Filed under: Hardware, Software, Troubleshooting, Apple
Apple drops plans for India support center
Apple has dropped its plans for bolstering off-shore support in India and other countries. MacNN is reporting that the company hasn't been very forthcoming with a reason, but they have laid off all 30 of the employees hired under the subsidiary which would run these Indian support operations, Apple Services India Pvt Ltd (fortunately, the employees received two month's severance pay).This is good news, as I've never heard wonderful things about a company's customer support ratings when they make a move like this. Dell's tanked when they tried it, and last I heard they shut the facility down and moved most of their support operations back to the US. Kudos to Apple for taking a hint from others' mistakes.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)
Alex Marchuk said 6:13PM on 6-04-2006
Thank god! Thank You Apple. That is why I love Apple. Great Move!
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slackpacker said 6:45PM on 6-04-2006
Lets hope Apple will teach every American company a lesson. American Companies should hire American workers.
Lets hope our government can learn this as well and not sell off all our military assets to the country of Dubai.... Ohh wait they did that already.
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KissTheRing said 7:05PM on 6-04-2006
Thank god, I guess I didn't pay a that little bit extra for my computers for nothing. That is if you don't include the superior OS and hardware.
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SB said 11:11PM on 12-09-2006
Thankfully? It's nationalistic Americans with the ridiculous superiority complex that cause problems, not the Indian telecom worker. And the fact that this website supports this jingoistic crap says a lot for the editors here. Of course, I'm sure my comment will be deleted as well. Indians, among the Chinese, Bangladeshi, European, Latin American, etc. etc. create great products and services that are used by ALL Americans every day. The blind stereotypes shown here and elsewhere are what hurt consumers and workers alike.
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Neil said 7:25PM on 6-04-2006
The last two times I've called Apple from here in the UK about a problem with my MacBook, they've transferred me to some sort of eastern person who really, really needs more English lessons. Sounds pretty Indian to me.
It was a poor experience. I swear that Apple sometimes just cut people off that they can't be bothered dealing with. I'd never buy AppleCare for telephone support.
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David Chartier said 7:29PM on 6-04-2006
#4: I'm not going to delete your comment, but in hopes of clarifying my "thankfully" comment in the post: this isn't about racism or a dislike for any other race or culture. I don't have a problem with anyone, including those trying to earn an honest living providing something that can be as much of a headache as computer support.
The problems arise when two very different cultures are mashed together and expected to communicate. I can't speak German to save my life. If you put me and someone who has spoken nothing but German their whole life in a room together, we aren't going to be able to communicate very well, if at all, due simply to our language barriers. This can cause problems when trying to solve complex issues like computer tech support over the phone. In these situations, I'd like to work with someone who can speak my native tongue just as much as I'm sure anyone from another country would prefer working with someone who can speak their language as well.
Most people, including myself, are happy getting their tech support from anyone and any country, as long as everyone can simply communicate well enough to actually solve the issue at hand. It isn't a racism issue in any way, and I sincerely hope this clarifies any miscommunication.
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SB said 7:38PM on 6-04-2006
Indians, from elementary school, are taught two languages, English and their native tongue. The people who get chosen for these jobs are picked from TENS OF THOUSANDS of applicants all desperate for a job, since the majority of the country's population is beyond poor. Bangalore (in India) now rivals Silicon Valley and Taiwan as being one of the most advanced computing centers in the world. In fact, Microsoft, Dell, Sun, Cisco, etc all use India in critical operations because Indian scientists are world reknowned.
Ya'll need to do some research before stereotyping Indians, or anyone else. India has some of the best engineering colleges in the world. And the ones that actually make it to the US or have jobs that support US companies are better spoken than your average American. That's not an exaggeration. That's just a testament to how competitive that country is.
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SB said 7:43PM on 6-04-2006
By the way, poor customer support from Dell COULD BE a reflection of poor management and training on the part of Dell management. The people who take these jobs are minimum wage workers like US service employees. Indians who are selected actually have a chance to provide for themselves and their families like a middle class worker here. Dell has been known to cut corners, save money, and provide progressively inferior products as the years have passed. Why are people so quick to blame Indians and forget that Dell is in charge of management, training, and execution?
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SB said 7:44PM on 6-04-2006
Sorry:
The people who take these jobs are NOT minimum wage workers like US service employees.
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Bwhaler said 7:48PM on 6-04-2006
People from India need to understand that we Americans don't care that it's "India" or the work is done by "Indians."
What we get angry about is the experience for us sucks. It really is that simple.
America, unlike every other country on the planet, is truly a melting pot/salad bowl. We are a very diverse country, where you will see people of all national decents, because except for .03% of our population, we are all from India, Spain, England, Germany, China, Korea, etc.
This reality--that Americans hate outsourcing because it sucks--is harder for people abroad to digest.
It's much easier to hide behind the fact that it is nationalism or racism. But it's not. It's about the quality of the experience.
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J.T. Mill said 7:49PM on 6-04-2006
Wow, some of TUAW's readers really need to go get themselves a copy of, "The World is Flat". Outsorcing is not such a bad thing. If you get someone who can speak english well enough it shouldn't be a problem.
As for Apple pulling out of India, I'm not upset. Those few bad tech suport people ruin it for the rest of us. Personally I think Apple should Homesorce their tech support like JetBlue did. If you've got happy housewives in Salt Lake City doing your tech support with a cup of coffee in their bathrobe looking out the window of their home office you get way better quality then an unhappy worker sitting in a cublical, no matter what country they're in.
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Jeremy said 7:53PM on 6-04-2006
People from a wide variety of countries make excellent products that I buy and use every day. But "customer service" is not one of those products. If people in India are so great at speaking English, why is it that I have never, not once, not ever, had a positive experience when on the wrong end of that phone call? Their English is not good -- not that there's anything wrong with that, UNLESS your job is communicating verbally with native English speakers. When they don't understand a word I'm saying and I don't understand a word they're saying, very little "customer service" is likely to take place.
Any company that "outsources" call centers to non-English-speaking countries hates its customers, plain and simple.
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Richard Smith said 7:58PM on 6-04-2006
SB, you are missing the point. What it comes down to is being able to understand the person you are speaking to. Yes, they may be fanastic employees that speak perfect English, however, an Indian person speaking English to another Indian person isn't the same as an Indian person speaking to an English speaker from a different country (and vice-versa.)
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Kesey said 8:00PM on 6-04-2006
SB - who are you kidding? Anyone who has ever communicated with a tech support center in India vs. a tech support center in the US (or a tech support center in one's native country) has run into the situation where they're wishing for someone with their native tounge. Maybe they learn english as soon as they're born in India, but from my experience there is still quite a language barrier.
Indian American Accents are often difficult to understand and degrade the consumer experience. Call it racist, call it whatever you want. Facts are facts and the consumer experience is what matters. When I want help, I don't want to have to decipher what the person on the other end of the phone is trying to say. If I'm calling tech support, I'm not happy. When I need to call for help and I have to repeat my problem over and over again because my american english accent is difficult to for an Indian tech support worker to understand, I return the product. Sometimes I don't even bother calling for help becuase the experience dealing with abroad call centers is typically so bad (and I'm fairly technical).
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slackpacker said 8:02PM on 6-04-2006
The facts are that outsourcing has taken Jobs from people. Good people. People who loved the job they had. I feel sad for people who defend outsourcing these people are somehow making a buck off taking jobs away from people.
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John Muir said 8:28PM on 6-04-2006
Let those with the better language skills have the jobs. When India catches up or surpasses the US, let them go to India. Until then, let them stay in America. I'm in Scotland and it doesn't much matter to me!
Think Global.
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Reg said 8:38PM on 6-04-2006
This is not really about India or outsourcing.
It's about cultural affinity, particularly how it relates to spoken language.
When you're trying to converse with someone to describe a problem that you yourself don't fully understand, any difference in colloquial expression is magnified and ultimately becomes a barrier to communication.
And to the idiots above who thinks it's about racism, I know white anglo-saxon American citizens who happen to have a thick Scottish accent. I wouldn't want them on the end of a support line either.
Bravo Apple for having some common sense!
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webrao said 8:40PM on 6-04-2006
Get your facts right TUAW. The people who were hired and terminated were not hired for tech support. My close friend was one among the people hired.
They were senior programmers who developed software used by thousands of Americans use everyday.
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Andrew Harrison said 9:36PM on 6-04-2006
"America, unlike ***every other country*** on the planet, is truly a melting pot/salad bowl. "
every other country? haha, if there were ever a manifestation of the "ignorant american" stereotype, it would have to be you, bwhaler.
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Mike said 10:28PM on 6-04-2006
The original story linked to by MacNN is from The Times of India with the headline "Apple Software Logs Out of India" and stated that "Apple is pulling out of its software development and support operations in India." The people that were terminated were software developers, but apparently the plan was for this subsidiary to eventually hire 600 people in total, providing software development and support.
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