grrrrrrr automated phone systems

[avalen]

I'm so frustrated, with all the automated phone systems all the companies have
now adays, you never can get to talk to a live person. I got a letter from BofA
saying my payment was past due, well I knew I paid it, had the confirmation
# right here on my notepad and tried to call the number on the letter but it goes
into an automated system where you just make the payment on the phone.
Thats not what I wanted, so I log onto the site and go to customer service
and still no place to even send an email but they have another customer service
# listed so I call that one. Same thing, just an automated service to pay the bill.
GRRRRR, its already paid! So I look up my computer records and study the copy
of the payment, huh??? how did that happen????? its listed to pay NEXT MONTH!!
ohhh whoa is me, doodoo doodoo doodoo, (that means crap crap crap) So I made
another frickin payment, I'm so pist, now I have a late payment on my
record and of course they give you no "attagirl" for making an early payment
like next month already , ok, can you tell I'm just so frustrated. At least there is one
consolation in all this, the payment scheduled for next month falls after payday,
lucky me

[retiredhappy]

I used to have a website called something like "livepeople.com where it listed companies and how to get around their automated systems. Sometimes it was hitting "O" for operator, sometimes it was "OO". Try a search for "livepeople" or realpeople. You can ask them to remove the late payment IF you can get thru to a real person.

[bluepinecones]

I so hate those automated systems. Thanks for the tip on bypassing them; will give it a try.

[avalen]

thanks for the tip, I googled it, sorta, I actually used ask.com but the website I found
was.....
get2human.com
and it also has a catagory for listings that used foreign speaking people and customers
had a hard time communicating with so it had bunches of red flags. I liked that column.
You can submit red flags too.
Anyway, it did list BofA and it said to hit O ,hehehehe, will give that a try later today
after work.

[soisew]

I fully agree -- it is hard to deal with. One trick I heard was to hit the "O" (letter oh), button and for most of those automated sytems it would connect you to a real live person, albeit in a foreign country.

It's equally frustrating when we all get those automated/recorded phone calls. We were at my Mom's house the other evening and in 2 hours she got 3 such calls. The key is with all of those is to talk to someone and demand your name & number be removed from thier calling list. In some cases they want you to submit something in writing, which I know many of us don't want to take the time to do and that is what they want -- those companies know that so count on people not wanting to go to those extra steps.

All we can do is keep our wits about us, demand these companies communicate with us or allow us to communicate with them in a reasonable manner.

Think of all the jobs we could create if many companies went back to doing things the old fashioned way. Who knows, maybe our current financial situation will make it happen. All we can do is bug them, urge other to do so too and hope for the best.

Ain't technology fun!

[Acadianmom]

Boy, that's my pet peeve too. Our phone system has flooded twice in 3 years so we have many phone issues. It would be working one minute and not the next. Seemed like every time they fooled with it they messed something up. When I would call to report it the options were never what I needed and if you picked the wrong one you couldn't change it. My DH finally started driving around until he found someone working on the lines.

I have had 3 Dell computers and I got so mad at them the last time I called for service swore I would never buy another Dell. I had to talk to someone in India that would tell me something to do and then go off for 10 minutes. He wanted me to take my computer apart myself. I didn't pay for home service for that. When I wanted a laptop recently I bought one locally. I know where to find them if I have trouble and didn't have to go through the extended warranty BS.

When are American companies going to realize that if they out-source jobs overseas Americans won't have the money to buy their products.

Martha

[mitch5252]

SOMETIMES (but not nearly always), if you get a system that takes your voice commands, just garble your words. It'll take 'em a few times to 'not understand' before they transfer you to a human, but I've had it work.

If you've ever noticed, you never have these problems when you're trying to sign up for a service, or throw money at them in any way. The issues only start after the sale is made and you've signed on the dotted line!

Here's one of my favorites - "Your call is important to us. Please continue to hold." I guess my call is not important enough to hire more service reps, eh? Sales reps, yup - got plenty of those!

Well, I have to go now...this subject gets me nuts...Grrrrrrrrrr is right!

Hope everyone is enjoying their Saturday!