[Scottcarterwalsh]

They have offically outsourced customer care overseas! The past few times I've had to call into customer care over the week regarding my BlackBerry Curve 8900 I could tell that I wasn't speaking to American people but managed to convince myself I was just imagning it! Today I had to call back in regarding a replacement that was ordered for my 8900 last Friday because the phone was defective. After sitting on hold for 30 minutes I get connected to this woman with a strong hi pitched accent and it was obvious from the get-go that it was definitely an overseas connection. I felt like I was talking to a robot, I would say one thing she would say something else, she kept calling me Sean (my name isn't Sean lol) and after about 10 minutes of this back and fourth crap I asked for a supervisor. The supervisor was no better as he was also based overseas. So I then asked to be transferred to BlackBerry support where of course I was greeted by an American IN America! I asked her why they outsourced overseas and she started laughing telling me I wasn't the first or the last person she would be hearing that question from. She then took care of me in 2 minutes...

I'm actually thinking about leaving because of this, I've been with them since 2003 and I'm not going to put up with this. I'm tired of every company in this country outsourcing overseas and giving their customers crappy *** service...it's got to end at some point! Instead of T-Mobile trying to help out the economy by keeping jobs, they take them away and send them overseas to people who work for pennies on the dollar...this country has gone to ****!

Sorry for my half complaint/half rant but I've had it with this!

[intoflatlines]

I heard Flexpay customer service is overseas or something.. Am I wrong?

I called customer care several times this week and each time I've spoken to very nice and reasonable people in the US (I think). If they're not Americans, they're fooling me!

[Scottcarterwalsh]

Uhm I'm not a "flexpay" customer lol I actually have good credit lol. I can assure you that you heard wrong.

[Scottcarterwalsh]

Also I've noticed that since this switch over that they have made, the hold times to speak to anyone (customer care, tech support etc) is crazy long! Not one time in the past week when I've called them have I not sat on hold for at least 30 minutes...

[BergerKing]

Makes me glad I'm talking to native English speakers on Sprint. My longest wait to speak to a customer service type was 4 minutes in the last 6 months.

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

[LifeOfVice]

I have called everyday for the past week, about getting the 8900, changing plan, adding features and other questions and have always been connected in less than 5 minute hold and have spoken to perfect English speaking human beings.

[bassangler68]

They have offically outsourced customer care overseas! The past few times I've had to call into customer care over the week regarding my BlackBerry Curve 8900 I could tell that I wasn't speaking to American people but managed to convince myself I was just imagning it! Today I had to call back in regarding a replacement that was ordered for my 8900 last Friday because the phone was defective. After sitting on hold for 30 minutes I get connected to this woman with a strong hi pitched accent and it was obvious from the get-go that it was definitely an overseas connection. I felt like I was talking to a robot, I would say one thing she would say something else, she kept calling me Sean (my name isn't Sean lol) and after about 10 minutes of this back and fourth crap I asked for a supervisor. The supervisor was no better as he was also based overseas. So I then asked to be transferred to BlackBerry support where of course I was greeted by an American IN America! I asked her why they outsourced overseas and she started laughing telling me I wasn't the first or the last person she would be hearing that question from. She then took care of me in 2 minutes...

I'm actually thinking about leaving because of this, I've been with them since 2003 and I'm not going to put up with this. I'm tired of every company in this country outsourcing overseas and giving their customers crappy *** service...it's got to end at some point! Instead of T-Mobile trying to help out the economy by keeping jobs, they take them away and send them overseas to people who work for pennies on the dollar...this country has gone to ****!

Sorry for my half complaint/half rant but I've had it with this!

Actually, this is completely FALSE!

As a call center CSR, I along with 98% of the other TMOB call center reps are based in the USA. FlexPay customer care is based in the Philippines which is what it sounds like you have for an account and I believe there is one TMOB call center in Canada, the rest are in the good 'ol USA!!!

[bassangler68]

Also I've noticed that since this switch over that they have made, the hold times to speak to anyone (customer care, tech support etc) is crazy long! Not one time in the past week when I've called them have I not sat on hold for at least 30 minutes...

Not sure how true this can be as well since most of the time over the last month the call volume has actually been fairly low with customers getting directly to a CSR without even having to wait.

[intoflatlines]

So I was right about Flexpay CS being outsourced..

Luckily I'm non-flexpay, which is probably why I've had great customer service every time I've called this week.

[Scottcarterwalsh]

Actually, this is completely FALSE!

As a call center CSR, I along with 98% of the other TMOB call center reps are based in the USA. FlexPay customer care is based in the Philippines which is what it sounds like you have for an account and I believe there is one TMOB call center in Canada, the rest are in the good 'ol USA!!!

Actually this is completely NOT FALSE! Try Google for starters...

Second of all I'm not a flexpay customer, welfare customer or anything like that, I've been a customer of T-Mobile's since March of 2003 and have excellent credit. I can assure you I'm not some pre-pay or flexpay customer. As I type this right now I have dialed 611 from my phone and I'm sitting on hold again tonight, so far it's almost 20 minutes and still counting... Try getting informed before you call someone else out!

[Scottcarterwalsh]

Actually this is completely NOT FALSE! Try Google for starters...

Second of all I'm not a flexpay customer, welfare customer or anything like that, I've been a customer of T-Mobile's since March of 2003 and have excellent credit. I can assure you I'm not some pre-pay or flexpay customer. As I type this right now I have dialed 611 from my phone and I'm sitting on hold again tonight, so far it's almost 20 minutes and still counting... Try getting informed before you call someone else out!

So after about 30 minutes of listening to same dumb woman repeating herself over and over again while being on hold I gave up and hung up! I called back and this time (instead of asking to speak to blackberry support) I asked for customer care...I've been sitting on hold another 19 minutes and counting!

Last night when I called them I went through the voice prompts and asked for blackberry support, after sitting on hold for almost 40 minutes someone finally answers the phone and it was customer care...NOT blackberry support! There phone system is obvioulsy screwed up big time and it's starting to **** me off now. I have been trying to get a hold of someone since 9PM ET and it's now 10:20PM ET and still on hold...

[mom24]

Hey, I do not hink anyone is attacking your credit standing it sounded like they where just stating a fact about flexpay being sent to the phillipeans. I personally have not had a problem calling them and talked with them Friday and it took longer to get threw that stupid automated lady then to get to a rep, who was American I have not gotten anything but great service from 611.

[Scottcarterwalsh]

They are trying to insinuate that I have some welfare plan without a contract and that is why I'm on hold for so long...this is NOT true at all! All of these problems started up within just the past week or so. When I ordered my original 8900 last week I was not going through all of this drama. It's now 10:33PM ET and guess what? I'm still on hold! It's been well over an hour now...

[JennTX]

So after about 30 minutes of listening to same dumb woman repeating herself over and over again while being on hold I gave up and hung up! I called back and this time (instead of asking to speak to blackberry support) I asked for customer care...I've been sitting on hold another 19 minutes and counting!

Last night when I called them I went through the voice prompts and asked for blackberry support, after sitting on hold for almost 40 minutes someone finally answers the phone and it was customer care...NOT blackberry support! There phone system is obvioulsy screwed up big time and it's starting to **** me off now. I have been trying to get a hold of someone since 9PM ET and it's now 10:20PM ET and still on hold...

Blah stop whining and change to another carrier if you're not happy!

[bassangler68]

They are trying to insinuate that I have some welfare plan without a contract and that is why I'm on hold for so long...this is NOT true at all! All of these problems started up within just the past week or so. When I ordered my original 8900 last week I was not going through all of this drama. It's now 10:33PM ET and guess what? I'm still on hold! It's been well over an hour now...

First off, TMO has 21 or 22 call centers all of which are located in the USA!

Secondly, I'm not sure what your issue is but being on hold as long as you say I find it hard to believe since the call volume has currently been very low.

You must be experiencing a routing issue when dialing 611 and being sent to a different call center for some reason causing long hold times or speaking with the Philippine FlexPay reps.

[RavenMaverick]

I certainly hope that they have not outsourced customer care. When I first changed over to T-mobile, I was pleasantly surprised that when I called 611 all of the CSR's sounded like english was indeed their first language. I called quite a lot the first week because they gave me a long distance cell number.

I don't begrudge anyone gainful employment, I do however expect to understand what the person on the other side of my line is saying. I can't remember the last time I had to call another company and got through to someone I could understand. Usually I will get someone with an India sounding accent that says his name is Mike... Now I know good and dam* well that his name is not Mike and more than likely he has never even met someone named Mike.

Most of the time both parties wind up pissed off by the end of the conversation. Especially if "Mike" acts like it's my fault that I can not comprehend what he is saying.

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

[bassangler68]

TMO's customer care is FAR FROM BEING OUTSOURCED. As I stated previously, TMO has either 21 or 22 (I can't remember the correct number) call centers all located in the USA.

This is completely accurate info because I work as a CSR in a US T-Mobile call center.

Also, have you ever considered this? With 21 or 22 centers located throughout the US and each center averaging 700+ reps that you are bound to have people of different nationalities answering the phones?

[RavenMaverick]

OP stated - ""Also, have you ever considered this? With 21 or 22 centers located throughout the US and each center averaging 700+ reps that you are bound to have people of different nationalities answering the phones?""

I think most of us have considered this. I don't think that we "expect" to get a CSR with an accent so thick that you can only understand 1 out of every 20 words. There is nothing wrong with living in the USA and expecting to hear clear english when you call an American based company.

I don't play for the WNBA because I am super short. I don't compete as an Olympic swimmer because I can't swim (or hit the bong). I also do not go to Germany and expect everyone there to speak to me in english. This is not a new age concept.

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

[a77boy]

OP must be on flexpay with bad credit

[LittleBitty]

Why must you ALL assume that flex pay is only for people with bad credit?


Sheesh I have perfectly fine credit. I just don't want a huge suprise bill each month and it makes budgeting much easieer.

And I can back that tmo is USA only except for FP

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

[bassangler68]

Let's clear up a couple of things...

I hear several times a day from customers with FlexPay that they weren't even aware they had it. I have had callers actually yell at me stating they weren't FlexPay when right on the screen in front of me the account with their name and phone number says "FLEXPAY".

FlexPay customers can range anywhere from A+ credit down to Z- credit so credit class has nothing to do with that type of account. However, if you apply for TMO service and you have crappy credit then your option is to go FlexPay. Over time, that bad credit one had at the time may have gotten much better however you don't automatically change over account types.

Now, for TMO customer care call centers, FlexPay is located in the Philippines. TMO also has a call center in Canada although I am not sure which dept it is. I have also seen that PrePay is also overseas somewhere. Other than that there are 21 or 22 American, USA based call centers you'll be calling when dialing 611 or 800-937-8997.

[a77boy]

Why must you ALL assume that flex pay is only for people with bad credit?


Sheesh I have perfectly fine credit. I just don't want a huge suprise bill each month and it makes budgeting much easieer.

And I can back that tmo is USA only except for FP

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

Wasn't talking about you,, Just the OP

[zamey]

Reeeeaaally.

Politics aside, if you receive service from someone you cannot understand, ASK THEM TO SPEAK SLOWLY, or, HANG UP AND CALL BACK.

As far as this "outsourcing" business being said to possibly only affect FlexPay customers, what does it matter? No matter what carrier you go with, YOU ARE IN AMERICA. This is the world's biggest melting pot, so if you're JUST NOW experiencing culture shock over the phone, you're kinda slow. There isn't any specific place in the world you will receive English as a First Language Only service anymore. If you really want to stand on your soap box and whine about it, then I suggest a bubble home with no outlet to the outside world (that means also giving up your BB).

My post is NOT directed to anyone in this thread directly; this is simply a generalization of how I feel about it and is not intended to start off a flame war. Put this whole thread into perspective, and all it sounds like to me is someone got pissed over not being able to understand someone else at first bat.

[Rizzleman716]

Well let you all something. I happen to be a flexpay customer, and I have no problem with that. The reason I am doing such a plan is because I caught the unlimited everything plan and they weren't doing credit checks. This was before I picked my blackberry.

Back to the point. I have called customer service many and many of times. And have never gotten a foreign person. The last rep I talked to was from Texas, actually most of them have been from there. So idk about all that phillipine stuff if. Because I never got that

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

[Sphynx1187]

You know, not everyone who is on Flex-Pay has bad credit. Some of us just didn't want to be stuck under at contract, and wanted to be able to bail ship at any time. Flex-Pay offered that. Before you start assuming things, why don't you cut back on the stereotypes just a little? It would be a great thing.

Once again, if you're so unhappy with the service, or the fact that non-Americans are dealing with your problems, I would suggest taking your services elseware.