11/29/2007

Off Shoring and Beyond

This article makes it sound like off shoring is the way to go and I tend to agree. We all hate calling in for assistance with a problem and having to talk to someone from India who is hard to understand, but what is worse, talking to SOMEONE who is hard to understand, or leaving a message with a voice operated recording? At least the person with the accent is there to help you. I feel that is the lesser of two evils. What do you think?

5 comments:

Dr. Tufte said...

I think this is one of those "you get what you pay for" issues.

I think that to a certain extent that consumers get the idea that they can either pay a high price and get better support, or a lower price and get worse support.

The thing we do - which is really pretty nasty - is we try to change the rules of that choice after we've committed to it. We choose to play less, and then we complain about our service. The media supports us in this. It tends to put firms in a bind - since there is a prisoners' dilemma for them in their choice of the quality of service they offer for a certain price.

Matthew said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Matthew said...

Dr. Tufte is right on in saying that “you get what you pay for.” I have a friend that values customer service and will pay twice as much for a computer at a local computer store. I'm not as concerned about customer service, and bought my computer on the Internet. My friend paid for his customer service already, and I will “pay” for customer service through time and frustration if I have to call a number and get sent in a run-around. That is a risk I was willing to take, and obviously, so are many other people. Every time we as consumers buy something that doesn't have good customer service, when we could have bought an alternative with better service, we are “voting” and affirming that we value a low price over service for that product.

William said...

Dr. Tufte,
I definietly agree with you. I think that so many times we complain about the service yet are unwilling to pay the extra costs associated to it. In the book the World is Flat it discusses this issue and references Wal-Mart. So many people argue that Wal-Mart should give better health insurance to their employees, yet what they don't understand is if Wal-Mart did this then in effect they would have to increase their prices. People are willing to help others when they are not affected, yet when affected they are not so willing. Many consumers want to eat their cake and ice cream too yet aren't willing to pay the extra costs associated to it.

Dr. Tufte said...

-1 on Matthew - that removed comment got counted, so this is "uncounting" it.