automated hell
I entered one of those circular mazes of automated hell today when I tried to respond to butuki's description of his own automated hell -- although I suppose he was actually talking to a person vs a machine?
Having recently gone through a similar conversation with Hydro One, I wanted to count myself in as one of those people who wonder what happened to any real problem-solving abilities by those who handle consumer complaints these days. Gone, sacrificed to the gods of efficiency and baffle-speak, to increase the profit margin at all costs.
What happened to the days when a person could phone and speak to a real person immediately and get a response almost as immediately? Sure, maybe the mail then took 2-3 days, but now the computers take 8 - 10 business days to correct things--if you are lucky! Now you talk to machines, listen to a long list of alternatives, then push the number of the issue you are calling about (anywhere up to 8 at my last count), answer yes or no to questions (don't get funny -- leave your thesaurus out of this!) and when you realize none of the alternatives fits your problem, wait for 10 to 15 minutes or more for a "customer representative" to be available, listening to canned music frequently interrupted by the assurance that you are important to the company and your call will be answered ...and then the representative is even more automated than all the computerized crap, cutting you off mid-sentence and plugging you back (click) into the circular dance with the automated menu...Aarrr-r-gh!
So, check out butuki's story at Laughing~Knees. When I tried to post a comment, I couldn't because I was not registered, should fill in the fields below (which I had, I assumed) and could not find any other place where I should register in order to post a comment here...What does one call that, irony??
Having recently gone through a similar conversation with Hydro One, I wanted to count myself in as one of those people who wonder what happened to any real problem-solving abilities by those who handle consumer complaints these days. Gone, sacrificed to the gods of efficiency and baffle-speak, to increase the profit margin at all costs.
What happened to the days when a person could phone and speak to a real person immediately and get a response almost as immediately? Sure, maybe the mail then took 2-3 days, but now the computers take 8 - 10 business days to correct things--if you are lucky! Now you talk to machines, listen to a long list of alternatives, then push the number of the issue you are calling about (anywhere up to 8 at my last count), answer yes or no to questions (don't get funny -- leave your thesaurus out of this!) and when you realize none of the alternatives fits your problem, wait for 10 to 15 minutes or more for a "customer representative" to be available, listening to canned music frequently interrupted by the assurance that you are important to the company and your call will be answered ...and then the representative is even more automated than all the computerized crap, cutting you off mid-sentence and plugging you back (click) into the circular dance with the automated menu...Aarrr-r-gh!
So, check out butuki's story at Laughing~Knees. When I tried to post a comment, I couldn't because I was not registered, should fill in the fields below (which I had, I assumed) and could not find any other place where I should register in order to post a comment here...What does one call that, irony??
posted by Kati at 1:22 p.m.
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