Why do Americans think that call center agents from the Philippines are idiots?

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Kami ay mga Dukha

They are just insecure because we outsmarted them...
Even though English is their National Language, we, Pilipinos can deliver English more fluent than them..

they just can't deny the fact that we were better in their own expertise.

ryt?

***~***

I certainly think that's a generalization but it may be because of the fact that some can't speak English very well.

NOLA guy

Actually, we almost never know what nationality we are speaking with when our "USA" phone call is diverted to an overseas call center.

OUT OF HAND

nope i 100 percent disagree..when i was in the U.S i called to have my Internet turned on through my phone company i believe it was southwestern bell or at&t phone company and when i had problems with my internet they directed me to this very nice lady who fixed my problem .and while we were talking i asked her what state she was in.and she told me overseas sir the philippines.i was shocked ..i had just came back from there . she could not give me anymore details on where she was from in the philippines due to rules of her job.but i could not even tell that she was in the philippines.to this day i would like to thank her ..i am a american who has family here in the philippines.and i love it .all the americans i know like the philippines and DON'T think call center agents are idiots. p.s i found out later she was located in cebu. so to all call centers thank you for all of yalls help .and i am a american

!cantaridas x_0

don't you think Indian call center agents are even worse?

ā™� || Brown Eyed Girl || ā™�

I agree with the person above me. Because it is hard to understand them when they speak with a thick accent.

sirchas2002

that is a over generalization, many Americans think ALL Call center agents are idiots. Good Quality Call centers have agents that are some of the best in the world. I opened the first international call center in the Philippines back in 1997 at Clark. Pioneer status by BOI. We started with a small trial center starting about 3 batches of 20 two weeks apart. at the same time the same number of employees were trained for the same duties in a state side center.the US center was the control group and a set of standards of service was set it was to be a 6 month program. the trail lasted only 3 months as the 3 Philippine groups met the standard in the first 3 months and beat the control group in each measurement. In one year we had a building built and 1,000 employees. they always were in the top of evaluation compared against the US centers. after a while the English ability of applicate dropped but it was still acceptable. other centers developed as international companies rapidly saw how successful the Philippine center was. as call centers had to search for staff quality levels dropped partly because the English instructions in schools was reduced by a movie star and partly because of the ever increasing demands

mikol_5

due to the influx of new call center companies (mostly owned by americans, i might add), there is a need to hire manpower pronto. some do not take time to thoroughly train new agents. seldom is speech therapy used. so, what you have is a filipino agent greeting a native speaker in heavily accented english using scripted lines. and doing it over and over again doesn't guarantee that guy on the other end ordering the vacuum cleaner understand any of it.

kamagong

I disagree, I think those call center agents provide excellent service. I have spoken with them on numerous occasions and in all instances, I mean all, they were very helpful and were able to resolve the issues that I called about. They knew what they were talking about.

They are very courteous and sympathetic with the caller, at times even apologetic about the situation. They have excellent communication skills and enunciate each word very clearly, that there is no room for any misunderstanding. I could hardly discern the Philippine accent (we speak English in a recognizable and unique way) and had no idea they were Philippine-based until out of curiosity I'd asked them later on.

Wings

Because you can't understand a word they say and they disconnect you. Same with the ones from India. Why should I have to call India to order vacuum cleaner bags and spend 1 hour on the phone talking to someone who doesn't speak my language.

lookfine27

yah we just have thick tongue. filipinos can spell & write better!!!!!!!

Diogene's Dog

it is possible that the number of times that the statement, "I will give you excellent customer service." is repeated is in the same call is an indication of something.

ken_r41

This is an opinion only and not fact. I have high regard towards the Call Centers in the Philippines and in the expat community in the Philippines there is much conversation about the various Call Centers. For the most part the expaats living in the Philippines would diagree with the Askers remarks.

Do not assume anything

Paul B.

That's a generalization. There are as many call centers in the Philippines as there are in India. Sometimes, I am able to tell from which country the call center is by their accent. Both groups have accents. But, overall, I think they do a good job

On one occasion, I could tell the guy was Filipino. But when I asked him where his location was, he refused. Funny.

Leander

Only a few Americans think like that so that might be an unfair generalization.. I would say that most would be a little hesitant if they can sense that they are speaking with a foreign operator because of previous experiences of confusion and misunderstandings which prolonged former processes of previous transactions.. I've spoken with some operators based in India and the Philippines and most are really great but there's this 10% that really have a heavy accent or was having a hard time understanding.. It's vice versa too because people might not understand them also.. Anyways, I just think that the specific call center agent might have just encountered a mean person or someone in their bad mood.. A change in the environment or with something that they are used too flares them up therefore treating everybody, not only call center agents, badly... You can't control people with this profession but you can surely try to be the best and polite that you can be to change their mood and impression...

SNL

at first i don't believe what they're saying about call centers in Manila but i was in a meeting where our manager mentioned that one of our problems are our call centers in Manila and i tried to slide down my seat so no one will see me. hmmmpp!

i tried to dig what the problem in manila call centers and it seems that they are not properly trained and most of them don't know the answer to customers questions. and they make a lot of mess that they're popular here in my work. and i can hear comments like: it's the manila people again.

they just need need proper training and confidence that they can handle the customers inquiries and they're not idiots. they're well educated people that needs to stand up with american customers. hmmmppp!!!

annabelle p

They think they're idiots without meaning them to be real idiots. Those American boys think that the Filipinos are crazy to be working in call centers owned and managed by Americans that pay only half or three-fourths of what an average American earn in the US. Well, for Filipinos to be earning even half of what is an average American take-home pay, they still come out winners. Once they exchange the dollars to pesos, the outcome will be more than sufficient for these Filipinos to live on considering they are living in the Philippines and not the US.

Shira

what?? now that's insulting!! I'm a Filipina btw, and umm, we're not idiots, thank you!! most filipinos speak with a thick tongue when they are speaking in English, since they are used to the tone of their own dialect. but we're not idiots!!

Mr. Quickie

Because you cannot get a straight answer from them. A lot of answers are just plain silly and oftentimes give erroneous advice.

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