Delta no longer is outsourcing calls to India

[falmouth3]

ATLANTA (AP) -- Delta Air Lines Inc. no longer is outsourcing reservation calls to India after years of complaints from customers who preferred to speak to someone in the United States.
Chief Executive Richard Anderson told employees in a recorded message late Thursday night that the world's biggest airline operator is in the process of bringing all customer calls back in-house in the U.S.
Customer calls were no longer forwarded to India as of the first quarter of this year, Anderson said. Foreign call centers remain in Jamaica and South Africa, though Anderson indicated that staffing at those locations likely will be reduced in the future as the global financial crisis cuts call volume.
"The customer acceptance of call centers in foreign countries is low, and our customers are not shy about letting us have that feedback," Anderson said.
Difficulty understanding the call center agents in India was a concern among some customers over the years.
Atlanta-based Delta said in 2002 that it would send some reservations work to India to save money. In 2004, amid an earlier bout with hard financial times, Delta shuttered one of its three call centers in India.
At the time, Delta said outsourcing some call center functions had saved Delta about $25 million a year.
After the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, UAL Corp.'s United Airlines outsourced some reservation calls to India. In 2007, Hawaiian Airlines outsourced most of its reservation call center to the Philippines.
A United spokeswoman said Friday that some of the call center work the airline was outsourcing to India has been brought back to the U.S., though some reservation calls are still forwarded there. United also has call center operations in Chicago, Detroit and Hawaii, she said.

 

[Vacation Dude]

The real reason is that Delta probably can now hire part-time workers in the US for less than they do in India.

 

[cerralee]

As far as outsourcing goes, I think that it should be in the fine print of the bail out banks that all the jobs servicing USA accounts should be here in the US. It upset me during the bail-out prime time that Bank of Americas call came from outside the USA.

 

[camachinist]

9 times out of 10 I get UA agents at the HNL or DTW call centers. I haven't talked to an India CSR in years. Closest has been MNL (Manila) a couple of times.

My rule is, if I feel the CSR does not adequately understand my issue or has issues communicating in plain English, I thank them, hang up and call back.

IME, most complaints about India CSR's are due to inadequate training rather than culture, language or physical location. I've experienced some poorly trained US agents as well.

FWIW, the few times I've had to talk to DL on the phone, it's always been a US agent and they have been uniformly professional and responsive. I hope that's DL's job one going forward.

Pat

 

[falmouth3]

Pat, I haven't seen you here in a long time. Maybe we're just looking at different boards. Anyway, good to see you again.

Sue

 

[camachinist]

I read and do PM's but don't post much as I've been renting out our intervals of late. Still travel though, so always happy to help with the airline stuff

Personally, I think we're going to see many similar changes in this current global economy. I've actually experienced better service in the last 6-8 months, both on the ground and in the air.

 

[Carolinian]

Yes, the call center change is one of the few minor positives coming from Delta, but it does not come close to all of the big negatives they have popped SkyMiles members as well as newly captive NW Worldperks members with. Here are some of them:

www.saveworldperks.com/media/pdf/nwatimmy.pdf

 

[x3 skier]

FWIW, the few times I've had to talk to DL on the phone, it's always been a US agent and they have been uniformly professional and responsive. I hope that's DL's job one going forward.

Pat

My experience as well, unlike my usual Peter Sellers sounding agent using Untidy or Useless Air. I think the DL agents I have spoken to have been in Salt Lake City, as I sometimes inquire where they are located.

Cheers

 

[JeffW]

The real reason is that Delta probably can now hire part-time workers in the US for less than they do in India.

Unlikely. At the least, they are looking at federal minimum wage, which I believe has gone up in the years since they started outsourcing to India. There is possibly some bump from that, as I'm not sure you'll get decent employees, certainly ones always looking to hop to another job, if all they pay is minimum wage. That would put wages I'd guess at least $8-$10/hr, compared to probably effectively less than $1 for Indian workers.

It's sort of ironic, as you have to wonder if airline executives thought between free online web booking, and $15+ for phone agents, that there would still be a need to deal with phone agents years later. Obviously there's a still a big demand for phone agent use, and I guess in a worse economy, it's something that airlines think can make a difference between a purchase on your airline vs someone elses.

Jeff

 

[sfwilshire]

As far as outsourcing goes, I think that it should be in the fine print of the bail out banks that all the jobs servicing USA accounts should be here in the US. It upset me during the bail-out prime time that Bank of Americas call came from outside the USA.

Ditto for Chrysler. Their Customer Care Center is in India. You have to beg to be transferred back to the US. The Indians call the dealerships and they can't understand them either. I spent seven months talking to them trying to resolve an issue.

Sheila

 

[JeffW]

According to WSJ, "Indian call center reps earn about $500/month, about 1/6 of US based agents."

Jeff

 

[grest]

Whatever the case, I have had problems understanding people on the phone with thick accents, something they cannot control, but bad business if people don't know what they're saying. I'm glad Delta made this decision.
Connie