An actress in a yellow dress stands in front of a red curtain. She tells you about Coke and about Google, but it’s not a commercial for either of those things… and you’ll have to search a catch phrase to find out what it is for. It is, apparently, “unbranded marketing” for McDonald’s… but will it work? [More]
outsourcing
For-Profit Prisons Could See Boost With Trump’s Executive Order To Open New Detention Centers
By 1.25.17
While much of today’s news about President Trump’s latest executive order is the directive to build his often-promised wall along the border between Mexico and the U.S., the order also directs the federal government to get to work immediately on building — or contracting out — detention centers along that border, providing a potential boon to the for-profit prison industry. [More]
American Airlines Asks Passengers To Make Flying Experience Better (Because It Won’t)
By 8.30.16
American Airlines wants you to be happy in the air. Or at least, they want you not to cause an incident that will result in an emergency landing and major disruption. So instead of adding features, creating legroom, or improving their end of things, American’s asking you: have you considered being more zen and less face-punchy? [More]
Comcast Will Continue Using Overseas Call Centers
By 8.4.16
After being slammed by a string of high-profile customer service disasters, Comcast has made investments in recent year — like putting guarantees on appointments and increasing the size of its social media response team. However, one of the more annoying aspects of customer service calls isn’t going to change: The use of outsourced, overseas call centers. [More]
Sprint To Lay Off 2,000 Customer Service Employees
By 1.26.16
Sprint’s recent promotions, including “iPhone for Life” and the promise to cut customers’ bills from other carriers in half have helped the fourth-place carrier, gaining it 500,000 new postpaid subscribers even accounting for customers who have left. The company is responding to the good news by laying off 2,000 customer service representatives in centers across the country, and directing customers to use the self-service app instead. [More]
Expect More Foxconn Riots In The Future Due To ‘Spiritual Emptiness’
By 9.26.12
Earlier this week, a Foxconn factory in Taiyuan, northern China, shut down production when a brawl broke out in the dormitories that involved as many as 2,000 workers. The real question is this: how long until it happens again? [More]
Couple Sues Cox After Cable Guy Kills Their Son
By 10.5.11
An Arizona family is suing Cox cable company after one of the cable companies’ outsourced technicians executed their son in a botched break-in. That ex-contractor is now sitting on death row. [More]
FCC Promises 100,000 New Jobs… At Call Centers
By 8.4.11
Need a job? Come join the glamorous world of call centers! The FCC says that call centers are poised to add 100,000 new jobs to the economy. You’ll get your very own cubicle! Or, at least, your very own partitions! [More]
Delta To Bring Outsourced Calls Back To U.S. But Not Add Any New Jobs
By 6.7.11
Delta Airlines recently announced that it had decided to move some of its outsourced call center operations out of South Africa and back to the U.S. But before anyone goes looking for a gig at Delta’s phone operations base in Dallas, the airline says it should be just fine with the staff it already has on hand. [More]
eBay Chat Agents Live In The Mythical Nation Of "Chat Session Ended"
By 1.10.11
D. suspected that his customer service chat rep at eBay didn’t really understand what he was saying. So he asked where the rep was located. We suspect that hanging up on the customer is not the eBay-endorsed response to such queries. [More]
College Professor Outsources Grading Papers To Asia
By 4.16.10
As you struggle to repay your student loans, you can at least comfort yourself with the knowledge that your papers were graded by qualified professors and teaching assistants, and not by housewives in Bangalore. Students attending college today… may not be so lucky. [More]
Hyatts In Boston Decide To Outsource Housekeeping
By 9.17.09
Housekeepers at three Hyatt hotels in Boston made over $15 an hour and had benefits like 401(k) retirement plans and health insurance. On August 31st, Hyatt laid them off en masse—after first having them train their replacements under the guise of creating a holiday fill-in staff—and turned the housekeeping duties over to an outside firm.
Adobe Takes Four Months And Counting To Process Refund
By 8.9.09
Jeff bought a copy of Adobe Creative Suite 4 back in May during a sale promising a $200 discount. The final checkout price didn’t reflect the discount, but he double-checked the terms and conditions and confirmed that he was eligible. Adobe agreed, and has repeatedly promised to issue a refund. Jeff has been waiting for the check for almost four months, and he’s not alone. Another customer has been waiting on a similar refund for almost a year!
Apple Has The Best Tech Support, Dell, HP, Acer Have The Worst
By 8.8.09
After calling every major computer maker with two basic questions, Laptop Magazine determined that Apple has the best overall tech support, while Dell, HP, and Acer have the worst. Though the results aren’t surprising, the depth of the PC makers’ incompetence is truly disappointing…
Sprint Tech Support Goes To Porn Ad
By 6.24.09
Man’s Blackberry chokes. Man calls Sprint. Sprint says hold. Man gets transferred to porn ad.
Don't Be So Shocked: Excellent Service From Citibank CSR
By 5.26.09
“Above and Beyond” service often comes down to the management of a particular location, rather than an individual employee, no matter how big or otherwise problematic a company may be. Fred had such an experience with Venkatesh, the overseas customer service rep he reached when he called to cancel his ancient Citibank account. Venkatesh not only talked him out of canceling the account, but was so competent and nice in the process that Fred felt compelled to speak to his supervisor and write to Consumerist.
We're Outsourcing Food Stamp Jobs To India
By 4.29.09
Poverty in America is creating jobs for people overseas, says ABC News. The saga began when a Florida resident’s hours working as a nanny got cut back when her boss’ hours also got cut. She called a toll-free line to inquire about her food stamps and noticed that the call center obviously wasn’t in the US.
