Tracfone Offshore Customer Service is Terrible.
by Fed Up
(U.S.)
My TracFone worked great for me for over ten years. Then they made me replace it due to obsolescence. That was when the service went to the dogs. I have in the last year had to call them several times, (Now a Philippine call center) and spend 1 to 2 hours a call to get an issue resolved.
Phone Stopped Calling Out or In
This time the phone stopped calling out, or in. After several rounds of fighting my way through the menu, and being on hold for 20 min, I got through to a person I could not hear over the background noise or understand due to his thick accent. He transferred me and after 10 minutes more hold, I got a person who followed a script for 15 to 20 min, transferred me to an L2 tech, (another 35 minutes on hold) who sent an update to my phone, placed me on hold, and I was immediately disconnected.
Still Not Fixed
The phone now can now call out, but I am still not able to receive some incoming calls. However, after 3 more tries getting through the menu to get hold of the L2 techs, or a supervisor and being hung up on when transferred (another wasted 30 or 40 minutes) I've decided to find a new carrier.
In the end I received questionable service on the phone, and unacceptable service from the call center.
Offshore Call Centers
I feel that using offshore call centers to cut costs to the company at the cost of customer service, speaks ill of any company. The difference in syntax between languages often results in confusion and delays to both customer and operator, resulting in customer dissatisfaction.
While I feel that overseas operators try to help, the differences in cultures and how people use syntax is disruptive to trouble shooting issues. The call centers used should not be staffed by operators who are speaking a second language other than their customers, on bad connections, or from loud overcrowded call centers. This only makes a difficult issue worse for all those involved.