October 31, 2007

I have started writing letters to different companies that I deal with when I call them for human interaction, instead of dealing with them online, and the first thing I hear is “Press “1” for English.

 For some reason, this stymies me. As far as I know, English is the official language of the U.S.A., and even though we have people in this country that speak something other than English. I have no problem with people living in this country and speaking their native language, but I do have a problem with companies based in this country telling us that order to conduct business with them, we have to select, by pushing a button, to interact with them in English! WHY?

When you call a popular restaurant in Moscow that caters to American tourists you are greeted in Russian. After 3 minutes of a recording, they then repeat the same thing in English. It’s the same thing when you call anywhere in Russia, and the number is out of order, you hear about if for 45 seconds in Russian first, then English. Can you imagine the gall of the Russians not to offer us the option of Pressing “1” for English? (This is said tongue in cheek, for those of you not recognizing sarcasm).

Back to my letter writing; When I call a company, and I have to press 1 for English, I write them down, and then look up their corporate offices and write a letter. If there is no corporate office address, I send an email if they offer an email address that I know is not going to be read by a bottom rung peon who will just laugh at it and hit <Delete>.

I have yet to receive a reply from any company about my complaint, so it just goes to show that I am in the minority when it comes to not want wanting to Press 1 for English.

I simply think that since English is the language of the U.S.A., companies should not be asking us to press 1 for anything. How about just come out and put their interactive phone system in English, and let them push 1 or 2 or 3 for whatever other language they want. What does California offer? Their driver’s license tests are offered in 30+ languages!! If you call the California DMV, how many options do you get? Obviously, if a company has a customer base that speaks a different language, then I would expect their phone system to be in that language.

Did you know that if you call the National Visa Center in Portsmouth, NH, you have to press 1 for English? Granted, this is the very place that people who speak a different language would need an option, but the only options offered are English and Spanish. Again, my question, why press any button for English?

I’ve already been call xenophobic, which is totally untrue, but I would just like to know why we are put in this position? To top it off, so many companies make you press 1 for English, and then get to talk to someone who obviously is not a native English speaker. I called a wholly owned American company and got someone who I could hardly understand, and asked, “Where are you located?” What I got was “Thank you Mr. Mark for asking me the question. We are located offshore. Is there anything else I can help you with tonight? Thank you for calling XYZ.”