Delta stops using India call centers: report

[Coventina]

Source: Reuters

CHICAGO (Reuters) - Delta Air Lines Inc has stopped using India-based call centers to handle sales and reservations, the Wall Street Journal reported on Saturday.

The move makes the airline the latest U.S. company to decide the cost benefits of directing calls offshore are outweighed by backlash from costumers, the newspaper said in a story on its website.

Delta said it stopped routing calls to India-based call centers over the first three months of the year. Customers had complained they had trouble communicating with Indian agents, the newspaper said.

"The customer acceptance of call centers in foreign countries is low," Richard Anderson, Delta's chief executive, said in a recorded message to employees, according to the newspaper. "Our customers are not shy about letting us have that feedback."



Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/domesticNews/idUSTRE53H1PN20090418

---

The article does not say if Delta plans to re-open any call-center positions in the US.

[angstlessk]

1. I have nothing against the Indian nation as a whole..but when someone answers

helo...me name is Yon Smeeth...how ken I hep you? Is quite irritating..why not be honest??? FUCK A BUNCH OF PEOPLE PRETENDING TO BE AMERICANS ANSWERING YOUR CALLS!!!!

[ohheckyeah]

3. I had a guy at an Indian call center

tell me his name was Bobby Joe. I cracked up and couldn't stop laughing and had to call back later. I didn't mean to be rude but I couldn't help it.

[angstlessk]

9. they probably have your area code so they can be either southern or north eastern

or mid western.....what rubes..excues the indian reference...no on the other hand....DON'T!!!

[Somawas]

11. Actually, he was trying to say "Bobby Jindal." nt

[Mari333]

15. lolol

[ohheckyeah]

20. LOL. Good one. n/t

[TheEuclideanOne]

39. The aim is to be better accepted, much like when a politician name Piyush Jindal calls himself Bobby

Piyush Jindall uses the name "Bobby" Jindall. Same purpose and that has worked out real well for "Bobby". In fact, we as a country are just about as happy with him as Delta's customers were with their call center :)

I don't know of Barach ever thought about changing his name to something like "Billy Obama" or "Robbie Obama", but I am pretty sure he didn't. Would you say that somebody who does not use their real name is making a statement about what is really important to them? I personally do not think it is a big issue, but I think it is a small windows into their values and principles.

[amandabeech]

52. As a juvenile he used the name "Barry."

I do not recall when he decided to go back to Barak.

[Gormy Cuss]

2. Who knew costumers had such clout with any airline?

"..backlash from costumers.."


I think it's a baloney excuse -- the decision is about costs. Watch for an announcement that they'll assess fees for booking through a call center.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

4. Airlines never get backlash from costumers,

although some pilots don't care for Delta's double-breasted uniforms. But they actually will sometimes respond to customer concerns.

[No Elephants]

12. Oh, you're such a cynic. I

agree with you, though.

[dflprincess]

22. I was trying to figure out if, in this case, costumers is a cross between

consumer and customer. It's as though the author had a bout of aphasia and thought "costumer" was the word to use here.

[Demit]

10. Delta got a real dressing down on this one, didn't they? :)

[Gormy Cuss]

16. Either that or someone pinned back their ears. n/t

[Demit]

40. Creating a real costume drama!

[peace frog]

49. Wardrobe malfunction

Let the sanctions begin!

[CreekDog]

19. I'm sure United will be hiring the ones Delta fired

:eyes:

[dorkulon]

33. You don't mess with the costumers union. /nt

[PADemD]

36. This is why Indian call centers will be dropped

"Obama: End tax breaks for firms that offshore jobs"

http://www.reuters.com/article/bondsNews/idUSWAT01103920090225

[Larkspur]

5. Most likely the "customers" complaining about Indian call centers are

the wealthy elite and/or the top 1% of Delta's shareholders. Delta will listen and respond to them. They don't give a damn about coach class customers.

My last company I worked for was told by a large new client that my company could ship IT jobs to India but not the call centers because their top execs did not want to get frustrated with Indian accents. My company did setup a small customer service call center in India, but they made sure the big wig execs would get American phone reps. My company also built an IT facility in Bangalore and used H-1B visas to import programmers from India.

[kcass1954]

8. Delta Medallion members don't talk to call centers in India.

My brother (a Platinum Medallion) says that when he calls, he enters his Delta frequent flyer number, and it routes him to someone in the US.

[defendandprotect]

51. Agree they don't care about ordinary customers . . . however, elites can't keep

enough capitalists/elites in business --

One Cadillac company, but most of the car business was based on ordinary people buying.

Henry Ford understood that -- which is why he wanted his workers to be able to afford

his cars.

Business will provide better service for their more well off customers, that's true . . .

but in the end they usually are forced to recognize reality.

In fact, the luxury buyer is usually the first to disappear when times get rough.

[Grinchie]

6. I wonder if they will move the call centers back to Hawaii...

In the early 2000's, their was a suprisingly strong call center presence in Hawaii, which was subsequently offshored (If that's possible on the most remote archipelago on the world) to the Phillipines. It left a huge hole in unemployment, that was promptly fillied by a real estate bubble as everyone jumped on the bandwagon of extracting cash frome their homes.

It was really amazing to watch these poor islanders, especially the teens, exploit this windfall by promptly mimicking the Fast and Furious 2, by developing into the Tuner Car cult, and then resorting to Ice when the money ran out.

Truly incredible Bullshit.

I have to repeat my recomendations that people can make a difference, no matter what you do, it has an impact somewhere in the web of life. Complaining, not giving money to unethical corporations, not buying crap, supporting sustainable food growers, pulling a weed while walking down the street, all makes a difference. All it takes is consistency, and the willingness to be patient, or spend a little more to support the companies that actually do provide valuable services and jobs for the local community.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

7. Delta has acquired Northwest Airlines, which never outsourced its call center.

Maybe they'll just beef up that one. It's in Chisholm, Minnesota.

[CatholicEdHead]

17. They also have some in Minot, ND

Mostly for the MLT Vacations branch, they can expand up there.

[marybourg]

14. I agree with your end paragraph. nt.

[pnorman]

34. "All it takes is consistency, and the willingness to be patient"

That brings to mind one of my favorite quotes:
"When nothing seems to help, I go look at a stonecutter hammering away at his rock perhaps a hundred times without as much as a crack showing in it. Yet at the hundred and first blow it will split in two, and I know it was not that blow that did it, but all that had gone before." --- Jacob Riis

I've had a contrary experience with outsourced tech support. It's most definitely an "outlier", so it doesn't really alter the point of this discussion, but I'll give it anyhow. I received a new Toshiba laptop a while ago, which I had ordered on-line. It wouldn't fire up properly, and never got past the start-up screen. Initially, Toshiba tech support (definitely American accent) was useless, but I persevered. Ultimately, I reached a lady with an accent, who not only understood English very well, but "fixed" that damn computer on the first bounce! I then asked where she was from, and she replied: "Manila". I told her that ONLY my advanced age prevented me from proposing marriage! She laughed (a very pleasant laugh!).

Here's the 'fix' which may be general enough to be of use to others here. I told it to a friend (also Union Brother and fellow DUer), and he said: "Aha! That would have worked on my daughter's computer!". Pull out the power connector and detach the battery. Then hold the ON button for several seconds. Reattach the battery and try again. Voila! SUCCESS!

I'm rambling, but it's early in the morning, so please forgive me!

pnorman

[thelordofhell]

13. These stories are always full of it

I guarantee that Delta made this decission because they found out the true cost of outsourcing was more than they thought. Then they candy coat it all by saying "people were complaining". They didn't give a shit when they sent the jobs out of the country and we're just supposed to believe they came back because they suddenly care about the people here? Corporate crap strikes again.

[daleo]

18. I think you are right. n/t

[nilram]

21. Absolutely agree. All the same,

I'm glad to keep ANY jobs in the US right now, and I'll be doubly glad if I ever have to call the Delta "service" line.

[imdjh]

24. Chase just lied outright when they closed their Tampa call center

They had the Tampa employees training their Indian replacements- humiliating but they got extra pay for staying on to do that. They told the SP Times that they weren't offshoring, but that's exactly what they did.

I would love to see some of these companies punished hugely and publicly.

[Stephanie]

23. At my office we have to call India for IT support

The office is in lower Manhattan. Our "help" desk is in India. You call India, tell them the problem, they write up a ticket and give you the ticket number. The issue is then routed to Phoenix. Phoenix looks at it, then calls the tech guys upstairs in our own NYC building. Then the NY guys come down and fix it. All of this can take a week.

[Left Coast2020]

26. Since you're inside the company, have you thought of

exposing this to someone besides here? There are millions of Americans who need those jobs in this country. And there are thousands of tech-support people here who would love to work in a call-center support room.

[Stephanie]

27. It's a global company so they have some justification for doing it that way.

Most of their procedures are ridiculously complicated. But I am the lowest on the totem pole and in no position to make waves there.

[salguine]

28. These companies don't give a shit that people here could use the jobs. If they did,

they wouldn't have shipped them overseas in the first place.

[Bette Noir]

30. My DH works for a multinational with techs all over the world.

The techies in India call him for support. The communication problems occur in both directions.

[Lena inRI]

25. EASY SOLUTION, DELTA. . .

. . .put your call centers in California where there is 11.2% unemployment.

:eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes:

[Sarah Ibarruri]

29. Good solution. nt

[Name removed]

38. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[BobRossi]

41. Or Detroit.

There are enough Indian transplants here. ><

[RayStar]

43. Metro Detroit

Aren't there more in Metro Detroit mostly Macomb county?

[BobRossi]

45. Tri-Counties.

Canton looks like downtown Bangalore, the apartment complexes in Farmington and Farmington Hills look like an Indian ghetto.
On a warm summer evening the stench of curry is overwelming.

[Amonester]

31. These corporate a-holes don't do any serious market research...

BEFORE making such critical decisions anymore?

Where (and HOW) did they "earn" their grades? By cutin' & pastin' from the "internets" :shrug: ??

No wonder they tank the Economy...

[earcandle]

32. We should ask this responsive company where the jobs traveled to after India and see if they are

coming home.  Then we can support Delta. 

[Vinca]

35. More Americans could afford to fly Delta if they had jobs. nt

[defendandprotect]

50. Basically, aren't we looking at the end of the airlines, at any rate--???

That's what peak oil is going to mean -- though the elites might be able to fill planes.

That still won't go on forever.

I guess there's always nuclear fuel -- will we be that insane?

[PfcHammer]

37. I've had less problems with Indians' accents than other nationalities

or uneducated English speaking Americans. They are simply
trying to make a living like everyone else. It works out well
because it feeds into Americans' innate xenophobia and bigotry.
The US economy is fucked either way, regardless of where the call
centers are.

[RayStar]

42. Broken English

I feel it is so unfair to English speaking Americans to have to strain to understand broken English when spending their money.

[ThatsMyBarack]

44. Here's a solution:

Don't ever screw anything up, and don't ever NEED a call center. :sarcasm:

[defendandprotect]

46. This isn't just Delta, shirley . . . ???

If you truly want an answer, you're usually not going to find it in India --

And, the call centers are the least of it - what we are making in America today

is garbage -- beyond garbage, much of it is inane and sometimes dangerous stuff.

But from Yahoo to Comcast, from Delonghi to Dell, from every business with a robot

answering phones, it's not working.

Things are made now to crash -- to serve poorly -- and to be replaced.

It's bad for humans and bad for the environment -- and in the end will fail.

After the few get richer at our expense. Basically, they transferred not only the

costs to the consumer but the time-loss costs.

[President Decider]

47. ** KUDOS TO DELTA! .... Let's hope they set the tone and start a trend.

I'll give props where props are due. Delta getting out of the India call centers business and bringing the jobs back home could mark the end of an era for many other U.S. companies as well. The sad thing is that the employees have been telling their executives that offshoring these jobs have been bad business for nearly 8 years now. Did they think employees don't know any better? ... or worse yet, lying? Moral of the story ..... Businesses better start lending an ear to what their employees are saying.

Let's hope "good truly goes around" and this starts a trend for American businesses.

[marshall]

48. Next they'll proably route the calls to Mesico

And when they get complaints they'll just say they are immigrants with green cards.