On 12/23/06, Gary Hurst <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
i bought my pc at a gateway store. i went there out of desperation after 2
comp;uters from costco failed out of the box and the only thing i could do
was call india and talk to a fellow who had no clue what i was saying.
the gateway store was dismal. dirty. disorganized. the sales staff was
unhappy and unhelpful. the tech guys were bewildered and overwhelmed trying
to keep the junk working.
Back in the day, way back in the way back. I applied for a position at
Gateway as a technician. I was certified in a couple of different
areas, coming out of a strong phone support position for a regional
ISP and needing work. What I was told, was that I just wasn't too
experienced or even over qualified. Gateway was looking for people
that pretty much knew nothing about computers, but liked to use them,
play with them, game with them, etc. They wanted to make sure they
could train their techs from the ground up and have people without any
"bad" habits, as the recruiter said. I knew how to put a sound card
into a PC, properly assign the IRQ's .... (sighs, jumpers where have
you gone? :) ) .... and that meant I was already crossed off the list.
Didn't need to see my resume, didn't need to ask me any other
questions. I couldn't be "untrained" which, in my opinion, is why the
Gateway "Experience" did so poorly. You can not effectively train a
sales and support staff, from level -1, to a functioning and competent
workforce without extensive monetary investment (schooling, workshops,
etc) and *time*. It took me years to be a *good* support personnel.
Sure, several months and I could tell the customer what they wanted to
hear, but years is what it took to know my way around the inner
workings of human psyche for phone work.
That is where so many companies make their largest mistake. It isn't
outsourcing to India that is the problem, per se. (Though as someone
who has worked through the American support workforce, I do *not*
agree with it.) The problem is seasoned and trained technicians, that
can tell the customer to politely go screw himself, while keeping the
customer on their side and even apologizing for calling in the first
place when it is going to take 5 weeks minimum to resolve any problem
they have ... (I've worked in places with poor turn around time, the
stories I could tell) ... and make them *happy* to have dealt with you
.... shot them all in the head and started with level -1 techs that
don't even speak English as a *second* language. For an Indian, with
all the dialects and such, it's more like a third, sometimes *fourth*
language.
*steps off the soap box*
I now return you to your regularly scheduled Mercedes rant.
Ed
--
Knowledge is power... Power Corrupts. Study hard... Be Evil.
