Bizcovering > Business and Society

Automated Customer Service in Today's Corporate World

The downgrade of customer service quality level with technological advancement.

By incorporating the impersonal "automated customer service," hiring "human help" overseas, for pennies on the dollar. By making little or no investment in ensuring the utmost quality of service to consumers, who in turn "keep them in business," continue thus, biting the hand that feeds them.

Add to the insult the consumer endures by the lack of personalized service, by having to "endure" these highly technically programmed "automated assistants," which "ensure" that the consumer, pressed for time in such a hectic and stressful world remains to "forcibly" hear the entire menu options before he or she is directed to a live assistant. Pressing "0" for an operator is no longer an available option!

Then we enter the "hold for the next available representative world." Doomed with either the most unpleasant musical melodies anyone can find or worse! A female computerized voice that continuously, repeatedly thanks you for your patience and assures you someone will be on the line to assist you shortly!

This repetitious message is not designed to ensure "you know" your patience, by now exhausted, is appreciated. Oh no! In reality, it is designed to drive you so madly insane, thus a "subliminal invitation" to hang up and give up the fight!

If you are like me, and already know the drill, will be smart enough to let them know that "You have ALL DAY," thus will endure being transferred over multiple times and are fully prepared to tell "the story" as many times as necessary in order to get the matter resolved. For, by the way, they will interrogate you, request a number of personal details about you, i.e., name, rank, serial number, hear your complete story only to tell you after the fact, that theirs is not the department that can properly assist you!

Wake up America! This is just a gimmick to make you want to forget the fact that they overcharged you, and by this point you rather pay them the extra money than continue enduring this hell! Let's face it, on a normal "working day" there is no virtual possible way that anyone can sustain the amount of time needed on the phone just to get them to return your hard-earned dollar!

Meanwhile, if you think that is the only way that the big wigs are "raping" you America! I got news for you! They are also exporting "your jobs" to some country in the Far East and hire these very polite folks, who speak a very strange type of English.

Upon hearing your complaint, they are very well programmed to respond with these subtle, elongated, "scripted" speeches thanking you for your patronage! And if you happen to put a word in, they will repeat this very polite scripted speech all over again. They will not solve your problem, and add to the insult of one's intelligence, by actually telling you how "sorry" they are for your "predicament," which was instigated and caused by their incompetence to begin with!

And the credit that is owed to you? If you manage to endure 28 hours of phone time, transferred over and over, willing to repeat your entire story many times fold, and finally get "somewhere?" Guess what? They will be happy to provide you with the credit, which will be "conveniently" reflected on next month's bill!

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Comments (1)
#1 by Jeannette, Sep 14, 2007
So very true. I am cancelling a credit card because of that repetitive script and impersonal approach to customer service. Great article, I love the realistic touch.
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