I am so sick of getting my phone calls answered by a computer program, and also having online inquiries met with a slew of unrelated options and "help center" question trees.
Especially when they don't offer any other options, like actually talking with someone.
Or when I leave a message and get no response except the sound of crickets.
Everyone's issues don't necessarily fit in a predetermined bunch of option boxes, yet somehow people feel they've done their job when they defer responsibility to a computer program these days.
Or on rare occasion when I actually talk to a person, they transfer me, then the next person transfers me, etc., and I have to explain my issue over and over again, as well as providing my name, birth date, address, etc. to multiple people.
I had a rule in my service department that whoever answered the phone (back in the day when someone actually answered the phone) was responsible to help solve the caller's problem. If you need someone else's help, you don't just transfer the caller to their extension and hang up - you stay on the line to make sure that person answers, and familiarize them with the situation.
OK, I'll get off my soapbox now.
Especially when they don't offer any other options, like actually talking with someone.
Or when I leave a message and get no response except the sound of crickets.
Everyone's issues don't necessarily fit in a predetermined bunch of option boxes, yet somehow people feel they've done their job when they defer responsibility to a computer program these days.
Or on rare occasion when I actually talk to a person, they transfer me, then the next person transfers me, etc., and I have to explain my issue over and over again, as well as providing my name, birth date, address, etc. to multiple people.
I had a rule in my service department that whoever answered the phone (back in the day when someone actually answered the phone) was responsible to help solve the caller's problem. If you need someone else's help, you don't just transfer the caller to their extension and hang up - you stay on the line to make sure that person answers, and familiarize them with the situation.
OK, I'll get off my soapbox now.