United States Customer Support

Customer support outsourcing for US companies

American customers expect to reach someone, quickly, at an hour that suits them - and they are quick to say publicly when they cannot. Long hold times and a phone tree that loops cost more in reviews and churn than they ever save in payroll.

RHI builds dedicated customer service teams for US companies from a minimum of five full-time agents, delivered from our India operation and rostered to your customers' hours rather than ours.

Delivery is offshore. We do not have a US-based delivery center, and we will not imply otherwise - where an onshore option genuinely matters to a caller base, the only market in which we can offer it is the United Kingdom.

Four time zones and a staffing problem

The continental United States spans four time zones before Alaska and Hawaii, which means "business hours" covers a six-hour window from an East Coast morning to a West Coast evening. A team rostered to one zone leaves customers in another either waiting or unanswered.

This is where offshore delivery has a structural advantage rather than only a cost one. An India shift maps onto US hours cleanly: our night is your business day, so continuous or extended coverage costs less than staffing the same hours locally. Coverage is built from shift units - eight hours is one, twelve is two, weekends need enhanced staffing, and round-the-clock cover is three daily teams plus a holiday plan. See 24/7 support.

Daylight saving is handled explicitly, including the fact that Arizona and Hawaii do not observe it. Rosters that quietly break twice a year are a common and avoidable offshore failure.

Holidays and the Q4 problem

Federal holidays are planned individually rather than treated as a lighter weekday, because contact patterns change shape rather than simply reducing. Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year, Independence Day and Memorial Day each behave differently, and for retail the Thanksgiving-to-Christmas period is not a holiday at all - it is the year's peak.

That peak needs planning months ahead, not weeks, because surge staffing means recruitment and training. A team requested in the week of Black Friday is a team learning during it. See overflow and surge cover.

Accent, clarity and register

For US voice work we staff neutral international English and recruit for clarity and listening rather than accent imitation. The skill that matters is comprehension across regional American speech at natural speed, and asking a clarifying question without making the caller feel awkward.

Register is trained as deliberately as vocabulary. American customers generally read excessive formality as evasive, and expect a warmer, more direct opening than UK customers do. We also train the vocabulary that trips up non-US agents - ZIP code, routing number, cell phone, check rather than cheque, and reading addresses and states back accurately.

Outbound calling rules

Outbound in the United States carries obligations that inbound does not, and they are yours as the party on whose behalf the call is made. Consent, do-not-call registers, permitted calling hours by state and what must be said at the start of a call all apply.

We work to your instructions as your processor, and we will flag it where an instruction looks inconsistent with the rules for the state being called. This is not legal advice and we do not offer it as such - your compliance function owns the position, and we implement it. Where a customer asks not to be contacted again, that is recorded immediately and applied across every channel rather than only the one they said it on. See outbound callback and follow-up.

Channels US customers use

Phone remains where the difficult conversations happen, particularly in financial services, telecoms, insurance and anything involving a disputed charge. But live chat now absorbs a large share of pre-purchase questions, email and ticketing carries the detailed cases, and social media is where an unresolved problem goes public.

We run these through one dedicated team so a customer switching channel does not start again - see omnichannel support.

Pricing and contracting

US work is quoted in US dollars as a starting monthly rate per dedicated agent, with a five-agent minimum. Channel-specific and dedicated omnichannel rates are published alongside it.

Every figure is a planning starting point shown with its basis, not a quote. Channel mix, process complexity, training, coverage hours, technology, volume and service levels move the real number. See published rates and what changes them.

Data protection and offshore delivery

Where we support your customers you are the controller and we are your processor, and the processing terms, sub-processors, security measures, breach notification and deletion obligations sit in the services agreement. Personal data is processed in India, so if you are subject to state privacy laws or sector rules with specific vendor or location requirements, raise them at scoping rather than at contract stage - some of them change what we can offer.

Access is least-privilege and role-based, verification precedes disclosure, and recording and retention are configured to your requirements and to the consent rules of the states you call. We hold no information security certification and do not claim one. See security and data protection.

Talk to us about US support

Bring contact volume by hour in your customers' local time, current speed of answer and abandonment, and your Q4 or seasonal peak shape. Volume expressed in your head office's time zone rather than your customers' is the most common reason a roster looks reasonable and performs badly.

Read next: 24/7 support, phone support, or get in touch.