HP makes me proud to be a Mac Owner

[lordthistle]

[...]
Why do I have to learn how to interact with someone in India then? I'm the customer, not them.

You're a fool if you don't realize that those in India handling calls FROM AMERICAN CUSTOMERS should be trained to understand Americans. Not the other way around.
[...]

You arrogant american

I basically agree with you. But this is the way it works for every company. Outside US also Apple does not have localized customer services. In one of the infinite calls I made to Apple, I even tried a Spanish-Italian conversation since their Italian was as bad as their English.

But the advice you received is valid. Very often it is enough to slow down, simplify the language and avoid bizarre pronunciations for having a nicer conversation.

- thistle

 

[MVApple]

You arrogant american

I basically agree with you. But this is the way it works for every company. Outside US also Apple does not have localized customer services. In one of the infinite calls I made to Apple, I even tried a Spanish-Italian conversation since their Italian was as bad as their English.

But the advice you received is valid. Very often it is enough to slow down, simplify the language and avoid bizarre pronunciations for having a nicer conversation.

- thistle

I understand you're in Europe and your native language is Italian correct? Just out of curiosity, what was the native language of the people you were speaki g with?

And to address your comment, not once did any of them ask me to repeat myself. If they had I would have rephrased my question and I don't mind working through the language barrier but they won't work with me. If I'm speaking too fast they need to ask me to slow down. I'm very patient on the phone but if they keep talking straight from their script and refuse to comprehend me then there's nothing I can really do.

And for those of you saying I might not have spoken clearly then you have to ask why 1 of the representatives understood me perfectly. He had an accent but he spoke and understood perfectly. Unfortunately my problem didn't fall under his department. I literally told him though that I apreciated the fact that he did try to help me and that he understood the words coming out of my mouth. He laughed and said your welcome.

Don't take my comments as an attack on Indians. I stood next to an Indian girl for an entire semester in lab and she had an accent since she was from India but her English was perfectly fine. And as I said before one of the Indian gentleman I talked to had a great grasp on the English language.

My problem isn't the jobs being outsourced to India but simply the fact that there hiring standards are lax. Most of the people I talked don't understand English well enough to have the jobs they have.

And as I said before I speak Spanish fluently and I'm in the process of learning Korean. Don't think I'm someone that speaks just one language.

 

[fireloss]

You arrogant american

I basically agree with you. But this is the way it works for every company. Outside US also Apple does not have localized customer services. In one of the infinite calls I made to Apple, I even tried a Spanish-Italian conversation since their Italian was as bad as their English.

But the advice you received is valid. Very often it is enough to slow down, simplify the language and avoid bizarre pronunciations for having a nicer conversation.

- thistle

They do in some places, but not in others. I am pretty sure that they do in Australia, and in Japan as well.

 

[MH01]

I understand you're in Europe and your native language is Italian correct? Just out of curiosity, what was the native language of the people you were speaki g with?

And to address your comment, not once did any of them ask me to repeat myself. If they had I would have rephrased my question and I don't mind working through the language barrier but they won't work with me. If I'm speaking too fast they need to ask me to slow down. I'm very patient on the phone but if they keep talking straight from their script and refuse to comprehend me then there's nothing I can really do.

And for those of you saying I might not have spoken clearly then you have to ask why 1 of the representatives understood me perfectly. He had an accent but he spoke and understood perfectly. Unfortunately my problem didn't fall under his department. I literally told him though that I apreciated the fact that he did try to help me and that he understood the words coming out of my mouth. He laughed and said your welcome.

Don't take my comments as an attack on Indians. I stood next to an Indian girl for an entire semester in lab and she had an accent since she was from India but her English was perfectly fine. And as I said before one of the Indian gentleman I talked to had a great grasp on the English language.

My problem isn't the jobs being outsourced to India but simply the fact that there hiring standards are lax. Most of the people I talked don't understand English well enough to have the jobs they have.

And as I said before I speak Spanish fluently and I'm in the process of learning Korean. Don't think I'm someone that speaks just one language.

You should learn one really important fact about Indian culture, they are really polite, that is probably the reason they did not ask you to repeat yourself over and over. So you knew a girl at uni who was from india, well i think i know why she understood you, she was studying in the USA.

How can you base hiring standards on a bad call centre experience, very arrogant!.

And because you speak spanish and are learning Korean means jack, I know Japanese and polish, and that accounts for nothing when i travel cause i have a very strong australian accent. When i travel to america i have had to resort to pointing to a macdonalds menu cause they could not understand "diet coke" was the person behind the counter dumb? was it crap hiring standards....No! its a simple case of them not understanding my accent, I was not going to blame them, i pointed to what I wanted, we had a laugh and i got fatter from the bigmac. No matter how i tried to pronounce "diet coke" it was not going to happen. I had many of these experiences, I did not blame americans, I just accepted the fact that they were not used to a strong country australian accent.....and these people worked in customer service....like a 5 star hotel!!!

Then you have the issue of British english v American, some words mean completely different things, like Pants or fanny....look these two up in an British, Australian and American dictionary and you will realize the misunderstanding you can get into .

Come over to spain and you will realize how interesting things get, there will be lots of people that will struggle to understand you cause or your american accent. I have a french Canadian friend and a French mate, sure they both speak French but there are lots of misunderstandings from language/culture.

Anyway, the customer always things they are right.....

 

[polaris20]

Wow. Since about 2000 or so, I have used HP computers and didn't even own a Mac untill last year. I have never had an HP computer fail on me. I still have a Pavilion 7970 desktop 3.0GHZ that still works from 2001.
I still have two HP laptops that are perfect as well from the last few years. I sold my 4 month old BlackBook and 1 year old MBP because I prefered my HP laptops over the Macs.

I guess some people just have bad luck just as some people have had bad luck with Apple.

This is my opinion after dealing with hundreds of them though. It's not after owning a couple at home.

 

[lordthistle]

I understand you're in Europe and your native language is Italian correct? Just out of curiosity, what was the native language of the people you were speaki g with?

If I remember correctly, the ones I recognized or almost recognized: 1 Spanish, several from Eastern Europe, a couple from (Eastern) Asia (I'd say India), 1 Italian, 1 English.

-- thistle

 

[sehnsucht77]

Are Dell monitors good? ALso can you use it with a alu macbook?

sure. just do a bit of research to see if your prospective product choice has a any version problems. like any company, first runs tend to have problems so check the dell forums for any hiccups. you could also look at samsung screens or eizo.

alu macbooks can use any DVI capable monitor but you can also use a 15pin VGA to DVI adaptor if you want. i've got a cinema vision for my mbp and a couple of samsung 24" running a dual screen config into my C2D PC and both work well. i used to have 2 dell 20" before i upgraded to the HDMI capable samsungs.

 

[MVApple]

You should learn one really important fact about Indian culture, they are really polite, that is probably the reason they did not ask you to repeat yourself over and over. So you knew a girl at uni who was from india, well i think i know why she understood you, she was studying in the USA.

How can you base hiring standards on a bad call centre experience, very arrogant!.

And because you speak spanish and are learning Korean means jack, I know Japanese and polish, and that accounts for nothing when i travel cause i have a very strong australian accent. When i travel to america i have had to resort to pointing to a macdonalds menu cause they could not understand "diet coke" was the person behind the counter dumb? was it crap hiring standards....No! its a simple case of them not understanding my accent, I was not going to blame them, i pointed to what I wanted, we had a laugh and i got fatter from the bigmac. No matter how i tried to pronounce "diet coke" it was not going to happen. I had many of these experiences, I did not blame americans, I just accepted the fact that they were not used to a strong country australian accent.....and these people worked in customer service....like a 5 star hotel!!!

Then you have the issue of British english v American, some words mean completely different things, like Pants or fanny....look these two up in an British, Australian and American dictionary and you will realize the misunderstanding you can get into .

Come over to spain and you will realize how interesting things get, there will be lots of people that will struggle to understand you cause or your american accent. I have a french Canadian friend and a French mate, sure they both speak French but there are lots of misunderstandings from language/culture.

Anyway, the customer always things they are right.....

How can I base hiring standards on one bad call center experience? Arrogant? Hardly. Maybe you misunderstood me or I wasn't clear. I'm saying that HP has bad hiring standards for their call center. Throughout this whole experience I must have talked to about 10 different agents and only 2 of them had a good grasp on the English language.

Of course me knowing Spanish doesn't mean anything when talking to people in English or other languages. I was responding to people who say American's only know one language.

And I don't have an American accent on my Spanish. And yes I know if I go to Spain I will have some trouble communicating because of the differences between the Spanish I speak (from Mexico) and the Spanish they speak.

What you and some people on this thread need to get through your heads is that I am not traveling to India on vacation and struggling to communicate. What you and a few others need to get through your heads is that I am the customer buying products that pay for their jobs. They are handling calls from America.

I don't go to a foreign country and expect that they understand me. I need to adjust to them, not the other way around. I hope something that simple makes sense to you.

If they are in India and are handling calls from AMERICANS then they need to adjust to the customers they are serving, not the other way around! Without American customers they wouldn't have a job.

What you are saying is the equivalent of me walking into a restaurant, placeing an order and then the cook coming to me and telling me to go in the back and cook the meal myself because he doesn't know how. And then expecting me to pay for it as if he cooked it.

Now that is what is arrogant!

 

[mikes70mustang]

Are Dell monitors good? ALso can you use it with a alu macbook?

Doesnt almost any monitor work as long as you have the correct adapter and or cable?

 

[jjahshik32]

I never used any slang words. I used very basic English. I was clear and concise. Don't assume the blame is on me because they can't understand basic English. I'm a customer in the United States of America, not India. Don't you realize that when I purchased the monitor the price includes the cost of customer support?

Why do I have to learn how to interact with someone in India then? I'm the customer, not them.

You're a fool if you don't realize that those in India handling calls FROM AMERICAN CUSTOMERS should be trained to understand Americans. Not the other way around.

If they don't understand what I'm saying then they need to speak up and ask me to repeat what I'm saying. I'm the customer If they have a job in customer support, it's because American's customers like myself are buying products that pay for their wages.

If you can't understand something as simple as that then, please, never get into anything buisness related. Stick to flipping burgers.

I agree with you, everytime I used to call microsoft to activate windows someone from india (I guess outsourcing) answers the call and when I tried to give them the number and serial code they get an attitude sometimes because they cant understand my thick american accent!

This is the problem and I believe its a problem caused by us Americans for outsourcing and not keeping the jobs at home.

So basically its our own fault. Hopefully obama will correct this problem and keep jobs at home.

But I understand what you are saying, if they are hiring people at least hire people that can speak english well enough so that the base customers in this case Americans can understand them.

 

[MH01]

How can I base hiring standards on one bad call center experience? Arrogant? Hardly. Maybe you misunderstood me or I wasn't clear. I'm saying that HP has bad hiring standards for their call center. Throughout this whole experience I must have talked to about 10 different agents and only 2 of them had a good grasp on the English language.

Of course me knowing Spanish doesn't mean anything when talking to people in English or other languages. I was responding to people who say American's only know one language.

And I don't have an American accent on my Spanish. And yes I know if I go to Spain I will have some trouble communicating because of the differences between the Spanish I speak (from Mexico) and the Spanish they speak.

What you and some people on this thread need to get through your heads is that I am not traveling to India on vacation and struggling to communicate. What you and a few others need to get through your heads is that I am the customer buying products that pay for their jobs. They are handling calls from America.

I don't go to a foreign country and expect that they understand me. I need to adjust to them, not the other way around. I hope something that simple makes sense to you.

If they are in India and are handling calls from AMERICANS then they need to adjust to the customers they are serving, not the other way around! Without American customers they wouldn't have a job.

What you are saying is the equivalent of me walking into a restaurant, placeing an order and then the cook coming to me and telling me to go in the back and cook the meal myself because he doesn't know how. And then expecting me to pay for it as if he cooked it.

Now that is what is arrogant!

To be honest, had you just posted here that HP had a crap Customer service based on inadequate scripts they follow, you would have had everybody saying "with you on that, went through the same thing....yeah apple rocks" . All you needed to say that their communication was shocking and they were not trained to deal with no vanilla cases. What you actually did was blame the poor english skills of Indian call centre workers, and that they were the wrong people for the job...that is not being tolerant. Their hiring standards are not the issue here, its outsourcing and training...all fault of HP and not the indian.

Google politically correct, you can make your point in a subtle tolerant way and get it across to everyone, you do not need a sledgehammer approach.

You say your tolerant, if you travel you will adjust to languages requirements of that country.....and yet when you pickup the phone and talk to an non American...you are an AMERICAN and a CUSTOMER.....so what happened to that tolerance and ability to adjust?????? Pffft...

If you want cheaper products, outsourcing is always going to be a problem. But a CUSTOMER demands both i guess... Yes apple is much better, yes the call centres are in US....and yes you PAY MORE....that service is not free...

 

[Sehnsucht]

Several things. To begin with, it isn't "racist" to be frustrated when you're not able to communicate with the person who is supposed to be helping resolve your issues. I've had nightmare after nightmare involving "Indian English," which is just about the most irritating and awkward situation to be in. Case in point: I was at work and an Indian couple purchased a 46" TV. While I was ringing it up for them, I asked if they'd be interested in an optional extended warranty for the TV. "What deed warrrantee opashinal contains?" they ask. I explain it as best as I can. "If no wee later decide geeting warranty opshinal, yes wee come back anyseeng store?" Ummm...

Then as I was on my way out to their vehicle with the television, the guy says, "TV weel feet in Honda Ceeveec, no?" So I stop suddenly and get serious with the guy. NO, I assured him, a 46" television WILL NOT fit into a Honda Civic. He gets an attidude and says, "Wee try no matter." Sure enough, the TV doesn't fit into the trunk, so I set it back down on the wheel cart and wash my hands of the situation. The couple struggles with each end of the TV, trying to wedge it into every single door, yes including the driver's side door. "I weel held it when drive." I'm just standing there in the cold, getting really pissed off, so finally I just tell them they'll have to leave the television with me and come back with a bigger vehicle. "No can have serveece call of deleeveree?!?" the wife screeches at me. Ummm, no.

What really gets me about speakers of Indian English is that they are completely unaware of how horrible their English is, and get pissed off when nobody can understand them. Mexicans, on the other hand, nearly always bring a kid with them who can translate if they themselves don't speak English very well or at all. But even when there's no translator at hand, I can speak Spanish fairly well (I've been on dozens of trips to Mexico.) Had the couple spoke Spanish, the situation would have gone much smoother.

Oh yes, and HP sucks anyway, even if their support reps were native English speakers like the 3 Apple reps I've talked to on the phone.