Need to rant about call center automated attendants. Robot voice assistance. No Common Sense.

[billymach4]

Called a bank and they have a recording about the usual non sense. Check you balance online, pay you bill online, blah, blah, blah. Due to high call volume there is an extended wait time. Blah Blah Blah. They attempt to give you a decision tree via options. Fake you way thru the funnel of decisions. More Blah,Blah,Yada, Yada. Finally get to the place where they can't give me more BS and they have to send me to a live human. But they still insist that there is an extremely long wait. I get to go ahead to be transferred to a human an instantly someone picks up. After dealing with the automated voice and authentication I look at the time on my phone. It has bee 3min 40s of dealing with this non-sense that I had to speak to a live cust agent. WASTED my wait time for a 45 sec inquiry! WHY? why? Just SMH.

 

[Karen G]

I called a hospital billing business and a real person answered. But, she said due to the high call volume she would need to take my name and number
and someone would call me back. However, no one ever called back.

The week before I got a call from the same business and when I answered, it was a recording saying due to the high volume of calls I could enter my
phone number and someone would call me back. No one ever did.

 

[isisdave]

Websites like gethuman.com and dialahuman.com offer some tips and shortcuts.

 

[WVBaker]

I've called places where 3min 40s would be considered short wait time. Yes, the ever forbidding, thank you for holding, a representative will be with you shortly.

It seems the popular excuse now is it's due to Covid 19.

 

[billymach4]

I called a hospital billing business and a real person answered. But, she said due to the high call volume she would need to take my name and number
and someone would call me back. However, no one ever called back.

The week before I got a call from the same business and when I answered, it was a recording saying due to the high volume of calls I could enter my
phone number and someone would call me back. No one ever did.

Yep. That drives me crazy. Or when you finally get thru then they say I have to transfer you to another dept --- Ring, Ring, Busy, Busy!

Or you hold 5 - 10 min same thing Ring, Ring --- Busy, Busy! You just want to scream!

 

[billymach4]

There are some business I am patient with and I have much sympathy due to the Covid situation. Delta Airlines. I had to wait on hold for over 3 hours a few weeks back. And this was due to their schedule change. I don't get angry since they are bleeding cash due to passenger volume drop of 90% or more.

 

[easyrider]

Two days ago I called vbro about a reservation I needed to cancel. After waiting for 10 minutes I forgot who I was waiting for when they finally answered. The person that answered my call was Bob. She had an accent that made me think he was from India and I found that I had to ask him to repeat herself many times.

Anyway, Bob did a great job and I was very happy with the outcome. I did say thank you Bob at the end of our call and he or she replied your welcome.

Bill

 

[Sea Six]

American Airlines allowed me to record my name and number and they would call back in 18 to 24 minutes. They called back in 20. Not bad!

 

[Talent312]

1. Delta.
I called about a credit question, but the bot wanted to know about my next trip (none).
I only got to talk to a human after lying to the bot.

2. Chase.
Tried to cancel a dispute (settled w-the merchant). They make it sound like they're closed.
I almost gave up getting a human, but finally pressed zero.

 

[pedro47]

I called a hospital billing business and a real person answered. But, she said due to the high call volume she would need to take my name and number
and someone would call me back. However, no one ever called back.

The week before I got a call from the same business and when I answered, it was a recording saying due to the high volume of calls I could enter my
phone number and someone would call me back. No one ever did.

This is the new business normal. LOL.

 

[WVBaker]

Two days ago I called vbro about a reservation I needed to cancel. After waiting for 10 minutes I forgot who I was waiting for when they finally answered. The person that answered my call was Bob. She had an accent that made me think he was from India and I found that I had to ask him to repeat herself many times.

Anyway, Bob did a great job and I was very happy with the outcome. I did say thank you Bob at the end of our call and he or she replied your welcome.

Bill

 

[bogey21]

American Airlines allowed me to record my name and number and they would call back in 18 to 24 minutes. They called back in 20. Not bad!

I like this option. It has always worked well for me regardless of the Company I have called...

George

 

[PigsDad]

Called a bank and they have a recording about the usual non sense. Check you balance online, pay you bill online, blah, blah, blah. Due to high call volume there is an extended wait time. Blah Blah Blah. They attempt to give you a decision tree via options. Fake you way thru the funnel of decisions. More Blah,Blah,Yada, Yada. Finally get to the place where they can't give me more BS and they have to send me to a live human. But they still insist that there is an extremely long wait. I get to go ahead to be transferred to a human an instantly someone picks up. After dealing with the automated voice and authentication I look at the time on my phone. It has bee 3min 40s of dealing with this non-sense that I had to speak to a live cust agent. WASTED my wait time for a 45 sec inquiry! WHY? why? Just SMH.

Have you ever thought that the reason you were able to get a person on the line right away after you went through the phone tree is because the phone tree weeded out a large percentage of calls? We all want fast service, but when it comes down to it, we usually are not willing to pay for it.

Question: do you pay any monthly fees to your bank for your account? If the bank had to charge you an extra $10/month in order to hire enough phone support people so that they could answer all calls with a live person in 30 seconds, would you support that fee? I feel most people would not, but that doesn't stop them from complaining about the inconvenience they experience when, at the same time, they enjoy the low/no fees they pay.

Kurt

 

[x3 skier]

The absolute WORST Customer Service is ATT. First you have figure out what part of ATT you need, tv, phone, internet, whatever the incomprehensible menu might send you to on a whim. They you have to deal with a bot. Occasionally you get past it and then you have to chat with someone in Bananastan. After that incompetent is dispensed with you might get to exchange emails with someone on the dark side of the moon. In all of this, you NEVER EVER get actually TALK to an actual human being.

The best in my experience is Apple. I have always been able to connect in a short wait or a quick call back with a real person in the USA the first time I call. If they can’t solve my issue, they pass me to the next level expert who has always stuck with me until it is solved.

Cheers

 

[bogey21]

I have ATT cell phone service. When I dial 611 I usually get right through to Customer Service...

George

 

[dioxide45]

If I am calling a company for something, it is because I can't do what I need to do online. I don't need to then be told to check the website, etc. I am calling because I can't do it online. If I had been able to use the website, I wouldn't have wasted my time on the phone.

I suspect most IVR phone systems are more just there to frustrate people enough that they decide what they needed wasn't important enough to wait and navigate the stupid thing and they hang up. Clears out about 25% of the volume!

 

[PigsDad]

The best in my experience is Apple. I have always been able to connect in a short wait or a quick call back with a real person in the USA the first time I call. If they can’t solve my issue, they pass me to the next level expert who has always stuck with me until it is solved.

Hence why Apple products cost more than equivalent products -- you pay for the excellent service up front. I have no problem with that.

Kurt

 

[billymach4]

Hence why Apple products cost more than equivalent products -- you pay for the excellent service up front. I have no problem with that.

Kurt

Good Luck with Apple... Not a fan at all. Will not patronize that bad apple.

A brief guide to everything that’s annoying about Apple

This week, the tech giant reported its first fall in sales for 13 years. Have we finally fallen out of love with its shiny new iPhones? Not quite – but there are some small issues ...

www.theguardian.com

 

[PigsDad]

Good Luck with Apple... Not a fan at all. Will not patronize that bad apple.

So have you personally had "bad Apple" products? I just counted -- in the age of iPods, iPhones and iPads, my wife and I have bought 9 devices since 2007. Every single one of those devices are still in working condition. They simply don't fail (for us, at least). Can't say that about many other company's products. Some have become outdated, and hence we upgraded, but all of those are still working. And I still use some of the old devices for specialty purposes. For example, my first generation iPod Touch is still used in my office to listen to music, and an old iPad permanently sits in my theater so I don't have to drag my newer one around as much.

As for that video, it describes someone who broke a screen of an older product that was being worked on by a non-authorized technician. Not surprising that they would not service it -- companies stop servicing older products all the time and especially if it was tampered with by a non-qualified person. I'm not buying the contrived drama in that video.

Kurt

 

[billymach4]

So have you personally had "bad Apple" products? I just counted -- in the age of iPods, iPhones and iPads, my wife and I have bought 9 devices since 2007. Every single one of those devices are still in working condition. They simply don't fail (for us, at least). Can't say that about many other company's products. Some have become outdated, and hence we upgraded, but all of those are still working. And I still use some of the old devices for specialty purposes. For example, my first generation iPod Touch is still used in my office to listen to music, and an old iPad permanently sits in my theater so I don't have to drag my newer one around as much.

As for that video, it describes someone who broke a screen of an older product that was being worked on by a non-authorized technician. Not surprising that they would not service it -- companies stop servicing older products all the time and especially if it was tampered with by a non-qualified person. I'm not buying the contrived drama in that video.

Kurt

Any product that my family used to acquire from Apple is now in planned obsolescence by design from Apple. Kurt continue to support Apple. I am happy for you. You will support the stock price of Apple since I am sure my retirement portfolio contains some share of Apple stock.

 

[x3 skier]

I have ATT cell phone service. When I dial 611 I usually get right through to Customer Service...

George

I actually never had a problem with my ATT Cell phone service that couldn’t be handled by the ATT Store 5 minutes away. Everything else you have to deal with the nightmare of bots, chat, etc. Even the store folks have to go through the same morass for ATT TV and internet.

Cheers