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  • 2011-01-03 (xsd:date)
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  • Foreign Call Centers Must Transfer Customers to U.S. Reps? (en)
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  • Although the practice of U.S.-based companies' operating call centers in other countries (where labor costs are cheaper) to handle customer service issues has been the focus of some legislative interest, there is not yet, as claimed in the following examples, any federal law requiring companies which utilize foreign call centers to disclose that information to their customers or to transfer such calls to U.S.-based operators upon customer request: Legislation aimed at restricting the use of foreign call centers has primarily been intended to eliminate the transfer of jobs from the U.S. to overseas locations and to better protect the privacy of American customers' personal information. In September 2009, Rep. Jason Altmire of Pennsylvania took a stab at the issue by introducing the Call Center Consumer's Right to Know Act (HR 3621) to Congress, a bill which sought to require employees at a call center who either initiate or receive telephone calls to disclose the physical location of such employees. That bill was referred to a House subcommittee with no further action taken. In May 2010, Senator Charles Schumer of New York addressed a similar issue when he announced he would be introducing legislation which would require U.S. callers be informed when their calls were being transferred to a foreign country and would impose a $0.25 per call excise tax on any customer service calls placed inside the United States that were transferred to agents in foreign locations. Despite the announcement, Senator Schumer has not yet introduced any such legislation to Congress. In 2013, Rep. Timothy H. Bishop of New York introduced the United States Call Center Worker and Consumer Protection Act of 2013 (HR 2909), whose provisions included that a business entity that initiates or receives a customer service communication require each of its employees or agents participating in the communication to disclose their physical location at the beginning of each such communication and required that such a business entity, upon request, transfer a customer to a customer service agent who is physically located in the United States. That bill was also referred to a House subcommittee with no further action taken. Although the practice is not yet legislatively mandated, some U.S. companies have established policies and procedures of their own that instruct foreign call center operators to transfer calls back to U.S.-based reps upon customer request. (en)
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