Thread: Spanish Speakers Upset At Business Communication

Sunday, June 10, 2007

Spanish speakers upset at business communication
Survey finds widespread frustration, unhappiness

By Del Jones
USA TODAY

AT&T first noticed frustration among Spanish-speaking customers 25 years ago. Their inability to understand and to be understood when they called angered and frustrated them.

"It was clear that we were going to lose customers," said Jody Garcia, vice president of diversity marketing. The company provides local telephone service, high-speed DSL Internet and wireless service in Kentucky and Southern Indiana, as well as other areas.

Today, AT&T has identified 2 million U.S. customers who prefer Spanish. When they call, AT&T's computers identify their phone numbers and automatically route them to a customer-service representative who answers in Spanish.

But according to a 90-question survey of 1,501 Spanish-speaking households, a communication gap persists at many companies, and customers continue to get upset.

The survey found that Spanish speakers are not only more likely to be perturbed than English speakers when they encounter a product or service problem, they also are more likely to expect to be mollified with refunds and free products and are more likely to tell their friends about a negative episode.

The survey is called "Ayudame!," which means "Help me!" It was taken late last year and the results released just as immigration-reform legislation was being debated.

The survey of Spanish speakers was compared with identical questions given to the general population in a 2005 survey called "Customer Rage."

Both surveys, conducted by Customer Care Measurement & Consulting, focus on people who had a product or service problem in the previous 12 months.

Of those, 70 percent of the English speakers wound up being extremely or very upset, compared with 90 percent of Spanish speakers. Among Spanish speakers, 38 percent threatened to go to a lawyer or the news media, vs. 12 percent among English speakers. The margin of error was plus or minus 2 to 3 percentage points.

The Spanish survey was funded by Language Line Services, which provides telephone interpreters for three-way calls when there is a language barrier. The results surprised many consumer experts.

Calls to six Better Business Bureaus nationwide found that all have added Spanish-speaking staff members because of demographic changes. But none said they noticed a higher level of anger among those who complain in Spanish.

Margaret Perez, president of the El Paso (Texas) Better Business Bureau, said the results likely will spur research at her office.

Scott Broetzmann, president of Customer Care Measurement, says the survey data are unbiased and "ahead of the curve."

Internal AT&T surveys find that their Spanish-speaking customers are as happy, or happier, than English-speaking customers, Garcia said, and that AT&T has not experienced backlash from English-only proponents.

Rob Toonkel, spokesman for U.S. English, which stresses the language's unifying role, said he doesn't object to private businesses serving customers in Spanish, but in a nation where 300 languages are spoken, customers should not expect or demand any language except English.

"It underscores the importance of learning English," he said.

Communication barriers also are an issue for English speakers.

A study by CFI Group to be released Tuesday that uses the University of Michigan's American Customer Satisfaction Index data found that when customer-service representatives were difficult to understand, customers were five times more likely to take their business elsewhere.
Make it up to me

When Spanish-speaking people encounter a consumer problem, they are more likely to want something from the offending company. Percentage of Spanish-speaking customers and English-speaking customers who want:


Span. Eng.
Explanation of why problem occurred 74% 69%
Assurance problem won't be repeated 71% 69%
Product repaired/service fixed 68% 67%
Apology 66% 54%
Money back 65% 43%
Chance to vent/express anger 58% 54%
Thank you for my business 55% 67%
Free product or service in future 47% 35%
Financial compensation for lost time, inconvenience, injury 38% 22%
Revenge (make them pay for
hassle, inconvenience) 38% 12%



Source: Customer Care Measurement & Consulting Survey of Spanish speakers in late 2006. Survey of English speakers in 2005.



http://www.courier-journal.com/apps/pbc ... 00402/1003

I have a very bad feeling, that if all these illegals are allowed to remain here....they will march, protest, demand, riot and file more law suits than we have ever seen, and that's a lot!

Maybe that's why Mexico sent them here, they didn't want all the trouble!

The survey found that Spanish speakers are not only more likely to be perturbed than English speakers when they encounter a product or service problem, they also are more likely to expect to be mollified with refunds and free products and are more likely to tell their friends about a negative episode.

I guess they want their phone service free also.

Notice how they pass the information around, they sure know how to play the system for everything they can.

Whiners and Leaches turning this country into a cesspool like the one they left behind.