I was just reading through an earlier thread, where the original poster expressed frustration (to say the least !!) with ebay employees' lack of knowledge or understanding of ebay's own rules and policies.
I'm sure that this is the feeling of most ebayers who've had the misfortune to require and seek out Customer Service either by email or on the phone.
It results, on most occasions,in having to re-contact ebay twice and sometimes much more to get any sort of useful and comprehensible assistance. On some occasions, I simply give up, throw my hands in the air and decide if not worth the time or trouble. Having to re-contact CS reps presents another problem. You tend to get a different and sometimes opposite response with every agent you speak to.
In the surveys that ebay asks us to complete every now and then, I've repeatedly mentioned this problem. (Of course it doesn't make the slightest difference - surveys are ebay going through the motions of demonstrating: 'we are interested in our customers views and responsive to them').
I see this as not just an issue with insufficient training for employees in ebay rules and policies. I think it is also a reprehensible lack or interest or concern for the fact that, as predominantly second language speakers (and readers and writers) of English, their employees don't have the requisite oral or literacy skills in English to do the job effectively.
This is terrible both for employees and customers.There is nothing worse than being thrown into a job (ie thrown off the 'deep end') that one will struggle with and one simply doesn't have the skills to do. And it is only made a worse experience for them by the often irritated response that customers will no doubt give when the 'help' they are provided with is no help at all !!! They demonstrate all the time that not only are their productive skills in English poor (being able to clearly express themselves orally or in writing) but their receptive skills are also sadly lacking (being able to understand what others say or write).
Please don't for a moment think that I have a problem as such with second language speakers being employed by ebay. In fact, I commend it. As a English as a Second Language teacher, of some thirty years, of I have great sympathy for the experience of those attempting to do a job of work and having to operate in a language that is not their first language.
No, my problem is with ebay failing to support their employees by providing adequate training. Obviously, they think the only place for their enormous profits is into the pockets of the 'fat cats' at ebay and their share-holders. The transparency of their 'couldn't give a fig about anyone else' attitude, shines through, despite all their pretty 'ebayspeak' words !!
The mistake of arrogant people is thinking that everyone else is more stupid than them. Think again ebay !
