I used to work for Verizon DSL tech support in Texas. But we had lots of foreigners with really bad accents(not to mention the Texas accent). During training they were encouraged to pick American sounding names. Oh here are some other tips:

1. When the robot voice says this conversation maybe recorded, they are. Every call is recorded at these call centers.

2. The tech agent gets in trouble if the phone call goes over 15min.

3. Training lasts 2 weeks(but you at least had to have some sort of technical training before)

Cue "why does it matter that they're from India, you must be racist" remarks - 3...2...1...go.

Most of the Indians in our call center were the better techs.

@kewl132: I don't mind which nationality, but I need someone without a thick accent. How are you going to help me, if I don't understand what you're saying?

@chouchou: "I don't mind which nationality, but I need someone without a thick accent. How are you going to help me, if I don't understand what you're saying?"

You must be racist. Learn to speak Indian if you want help with your product.

J/K :)

I've actually had really good experiences with CSRs out of the country. In almost every case I just try to tone down on any humor or banter, which in my experience can be confusing cross-culturally, and that seems to help.

Only a few times have I had to call back and speak to somebody else.

Furthermore, forget talking to the non-native speakers if you speak with a local dialect, i.e. southern accent, valley accent, brooklyn, boston, mechanicsburg/etc. They won't understand you and you won't understand them... at least in Columbus they can forward you to someone that also has a mechanicsburg accent.

@moore850: Yeah we were in Texas handling support for NY City.

@kewl132: Hellvista?

Ha you think this will get you better service? No you are calling a company that will do anything to screw over its employees. This is a place that will hire anyone, ANYONE just to put a body behind a phone no matter how dumb they are becasue as long as they meet their numbers they get paid by whoever they are outsourced for.

@moore850: Not a bad point - I'm Canadian, and even the most courtly Southern accent can trip me up at times, because I never hear it in real life. Don't even get me started on the grief we get for speaking French with a non-Quebecois accent! Some pure laine diehards make even the most xenophobic Americans appear tolerant in comparison!

InfiniTrent has equally good advice -- keep it businesslike, non-condescending, and for God's sake don't assume Mr. Accent on the other line is from India... at least ask him first. Usually he's two cubes down from me, patiently enduring slights on his intelligence because God didn't give him a flat Midwestern drawl.

(I'm a Californian). Every time I call Verizon DSL, I always get nice people from Oregon, using their toll-free number. So...?

I would have people go ape on me simply because I used the phrases "sir" and "maam".

Thank you so much for this! My Verizon DSL crapped out last night and I was waiting until after I got home from work to see if I really HAD to call. Now I'll call as soon as I get home instead of waiting to see if it "magically comes back". Seriously, every time I've called Verizon over my DSL, I got the out-sourced CSRs and it was so hard to understand them while they walked me through whatever it was they were walking me through. Thanks again!

Yes, thanks! I can never understand what those techs are saying and have to hand the phone over to someone else. They do seem to be very polite in whatever it is they are trying to say.

@ehrgeiz: Exactly! For the love of god, Teleperformance is the absolute worst.

I wonder what standard procedure is for the Indian call centers when they can't understand the accented English on the other end of the phone? Twist of irony there for sure, if a New Yawka or a southern belle couldn't be understood while speaking english in their accent.

Pasig is in the Philippines dude. Not India

@InfiniTrent: Agreed.

Almost always a good resolution speaking with a foreign rep as long as I kept things simple and toned down on the distinct American or New York regional lingo as much as possible.

That method always works wonders when speaking with English speaking folks from other countries. Hell, if I have trouble understand their regional lingo, what makes you think they'd understand mine?

@greatgoogly: Hellvista indeed :)

The Columbus, OH site only handles residential DSL calls. When business DSL queues are overflowing, they often take calls from business customers, so if they don't understand what a 'Static IP' is, there you have it. Although they may not have a foreign accent, they are frequently ridiculed for having the dumbest agents, ever. It has to do largely with Teleperformance hiring anyone that is able to tie their own shoes.

Should I spill the secret? That there are Verizon DSL call centers NOT in the asian continent NOR in the US?

Me thinks not. Although greatgoogly certainly did.

You people want tech support to be US-based so badly it pains me. It doesn't matter where the agent is. If you get an agent who cares about the job, you'll be fine. If you get an agent who doesn't give a damn, you'll be in for a rough ride.

If you can't understand what someone is saying on the phone, I think you need to travel around a bit so you hear other accents. This *specially* goes to people in the Deep South. Lady, you think you can't understand me? *I* don't understand *you*. And I've been around.

Also I don't use american-sounding names, I use my real name. If you condescendly ask "what kind of name is that?" you'll find yourself in the labyrinthine halls of the IVR after I dress you down.

I am having an interlude with dsl service. It hasn't been up for 30 consecutive days ... the problem is switched lines at the pole and CO assignment.

But wait! Why do I know this and how come the Verizon team hasn't seen this trend? I have memorized the routine yet, each time I call back, no one at the support center seems to have continuity of escalation. Is everyone at the support center an extra from the movie Momento?

I don't care where the support center is located, although speaking with Amy (Indian accent) and Amanda (Spanish accent) is suspect. What I care about are results ... sustainable results.

I thought service had this issue nailed last Friday, but one week to the day, the dsl line was erratic. Yesterday, an automated message told me that my line was cleared. Yes, it was cleared for use by someone else.

I'll keep you posted.

So, I brow beat the call center to dispatch someone on a Sunday (I was told to wait until Tuesday but I said unacceptable). On Sunday I got my connection back and on Tuesday a Verizon human called me to inquire if I was still connected. I said for the moment yes. Let's see what happens tomorrow.