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Return to Article: Immigration officials defend contractor-operated call center

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  I am very disappointed in the levels of "service" provided by USCIS as a whole. I arrived in the US following my wife who had been sent over from her employer for a period of 4 years. On an E2 visa I am entitled to a work permit. I filed on 10th October 2003, now in September 2004 I am still awaiting their decision. I do have an Interim EAD which expires in Jan 05 and see me having to apply for another.

  The excuse is "Well since 9/11..." I am from a country (United Kingdom) who has had to deal with terrorist attacks for 30 years, and we don't grind to a halt, our government departments work slow, but not at the snail's pace of the US.

  The result, I cannot wait to get back home and tell everyone how bad things are over here, it's a pity because I have been coming to the USA for over 10 years on vacation, the latest changes in traveling (Visa requirements) make it very hard to justify.

  GovExec.com reader Posted September 10, 2004 11:02 AM
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  I have found that using the BCIS online query is far easier and definitely less frustrating than calling the call center. Why not just disband the call center and put the money into improving the adjudication process. At least this way the "customer" has some chance of actually experiencing some level of "service".

  Why not just go ahead and tell the public that BCIS has no interest in being helpful and/or sensitive to their customers issues and shutdown the call center. By doing this BCIS could, for once, show that they are attempting to be honest and also stop trying to fool those poor people that are so desperately waiting for their various processes to be completed.

  GovExec.com reader Posted November 14, 2003 7:49 AM
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  In a nutshell, USCIS provides the worst possible customer service in our solar system. The officials could defend their service record 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, however that does not change the fact that USCIS is the most inefficient customer service provider in this entire world. What the concerned officials failed to realize is that more than 80 percent are DISSATISFIED with their so-called 1-800 immigration help line.

  GovExec.com reader Posted November 13, 2003 12:09 PM
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  Contractor-operated call centers are useless.

  A. Das Posted November 13, 2003 11:14 AM
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  I'm surprised that only 20% of people are dissatisfied. To me they provide nothing, i repeat, nothing more than the BCIS online, automated phone message tells. They want to make the process harder and harder just to get the information you want. Imagine you are talking to a customer service rep who does not know any information about your file except the one given in BCIS public site.

  GovExec.com reader Posted November 13, 2003 11:00 AM
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  I am completely digusted by these claims? How did these immigration officials get the the notion that the immigration community is satisfied with this new toll-free customer service number? Oh God!

  The toll-free number is a complete waste of time since the reps basically give you the same information that you already know from the online service. In the past, a caller was able to reach a service center directly and get specific information about one's case. This is just like a huge brickwall mounted to stop calls from getting to the BCIS. The service is poor. The customer service reps are rude, and they just dont want to forward any complaint about a case to the appropriate authority. I find this assertion of "self-praise" by the immigration a very shameful act. The Green Card backlog continues to grow. Cases are approved at random. Most 2001 employment-based green card cases are pending, while 2002 and 2003 cases are being approved. What a shame!!!!!

  GovExec.com reader Posted November 13, 2003 10:38 AM
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  The call center staff don't provide any useful information at all! All they do is repeat the online message. It is a waste of resourse. I am frustrated by the fact BCIS disconnected any channel from us. It is pain to wait so many years because of the huge backlog. Meanwhile, the customer can't get any useful help. It seems to me BCIS doesn't care about any of their customers.

  jessie Posted November 13, 2003 10:25 AM
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  They are very friendly. I've never talked to any rude person, but unfortunately they don't know what they are doing. I asked for required documents for I-90 processing, and they gave me the wrong information. I had to go to a local service center at 3AM, and I was not allowed to get in because of missing documentation. Fortunately, everything went okay the next day. My wife and 7-year-old daughter stayed in the car for two days in a row. As soon as we were done around 7:30AM, my daughter went straight to school. I wish call center staff had given me the correct information in the first place. Well, I would call this call center nothing but a 'FIREWALL.'

  GovExec.com reader Posted November 13, 2003 10:13 AM
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  BCIS Customer Service is nothing but a JOKE and I don't have the time and energy to play games with BCIS. BCIS needs to stop playing RUSSIAN ROULETTE with alien's lives, and come up with better service and strategy to cut huge backlogs.

  GovExec.com reader Posted November 13, 2003 10:07 AM
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  "Abusus non tollit usum" -- Abuse of a system doesn't nullify proper use! I do agree with this age-old maxim, especially with BCIS's total abuse of a Customer-Call Center. I challenge them to table a white-paper on the 80% satisfaction rate reported. If the question was, "Were you satisfied with getting connected?" I am sure, people would have given a resounding 80% approval. Cui bono? For what good? Every time one calls this 1-800 number, one gets all kinds of answers suited to the whims and fancies of the Colonel-Blimps answering the call! Immigration involves life-and-death for certain HUMAN-BEINGS who 'unfortunately' carry an 'offensive' tag called 'IMMIGRANTS.' Shabby treatment with reductio ad absurdum answers of BCIS 1-800 call-center reps, clearly demonstrate a complete insouciance and non-chalant attitude of powers-that-be at BCIS. While AILA and other members continue carping about this issue, the negating claim of a BCIS official is chilling, shocking, and totally absurd.

  GovExec.com reader Posted November 13, 2003 9:43 AM
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  The call centre does not have the right information and the staff answering the calls are not trained. Many of them do not know the answers to the questions and they give us no answers and they read the same thing that we see when we pullup the status from the website. These people have no knowledge of how the system works and sometimes they tell us they will put in a request, but that never works and it is no help.

  Ujwal reddy Posted November 13, 2003 9:34 AM
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  One wonders who the "customer" actually is for the Call Center and whom they really serve. I would say, the USCIS is the customer for the contractor at the Call Center; and this contractor is serving the USCIS. Thus it is no wonder that we "the public" get nothing out of the Call Center, simply because they are not serving us.

  I believe this call center is a waste of taxpayers' money since we get nothing out of it more than what we already know; which is "we have to wait for two or three years until our case is looked at."

  GovExec.com reader Posted November 13, 2003 9:33 AM
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  The caller absolutely does not get any meaningful information about the case. No case-specific answers, no meaningful answers - the only answer every time the caller gets is "we will refer you to the National Support Center and they will write to you." I do not understand, in the first place, why this useless department (the so called BCIS) exists - for harassing the people? I am even thinking of dropping my green card processing and go back to the my own country.

  CHANDRA MOHAN Posted November 13, 2003 9:19 AM
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  The USCIS central customer service is just like a website. We can probably find more reliable information on the website. They don't provide useful information and in several instances they have given me wrong information.

  GovExec.com reader Posted November 13, 2003 9:13 AM
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  This is the worst customer call center around the whole USA...It doesn't solve any problem or give a right answer.

  All it says, "you may have to wait around 33 months before this case gets adjudicated." We have already waited 30 months and all they tell us is to wait another 33 months. How cool and satisfying!!!!!

  GovExec.com reader Posted November 13, 2003 9:08 AM
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  I think even though it took a longer time to get the call through, the immigration officers had more power and knowlege to make decisions than the contractors do. The only complaint against the old system was the delay in getting calls through, but once in it was always better. New is not always good.

  tom Posted November 13, 2003 9:00 AM
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  I read your article about 80% people being satisfied. I would really love to meet one of them. I probably would be in the 20% ones. I am positive that the people who answer the calls have little knowledge of what they are doing. All they can do is read the status of a case using Internet Explorer, which I can do myself. They sometimes have less information than I have. As the connection to the service center is not there anymore, it is really hard for us to explain the situation to a person who rarely understands the criticality of it. I do say that some staffers are really courteous and do answer the call immediately. But I believe it's of no use to maintain a customer service center which does not provide any service.

  GovExec.com reader Posted November 13, 2003 8:10 AM
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  The BCIS should provide more access to the immigration-related database to the customer support and give some power to directly speak to the immigration officer and to look for the particular case(s)if a customer is in a needy situation or his/her case(s) exceed the stipulated timeframe.

  GovExec.com reader Posted November 13, 2003 7:53 AM
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  I don't know how BCIS had its survey and knew that 80% of the customers were satisfied with its 1-800-Service. I am very frustrated, even angry, at its response. Each time when I called them for an issue, at most I got the same message as what I had known online. The funny thing is that I got a different answer for the same question if I called the second time. Also their attitude was not good. If I reviewed its service, I would grade it as 0.01/5.0.

  GovExec.com reader Posted November 13, 2003 7:44 AM
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  This contractor has the same motus operandi for the CMS 1 800 MEDICARE Call Center. Inconsistent answers and levels of expertise but cheap!

  GovExec.com reader Posted October 28, 2003 1:47 PM
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  I read your article today, and I have to say that I am one of the 20 percent dissatisfied with the 1-800 immigration help line. I have called the line numerous times, sometimes more than once in the same day, with the same question, and each time I was told something different.

  My immigration process hasn't been easy so far, and my husband and I still have a few more years with the USCIS. It would be nice to know that we had a reliable source of information, but the help line isn't at all reliable. It scares me to think that a lot of people rely solely on the information they're given by these contractors. Doing as they're instructed could lead to huge delays in their process.

  Thank you for bringing such an important issue to the surface. Being kept away from a loved one is harsh and frustrating enough, but bad advice on top of that is the worst, and needs to be addressed by the people at the top, who can change it.

  Anonymous Posted October 3, 2003 10:25 AM
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  I enjoyed your article. I am a member of the general public who gave feedback to the AILA poll, and I consider the new BCIS national call center to be the "BCIS Firewall," not the BCIS Customer Service Center.

  When I contacted the call center, the contract staffers could not provide any information that I did not already know, and indeed had less information than I did. They refused to transfer my calls to a higher level BCIS employee who would have access to more information, and only after repeated calls did they agree to send an inquiry to the Service Center (an inquiry that was never answered, if it was actually sent).

  The problem is not contract staffers--it is inadequate training, a lack of access to the information that callers are searching for and guidelines that do not permit the staff to seek the desired information.

  It appears that BCIS has established this national call center not to serve the public, but to isolate itself from the public. It's a door that--when opened--has a brick wall on the other side.

  Anonymous Posted September 30, 2003 4:37 PM
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  I see no difference. The Treasury's IRS answers questions with staff and generally they are wrong! If a contractor is cheaper for the same wrong answers why not?

  GovExec.com reader Posted September 30, 2003 6:50 AM