Ridiculous Technical Support

[dubb93]

So, the company that makes my router is Dynex.

I'm currently trying to download an update for WOW and start playing it but am unable to b/c of a "firewall." So I change both Windows firewall and my personal firewall to allow the Blizzard Downloader to run. Still no dice. I figure it has to be my router.

I try to figure out how the heck to go about changing that, but the manual is about as helpful as asking my two year old cousin would be. So I test my theory and plug my comp straight into the modum bypassing the router, and it works. This is OK, but I need my router as I have multiple CPUs and an XBOX hooked up to it.

So I decide to call Dynex, they have 24 hour tech support. They answer very quickly and I am treated to someone who can barely speak english. The conversation goes like this.

"Thanks for calling Dynex techincal support, what type of product are you having trouble with."

I tell them the name of the router to which I'm treated with this display.

"Do you know the exact store and date of purchase for your product?"

"Ummmm..Best Buy.....like a year and a half ago?"

"OK, do you have the receipt?"

"No, but there really isn't anything wrong with the router, I just can't figure out where in the manual it says how to either turn off the firewall or allow specific ports to run through the firewall. And when I actually log in to look around at the settings it isn't very helpful either. In fact, the router just seems impossibly hard to navigate around."

"I'm sorry, but without a receipt we cannot offer any technical support. I can give you the number to geeksquad and they can help you for a fee."

"Are you serious?"

"Do you want the number for geeksquad."

"No, but I promise when I go to purchase further products they won't be Dynex."

:click:

So I guess the easy thing to do is just go around the router for this download, but something tells me WOW won't run with the router either since the Blizzard Downloader is blocked out by it. And why would anyone hold on to a receipt for a 30 dollar product for a year and a half? That has to be the dumbest thing ever. The product has a serial number, ask for that. What could I possibly give them off a best buy receipt if I still had it?

[Bek]

lol....very interesting...gotta love outsourcing...seems like when you talk in their accent that both parties can understand each other better...

[thealmighty]

Hey dubb, I had the same problem with my router a while back. However, it in no way impeded the playing of WoW itself, for what that's worth, just the update downloads. Might go ahead and see if it works like mine did.

[QuikSand]

Why did this become an issue about outsourcing? Isn't the real issue here that the company's policy is only to help people with purchase receipts? Why focus on the company having this service overseas?

[Glengoyne]

Serial Number >> receipt

Oh and really the other question is. Why would you call for tech support on a router? Was Google down?

[wade moore]

Why did this become an issue about outsourcing? Isn't the real issue here that the company's policy is only to help people with purchase receipts? Why focus on the company having this service overseas?

Because it's so much easier to blame it on the accent.

[Bee]

I don't think I've ever heard of a company requiring a receipt to provide tech support. Is that a common practice in other countries?

[Joe]

why didn't you keep your receipt? Did you steal it?

[sterlingice]

Why did this become an issue about outsourcing? Isn't the real issue here that the company's policy is only to help people with purchase receipts? Why focus on the company having this service overseas?

The implication being that, of course, if it's some poor college student or underpaid and overworked American call center person, you could have browbeaten them into helping you because they wouldn't have wanted to put up with incessant badgering ;)

SI

[WVUFAN]

Why did this become an issue about outsourcing? Isn't the real issue here that the company's policy is only to help people with purchase receipts? Why focus on the company having this service overseas?

To me, there's an expectation that when I call customer service about an issue, I'm talking to someone who can communicate clearly with me. People with heavy Indian accents I can't understand well.

I'm sure they're fine people, but when your primary JOB is communication, you should be able to speak clearly, and many of them do not.

FWIW:
Three out of five people in a recent Zogby survey says that the U.S. government should tax or legislate against companies who engage in outsourcing.

[QuikSand]

So, you get the sense from this particular story that the real problem is the accent?

Seems to me the conversation was very, very clear. The worker articulated the company policy very effectively, the customer was unsatisfied with the policy. I didn't see any weakness in communication at all.

Seems it was the message, not the delivery. But sure, shoot the messenger, by all means. *shurg*

[WVUFAN]

So, you get the sense from this particular story that the real problem is the accent?

Seems to me the conversation was very, very clear. The worker articulated the company policy very effectively, the customer was unsatisfied with the policy. I didn't see any weakness in communication at all.

Seems it was the message, not the delivery. But sure, shoot the messenger, by all means. *shurg*

Assuming that this is pretty much a transcript of the conversation, I see two problems:

1: No explaination as to why the policy is in place. I work in customer service, and even though someone may not like the policy, I've discovered that if you explain why, and it's a reasonable explanation, people are more understanding. If the policy is unreasonable, then time to change the policy. It's unreasonable to assume someone will be keeping a receipt for an $30 item a year and a half after purchase. Explaining WHY he needed it may have helped.

2: There seemed to have been a fundamental lack of communication between the two, and the cause of that is NEVER the person calling in. Your job as a customer service agent is to assist the customer the best way you can. The agent, whether it be a issue with HOW it was communicated or WHAT was communicated, utterly failed.

So, yeah, it's entirely possible it was the accent. Pointing to yet another survey: 94% of people surveyed who contact a customer service by phone say that they are less likely to be satisfied if they are speaking to a non-native speaker.

[ISiddiqui]

Oh lord... have a customer service problem and immediately some morons think it was because of some Indian guy with a heavy accent :rolleyes:. Hey, he may have been, but to make the assumption based on no factual basis betrays something about those making such a claim.

[WVUFAN]

Oh lord... have a customer service problem and immediately some morons think it was because of some Indian guy with a heavy accent :rolleyes:. Hey, he may have been, but to make the assumption based on no factual basis betrays something about those making such a claim.

Since a good 70% of outsourced Customer Service is to India, it's a rational explanation, and since he made it a point to say "he could barely speak English", it was obviously a non-native speaker.

So, why would that be an unreasonable assumption? It's not that it makes any difference what nationality he is -- the fact that he was a non-native speaker that the customer had difficulty understanding is the telling part.

[TroyF]

Assuming that this is pretty much a transcript of the conversation, I see two problems:

1: No explaination as to why the policy is in place. I work in customer service, and even though someone may not like the policy, I've discovered that if you explain why, and it's a reasonable explanation, people are more understanding. If the policy is unreasonable, then time to change the policy. It's unreasonable to assume someone will be keeping a receipt for an $30 item a year and a half after purchase. Explaining WHY he needed it may have helped.

2: There seemed to have been a fundamental lack of communication between the two, and the cause of that is NEVER the person calling in. Your job as a customer service agent is to assist the customer the best way you can. The agent, whether it be a issue with HOW it was communicated or WHAT was communicated, utterly failed.

So, yeah, it's entirely possible it was the accent. Pointing to yet another survey: 94% of people surveyed who contact a customer service by phone say that they are less likely to be satisfied if they are speaking to a non-native speaker.

A lot of problems with what you are saying here.

In a call center, not every technical support agent is good at customer service. hell, not all of them are even good at troubleshooting. (I was a call center supervisor for two years with Creative Labs)

Many of the techs simply give out information with no follow up. This isn't a foreign thing. This is a tech support thing.

To be honest, I don't think this particular tech support person should have given any details as to why this is the policy. They are simply following a policy set by the company and giving what the options are to handle the issue.

The problem here IS the policy of the company. There isn't nearly enough information to see if the tech would or could have assisted with the problem. All he did was relay the policy of the company and let it be known how the situation could be handled.

As for the poll numbers, that's all fine and good. I had a ton of customers who were bothered talking to my female techs as well. That doesn't mean they weren't talented and that the customers with those opinions were right.

Tech agents should be courteous and customer service oriented. I understand that fact and let some people go who didn't understand it. All of that said, at the end of the day, the techs #1 responsibility is to fix the problem.

We have no idea if this guy could have fixed it or not because of the ridiculous policy put in place by the company.

[ISiddiqui]

Since a good 70% of outsourced Customer Service is to India, it's a rational explanation, and since he made it a point to say "he could barely speak English", it was obviously a non-native speaker.

So, why would that be an unreasonable assumption? It's not that it makes any difference what nationality he is -- the fact that he was a non-native speaker that the customer had difficulty understanding is the telling part.

So "barely speak English" means Indian now? FTR, Indians probably speak better English than most of the teenagers in the US. It is their accents that get in the way, but I've never heard of an accent = barely speaking English.

It is interesting that barely speaking English means a non-native speaker. Though your immediate assumption does show how you think about these things.

[wade moore]

Assuming that this is pretty much a transcript of the conversation, I see two problems:

1: No explaination as to why the policy is in place. I work in customer service, and even though someone may not like the policy, I've discovered that if you explain why, and it's a reasonable explanation, people are more understanding. If the policy is unreasonable, then time to change the policy. It's unreasonable to assume someone will be keeping a receipt for an $30 item a year and a half after purchase. Explaining WHY he needed it may have helped.

2: There seemed to have been a fundamental lack of communication between the two, and the cause of that is NEVER the person calling in. Your job as a customer service agent is to assist the customer the best way you can. The agent, whether it be a issue with HOW it was communicated or WHAT was communicated, utterly failed.

So, yeah, it's entirely possible it was the accent. Pointing to yet another survey: 94% of people surveyed who contact a customer service by phone say that they are less likely to be satisfied if they are speaking to a non-native speaker.

Wow.

wow wow wow.

I've been annoyed at Noop for his "people show their true colors" type comments, but I don't know if they could fit more here...

I have run a VERY large Help Desk that is run out of the US. This interaction from what dubb93 has explained, is not an outsourcing problem. Everything you've explained of what "should" be done of what is "good" customer service is all true. But bad customer service such as this comes from all over, include much of it in the US. Even with my guys who were generally higher qualified than normal tech support, let alone regular old customer service, did things like this ALL of the time.

If there was some point where dubb could not understand the agent, I could maybe listen to this argument applied to this case.

However, this is clearly a typical case of bad customer service in, not a language barrier.

[wade moore]

As for the poll numbers, that's all fine and good. I had a ton of customers who were bothered talking to my female techs as well. That doesn't mean they weren't talented and that the customers with those opinions were right.


Just a bit of a threadjack: I had the same problem. For as few female agents as I had, the amount of times that the customer seemed to just disregard them was staggering.

[Bee]

Well...if it had been me, I'd have asked to speak to a supervisor to confirm the policy especially if the first guy I spoke with didn't speak English very well. It's possible he could have misunderstood the company policy or misunderstood what the customer was asking for if his language skills were poor. (It doesn't appear that way from the post, but it's possible) If this is in fact the company policy then his language skills don't really seem to be an issue in this case.

[wade moore]

Well...if it had been me, I'd have asked to speak to a supervisor to confirm the policy especially if the first guy I spoke with didn't speak English very well. It's possible he could have misunderstood the company policy or misunderstood what the customer was asking for if his language skills were poor. (It doesn't appear that way from the post, but it's possible) If this is in fact the company policy then his language skills don't really seem to be an issue in this case.

I definately wouldn't have just let the situation stand either. I would have asked what information they needed from the receipt first of all. Armed with that information, I would ask for the reasoning for the company policy (which if it is like normal, the poor guy on the phone will have some bs company line to read). Then when that didn't work, I would have asked for a supervisor too.

General rule of thumb with customer service/tech support: If a policy question comes up you ask for clarification, when you understand the policy and don't like it, immediately ask for a supervisor. It's no knock on the guy on the phone with you, he just can't do anything about it. You can get around policies if you are a squeaky enough wheel.

[albionmoonlight]

Maybe call back and pretend that you have a receipt. When/if they ask for something from that receipt, just make it up.

It may be simply a way of cutting the number of calls that they get. I can't imagine that there is anything from the receipt that they actually need.

[sachmo71]

Maybe call back and pretend that you have a receipt. When/if they ask for something from that receipt, just make it up.

It may be simply a way of cutting the number of calls that they get. I can't imagine that there is anything from the receipt that they actually need.

that's what I was thinking as well.

[Ryche]

Download the WOW updates from other sites rather than using the automatic downloader. Especially if you try to download the day of a patch.

[Celeval]

I'm not sure what they'd want off the receipt, unless it was a warranty question.

The upside is that Best Buy can usually track down your receiptif you remember which one you bought it at.

Dynex is owned by (or at least affiliated with) Best Buy, btw; that's the only place that sells them.

[Subby]

There is sweet irony in someone from West Virginia complaining about how hard it is to understand other people because of their heavy accents.

[John Galt]

There is sweet irony in someone from West Virginia complaining about how hard it is to understand other people because of their heavy accents.

*cue music from Deliverance*

[Franklinnoble]

I had a similar problem with Sony when a flatscreen monitor I bought from them went on the fritz. They refused to honor the warranty without the receipt (which I hadn't kept).

I won't buy anything from Sony again.

[Subby]

I had a similar problem with Sony when a flatscreen monitor I bought from them went on the fritz. They refused to honor the warranty without the receipt (which I hadn't kept).

I won't buy anything from Sony again.
Did you register the purchase when you bought it? If not, it seems pretty reasonable that they wouldn't honor the warranty if you didn't have a proof of purchase.

[QuikSand]

Seems to me both parties were within their rights in the FN story.

[Pumpy Tudors]

on the fritz
fritz fritz fritz

[Franklinnoble]

Did you register the purchase when you bought it? If not, it seems pretty reasonable that they wouldn't honor the warranty if you didn't have a proof of purchase.

Yeah, that's the real crock. I probably should have included that - I had sent in for a mail-in rebate on the device, and tossed the receipt after I got the lousy $20 check.

So, they should have had some record of the purchase date and all that.

[stevew]

Yeah, that's the real crock. I probably should have included that - I had sent in for a mail-in rebate on the device, and tossed the receipt after I got the lousy $20 check.

So, they should have had some record of the purchase date and all that.

Yeah, i can see why you'd be pissed then.

[WVUFAN]

*cue music from Deliverance*

I would like to point out for the record that Deliverance took place in Georgia, not West Virginia.

Just thought I'd point that out.

[Raiders Army]

Are we talking about Indians who have convenience stores or the Indians who have casinos?

[WVUFAN]

Many of the techs simply give out information with no follow up. This isn't a foreign thing. This is a tech support thing.

Don't you see that as a problem? Whether it's a technical issue or not, if the person isn't communicating, that's the problem.


To be honest, I don't think this particular tech support person should have given any details as to why this is the policy. They are simply following a policy set by the company and giving what the options are to handle the issue.

Again, that's a problem with the training of the people in that technical support. If they're not being training to EXPLAIN, they're not fully doing what they're supposed to. Perhaps there is a good reason for this policy, but no one knows, and the customer shouldn't have to ask.


The problem here IS the policy of the company. There isn't nearly enough information to see if the tech would or could have assisted with the problem. All he did was relay the policy of the company and let it be known how the situation could be handled.

And you don't see this as a failure on the company representatives fault? Looking past the english or non-english thing for a sec, can't anyone else see this as an error on his fault?


As for the poll numbers, that's all fine and good. I had a ton of customers who were bothered talking to my female techs as well. That doesn't mean they weren't talented and that the customers with those opinions were right.

Whether you agree with them or not isn't the issue. If a great majority of people who make up your customer base think a certain way, whether or not it's "right" doesn't mean anything. The company needs to change to reflect the will of the people who buy their product.

Coke make a new formula and sold it as "New" Coke. It very well may have been a "better" formula, but the people liked it another way. The company changed to reflect the customer's wishes. Granted, that's not the best analogy.

Customer service is literally the "voice" of a company. For most people, it's the only live person they talk to who is a direct representative of that company. Up until this point, I'm betting that if Dubb went to Best Buy to purchase another router, he might pass by the Dynex ones, and consider purchasing another one. Now, when he sees the name Dynex, he'll think of that customer rep.

If someone buys something from the company I work for, and they speak to me, it's my JOB to represent that company is the best possible light. The rep did not, and the fact that the customer (dubb in this case) made it a point to say "he couldn't speak English well" IS IMPORTANT. Political correctness aside, I'm amazed people can't see that.


We have no idea if this guy could have fixed it or not because of the ridiculous policy put in place by the company.

We have no idea if the guy could have fixed it because of a fundamental lack of explanation of that policy by the representative. You blame the policy without knowing what and why it exists. I blame the rep for not explaining what or why it exists.

[wade moore]

Cleared because WVU responded to my previous post directly.

[WVUFAN]

Wow.

wow wow wow.

I've been annoyed at Noop for his "people show their true colors" type comments, but I don't know if they could fit more here...

If you're accusing me of being racist or some such nonsense, you're way off the mark.


I have run a VERY large Help Desk that is run out of the US. This interaction from what dubb93 has explained, is not an outsourcing problem. Everything you've explained of what "should" be done of what is "good" customer service is all true. But bad customer service such as this comes from all over, include much of it in the US. Even with my guys who were generally higher qualified than normal tech support, let alone regular old customer service, did things like this ALL of the time.

So you don't think the fact that it's pointed out specifically he didn't speak English well has any impact on Dubb's anger at the end? I know from experience from where I work that a good number of people would prefer to speak to someone without a heavy foreign accent. That's not being discriminatory towards Indians. It's the fact that it's easier to communicate with someone that is easily understandable. Again, let's cut aside all the political correctness nonsense.


However, this is clearly a typical case of bad customer service in, not a language barrier.

And I'm saying there's at least a decent chance it's both. You're right, though -- it's not a policy issue -- it's a bad rep issue, and that very well may be the only issue in this case. However, the fact that Dubb made it a point to point out that he had a hard time understanding the guy is a red flag for me.

Look, I've never once said that Indians or any other non-native speakers who do customer service are bad at their job or perform poorly. Whether you all beleive it or not, I have nothing against Indians or anyone else -- but if ANYONE who is working at phone customer service cannot communicate clearly, they shouldn't be in that profession.

I've spoken to people from India as part of my job (the company I work for also outsources), and there's several that speak IMPECABLE english. I haven't the least little bit of problem with them. I don't have a problem with people who are clearly understandable working at this profession regardless of where they live. My issue is with the ones that aren't.

[WVUFAN]

There is sweet irony in someone from West Virginia complaining about how hard it is to understand other people because of their heavy accents.

Yee-HAW!!! If you could see me now, I got my straw hat on, my dirty ole' pants on, my musket in my hand and my barefoot pregnant wife is in the kitchen fixin' supper.

Sheesh. :rolleyes:

[wade moore]

I wonder if the company I work for has a contract for a Help Desk of some kind in WV... ;)...

anyway...

I would react differently to this if dubb's post stated that anything in the dialogue that clearly stated he hit a wall with the issue because the two of them could not communicate. Unless dubb cut out a TON of the conversation, it seems that he was able to get the message loud and clear.

Idano.. I just get annoyed, and yes offended (and I'm normally pretty anti-PC) by the notion that non-native speakers should not be doing these support roles. I'm sure you're well aware that most Help Desk Agents in India are WAY more qualified than Help Desk agents here.

[stevew]

Man, i'm glad i found my kitten before she got murdered.

[ISiddiqui]

So you don't think the fact that it's pointed out specifically he didn't speak English well has any impact on Dubb's anger at the end? I know from experience from where I work that a good number of people would prefer to speak to someone without a heavy foreign accent.

ARGH!! This is exactly the point of the 'true colors' comment. Why is it that people that speak bad English have to be from overseas? Hell, like someone said, you are from West Virginia for God's sake! In my job, I've spoken to folks from rural Mississippi over the phone and could hardly understand what in the world they were saying.

Yee-HAW!!! If you could see me now, I got my straw hat on, my dirty ole' pants on, my musket in my hand and my barefoot pregnant wife is in the kitchen fixin' supper.

Hey, one stereotype deserves another. I guess it sucks that it is on the opposite foot now though, huh?

[WVUFAN]

I wonder if the company I work for has a contract for a Help Desk of some kind in WV... ;)...

What company do you work for?


anyway...

Idano.. I just get annoyed, and yes offended (and I'm normally pretty anti-PC) by the notion that non-native speakers should not be doing these support roles. I'm sure you're well aware that most Help Desk Agents in India are WAY more qualified than Help Desk agents here.

I never said that people from India or anywhere else weren't qualified technically for the job. However,when they speaking to someone over the phone, the natural language barrier can cause alot of problems.

I studied Russian for my MOS in the military, and I studied it pretty intensely at DLI for a year. My roommate studies Spanish for 6 years. Neither one of us feel we should do customer service in those languages, regardless of how well we feel we know the language. English is the only language rated Category Five by the US military (at least it was when I was in the Army). They consider it the most difficult language to master for a non-native speaker, just because of the nuances involved in everyday speech. It's one of the few languages where it's entirely possible to master in it's written form and not be able to communicate at all verbally. English is HARD, and there's a reason why most outsourcers in India have at the very least a 4 year degree.

It's not a matter of technical excellence, Wade -- it's a matter of communicating that technical ability effectively over the phone.

[WVUFAN]

ARGH!! This is exactly the point of the 'true colors' comment. Why is it that people that speak bad English have to be from overseas? Hell, like someone said, you are from West Virginia for God's sake! In my job, I've spoken to folks from rural Mississippi over the phone and could hardly understand what in the world they were saying.

Tell you what, ISiddiqui... I'll ask Dubb to post what kind of accent or IF the person had an accent. I'll lay money that not only is the customer service agent an Indian (just because a GREAT majority of outsourced agents in customer service are located in India. We're talking well over 70% of outsourcing comes from India), but that when he said "could barely speak English" he was talking about a heavy accent.

You can lay out accusations about "stereotypes" and that's fine. However, I'm not stereotyping anyone -- just speaking from experience in working in that field (customer service) that when someone says "can barely speak english" they're talking about a person with a heavy foreign accent. I hear it in my job EVERY SINGLE DAY.

Anyway, you're missing my whole point to nitpick on one thing, whether the person is from overseas or not isn't the issue, and if that makes you happy in doing so, that's cool. Keep on truckin'.


Hey, one stereotype deserves another. I guess it sucks that it is on the opposite foot now though, huh?

Funny. Again, I haven't stereotyped ANYONE in the thread. However, if it gets your rocks off to throw West Virginia jokes around, be my guest. You live in the Deliverance state, not me. :-)

[Subby]

West Virginians could be the most affluent and educated folks in the country for all I know.

I was just remarking on your fucked-up hard-to-understand accents.

[QuikSand]

West Virginians could be the most affluent and educated folks in the country for all I know.

PM sent

[rkmsuf]

PM sent

why do I get the sense you don't concur with stubby?

[Bee]

West Virginians could be the most affluent and educated folks in the country for all I know.



Only if you moved West Virginia to Chad.

Edit: Actually I stand corrected...the literacy rate in Chad is 48% and the per capita income is $1800.

[ISiddiqui]

Tell you what, ISiddiqui... I'll ask Dubb to post what kind of accent or IF the person had an accent. I'll lay money that not only is the customer service agent an Indian (just because a GREAT majority of outsourced agents in customer service are located in India. We're talking well over 70% of outsourcing comes from India), but that when he said "could barely speak English" he was talking about a heavy accent.

A. Which is, of course, not the point. The point is you heard barely could speak English and immediately thought of Indian call center workers.

B. Since when have accents been 'barely speaking English'?! Do you hear anyone saying some dude with a heavy Boston accent being told that they were "barely speaking English".

Funny. Again, I haven't stereotyped ANYONE in the thread. However, if it gets your rocks off to throw West Virginia jokes around, be my guest. You live in the Deliverance state, not me. :-)

Barely speaking English = Indian call center guy; seems like quite a stereotype to me.

And if you are saying that it is because of their accent, well you hardly can get heavier accents than West Virginian.

[dubb93]

OK, this never should have gone down the outsourcing line. And to be truthful, if anything the person had a hispanic just starting to learn english accent. But I had no problem understanding them once I got past the initial shock that english obviously wasn't their first language.

Onto the other line, I think I'm going to dig for any best buy receipt I have. I know I should probably have my Xbox360 receipt somewhere. I'll probably call back and act like that is the receipt for the Dynex product if I can find it.

[ISiddiqui]

Dubb, did you register the product? Maybe they got a record of that?

[WVUFAN]

And if you are saying that it is because of their accent, well you hardly can get heavier accents than West Virginian.

Have you ever actually BEEN to West Virginia? Many of us have more of a northern accent than anything else.

[Crapshoot]

FWIW:
Three out of five people in a recent Zogby survey says that the U.S. government should tax or legislate against companies who engage in outsourcing.

FWIW: Three out of five are idiots.

[Crapshoot]

Since a good 70% of outsourced Customer Service is to India, it's a rational explanation, and since he made it a point to say "he could barely speak English", it was obviously a non-native speaker.

So, why would that be an unreasonable assumption? It's not that it makes any difference what nationality he is -- the fact that he was a non-native speaker that the customer had difficulty understanding is the telling part.

Two things genius - first, English is a primary means of communication for many in India, especially those in the call centers (many of whom have college degrees). I'd bet that the average Indian call centre employee has more education (ie, a college degree) and better English grammar than his West Virginian counterpart. Its higher on the social and economic stratosphere in India than it is in the US.

[Crapshoot]

Just a bit of a threadjack: I had the same problem. For as few female agents as I had, the amount of times that the customer seemed to just disregard them was staggering.

I've heard (and maybe you or Troy or whoever else works in this field) that especially in tech related calls, the guy's less likely to trust the female customer service rep than a male, adjusting for other variables. Haven't actually seen any studies on this per se, but the results makes some intuitive sense.

[Abe Sargent]

*cue music from Deliverance*


Which isn't related to WV at all.

[st.cronin]

Are we talking about Indians who have convenience stores or the Indians who have casinos?

The explosive growth of Indian casinos across the country is probably my favorite non-technological cultural change of my lifetime. I loooooooove me some 2 dollar blackjack.

[John Galt]

Which isn't related to WV at all.

You people ruin all of my fun. It may not have been in WV, but it should have been. ;)

[ISiddiqui]

Which isn't related to WV at all.

I thought by now all people realized a reference to "Delieverance" is referring to a hick place, no matter where it is.

[ThunderingHERD]

Have you ever actually BEEN to West Virginia? Many of us have more of a northern accent than anything else.


:eek:
:confused:
:eek:
:confused:
:rolleyes:

[panerd]

This is the most ridiculous piling on thread I have ever seen in my life. (Though most of the heat seems to be coming from one person) WVUFAN stated that most people don't want to speak to customer service representatives they don't understand. I have no doubt that this is true and think the PC bullshit in this thread is so far out of bounds that it is laughable. Maybe it wasn't the original issue, but to keep on it like WVUFAN has some sort of deep problems due to beleiving this is just silly. A service rep with a deep accent is really hard to understand and/or communicate with and if you take the opposite side you obviosuly haven't dealt with many.

[ISiddiqui]

And you missed the point... no one is contending that it isn't hard to speak to CS people that you can't understand. The problem is when the OP says the guy could barely speak English and WVUFAN immediately jumps on the it's an outsourced call center to India BS. Basically trying to turn a CS issue into an outsourcing one (though another poster started that, WVUFAN just continued on with it).

Interestingly, he was incorrect!

[dubb93]

Dubb, did you register the product? Maybe they got a record of that?

To my knowledge there was no way to register it. I may be off on that, but I see no way to register the product.

I've looked at the website and my documentation that came with the stupid router.

[sterlingice]

FWIW: Three out of five are idiots.

Only three? I think there might be confounding variables there ;)

SI

[WVUFAN]

And you missed the point... no one is contending that it isn't hard to speak to CS people that you can't understand. The problem is when the OP says the guy could barely speak English and WVUFAN immediately jumps on the it's an outsourced call center to India BS. Basically trying to turn a CS issue into an outsourcing one (though another poster started that, WVUFAN just continued on with it).

Interestingly, he was incorrect!

Maybe that the person wasn't from India, but it's not the underlying issue. You haven't once mentioned my main points I was trying to make, only that I said the word "India"

Again, a GREAT MAJORITY of outsourcing comes from overseas, and specifically India.

[WVUFAN]

Two things genius - first, English is a primary means of communication for many in India, especially those in the call centers (many of whom have college degrees). I'd bet that the average Indian call centre employee has more education (ie, a college degree) and better English grammar than his West Virginian counterpart. Its higher on the social and economic stratosphere in India than it is in the US.

SIGH.

It's NOT what they say, it's HOW they say it. If you cannot understand the custome service agent because of a thick accent, I don't care how much education they have. The primary job of a customer service agent is to communicate, and if the agent isn't understandable, they shouldn't have the job. Good lord, I do think I've said more than a few times that I'm sure they're qualified technically for the job.

And whether you or anyone else think "people are idiots", they're the customers, and if they're not happy, you need to change the customer service. People do NOT want to talk to people they have a difficulty understanding. If you can't see that, I feel sorry that political correctness has blinded you.

But, by all means, go ahead and continue the personal insults. Go ahead and continue to rag on West Virginia if it makes you feel better.

[Crapshoot]

SIGH.

It's NOT what they say, it's HOW they say it. If you cannot understand the custome service agent because of a thick accent, I don't care how much education they have. The primary job of a customer service agent is to communicate, and if the agent isn't understandable, they shouldn't have the job. Good lord, I do think I've said more than a few times that I'm sure they're qualified technically for the job.

And whether you or anyone else think "people are idiots", they're the customers, and if they're not happy, you need to change the customer service. People do NOT want to talk to people they have a difficulty understanding. If you can't see that, I feel sorry that political correctness has blinded you.

But, by all means, go ahead and continue the personal insults. Go ahead and continue to rag on West Virginia if it makes you feel better.


I like West Virginia - my roommate sophmore year was from there, and amongst other things, used to bring back the deer he shot and store it in our fridge. FWIW, I heard more stories of dumbass West Virginians from him than anyone else. :D

[JonInMiddleGA]

If you cannot understand the custome service agent because of a thick accent, I don't care how much education they have. The primary job of a customer service agent is to communicate, and if the agent isn't understandable, they shouldn't have the job.

Damn, even I understand what you're trying to say here. And concur.

I might engage in some random WV bashing at some point, just for the heck of it, but it won't be because of their accents ;)

[ISiddiqui]

Maybe that the person wasn't from India, but it's not the underlying issue. You haven't once mentioned my main points I was trying to make, only that I said the word "India"

Again, a GREAT MAJORITY of outsourcing comes from overseas, and specifically India.

What "main point"? You mean the one that EVERYONE agrees on that a thick accent may be troublesome for customer service relations?

No, the main beef that people had with you is how quick you were to jump on the fact that it had to be outsourcing and more specifically some Indian call center guy. The fact that AMERICANS can speak some dreadful English was lost on you. And secondly, that accents are NOT examples of "barely speaking English". I'm sure they all speak English very well, they just have a thick accent.

[WVUFAN]

No, the main beef that people had with you is how quick you were to jump on the fact that it had to be outsourcing and more specifically some Indian call center guy. The fact that AMERICANS can speak some dreadful English was lost on you. And secondly, that accents are NOT examples of "barely speaking English". I'm sure they all speak English very well, they just have a thick accent.

You really don't get it. To many people "barely speaking English" IS a thick accent. In customer service, PERCEPTION IS REALITY. People hear a thick foreign accent, regardless of where it comes from, they see this as "barely speaking English". Dubb himself said that he understood what the person was saying but that he had a thick accent, and his initial post said "barely speaking English". Granted, it wasn't an Indian accent, but that has NEVER been my point. I've working in customer service for over 6 years. I've not heard one person say that a person with a Southern dialect could "barely speak English", but I hear it every day for oversea outsourcers. Most are used to understanding even people with an extremely thick
Southern twang. That's not the case for people from oversea call centers.

To most customers who call in to a customer service center, thick and heavy accent IS "barely speaking English". Yeah, "people are idiots", but they're also customers who keep a company afloat.

My main points about the phone call Dubb had is posted earlier, and it had more to do with the rep not explaining policy and just quoting it. But you saw me mention the word "India" and immediately ignored everything else I wrote.

[ISiddiqui]

You really don't get it. To many people "barely speaking English" IS a thick accent. In customer service, PERCEPTION IS REALITY. People hear a thick foreign accent, regardless of where it comes from, they see this a "barely speaking English". Dubb himself said that he understood what the person was saying but that he had a thick accent, and his initial post said "barely speaking English". Granted, it wasn't an Indian accent, but that has NEVER been my point.

To most customers who call in to a customer service center, thick and heavy accent IS "barely speaking English". Yeah, "people are idiots", but they're also customers who keep a company afloat.

I didn't realize there were no thick accents in the US :rolleyes: And I don't give a shit what your "point" has been, the fact is that you jumped on outsourced Indian call centers in your first post, even though if you thought it was a heavy accent problem it could have been a Mexican or someone from the Deep South or a guy from Boston.

Indians have been blamed for everything under the sun. Immediately blaming them without any further information indicating such isn't exactly a good thing here.

[ISiddiqui]

I'll quote you:

Since a good 70% of outsourced Customer Service is to India, it's a rational explanation, and since he made it a point to say "he could barely speak English", it was obviously a non-native speaker.

If people consider heavy accents as "barely speaking English" and the US has plenty of heavy, think, almost unintelligible accents, how is it obvious it was a non-native speaker again?

[ThunderingHERD]

Man, this argument is stupid--neither side seems to realize why the original statement was so inflammatory.

Guy 1: "I went down to the local home improvement store today and bought a 10 gallon bucket of paint. Well, my back has been killing me lately, so I thought I'd better get some help loading it in the truck. I asked the clerk, Jose, but I was I told that it was against policy. "

Guy 2: "Figures. I can't stand how all the companies are hiring the mexican illegals."

Guy 3: "This is not an immigration issue, it's a store policy issue."

Guy 2: "Of course it is an immigration issue: Three out of every five americans approve of tightening the borders. 70% say they'd rather buy 10 gallon buckets of paint from naturalized amerifcans."

Guy 1: "Uh, Jose was a white girl. You know, Joe-see."

Guy 2: "..."

"My point stands."

[WVUFAN]

I didn't realize there were no thick accents in the US :rolleyes: And I don't give a shit what your "point" has been

Yeah, I can tell you don't care what I actually said, just your interpretation. You just want to jump on a single word I said, not the length of what I said. Again, you saw the word "India" and got all pissed off about it.


the fact is that you jumped on outsourced Indian call centers in your first post, even though if you thought it was a heavy accent problem it could have been a Mexican or someone from the Deep South or a guy from Boston.

So your problem is that I said the word "India" instead of "Mexico" or "Boston". If I had said "Spanish" instead, you wouldn't have an issue, right?


Indians have been blamed for everything under the sun. Immediately blaming them without any further information indicating such isn't exactly a good thing here.

... what? JESUS H. CHRIST! I haven't blamed Indians for anything. If anything I've said alot of positives about them. You honestly need to get over yourself.

Also, I don't have a clue what in the blue hell you mean by "Indians are blamed for everything".

Again, when someone says "could barely speak English", they're NOT TALKING ABOUT AN AMERICAN ACCENT. They're talking about the fact that English isn't their first language, that they're non-native speakers. They're not talking about a West Virginian accent -- not about a Californian accent, or a New York or Boston accent. They're talking about a heavy accent from someone outside the US.

The knowledge of the English language isn't the issue. It's the perception of the guest. They don't want to talk to someone with a heavy foreign accent.

[Raiders Army]

Indians have been blamed for everything under the sun. Immediately blaming them without any further information indicating such isn't exactly a good thing here.
The white man stole their land too.

[WVUFAN]

Man, this argument is stupid--neither side seems to realize why the original statement was so inflammatory.

Guy 1: "I went down to the local home improvement store today and bought a 10 gallon bucket of paint. Well, my back has been killing me lately, so I thought I'd better get some help loading it in the truck. I asked the clerk, Jose, but I was I told that it was against policy. "

Guy 2: "Figures. I can't stand how all the companies are hiring the mexican illegals."

Guy 3: "This is not an immigration issue, it's a store policy issue."

Guy 2: "Of course it is an immigration issue: Three out of every five americans approve of tightening the borders. 70% say they'd rather buy 10 gallon buckets of paint from naturalized amerifcans."

Guy 1: "Uh, Jose was a white girl. You know, Joe-see."

Guy 2: "..."

"My point stands."

That analogy is so incredibly stupid I'm just amazed.

I will say again, the political correctness nonsense on this board is STAGGERING. But, whatever. I'm done trying to explain this to everyone without being accused of being some sort of racist. Y'all go ahead and think what you want. :(

[ISiddiqui]

Yeah, I can tell you don't care what I actually said, just your interpretation. You just want to jump on a single word I said, not the length of what I said. Again, you saw the word "India" and got all pissed off about it.
Yeah, seeing that it shows your bias that it has to be Indian outsourcing. Hell, everyone under the sun is blaming all sorts of shit on it, why not, right? Doesn't matter if there is no proof for that.

So your problem is that I said the word "India" instead of "Mexico" or "Boston". If I had said "Spanish" instead, you wouldn't have an issue, right?
:rolleyes: You SAID Indian, which is the current stereotype of bad customer service. If you said Boston people would have said what in the Hell are your talking about, not even realizing what reference you were making.

... what? JESUS H. CHRIST! I haven't blamed Indians for anything. If anything I've said alot of positives about them. You honestly need to get over yourself.

Also, I don't have a clue what in the blue hell you mean by "Indians are blamed for everything".
Yeah, first post you make on this thread, one guy says something about outsourcing and you go off on Indians and their accents on the phone. Yeah, you didn't blame them for jack :rolleyes:

And don't play dumb with me about not knowing about Indians being blamed up and down for woes associated with outsourcing.

Again, when someone says "could barely speak English", they're NOT TALKING ABOUT AN AMERICAN ACCENT. They're talking about the fact that English isn't their first language, that they're non-native speakers. They're not talking about a West Virginian accent -- not about a Californian accent, or a New York or Boston accent. They're talking about a heavy accent from someone outside the US.

The knowledge of the English language isn't the issue. It's the perception of the guest. They don't want to talk to someone with a heavy foreign accent.
And you've done statistical studies on this that they are talking about foriegners and not, say, people from the rural South (if you come from anywhere else in the country)? So people are perfectly willing to talk to someone from Louisiana that they can't understand a whit, but not some dude from India who they also can't understand a whit? Please... can you sound more ridiculous?

FWIW, every time I've personally (as in face to face) heard the "barely speak English" line, its been some old guy from Mississippi or Alabama who was on the other end of the line from a co-worker of mine. I don't think anyone has ever said it over some Indian call center person.

[ISiddiqui]

Man, this argument is stupid--neither side seems to realize why the original statement was so inflammatory.

Guy 1: "I went down to the local home improvement store today and bought a 10 gallon bucket of paint. Well, my back has been killing me lately, so I thought I'd better get some help loading it in the truck. I asked the clerk, Jose, but I was I told that it was against policy. "

Guy 2: "Figures. I can't stand how all the companies are hiring the mexican illegals."

Guy 3: "This is not an immigration issue, it's a store policy issue."

Guy 2: "Of course it is an immigration issue: Three out of every five americans approve of tightening the borders. 70% say they'd rather buy 10 gallon buckets of paint from naturalized amerifcans."

Guy 1: "Uh, Jose was a white girl. You know, Joe-see."

Guy 2: "..."

"My point stands."
Well that was point about the original statement (edit: I mean Guy 2's original statement here). The fact that outsourcing and Indians doing outsourcing was jumped on was ridiculous. The problem wasn't even that the guy couldn't be understood. It was a throwaway line that he could "barely speak English", which could be anyone, but immediately, it's the Indian guy who is blamed.

[stevew]

Man, this argument is stupid--neither side seems to realize why the original statement was so inflammatory.

Guy 1: "I went down to the local home improvement store today and bought a 10 gallon bucket of paint. Well, my back has been killing me lately, so I thought I'd better get some help loading it in the truck. I asked the clerk, Jose, but I was I told that it was against policy. "

Guy 2: "Figures. I can't stand how all the companies are hiring the mexican illegals."

Guy 3: "This is not an immigration issue, it's a store policy issue."

Guy 2: "Of course it is an immigration issue: Three out of every five americans approve of tightening the borders. 70% say they'd rather buy 10 gallon buckets of paint from naturalized amerifcans."

Guy 1: "Uh, Jose was a white girl. You know, Joe-see."

Guy 2: "..."

"My point stands."
LOL

[Buzzbee]

Again, a GREAT MAJORITY of outsourcing comes from overseas, and specifically India.

It's NOT what they say, it's HOW they say it. If you cannot understand the custome service agent because of a thick accent, I don't care how much education they have. The primary job of a customer service agent is to communicate, and if the agent isn't understandable, they shouldn't have the job. Good lord, I do think I've said more than a few times that I'm sure they're qualified technically for the job.


Hmmm...maybe we should learn to speak Indian then.

[Mac Howard]

Well that was point about the original statement. The fact that outsourcing and Indians doing outsourcing was jumped on was ridiculous. The problem wasn't even that the guy couldn't be understood. It was a throwaway line that he could "barely speak English", which could be anyone, but immediately, it's the Indian guy who is blamed.

The original statement says nothing at all about Indians or accents or much of what has subsequently been criticised.

There's a lot of sanctimonious claptrap in this thread :rolleyes:
.

[ISiddiqui]

The original statement says nothing at all about Indians or accents or much of what has subsequently been criticised.

There's a lot of sanctimonious claptrap in this thread :rolleyes:
.
WVUFAN'S (and Bek's) original statement!

[ThunderingHERD]

That analogy is so incredibly stupid I'm just amazed.

I will say again, the political correctness nonsense on this board is STAGGERING. But, whatever. I'm done trying to explain this to everyone without being accused of being some sort of racist. Y'all go ahead and think what you want. :(

Or is it so not stupid that I just <i>BLEW</i> your mind?

This story involved bad customer service. A CSR that "could barely speak english." Now, unlike others,
I have no problem with you assuming the guy was Indian. Hell, that's what I thought. <b>The issue is that you then assumed that the guy being Indian was the root of the problem, when the story makes it clear that had nothing to do with it.</b>

I've taken the time to put the point in boldtype. Go back and read it again, if it will help. Did you ever answer this, the concern voiced in the first place? As far as I can tell you set up a dozen different strawmen to avoid answering it. Some choice excerpts:


Whether it's a technical issue or not, if the person isn't communicating, that's the problem.


To me, there's an expectation that when I call customer service about an issue, I'm talking to someone who can communicate clearly with me. People with heavy Indian accents I can't understand well.


Pointing to yet another survey: 94% of people surveyed who contact a customer service by phone say that they are less likely to be satisfied if they are speaking to a non-native speaker.


Coke make a new formula and sold it as "New" Coke. It very well may have been a "better" formula, but the people liked it another way. The company changed to reflect the customer's wishes. Granted, that's not the best analogy.

That's my favorite. When I read it, I can't help but think: "What does that have to do with the price of tea in <i>fuckin'</i> China?!"

Anyway, certainly this all makes you kind of a dumbass, but does it make you a racist? I don't think so--but more importantly, I don't care. I don't care if some guy on a message board draws hasty conclusions about the ethnicities and communications abilities of phone techs. But, it <i>does</i> bother me when somebody continues to make idiotic points and doesn't get called out for it.

[Celeval]

"What does that have to do with the price of tea in fuckin' India?!"

Fixed.

[Mac Howard]

That's my favorite. When I read it, I can't help but think: "What does that have to do with the price of tea in <i>fuckin'</i> China?!"


It makes the point that, as far as customer support goes, the customer is always right regardless of the relative merits of the product or service.

[Bee]

This thread needs to get back on track with more WV jokes...

[Subby]

This thread needs to get back on track with more WV jokes... Q. What do West Virginians do on Halloween?
A. Pumpkin!

Q. Why do ducks fly over West Virginia upside down?
A. There's nothing worth craping on!

Q. What do a tornado and a West Virginia divorce have in common?
A. Someone always loses a trailer.

Q. How do you know the toothbrush was invented in West Virginia?
A. If it was invented anywhere else, it would have been called a teethbrush.

[TroyF]

1) I'm not PC in the least, I was just amazed at how he missed the point of what was happening. The fact the tech could or could not speak English, was or wasn't from India, how many Americans do or don't like speaking to a foreign call center rep. . . DOES NOT MATTER IN THIS DISCUSSION.

2) He later fired off that it was a training issue and the tech's fault for not explaining the policy. OK, I can see his point here. (no, I don't necessarily agree with it, it doesn't matter how much empathy or explanation the guy gives me over the phone, a dumb ass policy is a dumb ass policy and I'll hang up the phone pissed off regardless) But at least this part was relevant to the discussion.

3) This "problem" isn't an outsourced one. There are PLENTY of call center reps in The United States who suck ass. I worked with and supervised some of these people. The call center field is brutal. You have some highly skilled people making below average to average wages (depending on the area) with a ridiculously high turnover rate. The high turnover rate means some not so highly skilled people get to step in and get a shot. For every "solid" tech I was able to keep, I lost five or six within the first two months. (I was a supervisor during the dotcom boom, I'm sure it's a tad easier now) There are also many, many asinine policies put out in the US. (and again, I had to enforce some ridiculous policies both on the phone and as a supervisor)

[Raiders Army]

The call center at godaddy.com is pretty good.

[TroyF]

I've heard (and maybe you or Troy or whoever else works in this field) that especially in tech related calls, the guy's less likely to trust the female customer service rep than a male, adjusting for other variables. Haven't actually seen any studies on this per se, but the results makes some intuitive sense.

It's true, but I went against the customer here.

As a supervisor, I felt customer service was 10x more important than technical ability. I could train someone to fix a sound card, it was tougher to teach them to CARE about the other persons problem.

As a result, I hired a lot of female techs and had an incredible success rate with them. I went back to visit my old call center last year and there were still three women who I hired working for the company. (I left over 5 years ago)

One of my favorite supervisor calls was a man who refused to speak to one of my female techs. The guy ranted and raved and said he wasn't going to talk to the secretary. She didn't know what she was talking about. I tried to calm him down, but he refused and fired off a few insults at her in the process.

He still refused to work with her. I told him I wasn't really qualified to take his call, to give me a sec while I talked it over with my best tech. I went over, grabbed a splitter, put her headset on mute and took the call. I relayed her instructions to the guy and the problem was fixed in about 15 minutes. The guy talked about how great it was to have someone who knew what they were doing.

I told him all the glory should go to the tech who fixed his call. I told him the womens name who had helped him from the start and then told him of her qualifications. It almost teared me up to break the news to the guy that this women was fluent in seven languages, was working on her Masters in engineering and was the most experienced tech in the building. I also mentioned she was my "go to" agent anytime I had a problem.

Two or three audible gasps, silence, then "thank you very much, I shouldn't have acted that way"

One person converted. . . God only knows how many more to go. :)

[wade moore]

1) I'm not PC in the least, I was just amazed at how he missed the point of what was happening. The fact the tech could or could not speak English, was or wasn't from India, how many Americans do or don't like speaking to a foreign call center rep. . . DOES NOT MATTER IN THIS DISCUSSION.

2) He later fired off that it was a training issue and the tech's fault for not explaining the policy. OK, I can see his point here. (no, I don't necessarily agree with it, it doesn't matter how much empathy or explanation the guy gives me over the phone, a dumb ass policy is a dumb ass policy and I'll hang up the phone pissed off regardless) But at least this part was relevant to the discussion.

3) This "problem" isn't an outsourced one. There are PLENTY of call center reps in The United States who suck ass. I worked with and supervised some of these people. The call center field is brutal. You have some highly skilled people making below average to average wages (depending on the area) with a ridiculously high turnover rate. The high turnover rate means some not so highly skilled people get to step in and get a shot. For every "solid" tech I was able to keep, I lost five or six within the first two months. (I was a supervisor during the dotcom boom, I'm sure it's a tad easier now) There are also many, many asinine policies put out in the US. (and again, I had to enforce some ridiculous policies both on the phone and as a supervisor)

yes.... Yes..... YES!

This is the point I was making. If we started a seperate thread about the issues with CSR/Techs that you cannot communicate well with, I would have taken a very different stance here. But I just felt that WVU picked the wrong issue to pile on about, since the communication barrier had nothing to do with this issue.

[wade moore]

On the women issue:

Well, it was extra difficult for the women at my call center because we were servicing the military/government so the bias against women was even stronger.

[dubb93]

OK, this thread was completely jacked. Prehaps I should just delete it?

[dubb93]

My lame joke about deleting the thread aside, I will say this. My best tech support ever was handled by a woman. It was when my old computer completely crashed, and I needed help setting everything back up. Hell, we even got to know each other over the phone due to all the long breaks and she really knew her stuff.

I think male or female it all boils down to knowing more than what you instructions tell you. People ask questions that sometimes can't be fielded by a program, and that is what gripes me is when they say, hold on, let me pull this up. And then they proceed to read me what sounds like is coming straight out of a text book. Those sessions tend to leave bad impressions.

And to keep the guys off balance, usually before I ask important questions I'll ask a meaningless question I already know the answer to, but present a false answer to them. Something like, so I think my PC has 2 gigs of ram, right[my PC only has 1 gig]? Or something else along those lines depending on what I am calling about. You would be suprised how often they fail these questions and then when I ask for their supervisor they get kind of shitty.

[John Galt]

OK, this thread was completely jacked. Prehaps I should just delete it?

And lose Subby's excellent West Virginia jokes? Never!

[st.cronin]

I have never had a hard time understanding folks from West Virginia. Now, South Carolina, otoh ... they speak a brand of gibberish there that does not remotely resemble English.

[Bee]

My mother has a very thick WV accent and my mother-in-law has a very heavy French accent. Listening to them speak at our wedding and neither understanding the other was quite hilarious. :D

The most trouble I've ever had understanding someone with an accent was a college teammate who was from Louisiana. Only one guy on the team understood him, and he acted as a translator for the rest of us.

[flere-imsaho]

If you're pretty sure that your router is blocking some ports (such as that of the Blizzard Downloader) and the manual (either the one that came with it or one you can, maybe, find online) doesn't explain how to configure it to open up ports, then my recommendation is to get a new router. For $50 or even less you can get a LinkSys or another brand that will allow you to open up ports expressly for this purpose. For instance, I've configured my linksys wireless router to open up the Blizzard Downloader's ports only to a specific IP (the IP of the only computer I play WoW on).

Secondly, you don't need the Blizzard Downloader to update WoW. If you go to wowwiki.com you'll be able to find a list of patch mirrors, a bunch of which should still be operating. Worst-case scenario you can just go to FilePlanet and suffer through the spam to get your patch. Furthermore, you don't need these ports open to play WoW, just to operate the downloader.