WARNING: Anecdotal, hearsay, allegedly allegedly allegedly …
When the phone rang today and it was a survey about current events (read, for this, “pre-election polling in Massachusetts”), I said, “Sure.”
The survey was clearly conducted by someone (a) whose native language was not English, (b) who did not know the correct pronounciation of the names of the candidates, and (c) who was at an international call center, and not in the U.S.
… What did become clear was that the survey was being conducted on behalf of the current lieutenant governor of Massachusetts, Kerry Healey, as she mounts a gubernatorial campaign. The phrasing and positioning of the questions made that obvious.
Now, this is clearly written by someone not fond of Mitt n’ Kerry, so take it for what it’s worth. Could be a fun story somewhere in there, though. I’m no Lou Dobbs on overseas outsourcing, but it does seem reasonable to expect pollsters to be able to pronounce the names properly…
Whenever I receive a call from a call center outside of this country, I politely tell them that I only respond to people who at the very least are calling me from America.
maximum impact is gained by keeping them on the line, thereby cutting into their profitability (fewer calls made per hour).
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So, just say something like: “Oh, could you hold on, I’ve got something on the stove.” Then, just set the phone down and continue doing whatever it was you were doing.
I know that some of the Republican consultants like to use out-of-state call centers.
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p>Then again, even at last week’s convention I ran into plenty of people talking about DU-val Patrick, Chris GAY-brieli (as in pronounced like the biblical archangel), and Andrea Silber….