By Staff
Is it just me, or does anyone else get extremely frustrated with having to make 1-800 calls lately? It doesn't matter if I'm calling to pay my cell phone bill, calling to check some statistics on my website or calling to get information on my current car insurance policy. By the end of the conversation, I am usually ready to throw the phone through the wall.
I understand recordings were made to make things a little easier for the employees of these companies. They break you off into sections by what you are calling for – sales, technical support, bills, etc. I completely understand this, as it is also beneficial for the customer because we can avoid waiting on the phone for more than half an hour. But one thing that frustrates me is that by the time I have pressed the numbers 3, 4, 1, 5, 5, 2, 1, 3, I am not in the right place. "Hi, how can I help you today?" "I need to find out about my current policy coverage." "Ok you need to call customer service at 800- yada yada yada."
I am no rocket scientist, but I know I heard Judy the voice recorder correctly when she said "for customer service please press 3. For questions about your policy please press 4. If you are a current customer, press 1 …"
So, after about 10 minutes of pressing buttons, holding and figuring out I am usually in the wrong department, they gladly give me a new number to call and start all over. Great!
Here's frustrating situation No. 2. What is the purpose of us talking to a computer person? You know, the lady who can never understand you and always apologizes because she can't make out what you are trying to say.
The recordings usually start with pretty simple yes or no questions, which the computer lady has no problem understanding, but when it comes time for the bigger words, you'll hear things you never thought you would.
One time, I was asked for my first and last name. I said it slowly enough so she could hear me, only to find out that, when generated through a computer, my name is Amelia Richardson. What? Where does that and my name even sound the same? So, I try again and she says "America Preston, right?" NO! I yelled, and she suggested we try spelling my name on my phone. Wow, why couldn't we have done this in the first place?
Next was my city and state – more fun times! Somehow Niles, Michigan turned into North something Montana and some other city I had never heard of. I finally started pressing buttons and somehow got connected to a live representative. I told that company what I thought about Sally the computer lady – she should be fired!
Frustrating situation No. 4. Lately, I have really been having a hard time understand some of the representatives. I try my hardest to sit there and listen, and I don't want to be rude when I can't understand them, but I also want to know what they are trying to explain to me.
Take my MP3 player, for example. I purchased a new one a few weeks ago and could not read the directions for anything. The wording was so tiny and it did not explain how to set up the program. So, I called the company to see if I could get a walk through. I got connected to a live person pretty fast, gave the man my information and told him what the problem was. He informed me that I had to take my dog through my computer before turning the sofa on. Hmmm. Interesting, but I knew that wasn't what he meant.
After I figured out what he was explaining, the next step was transferring my music files to the MP3 player, which, when explained, sounded like I was supposed to stampede flies through my ping pong player.
I did not want to offend this man at all, but I was having such a hard time understanding him that I had to tell him. Surprisingly, he was very nice about it and explained he hears it a lot and has really been trying to work on his English. He explained to me the employees are from other countries.
On the last note, why do I have to press 1 for English?