Norton Lifelock has outsourced it’s telephone customer support to off-shore companies that hire personnel with very very very thick accents. The customer support people are nearly unable to communicate their knowledge to the customer, not because they don’t know the answers, but because they cannot say the words in an understandable voice. The situation is best stated as - The Norton customer support agents have such HEAVY accents that they cannot make customers comfortable trying to understand them. In short, they cannot communicate clearly.
Telephone customer service agents MUST be required to meet the following two requirements:
- Have a clear and deep knowledge of the subjects, processes and methods to correct problems related to all Norton software.
- Be able to communicate the information in a clear and eloquent manner, free of heavy accents thar reduce the customers ability to understand the message
Thank you for commenting on the first qualification - item #! - knowledge of agents. I only mentioned the need to have knowledgeable personnel because it is an important element in talking to a customer. Many of us know that the folks who initially answer are not experts, but have the crutch of written procedures to read from to assist the callers.
The primary concern (here) is that the agents cannot clearly talk the language. Their accents are so thick that the person sitting in Midtown, USA cannot understand the solutions they are reading.
Below is a text (written) example related to undesirability. The first paragraph is the original message and the second paragraph contains the sound the customer hears.
Norton 360 and Norton Lifelock has outsourced it’s telephone customer support to off-shore companies that hire personnel with very, very, very thick accents. The customer support people are nearly unable to communicate their knowledge to the customer, not because they don’t know the answers, but because they cannot say the words in an understandable voice.
Norton 360 an Norton Lifelog huzz owsord iz telfon cuzmer zuport to iff-sure comnees zat hi pesnol with veddy, veddy, veddy thick asents. De cuzmer zuport pipple r nearly unaple to conmuekay ther nowleg to the cuzmer, not cuz dey don’t no the anzers, but cuz dey kanod sa the wurds in an understandable voice.
Life is tough and support should not make it tougher.
Hope this explains the mental dissidence the customer suffers from being sent to the cheapest, out-source customer service a company can find.
I will only comment on number 1.
As with any call center, the first level agents are usually working from scripts on their computer. It would be almost impossible to train every single agent on every Norton product. Once in a while, you might get an agent that has actually used the product, and might be able to work off script. But those are exception rather than the rule. If you are escalated to higher levels of support, you would start getting to actual Norton employees who would be more knowledgeable.