, I bailed. I'm glad to read that HP is a good brand going........thanks for the affirmation!

CitiCorp has a huge call center in Northern Kentucky. Little neighbor girl works there. I hope with the cost cutting they are planning, they keep the staff there. When I got a Citi card, I wound up talking to somebody there.
If you need to talk to Dell, I hear you want to call on weekends. For some reason, they seem to route calls to the US on weekends.

GL finding one that hasn't, and is still in business.

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1984 300TD

It was a weekend, last time I tried.........a Saturday......1.5 hours on hold. Still no answer. I hung-up on them, and bought an HP!

I'm not fully sure..........but, the last time I needed help from HP, the support was definitely NA based...........and it was truly excellent. Fellow spent two hours fixing all the software bugs in one of the "all in one's". Computer has a difficult time with four different devices in one box...........HP fixed it all............had to modify the registry to get it done. Impressive.

I love my HP! When the Emachine POS dies in my office I'm replacing it with an HP.

HP really is the Lexus of computers!

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1999 SL500
1969 280SE
2023 Ram 1500
2007 Tiara 3200

I simply ask "Do you live in North America?". If the answer is not "Yes", I tell them to get me an American on the line. If none is available, I fire off a note to the company and thank them for making my choice of the next purchase easier since I have eliminated them from the competition because of those reasons.

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01 Ford Excursion Powerstroke
99 E300 Turbodiesel
91 Vette with 383 motor
05 Polaris Sportsman 800 EFI
06 Polaris Sportsman 500 EFI
03 SeaDoo GTX SC Red
03 SeaDoo GTX SC Yellow
04 Tailgator 21 ft Toy Hauler
11 Harley Davidson 883 SuperLow

Mastercard Incorporated

MA stock did well in "07" (with cheap labor)
I don't own any but it is tempting.

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cult plus time equals religion