Im just a little upset this morning with the lack on "real" people offering customer service for their products/services. I have spent my morning trying to get through to a real person at my insurance carrier's customer service line. Is it too much to ask that customer service actually mean a real person answering my questions and not having to keep pushing buttons with pre-recorded answers?
I realize this will not change because of all the on-line readiness and people's different availability but I really just needed to vent!
Just wondering if anyone else has this problem? What do you do?
Thanks for listening! Hope you all have a great day, Happy New Year!
Ugh, here's another vent: I don't know if it's my cellphone or what but lately I have been having problems with the computers on the other end getting stuck in a loop. Enunciating more or saying it loudly does not seem to help. Soooo Frustrating!
It is frustrating. I understand why they do it but it's still frustrating. If it requires you to speak, I keep saying "representative" until it transfers me to someone and if it's one where you push the numbers, I keep hitting "0" until it transfers me to someone.
I also have USAA... they have a system override. All you have to do is say REPresentitive twice and you get a living, breathing person. LOVE USAA.
What irks me the most, however, is systems that are understaffed...
"The average time for service... is 4 hours... 36 minutes. Your call is important to us. Please stay on the line. Your call will be answered in the order recieved. The average time for service is... is 4 hours 35 minutes. Your call is important to us. Please stay on the line your call will be answered in the order recieved. The average time for service is.... 4 hours 34 minutes....."
I had the same problem yesterday trying to get a prescription refilled. After being disconnected once and then being on hold for another 15 minutes, I finally got to talk to a person. Once I FINALLY got to talk to a person, I found out that she couldn't help me and couldn't call the doctor for more assistance. ARGH!!!! As the call ended she asked if there was anything else she could do to help me... I was so mad that I told her "NO, I WILL BE NICE AND KEEP MY MOUTH SHUT!" I was so mad that I knew I would just step in it, she knew I was upset (plus I don't think she could have done anything about it).
I second the post about having USAA. If you or your spouse are military, I highly suggest checking into them.
I've heard that the best way to get to a person is to enter 0-0 as soon as the options begin.
I too feel the same way. It seems like you can't call somewhere without getting a recording, push 1 for this, push 2 for that, push 3 for (you get the picture), then it starts over again this time different departments. By the time I get a human being, I forgot what I called about not to mention I am more upset then. And God forbid you press the wrong number, you have to start all over again. My bank, my insurance company, even my doctor's office. I too get frustrated.
It is such a problem and so ridiculous that I am actually HAPPY when I am ALLOWED to wait on hold for someone. I am going through a loan modification and it is almost impossible just to be allowed the opportunity to wait on hold. I usually receive a message stating that the call volume is high and to call back later. How in the heck are people supposed to be proactive about things when it is made to be impossible. And I am home all day, others don't have the "luxury" of calling back time and time again just to wait on hold all day.
vent over....I feel better! :)
Not at all! I hate how hard it is to get to a person. Really despise the ones that hang up on you. "We are currently overloaded with calls, please call back later" CLICK. Or "We did not understand your selection, goodbye" CLICK. It is so rude.
nope, i'm right there with you. and yes, we can't always fix it, but sometimes we can! i ask with most expensive fraught-with-problems items that i buy if the customer service is situated in the united states and fully staffed, and i check (if possible) before i buy. i highly recommend mac computers, garmin GPSes (although the wait time was long on that one) and my local myactv high speed cable service.
insurance companies are nightmares. so is hughesnet satellite internet. at least the latter you can do without.
khairete
S.
Nope - not too much to ask!
I mean really, stop suggesting "You may be able to find the answer at www.company.com". I called because I wanted to talk to a HUMAN BEING not sift through general pages of junk!
I whole-heartedly agree with you 100% It is super annoying not to get a human on the phone right away. I deal with this all the time and it drives me crazy! When I call Walgreens every month to order more birth control pills, it says "press 3 for the pharmacy," so I press 3. I then get another recording that announces all of the options (again), but this time it says "press 0 for the pharmacy," so I press 0. I actually get the pharmacy this time, but then hear more lists of options like, "to place an order via our automated line, press 1," as so on and so forth. I FINALLY get an option to press 0 to speak with a pharmacist. It is an exhausting process! I need to order it via the automated system - that might be quicker. I go through the same thing with insurance companies and credit card companies. I hear ya! Very annoying.
I'm a grandma who just signed up for Medicare - yesterday! It took me three tries and at least an hour to get a real person. First I always had to get through some twenty minutes' worth of computerized "conversation" - well-done, I admit, but I wanted a real person. When I was given a chance to say what I wanted, I kept saying "Agent!" - probably about twelve times. I felt like an idiot.
When I finally got a real person, she was very considerate and did her job well. But she had trouble for a while passing me on to the next real person I had to talk to. She said, "If I can't get through, I can have them call you tomorrow, or you could call here again." When I asked if there was a way to bypass Miss Twenty-Minute-Message, she sighed and answered, "I'm afraid not. We're all stuck with HER!"
I understand that the computerized employees can be good at taking care of routine questions and routine business - especially if the system is well set up. And I'm afraid we're indeed stuck with it. But we can always ask, and if we do get a real live person, we can express our great appreciation at finding genuine LIFE on the other end of the line!
sometimes you can circumvent the system by pushing O.
However, I HATE THIS TOO! I have a speaker phone and just go about my business while I wait. Helps a little.
I HATE that. It is SOOOOO frustrating. Especially when, after you went through the hassle of reading/punching in numbers for your account information and everything else they demanded, the person FINALLY comes on 15 minutes later and ASKS FOR THE SAME INFORMATION YET AGAIN.
GGGRrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!!!!
I have a really strong tendency to just start punching in the # key or the "0" until I get a person. Most of the time it works.. but sometimes not.
Next time don't bother pressing 1, 2 or option 3. Straight away say "Speak to Representative". Fortunately the answer machine doesn't understand *$#! Nothing more frustrating!
I agree it can be frustrating & time consuming. I don't really have any coping tips other than I try to do something else at the same time while I'm on hold, etc. so it doesn't seem like a complete waste of my time & then is a little less irritating. You are not alone in wanting a real person to answer though. I work for a non-profit social service agency. Lack of funding is always an issue so we are constantly looking for ways to cut costs. It has been suggested to our director many times that we have an automated answering service so we wouldn't have to employ someone to answer the phones. He will not do it, insists that everyone should be greeted by a real person. We're required to have 24 hour availability so, even when we're closed, we hire an answering service (real people) to answer the phones. There are still some people out there who like "old fashioned" customer service! In our world of technology I bet that won't last for long though.
MB:
I so know what you mean! I am an insurance agent and it is very frustrating to not be able to get good answers. It is a great reason "why" I tell my clients to give me a call with questions. I try to put the real customer service in the plans by helping them.
Good luck! I wish you wre my client!
S. H.
I agree! Try this website. It gives you several company phone numbers with the "secret code" to get through to a live human.
I apparently have a voice that automation doesn't understand. So the one time I yelled idiot and it said "I see you need an attendent, please hold"
As far as insurance we went with one with a very local agent so I had real time assistance.
Alway say agent, representative or operator to circumvent the automation, but some just really don't want you as customers anymore so I comply with that.
