To the editor:
When the ship is going down, don't sink with it! Swim to shore and write a letter of complaint to the shipping company. This has become my metaphor for how to deal with troubling issues, such as outsourcing. Particularly disturbing is the outsourcing of personal financial information.
Recently, I received my renewal credit card in the mail with a red sticker attached indicating the 800 number to activate. I called; an automated voice asked me to enter my credit card numbers, then a real voice came on, asking me for my name. The person had an accent and sounded far away, so I asked where he was located, and he responded "India."
Shocked, I hung up, then called customer service to complain about the outsourcing of my personal financial information. The answerer explained there were several company phone centers in the United States and one in India. I asked for the address of the company president, then wrote to him to object, indicating I would take my VISA account elsewhere if I did not receive a letter from him saying their outsourcing policy would be discontinued.
Whether the company president writes back or whether my account is canceled is less important to me than my taking a stand and letting it be known. So many of us were sorely disappointed during the presidential campaign that neither candidate adequately addressed the serious outsourcing problem in our country.
Outsourcing hit too close to home when my personal financial information was shipped overseas.
Priscilla S. McKinney,
Lawrence
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