While I'm sure outsourcing is helpful for big corporations looking to save some money, I think in some cases it can hurt them, and along the way impact their performance goals of making them efficiently serve customers, for many of the reasons you outline in your list.

I think language and idiom are two of the biggest stumbling blocks outsourcers have in solving customer problems.

Language can be a barrier when the outsourced customer service representative has difficulty understanding the customer's specific need. For example, if the customer is forced with explaining repeatedly to multiple call center staff the same problem, over and over and over again, without a result, it's going to cause some serious headaches and possibly compell them to look elsewhere for a solution.

Idiom can go hand-in-hand with the language barrier and likewise hobble effective communication. For example, if a customer service representative isn't able to "see the forest for the trees", as one simple example, they might spend long minutes trying to understand the customer's situation only to end up not having a clear picture despite the best efforts of both parties.
Source(s):
I've spoken over the phone with outsourced first-tier support personnel for companies including Dell, Gateway, Best Buy, Buy.com and many others. Many of these experiences have resulted in dissatisfaction for the reasoning I describe above.

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