I regularly speak with customer service centers in India and I don't have a problem with their understanding what I say or with my understanding what they say, okay their accents can be different to those of say native Londoners or New Yorkers but accents and the ability to speak a language are completly different things. I am not making any criticism of any of the posters here, because it is very possible they have spoken to a call center in India or another foreign country, were the staff were not fluent in the English language but I have been on other forums and the posters have been complaining about the staff being unable to speak English and I have spoken to the same customer service center myself and had no problem understanding what they are saying and them understanding what I was saying. On the other hand, the fact that a service might be staffed by persons for whom English is a first language, is no guarantee that one will not receive rude, unhelpful and downright aggressive treatment although a fantasy that an in-country service center would automatically provide good service is often presented as fact when criticism is being made of outsourced and in particular Indian based call centers. As for the idea, that the local trader will give good service, it is entirely possible that they will and it is entirely possible that they will not.

Best and Warm Regards
Adrian Wainer

Best customer service I had was from NCsoft.

Worst is our ISP etisalat. I have to keep in the line for 30~45Mins till they answer my call. Crazy isn't it?

I think I agree with the consensus here and will normally manage to solve any problems myself using the internet.

When I have to speak to someone, if for example I have solved the problem and have to arrange a replacement item of hardware, what really annoys me is the person on the other end of the line who will not listen and just reads their script.

They refuse to listen to you and the fact that you probably have a little bit more experience than they do and have already checked the basics.

I can support Roy69 in his experience with Talk Talk , ( or should that be Talk , Don't Listen), who kept me on the line for an hour at a clients to arrange replacement of a "DEAD" modem. I eventually escalated the call explained to the supervisor the tests I'd completed, ( took about 1 minute ), gave the delivery details and received the replacement in two days, So I'd just say to anyone starting out in the support business "use your ears first"

OK rant over

That is so true Nigel, you can just imagine them sitting there reading away while you try to explain things to them, nothing will deter them

I'm glad I've not had to talk to TalkTalk as they took over my landline buying out Onetel, still a damn site cheaper than BT though

Yes Joan,

We have quite a few IT Call centres in the area and so you see the job adverts with "No Experience Required", "full training will be given" A basic technician course will take at least 6 months, not the couple of days that these poor saps receive. I'm sure the first line people answering the calls are well meaning but if they won't listen, are not properly trained, and therefore take too long to transfer to someone who can help, even on a freephone call, time is money.

As for Talk Talk all I can advise is if you do ever have to deal with the help line find yourself a comfy seat, a nice cup of tea, (or a G&T) and prepare for a long chat you obviously have a good deal of patience with your cross stitching I'm afraid you'll probably need it