Norton/Symantec To Outsource Customer Service To India

Yes, but so does India. I think it is the American version of capitalism that's been pushing so hard for globalisation? That works both ways...

What a shame.   America needs jobs.......................... I called Cisco (Linksys) guess where I was transferred!

Message Edited by Disabled on 09-04-2004 11:34 AM

JRosenfeld wrote:    "Yes, but so does India." 

Tell that to your children and grandchildren here in America,  sorry I totally disagree and pretty disgusted with the corporations turning their back on the american people.

Well, we may not like it - but borders / countries are slowly becoming less important,  and the world is increasingly being looked at as one - so that companies in different regions of the world can just as easily compete with those next door.

This is unlikely going to change in the future - if anything, this phenomenon (if that's the appropriate term) will increase.

My 2 cents:

Corporations are NOT outsourcing to help the foreign countries.

They do it for the cheap labor.

Big companies like Dell, AOL, etc don't care if you receive quality support. They don't care if you cannot understand who you are talking to.

They don't care that you have to wait on the phone for hours, trying to talk to someone who you can comprehend, and is someone they picked off the street without any tech knowledge.

The big corporations just care about $$$$$$$, and think their foreign support is good enough. It isn't.

And when you move all jobs overseas, who in THIS country will have money to buy anything???

It is all about capitalist greed. I love America, but hate what is being done to it. Greed is destructive.

We, THE United States, baby other countries. We let people live out on the streets, we have children starving and doing without healthcare in THIS country, people are losing their homes because they couldn't afford health insurance, and ran up huge medical bills due to illness or accident, so we can kiss the feet of foreign countries.

The U.S. Goverment cares more about foreigners than they do AMERICANS.

Just my 2 cents.

Hi Everyone,

 I just happened upon this forum while doing a google search...... Oddly enough from work. Where might work be you ask??? Well, it is in Eugene, Oregon at Symantec. I saved the Url and decided to give everyone the scoop from my computer at home.

I am not sure if everyone knows this but previously Symantec layed most of us off to outsource to the company now known as Stream. The last layoff was in May 2002. We were then hired back but had to work for far less wages for Stream. Symantec being the large business they are decided that they were going to keep the contract with Stream for 2 years.

In May of 2004 we were all working when all of the sudden we shut the entire phone system down. We were taken to the Hilton hotel and told that our jobs were over on August 23rd. So like most people would do we all panicked. Still to this day alot of people do not know what they are going to do, or how to support their families. I don't know if anyone knows the job market in Oregon but it's not good.

After we all settled down a bit and became comfortable with the fact that we were going to lose our jobs, they hit us with it again. This time we were told alot more info we should have been told to begin with. We were informed that they were laying some off early....... they said we were overstaffed and our last day of work was extended. If anyone has called Symantec they would realize were understaffed........ 45 minute hold to get to Customer Service... If  the phone lines let you in due to "heavy call volume".

Currently if you call Symantec and are one of the lucky ones to get through you will have a 50/50 chance of getting an american Monday-Friday 6am-5pm PST on the 1-800-441-7234...After 5pm PST you will go to India. The last day for US Customer Service and Technical Support is October 8th.

I can't stress enough that no one knows what it is like to go through this until you live it. Imagine being the person taking your call and being called seriously horrible names (personal attacks) when you know you're losing your job. It really suprises me the amount of men that attack me visciously with crude names (I am a girl). I try to still keep the attitude in check but I wish people out there knew what we were going through too. Believe me if I had the power to change Symantec Customer Service and Technical Support I would.

They need to find some ways to keep jobs here, Moving them overseas is not the answer. I think in the long run Symantec will be back. I for one will not get back on that ship. I have been on it for many years and have had nothing but let downs.

Btw the count you quoted of nearly 400 is inaccurate........ that is only fulltime Stream employees. They don't mention the people that begin as Temps in training and work for upwards of 1 year before getting to be fulltime. We are looking at closer to 600 people.

But, I would buy American if the price was not unreasonable.

Go to Wal-Mart, K-Mart, etc. I couldn't buy American if I wanted to..

(except search through all the products, then maybe find an American made product)

But, hey, my job has been moved overseas. I don't have money to buy American or Otherwise.

Minimum wage job??? Slave wages.

"The big corporations just care about $$$$$$$, and think their foreign support is good enough. It isn't.
And when you move all jobs overseas, who in THIS country will have money to buy anything???"

You're exactly right.  The big corporations (who are owned by you, me, gramdma, pension plans, every person worldwide that owns stock or mutual fund shares) is in business to maximize profits.  They sell those products in a global market, and are responsible to global shareholders.  They are not in business to implement social polices in the American market.

Most people, myself included (and probably you) try to get the most bang for the buck when purchasing products.  The reason Dell, Symantec and others are so successful is they have a good product at competitive prices.  To stay competitive they have to meet or exceed the value of their competitors.  Reducing costs is the only way to stay competitive in a market where the technology is pretty much equal.

Shareholders expect the corporation to maximize their profits and thus increase their profits per share and thus value and/or dividends.  Shareholders are not all Americans.  Many of those that are Americans rely on the values of the stock to fund their pension plans, or the dividends to meet expenses.

The only way to prevent outsourcing is to insist on buying only American made products, made with American parts, supported by American techs.  And pay 4 times what the rest of the world pays for a similiar product made in Asia supported by techs in India.  Are you willing to do that?  Is the majority of the population?  That's going to significantly reduce your buying power, and in effect you'll be taking a pay cut.

The steel industry in this country died out due to cheaper Japanese steel.  The consumer electronics manufacturing industry did the same.  "American" cars are made from global parts, assembled in several countries.  Why should computer hardware and software support not be subject to the same business practices?

Blaming outsourcing on "big corporations" is illogical.  The blame lies with you, me, every American looking to get the most value from their dollar.  The global economy is here to stay.  It will only grow.  Just wait until China jumps on the bandwagon.

 

"The big corporations (who are owned by you, me, gramdma, pension plans, every person worldwide that owns stock or mutual fund shares) is in business to maximize profits.  They sell those products in a global market, and are responsible to global shareholders. 

I beg to differ, do you think for one minute you, me, grandma had any say in the Enron Scandal?  No!   I worked on Wall Street for many years and upper management (the real power players) want everyone to THINK they are maximizing profits for the sake of the shareholder.  Well, believe me from experience that the CEO's and upper management use this as an excuse.  They don't care about the shareholders that may own a couple hundred shares of stock.  They care about putting 50 Million a year in their own pockets.  In 1992 I thought CEO's that made 1 million was a bit greedy.  Don't ever believe a CEO when he says his company is downsizing for the sake of the shareholders. 

"Blaming outsourcing on "big corporations" is illogical.  The blame lies with you, me, every American looking to get the most value from their dollar." 

Wrong. The American people have a responsiblity to stop these big corporations from exploiting you, me, grandma, pension plans and 3rd world countries.  C'mon get real.

 

Message Edited by Disabled on 09-15-2004 07:17 PM