You’ve likely heard the phrase “bigger is better” at some point in your life, but when it comes to technical support or customer service it’s very difficult to make that argument.  Consider that when you make that support call to Dell, Qwest or Web.com, you first have to navigate through an automated telephone receptionist.  This method has improved its accuracy a great deal over recent years but it’s still not nearly as reliable as the human machine.  Once you do get to an actual human, you’re likely to be talking to someone overseas and English will not be their first language.

I could try to question why some of these companies prefer to annoy their customers but it’s pretty obvious that it’s a way to improve margins.  I’m sure most people understand that the American workforce demands more money than their counterparts in Bombay, India.  That’s not to say that the overseas support personnel doesn’t know what they’re doing…  They just can’t communicate very well due to the language barrier.  A simple question can take 2-3 times longer to resolve because either party can understand the other.  Big companies are certainly trying to demand that these overseas support companies improve the language skills of their staffs but I think that the complexities of the English language will not improve in my lifetime.  

Dell offers English speaking technicians for those who wish to pay for their gold or silver support plans.  They’re very good but understand that it will add another $80 to $300+ dollars to a system price depending on the plan.  If you don’t spend the extra dough, you will be stuck with crappy overseas support.

Companies that seem to have bucked this trend of crappy service include Verizon and GoDaddy.  In the case of Verizon, I have contacted their support/customer service on about 8 occasions.  Each time I was helped by someone who spoke & understood English perfectly.  The person that answered the phone was able to help with the problem without transferring me to anyone else.

In the case of GoDaddy; I used to resell web products for Web.com (formerly Interland) for many years until they decided to go public.  Soon after I watched Web.com reseller support begin to deteriorate.  Account reps & support staff were replaced with thick Asian accented personnel who couldn’t seem to understand me 90% of the time and were consistent in botching my requests.  This was how they treated their resellers!  Not-to-mention, resellers were expected to support their customers themselves.  After a year or two of this I discovered GoDaddy’s reseller program (Wild West Domains) and I was happy to find that not only was their support staff based in the United States, my customers could call the same people directly, 24/7 , and get their problems resolved.  

Bottom line:  Once a company makes a public offering, they’re most likely in it for the money.  There’s nothing wrong with this…  Unless you’re the customer.