I think I've touched at least 15+ countries with Cisco HTTPS, and minus a few language issues, they're pretty decent.
On Thu, Dec 25, 2008 at 4:37 PM, Jay Hennigan <j...@west.net> wrote: > Martin Hannigan wrote: > > Hi Jay: >> >> Is there really anything wrong with sending first-level technical support >> offshore? >> > > Macs are macs, Windows is windows and mail is mail whether you're in >> Mumbai or Memphis. As long as the language skills are good and the people >> are well trained, it should be mostly irrelevant, IMHO. >> > > In and of itself and setting aside patriotic/nationalistic issues, probably > not, assuming adequate technical and product knowledge and language skills. > I suppose that it would be possible that if it were done well enough one > wouldn't be able to tell. > > However, there is something about dealing with a local company that adds > value. People seem to care more about their community and neighbors than a > random, barely understandable voice on a G.729 8k codec at the other end of > a satellite link. > > I have generally found dealing with most offshore tech support to be very > frustrating. The language issues are burdensome, some accents so thick as > to be barely understandable, and the lack of clue and scripted menu-driven > responses are obvious and usually of no value. I wouldn't be calling if the > problem could be solved by reading the documentation and some judicious web > searching. There are some exceptions, including Cisco TAC which is very > good. I've talked to Cisco engineers in Australia and Europe on occasion. > I've had mixed results with Linksys support, which I believe is in the > Philippines. > > Dealing with one offshore AT&T billing representative who was clearly a > non-English speaker was extremely painful. The latency and nonsense of the > person's responses suggested either some type of auto-translator or > satellite link, or both. The person wasn't capable of getting the hint when > I asked after several minutes of frustration what the "A" in "AT&T" stood > for, and in fact claimed to have no idea. I suspect that this level of > disservice may be deliberate so that people will pay bogus charges on bills > because the frustration level of disputing them is intentionally high. > > > -- > Jay Hennigan - CCIE #7880 - Network Engineering - j...@impulse.net > Impulse Internet Service - http://www.impulse.net/ > Your local telephone and internet company - 805 884-6323 - WB6RDV > > -- Josh Potter
