I have to share my frustrations with the enemy Automated Voice Interaction Systems that seem to be popping up everywhere...
Do these companies actually think we are sitting in a silent room and can pronounce everything perfectly so thier machine can translate it into meaningful text? I don't know how many times I have been on my cell phone, driving down the road trying to talk to one of these things, amplify that with going to lunch and going to the drive thru. The phone thinks I want to buy Burger King stocks or something. It of course has no concept of hold on just a minute.
Why do they feel the need to have these things do everything? Does it cost that much to have someone sitting there answering the phone? I called Prudential and was trying to change my address. I had to speak my account number one digit at a time. Finally it recognized it, and I needed to change my address. So it asks for the zipcode, great that worked, now the street address. It's 4021 SW 10th, of course it though I said, 4021 SW Kent. I told it NO, and tried again, NO, again, NO... Finally I screamed a few obsenities and hung up the phone.
My brokerage seems to do the same thing. I don't know how many other people have used E*Trade. It works well for the most part, but there are quite a few company names it just cant get quite right.
They blame Bush for all the job losses in this country. It's not Bush, it's these cheap companies who figure they can save a few bucks by having machines answer the phone. I would feel much more respected as a customer if they actually had a real person answer the phone! I think we have taken a big step backward with these things. Just had to vent...
Gavin