Customers fed up with phone follies

By Christian Science Monitor

As a frequent traveler, Amanda Williams assumed it would be easy to book flights from Charlotte, N.C., to Jackson, Miss., to attend her grandfather's funeral.

But when she called an airline to request a bereavement fare -- common in such circumstances -- problems began. The customer service representative, based in another country, was the first of four agents who had what she describes as "extremely heavy accents." None of them knew how to handle her request.

Apparently "bereavement fare" was not translating well for them, and no one could understand what I needed," says Williams, who works in advertising.

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Noting that it took nearly two hours to book tickets for herself and three relatives, she says, "I had to tell the story four different times. I finally broke down crying on the phone, partly from grief but also out of frustration."

'Press 1 for English'

More Americans share Williams' frustration these days as they encounter two contentious customer service practices. One is outsourcing, in which calls are routed to agents overseas. The second involves automated telephone systems that send callers through a maze of recorded menu options -- "Press 1 for English," "Press 5 for account information," and so on. Aware that they are alienating customers, some companies are scrambling to do better.

"Outsourcing has been quite an issue," says Roger Nunley, managing director of the Customer Care Institute, a resource organization in Atlanta. "Early on, it was not handled too well by outsourcing service providers. Today there are some very good outsourcing providers that do an excellent job." Overall, he adds, "the state of customer care seems to be improving."

But part of the challenge for customers stems from a two-tier system of service.

"Companies call it 'segmentation,' " says Jay Galbraith, author of "Designing the Customer-Centric Organization." "They know who's calling because of caller ID. If you're a top customer, they'll send your call to the United States. If you're just an ordinary customer, you'll probably be routed to India or another outsourced site. It's not democratic at all."

Williams tells of a co-worker who has accumulated a huge bank of frequent-flier miles. "When she calls (an airline), she immediately gets a U.S.-based customer service rep who greets her by name."

An author in San Diego whose new Hewlett-Packard (HPQ, news, msgs) desktop computer developed a problem phoned the company's tech support line for help. She discovered that owners of business computers are served by staff in the United States. Those with in-home computers are routed overseas. "I asked the woman to transfer me to the States, but she refused," says the woman, who does not want to be identified. H-P declined to comment.

A connection with the customer

Similarly, at many airlines there is no way to transfer to an agent in the United States. "If you're not satisfied, say, 'I'm sorry, I'm having a hard time understanding you. Please transfer me to your supervisor,' " says Robin Urbanski, a United spokeswoman.

At Midwest Airlines in Milwaukee, spokeswoman Carol Skornicka says, "We never have even considered foreign outsourcing. There's a very important connection with the customer that begins with the reservation process. We get a lot of customer feedback on these employees. They're very proactive at dealing with customers' special needs."

Tom Salyers wanted a proactive approach from his two credit card companies when his wallet was stolen from his gym locker.

"It took five or six times as long to cancel my MasterCard (MA, news, msgs), which was outsourced to India, as it did to cancel my American Express (AXP, news, msgs) card," says Salyers, communications director for a national children's nonprofit organization in Washington, D.C.

"I called Citibank (C, news, msgs). He was clearly reading from a script. He asked me three or four times, 'Did you lose it? Do you know who took it?' I had to answer the same questions multiple times due to cultural and language barriers."

By contrast, when Salyers called American Express and reached an agent in the South, he says, "She didn't ask a lot of questions about how it was stolen. She said, 'We'll have the credit card to you tomorrow.' "

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