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Callers complained the info they got from 4-1-1 was more often wrong than right, spawning an investigation into who really is on the other side of the line.
Safaya Agyemang said your wrong if you expect the right number from 411. "If I call for a residential area they will give me the same residential area but it wont be the person I need, it will be somebody else."
Jonathan Rees said he's was getting a lot more faulty information lately from calling. "I would say half the time they hook me up with the wrong number."
It's turned into a chorus of complaints from cell phone customers.
"You often get a wrong number."
"It's kind of frustrating cause you have to pay 75 cents for that call so it sucks."
It isn't just when you are looking for a phone number on your cell phone that you run into trouble, some major companies are outsourcing entire customer service divisions.
Michael Hand agreed that calling someone who wasn't even in your same area code was frustrating,"If they don't know the city and don't know how to get help to the people who need it and you know figure out our situation, I don't think it's working very well."
Economists maintained the persistent problems would prompt some firms to rethink offshore outsourcing. "Some companies, especially those that are very customer sensitive, have had such a bad experience with language difficulties with unresponsiveness that they are bringing back their customer service," said Stephen Fuller, an economist at George Mason University.
As far as cell phone customers, some said if you really needed a number, to just be patient and keep trying.
"I'll call back with a street and additional information and then after a few times I might get my number."
ABC 7 asked several companies about their offshore outsourcing operations, only one company responded. They said the people that ABC 7 needed to speak with, were currently in South Asia assessing customer service.
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