Customer Service

When we got our first computer the customer service was in Ireland, some of their people were unintelligible, this was years ago. When I worked for a GP, an au pair from New Zealand rang with a message from her boss, she had such a strong accent that I had to ask her to spell it out! Conversely I left a message for our lawyer, when he rang back he congratulated me on the clarity of the message!

Judge by name and....., anyway, it does seem that people are chosen for their strong accents, and the longer the conversation, the stronger the accent becomes. There is no way you can understand people with a strong accent no matter how hard you try, and it's not laziness! Try phoning Birmingham Council, but wait, most help lines have such long waiting times it's not easy to keep hanging on, up to 30 minutes isn't unusual. Does anyone remember a news report on tv some years ago when they decided the Geordie accent was so unintelligible they used sub-titles! Cheek, I could understand them.

I think the problem lies more in the fact that you are hearing an accent to which you are unaccustomed to hearing on a daily basis, plus it’s over the phone, rather than face to face so you can’t use any other cues and the phone tends to exaggerate the sound of a voice.
I really don’t think it’s to do with being prejudicial towards any given accent.

JaneJudge

I think people who can't understand accents (of any nature) are lazy and unwilling to listen properly

It is quite easy to communicate with people who can't even speak the same language as you (not over the telephone obviously) if you just have patience

A bit of a sweepng statement, I used to be a holiday rep and used to have to speak to people with all sorts of accents from all over the world. I generally managed very well, but on one particular occasion I had a guest come up to me and I think he asked me a question. Eventually I decided he must be Polish and needed to speak to the Polish rep, half an hour later his wife came to me and she was Scottish, I understood her perfectly. She explained to me that her husband was actually Glaswegian, then she confessed that she herself had to frequently ask him to speak more clearly as she often didn't understand what he was saying.

I had a spell training in a call centre in the ‘olden days’, and think all our golden rules have now disappeared! Listen to the caller, speak slowly, paraphrase what they said to make sure you’ve got it right, no adverbs ( obviously, hopefully, unfortunately etc!), no jargon, as ‘Our systems are down’ means nothing to the 80 year old lady on the phone, and many more.
As far as the speed of talking is concerned, the poor sod on the phone will have a target of calls per hour to meet, so will want to get it over as soon as possible. That’s also why you may find yourself getting mysteriously ‘cut off’.
I had a most frustrating call yesterday with regard to an email I’d received offering £500 off a holiday. I phoned to ask what the conditions were, as it wasn’t mentioned anywhere, and I knew it was too good to be true, and I explained it quite clearly. Well, I was bombarded with ‘when are you going, what hotel, how many people’ then that she could not override the system, and some other irrelevant stuff.
Eventually, by my adopting the ‘broken record’ tactic of repeating my question slowly and calmly, I managed to get the answer that the discount depended on the price of the holiday, but not before my blood pressure was dangerously high!

As someone with a Scottish (Edinburgh area) accent, I've often been complimented on it and told it was a lovely accent and very easy to understand, both in person and over the phone. My job involved speaking to people from all over and all walks of life - I remember speaking to one man on the phone and just as I was about to hang up, he said ' by the way, you have a lovely accent. You'd make a fortune on those telephone sex lines'! I was flabbergasted, to say the least!

MissInterpreted

As someone with a Scottish (Edinburgh area) accent, I've often been complimented on it and told it was a lovely accent and very easy to understand, both in person and over the phone. My job involved speaking to people from all over and all walks of life - I remember speaking to one man on the phone and just as I was about to hang up, he said ' by the way, you have a lovely accent. You'd make a fortune on those telephone sex lines'! I was flabbergasted, to say the least!

Scottish accents used to be the most popular accent for call centres, along with the RP English, closely followed by Geordie and Irish.
Liverpool and Birmingham were the least popular.

I have certainly reached the age where ALL young people speak to quickly and softly. (It cannot be my hearing that is less acute, now can it?)

Usually regional accents don't bother me, but some do of course.

Generally, I find, that if I say politely, "I am a little hard of hearing, would you mind speaking a little more slowly?" that the person obliges.

What I hate most is that when you answer a question they reply 'perfect' as if you just passed a test or something.

What's perfect about it? I want to ask.

Totally agree with you. And why do they give their names? If you were ever to call back and ask for the advisor by name! Guess what no one would know who that person is! Oh and say, ‘that they don’t work in this particular department’!
I phoned my bank in France yesterday, well what a difference, articulate, pleasant and charming and even called me back when he said he would!!!! And I totally understood him!
Customer care in this country has always been bottom of the list for companies! 🤬😡🤬

I simply cannot understand some accents however hard I listen. I struggle with some Scottish and Irish accents but not all. I am from the westcountry and sometimes a person can't understand me. I don't mind. Regional accents are interesting.

i sometimes have great difficulty understanding various accents while on the phone. i am not stupud or lazy i just cannot understand them. however things improve slightly when i ask them to speak slower or louder whichever is needed.

Trying to get a washing machine repaired, I spoke to someone who went through so many questions, I was loosing the will to live when she hit me with the question "What age group are you?" when I foolishly told her . the change in her voice was amazing. She changed her voice completely and sounded like she was talking to a 5 year old. I did not use their services.

I totally agree Bluesmum and have experienced this on several occasions. 😡

A Scots accent would leave me spellbound! It’s the most beautiful accent there is!

I'v found that asking politely early on "I'm older and can't hear too well, please can you speak slowly for me? Nearly all the time works fine and you get a kind response.

We have some friends from Dundee. I can understand her perfectly but struggle with his accent. I asked him why they are so different, he replied “ she went to school”, I am not sure he was joking!

Wyllow3

I'v found that asking politely early on "I'm older and can't hear too well, please can you speak slowly for me? Nearly all the time works fine and you get a kind response.

That's just what my step mother- in- law says.
She says people talk to fast and she can't always understand what they're saying.

Bluesmum, That's a very sweeping statement! I'm Scottish and you could say same for Geordies, Scousers or Brommies

Lego has some great customer service staff.

Well done Lego

keepingquiet

What I hate most is that when you answer a question they reply 'perfect' as if you just passed a test or something.

What's perfect about it? I want to ask.

Oh, and another one of my golden rules was never to say, ‘ No problem’!

I agree, “perfect” and “no problem” are my two pet hate automatic responses 😡 Meaningless!!!

My dad was a Scotsman. When we used to travel from London to Scotland to visit GPs we knew how close to the border we were because my dad’s accent would become much thicker, by the time we got to Saltcoats even we had trouble understanding him!

"I simply had to say, I am sorry, could you please speak more clearly and a little slower, as I cannot understand what you are saying, to which the young girl said, quite clearly, and with hardly a trace of her earlier strong Scottish accent, “if you cannot understand me, I suggest you hang up and ring again, then you will get another advisor”.,!!! "
Bluesmum There you have the perfect example of the customer being polite - and the advisor being, frankly, extremely rude..! 😯 She could obviously speak perfectly clearly - and with much less of an accent - but instead chose to insult a customer. Whoever trained her needed to do a better job...!! 😕

JaneJudge

I think people who can't understand accents (of any nature) are lazy and unwilling to listen properly

It is quite easy to communicate with people who can't even speak the same language as you (not over the telephone obviously) if you just have patience

I would like you to try with hearing aids, that accentuates everything, including accents and volume. Personally I have reversed hearing loss so cannot managed men's deep voices. However my First Direct bank and Nat West too have kindly put a notice on my account with my agreement to say I struggle on the telephone, which flags up every time I telephone. They could not be more helpful now. To say people are lazy is an insult to all the people who really struggle including most foreigners like me who speak fluently English and am told Grammatically better than most English people and have lived in this country for 62 years. Why even bring the last paragraph in to it when we are clearly speaking about telephone conversations?