One phenomenon the world has been slow to appreciate is that the world-wide web is truly world-wide. Talking to a technician at one of the computer industry’s ubiquitous call centres the other day, we made a joke while filling out a form when the technician told us to indicate that we were talking to a call centre designated ‘SM.’ The joke was that we said: ‘That must mean Santa Monica.’ Not being allowed a sense of humour, the techie simply agreed. We both knew it probably meant something more like ‘South Mumbai’ but there was no intent to be rude.
For seniors, this is neither funny nor a joke. As much as these call centres try to train their employees to talk like Americans, they fail. The unfamiliar speaking cadence and technical words used by these people leave seniors constantly asking the technicians to repeat themselves and there is a great deal of frustration on both sides of the conversation. Thankfully the improvements in the voice-over Internet protocol (VOIP) technology that makes the communications costs so cheap have now overcome many of the earlier voice quality problems.
The problem is that being a senior means that you have lost some of the hearing ability that you had when younger. You no longer hear the full range. You have difficulty recognizing tones. Background noise interferes. You strain to hear what is being said, strain to understand and become easily frustrated. It does not make for good communication for the senior customer.
But the other side of the coin is the problems the computer company creates. When call centres were on-site with other head office functions of the company, there was a high level of direct communication on customer needs, concerns and reactions. This communication breaks down when distance, borders, culture and principal languages divide the people who should be in communication. Customers become nothing more than statistics and animosities are created between the company and its distant supplier. Soon the relationship breaks down and a new and probably cheaper centre is considered.
In the early days, the provision of customer help was a challenge that involved the development staff and executive. They wanted to know what the consumer was experiencing. Today, they hardly care. Today, a call centre will only help a customer to a certain pre-determined cost and then will effectively dump the customer into the growing ranks of the disgruntled.
And that is why seniors are the first to feel the pain of the service we so grudgingly get from an industry of the young. Next time you are talking to someone in ‘South Mumbai,’ you should tell them that you want them as a friend on your facebook site. That will win them over.
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