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I hate automated help lines!
by Jess

I hate those automated systems that every company has when you call their help line or customer service. I hate how you have to enter all this information before you get to talk to a real person, and then they ask you all the same information again! Why did i have to enter it in the first place??? Even worse is when you have to talk to Mr. Automated Non-Human instead of typing it in. Half the time he doesn’t understand what you are saying. And sometimes if i’m trying to take care of something at work i dont want to say my social, birthday, mother’s maiden name, childhood pet, first known zip code, and favorite color out loud. It seems like Mr. ANH has replaced the humans all together and its nearly impossible to get a real one. Sometimes you have to know the special code-word to tell Mr. ANH to get a human (which, for United Airlines is “Agent” by the way). Then, once you do you get Mr. Guy-With-A-Strange-Accent-Half-Way-Around-The-World, he sometimes has more trouble understanding you than Mr. ANH. Also, i hate when Mr. GWASAHWATW seems grumpy that he has to answer the phone and talk to you at all. You’re a call center! Its your job! Deal!

I’ve talked to about 20 GWASAHWATW’s and a handful ANH’s in the last month trying to set up all my utilities and then having to call backwhen something went wrong. Just once it would be nice to talk to areal human right away, or even after entering a couple choices to narrow down the search (billing questions, setup service, etc) but before entering any personal information. I hope the companies realize they’ve gone too far to save a few bucks and are pissing off their customers. I’m about to the point where i’ll spend a few extra dollars a month for the company that doesnt use Mr. GWASAHWATW and especially ones that dont use Mr. ANH. I hate him!

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Responses

by Kathleen

I have recently had a really bad experience with a help line where I just could not understand the assistant on the phone. It got to a point where he had to repeat stuff multiple times. He attempted to use words with each letter he was trying to say, but instead of saying, “B as in bat,” he would use long words that I still couldn’t understand. Since he had to repeat his information so many times, he started to get mad at me! I’m talking: attitude, sighing, and neglecting to answer my questions until I had to ask if he was still on the line. Definitely turned me off from ever using a help line again. Whatever happened to being incredibly nice so that the customers want to come back? Customers always right, no?

by Jess

We all know i hate automated help lines, but i’ve recently had two excellent automated help line experiences…i think they might just be getting the hang of this thing.

The first instance was with Amazon. I wanted to call about a pricematch. They have this callback service, where you put in your number and they call you right away (or up to a 20 minute delay, depending on what is convenient for you) and connect you to a real person. Now, i still got Mr. GWASAHWATW but he was very nice. He couldnt help me, but still sent a very sweet apology e-mail followup. Point 1 Amazon.

The second was with Cox Communications, my local cable company. I was calling to cancel cable today and the automated lady told me it would be a 7-8 minute wait, but i could enter my phone # and they’d call me back when my place in line came up so I wouldnt have to sit on the phone the whole time. How awesome is that??? So, thats what I did, and sure enough they called me back. I had even forgotten about it until my phone rang. Point 1 Cox. Best improvement to call centers ever.

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