Automated telephone services
12-May-2008
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Automated telephone services

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My gripe is with automated telephone services that send you around in circles pressing this number or that number; you end up being put on hold listening to some droning music and eventually get cramp in your hand!

Either that or they ask you to shout your instruction down the mouthpiece only to be told "I'm sorry I didn't get that could you start again.

Quite often you end up talking to a call centre in India or Pakistan or Scotland and have to interpret an answer in broken English.

A telephone keypad, automated services

You get the run around through a dozen automated telephone services just to talk to a bank or service which is just a few miles down the road because you don’t have a proper contact number for them in the first place!

I just want to dial a telephone number and speak to someone in the local branch, not some cold voice that doesn’t care whether or not I get the service I am after.

Also the banks give you an email address but by the time you type in your details and message, it has timed out for security reasons. For goodness sake I thought banks were on a secure server. Why can't we just dial and get in touch with a bank clerk at your local branch by telephone like we used to?

By: Bob Lynch


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Yep! Entirely agree! I'm a business customer who is trying to sort something out with my bank (HSBC) but as you say, you get forced to listne to pointless drivel for ten minutes pressing random buttons until you get through to a human being, who then has to divert me yet again!

If I could just call the damn branch I'd get an engaged tone or leave a message. All the problems, frustration adn bad humour would vanish into the ether.

It really, honestly makes you grumpy.
*Nick  04-Dec-2007 14:08

 
Does any one know the website thats tells you what digits to press to get through to a human, there is one, I can't find it. If you find it please email me bythepowerofra@googlemail.com ta x x
*Paddy  26-Sep-2007 11:22

 
The main thing wrong with automated telephone services is the telephone itself. As a piece of technology the human interface that it uses: push buttons, a mouth piece and an ear phone all simply tells me that the technology of the telephone is 50 years or more out of date.

Why do we have to use a phone at all to contact these companies? Why do we have to pay to listen to canned music for half-an-hour?

One should be able to log a problem via the internet, and then have them call you back at their expense when they are ready.

One should be able to choose the medium in which the transaction is to take place: verbal or written, or via an internet chat service. Better still why don't they send someone round to your house in person to discuss what is bothering you?
*Get up-to-date  25-Apr-2007 19:13

 
Before calling any so-called helpline with an expensive 0870 or 0845 number I suggest that a cheaper or perhaps even free number is obtained from the useful website www.saynoto0870.com
*Bill  25-Apr-2007 12:30

 
I've been trying to contact a company called Coopers of Stortford concerning some faulty good that my mother received. It is impossible to speak to a human being as every single number takes you through to a different automated voice. I tried their web site but, again, no way of getting in touch with a real human being. In the end I decided to email them but I'm not holding out much hope. The worst example of automated telephone "service" I have ever experienced
*Jamo49  24-Apr-2007 14:13

 
I have just spent 13 minutes on the telephone to Lloyds Bank TSB (8 of those in a queue), however, after speaking to the agent & him contacting my local branch I got "cut off". I feel that as the query was in regard to bank charges he did not really want to know-if he was concerned he would have called me back. I think in this day & age of targets the call may have been taking far too long as this is the 2nd time this week the same thing has happend to me. Its been 10 minutes since I got cut off but I really don't feel like queueing again to ask the same questions which I think is very convenient for Lloyds Bank.
*mollie  13-Apr-2007 16:27

 
S, I think you'll find that most ISP's Technical Assistance is by no means Technical and very little Assitance reading mainly from a checklist of faults and remedies.Very little Technical no-how is employed as that would cost these people money.

I am having all sorts of problems with AOL at the moment and most of the feed back I have been getting is bland answers that give me no help at all.Also I have been held on the phone and waiting for an operative online for inordinately long amounts of time.It has got to the point where I want to change my provider but having asked for a MAC code, they have as yet not provided me with one so I can't.Hoping to wring the last few pounds out of me I expect.
*Bob  05-Nov-2006 23:13

 
I am so frustrated with Sky, it's a good job they are based in Scotland because if they were local I would have been down there Main Office in a flash. I spent 1hr 20m just to get through to customer care who then put me through to tech faults and I was kept another 30 min with that annoying trumpet music. It was going insane. All I could imagine was Sky employees at the other end gone for their tea break or chatting as they couldn't be bothered to answer my call. And the voice that gives you the options repeated herself 6 yes 6 times before I was put through to the one I wanted. I've had enough of Sky they are a company who couldn't care less about their customers but want their money at the same time.
*John G  04-Nov-2006 13:52

 
Isn't there an investment in these companies leaving you hanging on as long as possible at so-many-pence-per-minute? Perhaps a few complaints to Ofcom might bring 'em into line.
*Celia Molestrangler  01-Sep-2006 14:44

 
Willy,

15 - 20 Minutes??

I'd love to swap places with you..

I am an IT consultant and frquently have to contact end user's Internet Service Providers (ISP's) to try and troubleshoot a fault with the client's internet connection or e-mail.

All the "leading brands" are as bad as each other, but BT come to mind as the worst.

If ever I need to call BT's internet technical support line to report a fault I can regularly be kept on hold for anything from 40 minutes through to 90 minutes!!

Then when I eventually get through to them, I find that I am far more qualified than them and once I've given them a run down of all the technical bits and bobs I've checked & tested - they're at a complete loss for what to suggest next.

So I get put on hold to speak to a "Senior Technician".....

Who still hasn't got a clue!!
*S  28-Aug-2006 21:05

 
BRITISH GAS are the worst in my opinion.You press all the relevant buttons,THEN have to listen to bloody music for 15/20 minutes.

Bring back HUMANS.
*Willy  22-Aug-2006 04:30

 
Apologies for including Scotland as the majority are quite understandable just that the people I end up talking to have such a broad Glaswegan accent as did my brother in law, that I find it difficult as a southerner to understand.I expect my accent is difficult for some in other parts of Britain.
But my main gripe is the automated part of the system.The first option should say"Would you like to speak to an operator if so press 1 if not continue."I would suggest that in the case of banks,these systems are put in place to avoid customers who might ask difficult questions.
*Bob  17-Aug-2006 08:42


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