Customer Service and Communication

Is it rude to ask for another customer service person if you're having trouble understanding the one you're talking to? After five or so voice prompts, a couple of hang up's, discontinued number responses, Ms. Techno voice and a few "Can you hold for 1 minute, please" interruptions to your very polite hellos, the answer is: no. I say this for two reasons. The first is when calling customer service the objective is to get one problem or another resolved. Obviously that will be harder to do if you first have to overcome the problem of being understood, and understanding the person you're talking to. In this world of outsourced customer service your call to customer service from San Francisco can result in your talking to someone in Thailand. It may not be PC but being understood is a necessity to getting the proper help. This is especially true when your real estate property is on the line. The second reason is: would there be any hesitation, by customer service answering operators, to transfer a call when the caller is not versed in the sane language of the answering customer service operator? Again the answer is no. If the customer service operator does not understand the caller, they don't hang up on the caller, right? The customer service operator gets someone on the line that can communicate with the caller. So why shouldn't the same procedure apply when you're having trouble understanding the customer service operator you're talking to? Answer: it shouldn't. I've frequently asked for a different operator when having trouble understanding the person to whom I'm speaking. What works every time is this question: "Due to the time constraints regarding this issue, can I speak with someone in my own time zone, California?" The answer to this question is usually yes. Then if the transfer still lands me in the hands of someone hard to understand, I specifically ask for a transfer to the state where I live. That usually gets the job done.