Thanks for calling Travelocity

[AR]

At first I thought I should post this under "jokes," but since it is a real transcript of a real conversation, I decided to put it here. "ME" in the transcript is my friend Danny.


I am on the phone with a rep from Travelocity. . .


ME: I would like to book the return trip on Thursday on American flight 1186.

REP: [heavy accent] I am sorry but American Airlines does not fly on Thursday.

ME: OK is there anything available on the next nonstop to Denver?

REP: [heavy accent] No. American Airlines does not fly on Thursdays.

ME: Did you say that American Airlines has no flights on Thursdays?

REP: [heavy accent] Yes.

ME: They don’t fly anywhere on Thursdays?

REP: [heavy accent] That’s right.

ME: Tell you what. I’ll have to call you back.

REP: [heavy accent] All Right, Sir and thanks for calling Travelocity.

[ready2gonow]

Ahhhh, yes! Question is, when you hang up, do you laugh or cry?

[DougR.]

Sounds like a lesson learned from this. Travelocity.com does not have a heavy accent and does not confuse the word Thursday.

[Mean Dean]

Gotta love out-sourcing............

Dean

[Delft]

As much as I hate to say it, when I get some one on the line that is clearly "outsourced", I simply say "sorry goodbye" and call back again. This happens to me especially with calling Bell Canada's sympatico customer support. When you call to report an outage, dont even ask, learned a good trick around it though, when they ask if you want some one in English or French, I click French as those calls are rarely out sourced out of Canada, ( the English ones seem to land in india 80% of the time) and I can easily communicate then. I dont care if some one can pass a test, if you cannot understand them, then there is no point.

[CruisinK n J]

Delf, you expressed my feelings very well, and probably those of a lot of other people. Thank you for calling not only Travelocity, but Dish Network and many computer companies!

Judy

[Mean Dean]

Delf,

The French option may work great in Canada, but here in the U.S. it won't, unfortunately!

Of course, there's always the Spanish option. Maybe I'll try that.........!

Dean

[nolou525]

We had the same problem with outsourcing when we recently called US Airways. There was a problem with my son's flight home from Tampa. I called US Airways 6 times before I finally got someone who I could somewhat carry on a conversation with. This was only after I demanded to speak to a supervisor who could "speak" english. I think the others I talked to only know certain words and phrases since most of my questions were not answered. They just repeated the same thing over and over. Needless to say, I got a refund for the airfare and booked his flight through another airline.

[Trip]

Try calling Comcast......they may all speak English,but the runaround is the same, or you get 20 different answers:( Anyone have a valium?

[VTJen]

Verizon wireless is no better - they may be English, but no two can give you the same answer. It is usally a nightmare

[Mike M]

Call Northwest Airlines: You will speak with someone from Detroit or Hibbing, Minnesota. I don't know if you will be able to understand the folks from Hibbing. De can buke you on da flight but I don't tink day can move da seat fur ya. Ya know.

BTW: I love dealing with the FF people in Hibbing. Overall they are the most polite and easy to work with folks. It's a bit of fresh air. They'll try their best but they have rules they have to follow. The bad part is that the RULES ARE CRAP but the people are nice.

On my last job we brought in offshore help from India for our programming area. I know there are a lot of people who say "They took American jobs" but I will say that they put out a quality of product in an amount of time that the programming department could not produce before they used the offshore people. Don't sell a number of these people too short. They many speak different but they are by no means less qualified, skilled or professional. It was a wake up call for many people in the organization.

Take care,
Mike

[AR]

Mike--

Only problem with calling Northwest these days is that they're probably going to tell you--in excellent English--that your flight's been cancelled because they forgot to hire back all the pilots they furloughed.

Or is it weather?

Or is it ATC slowdowns?

Whatever it is, it's likely you ain't going.

It does not bode well that 27 days out of bankruptcy they encounter such a problem. . .and make it worse with such a bad communications effort.

[Mike M]

AR:

The airline's management are idiots and the State of Minnesota has basically subsidized the Northwest with maintainance bases and call centers plus low interest loans. In other words NWA has held us hostage and I am not happy.

I'm just saying that it's nice to talk to a friendly voice once in awhile.

Take care,
Mike (Who won't book a Northwest flight that leaves after the 25th of the month)

[subtropic]

I agree with VTJen. Verizon wireless is the worst I have ever dealt with. They billed me for a phone that was destroyed and a number that was discontinued. I finally gave up after three months and paid the $200 after they caused a hold on a student loan for my son. I will hold a grudge against them forever.

[skymaster]

Mike: I have to agree that Northwest management are idiots. After all, they flew me up to Minneapolis about 25 years ago for an interview, and they didn't hire me! They could have had the best, but NO!!!!

See you aboard,

Ken

[mehawk]

AR, the roaming gnome is not on his way home.