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Please Hold For The Next Available (Insert Nationality Here) Representative
from the making-customer-support-even-slower dept
There are some people who just don't like the idea that when they call up a company they might be talking to someone in India. For them, The Senate Commerce Committee is considering a bill that would require foreign call center workers to disclose that they are in a different country. It's not clear why this is necessary or what such a rule would accomplish. Outsourcing call centers isn't illegal, and it shouldn't be the position of the government to try to shame companies that do it. Most likely, the bill's supporters will claim that consumers have a "right to know", though no such right exists. While some have complained about language problems with the foreign staff, this problem will take care of itself, as companies won't keep using call centers that mess up transactions. In fact, some companies have already stopped outsourcing. One company offers customers a choice, allowing callers to speak to a US call center in exchange for slower service. This kind of bill should be identified what for it is, a transparent protectionist scheme. Perhaps, though, it will appeal to people who verbally abuse call center workers, since nationality can't always be determined from accent alone.
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Excellent use of neo-Liberal apologies for outsour
This comment is absolutely ridiculous in the sense that it proclaims that no such consumer right exists which would justify this specific provision. Consumer rights are not inscribed in stone somewhere, established for all time. The Bill's ratification into legislation would essentially be introducing a new right with respect to the transactions and interactions conducted between services and consumers, and the assurances that the consumer can except when engaged in these social practices. Therefore, I fail to see the logic, if any exists, behind this argument. Furthermore, this reliance upon the deity of the Invisible-hand to correct any problems with regards to outsourcing and its effect upon worker and consumers is nothing more than the same dribble we have been exposed to prior to the passing of NAFTA, CAFTA, and all the other promotions of multinational corporate profit-maximization interests, which have had an adverse consequence, not only for this country, but the developing counrties tied to these agreements, as well. This babble is quite unusual for TechDirt, and I would have to recommend that this type of reasoning is brought to a cessation before it becomes habitual.
Russell Cole
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