Why are many customer service centers in the Philippines?

[Drahthaardogs]

Are there tax breaks there?

[mainer]

1. English commonly spoken there?

Like in India.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

2. How many developing countries have so many people who speak English?

[msongs]

3. brutal corporate loving dictatorship, xtremely low wages, desperate poverty nt

[EX500rider]

10. "brutal corporate loving dictatorship" ?

More like a democracy actually:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elections_in_the_Philippines

[msongs]

12. that looks good...on paper. duterte is a brutal dictator nt

[EX500rider]

16. Whether or not we like his polices, he is popular with the local voters.

January 22, 2020: President Duterte continues to enjoy high approval ratings. The latest poll shows 82 percent approval, which is up from 78 percent in September 2019. These are all high for a president in office for more than three years. Duterte promised to make people safer while also reducing corruption. He did so and continues to concentrate on what he got elected to do. The latest poll found that only 52 percent of voters expected Duterte to deliver on all or nearly all of his campaign promises while 43 percent expected him to only deliver on a few. Duterte has delivered on more campaign promises than any previous president. Yet his approval ratings have declined as they do for every president, but then they rise again as yet another campaign promise is addressed. In late 2018 his approval was 78 percent. That was down from 84 percent shortly after he took office in 2016. Approval peaked at 85 percent in late 2016 and fell to 75 percent in early 2018 before reaching a low of 68 percent in mid-2019. There are many foreign critics of the Duterte war on drugs but for the people most affected by it there is approval. Filipinos feel safer and more confident about their future. The national crime rate is 3.3 percent less than a year ago and is apparently continuing to decline. Meanwhile, corruption arrests and prosecutions continue to increase and many of those prosecuted are senior officials, often from previous governments. Duterte has also gone after quality-of-life problems like electric and water supplies.

[Delarage]

26. Is this like a Putin popularity poll?

Where you fall out of a window if you say something negative? I'm not sure I have an 82% approval rating in my own family

[EX500rider]

27. His policies are locally popular. Nt

[Hekate]

30. Like the one where he encourages vigilante "justice" for people merely suspected of being addicts?

Duterte’s a real sweetheart, and one of the authoritarians Trump had a schoolgirl crush on.

[EX500rider]

33. You'd have to ask the locals why he is popular but he is. nt

[dawg day]

14. Duterte who brags about murdering people?

Okay, he was elected, but if you are Trump's favorite president, well, you "democratically" say something like:

In a campaign speech on April 27 to business leaders, he said his presidency would be "a bloody one", but that he would issue "a thousand pardons a day" to police and soldiers accused of human rights abuses, and would also issue a presidential pardon to himself for mass murder at the end of his six-year term.[86]
(from Wikipedia).

[EX500rider]

32. Yes, that Rodrigo Duterte, wasn't like the Philippino's didn't know what they were voting for.

As the Mayor of Davao City for multiple terms his policies were well known before hand.

[Irish_Dem]

4. College educated, English speaking work force?

[DBoon]

5. former US colony

probably various legal and cultural ties that make it easier than say Bangladesh

[dchill]

6. They work cheap.

[leftyladyfrommo]

7. Their English is a lot better. nt

[True Dough]

9. Thanks to HP, I've had plenty of reason to speak to customer service reps

in the Philippines. I try not to be rude to them because they're front-line staff. I've found most of them to be courteous. But I have made clear a number of times to the managers on site that HP's service/products are terrible and I'd NEVER buy another one of their products.

[Midnightwalk]

13. I always try to use chat rather than call

No listening or recordings while in hold.

Written words are easier to understand and details don’t get lost. There’s also a record. It’s also there if you get passed to another person.

If I do have to talk on the phone I start a recording and tell them I am recording also. Not always but there are a few companies whose customer service really sucks. Last time I did the guy asked if it would wind up on the internet and I said “not if you give me what I want”. We both laughed.

Just my 2¢

[OAITW r.2.0]

22. Agreed.....

hell, I have problems understanding some parts of the US when it comes to phone calls. I find chat's pretty helpful....and you get links to the info that you reed to resolve the problem.

[SCantiGOP]

11. Similar question: why is Utah

always one of the top states for foreign companies establishing their first US location?
Because every devout Mormon must spend two years as a foreign missionary, virtually every language in the world has people there who speak it.

[AllaN01Bear]

15. the state of del is the same way with corps . friendly.

[Wellstone ruled]

23. Bingo,

used to be the Call Center Capital of the World in the late nineties. BTW,many of the off shore call centers are organized by Utah people. Once again,it is all about the Missionary Program of the Mormon Church.

[LSFL]

17. They have long time cultural and economic ties with the US

They know how to frustrate and annoy us in very subtle ways that are hard to pin down. That way when you're absolutely apoplectic with rage, sputtering and frothing, they can seem like the reasonable ones. It is the devil's work.

[marble falls]

18. It's revenge for US imperialism since 1890's.

[targetpractice]

19. I've had excellent experiences...

... The folks I've talked with speak English very well, and I get an opportunity to practice my Tagalog.

[leighbythesea2]

20. Near bottom for wages

Of foreign countries, read recently.

[brooklynite]

21. Hi prevalence of English speakers.

[Turbineguy]

24. English is widely spoken

They are hard workers.
They are very nice people.
They are well educated.

[DFW]

25. I have never talked to one there

But I live in Germany.

Filipinos actually control the western world. They‘re just too polite to make a big deal of it. But in my experience, they are absolutely everywhere. They are in many restaurants, ALL hotels, most (from what I‘m told) ships, from freighters to cruise ships, etc. I think they could shut us down tomorrow if they wanted to. But they are the ones who really make the world run.

They learn English from a very young age, and many see proficiency in English as their way out of the poverty so many of them are born into. At the hotel I most often stay at here in Europe, in Brussels, the European staff comes and goes, but the ten or so same Filipinos have been there for 15 years or more. They are all gracious, friendly, smart and always smiling. I always have them teach me phrases in Tagalog, and at this point, I can even hold rudimentary conversations in it. I would think they are the ideal place for a call center. I have seen Filipinos all over taking abuse from loutish customers (mostly from the USA),and showing more patience than I could ever muster. I can only guess that if they had the stamina to put up with whatever they put up with to get out of there, an irate customer is the least they could be asked to put up with. What more ideal group of people to hire for a call center?

[Turbineguy]

28. I was a ship's engineer on large container ships.

my last ships had Filipino crew. They would grab the tools out of your hands. I was read the riot act when I secured the main engine (once).

We had karaoke nights and nice barbeques. The next day it was as nothing had happened.

[Hekate]

29. English is widely spoken. People need jobs. Labor is cheap. Time zone doesn't matter.

Don’t think Duterte gives a rat’s patoot about workers’ rights or labor conditions.

Who needs tax breaks when you’ve got all that?

[honest.abe]

31. English speaking with little accent..

Plus an understanding of Western culture and very patient with customers. Also well educated and relatively low salary. Plus the infrastructure is modern and well maintained. Many good reasons which is why they are dominant in this industry.