GE Financial Assurance, NSD Towbusters, BP Ammoco Motor Club, AARP Motoring Plan, Signature This american based company is farming out cheap labor in india durring this countries time of economic crisis. They need to be told this is wrong. the business that doesnt give a dam Internet

What you are hearing from "Stacie" is not entirely true. I also worked for GE Financial during the same period and I wish to outright refute or clarify her statements.

1. The company was formerly owned by Montgomery Ward and was a great company to work for. The call centers were all stateside. However, once the company was sold to GE, a long, miserable downhill slide occurred, both in how the company treated its employees and its regard for customers.

2. The India call center was a major center. However, they were give preferential treatment by outside review agencies because they followed our mandatory scripts to the letter. In other words, they were unable to empathize and adjust their verbal interaction with clients when unusual circumstances arouse. Not very helpful in a crisis. However, they had more stringent call time limits, which meant that if they had a difficult call, they would be more likely to "drop" them to improve or maintain their stats. Again, not very helpful in a crisis.
Their grasp of American English was basic and their knowledge of American geography, culture, etc. extremely poor. I'm not exagerrating when I say that we often had problems where an Indian rep attempted to dispatch a towing provider from one part of the country (based on the member's home address) to another (i.e. sending a tow truck from TX to a member broken down in Boston during a long-distance trip.)  

3. There was one main call center in FL that had full time employees. The other alleged center was actually various CSRs who worked remotely out of their homes in South Florida. Due to the lack of supervision, those CSRs often dropped calls and staff in the FL (St. Petersburg) and IL (Schaumburg) call centers would have to restart the calls and pick up the slack.

4. The Canada call center was a minor location, but they were hired to replace a center in IA that had been closed. Part of the motivation for hiring Canadian employees was due to their National Health Care; in other words, GE didn't want to pay for employee health insurance so they were happy to exploit labor where the government covered that expense for them.

5. Within a year or two of leaving that position, it is my understanding that GE closed the Schaumburg, IL office and the FL office was down to about 100 employees, several of them temp workers.

6. With all of the various contracts the sales department made without consulting with us, CSRs had to be knowledgeable of over 56 different motor clubs. BTW, the various motorcycle and RV plans? Almost worthless. The sale department knew we didn't have adequate providers for those type of services but they didn't care, espeically since they wouldn't have to clean up the mess they left behind.

7. One silver lining? AARP Motor Club members, be aware that AARP stipulated in their contract with GE that all motor club calls were to be handled by American CSRs only. In other words, no AARP calls were sent to India.

Now, has any of this stuff changed since they were taken over by AllState? Hard to say, I'd have to ask around from former co-workers that may still be with the company, but I highly doubt it. 

9/16/11 8am CST... DFW Texas   

Signature Motor Club has merged with both Allstate and GE Motor Clubs.  I have just gotten off the phone with a Signature Motor Club employee, because I cannot find a website for Signature Motor Club.  It was all I could do to understand her response to "what is their website?" 

"P as in Puppy...P as in Pretend??  T as in Toffey,.....T as in Tom???  B as in Baby...OH... B as in Baseball!" next letter "T as in Topoff...T as in Tom???? C as in Cotton....C as in Canada??? D as in Dropoff....D as in Dragon???? P as in Papa.....OH... P as in Philidelphia!!! " 

OH  pbmotorclub.com Thank you!

I can only imagine what would have happened if I had an emergency!!!

Having dealt with this company over the past 10 years on a daily basis... I have to go against the employees comment.... Most of there roadside dispatches ARE done through India.. I would say about 75% of the representatives I speak to and they say their names are "Sunshine", "Rainbow", Steve or Michael (I personally believe these are stage names so they will "fit in").

They Do.. Barely speak English, get addresses wrong, service types wring, cities wrong even states, phone numbers and they firmly believe there is such a car as a Chevy Mustang or a Pontiac Acclaim.

I have to repeat myself to them at least 50% of the time... sometimes just give up, call again and hope I get someone that better understands English. This is extremely difficult when the customers are aged AARP members who have trouble hearing... top this off with someone who barely understands English... and it's just a horror story.

As of 2009 G.E. Financial, the roadside provider for all the other companies listed above has been bought out by Allstate. Hopefully things will change due to this acquisition but so far it has not.

Also the employee response was that they also have offices in the US and Canada that are treated as "equally". I do not believe the person who made this report was arguing how fair they are treated but rather that this country is in economic crisis and the jobs need to be placed in America considering that we are now facing another recession with a record high un-employment rate. Companies who outsource labor to India and other countries COULD make a huge difference in our economy but giving out citizens MORE jobs, but they choose not to.

Allstate itself has been American bases with their roadside service dispatchers they are maintaining GE's setup and call centers as well as their own... it is now their move... Will they go the patriotic way or the greedy way.

I do need to mention that NSD "Nation Safe Drivers" is an incorrect listing here they are completely independent and American based having no affiliation with GE or Allstate as far as I know.

Call centers in India? A joke right? I break down on a road and my call for help goes to another country? Thanks for the information, glad I did not buy from them.

Charles

I would like to rebutt against this comment. I work for Ge Financial in St. Petersburg FL. We have 3 MAJOR dispatching centers in the US. 2 in Florida and the main office in Illinois. Yes we do have a call center in India and they are paid very good money for what they do over there, they take very little roadside assitance calls over there and usually transfer them to us. And as for the call center in Canada they are paid the equivalent of what we make over here in the US, some even make more than us!! So can we get mad that Canada calls us for dispatching too and doesn't pay us the exact same as their employee's make?!?! The call centers in India and Canada do not get treated any different than we do here in the US and in some cases even get treated a little better, so if your going to yell at the company or us please get all facts right! Thank you very much!!

I would like to rebutt against this comment. I work for Ge Financial in St. Petersburg FL. We have 3 MAJOR dispatching centers in the US. 2 in Florida and the main office in Illinois. Yes we do have a call center in India and they are paid very good money for what they do over there, they take very little roadside assitance calls over there and usually transfer them to us. And as for the call center in Canada they are paid the equivalent of what we make over here in the US, some even make more than us!! So can we get mad that Canada calls us for dispatching too and doesn't pay us the exact same as their employee's make?!?! The call centers in India and Canada do not get treated any different than we do here in the US and in some cases even get treated a little better, so if your going to yell at the company or us please get all facts right! Thank you very much!!

I would like to rebutt against this comment. I work for Ge Financial in St. Petersburg FL. We have 3 MAJOR dispatching centers in the US. 2 in Florida and the main office in Illinois. Yes we do have a call center in India and they are paid very good money for what they do over there, they take very little roadside assitance calls over there and usually transfer them to us. And as for the call center in Canada they are paid the equivalent of what we make over here in the US, some even make more than us!! So can we get mad that Canada calls us for dispatching too and doesn't pay us the exact same as their employee's make?!?! The call centers in India and Canada do not get treated any different than we do here in the US and in some cases even get treated a little better, so if your going to yell at the company or us please get all facts right! Thank you very much!!

I would like to rebutt against this comment. I work for Ge Financial in St. Petersburg FL. We have 3 MAJOR dispatching centers in the US. 2 in Florida and the main office in Illinois. Yes we do have a call center in India and they are paid very good money for what they do over there, they take very little roadside assitance calls over there and usually transfer them to us. And as for the call center in Canada they are paid the equivalent of what we make over here in the US, some even make more than us!! So can we get mad that Canada calls us for dispatching too and doesn't pay us the exact same as their employee's make?!?! The call centers in India and Canada do not get treated any different than we do here in the US and in some cases even get treated a little better, so if your going to yell at the company or us please get all facts right! Thank you very much!!