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Robots from India 3

I just returned from a hockey tournament in Montreal. I’ve been dealing with the Air Canada baggage claim department over the last 4 days because I still haven’t received my suitcase from Thursday’s flight. After endless calls and spending close to 4 hours on the phone and with no suitcase in my hands, I have decided to write a formal complaint to Air Canada about my grievances.

I quickly came to discover that Air Canada out sources their baggage claim Call Centre to India. It’s interesting to see the different types of jobs and industries that are outsourcing services to India. I’ve seen a lot of software development being outsourced, and now it appears that call centres are also being outsourced.

The issue I took with this type of operation is the fact that this person is thousands of kilometers away and they haven’t a clue where Toronto or Montreal is on the map and what I found is that they are not the least concerned about following through with ensuring your bag is shipped to the proper location. It was as if they were reading from a manual and there was no flexibility to help service the customer. Even after more than a dozen phone calls I heard the exact same repetitive broken record.

One lady repeated this line about 8 times in one conversation. “Sir, I do understand your concerns.” There was no follow up with “this is how I will address your concerns”. It was just simply “Sir, I do understand your concerns”, over and over and over again; hence the robots from India.
 

3 thoughts on “Robots from India

  1. iBrett May 16,2005 7:12 am

    This sounds very frustrating, Jim. I used to work for a car rental agency where the roadside assistance program was based out of Oklahoma City. It was odd receiving calls in the office from the roadside agents who would describe to me that there was a customer stranded in Ontario. My reply was usually, “well Ontario is a big place – in fact it is larger than the State of Oklahoma. Do you know what City they are in?” The reply was always, “Ontario”. And it would go on.

    I can appreciate fully your frustration that the folks on the other end of the line having no idea where Montreal or Toronto is on the map. I hope it works out and I hope Air Canada comes to its senses with regards to customer service – I have to question the wisdom of putting the call centre on another continent.

    Good luck with your bags – here’s hoping they don’t end up to a Jim Schwartz in Switzerland.

  2. Jim's Hot Friend May 16,2005 5:06 pm

    Sir I do understand your concerns, but as a robot I find your derogatory remarks insulting.

    Sir I do understand your concerns, but you have to remember that we as robots make mistakes.

    Sir I do understand your concerns and have a nice day.

    PS Weather is looking good here:
    http://www.theweathernetwork.com/features/parks/pages/CAON1493.htm

  3. Chris May 17,2005 3:31 pm

    I wish I could go back to Canada. Damn laws! I’ve been to Toronto, Ottawa and ofcourse Niagra Falls, but to continue my city tour I wanted to hit up Montreal this summer. Doesnt look like that will be happeneing.

    …. BTW, what position do you play?

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