3 ms·

Honest question: does this actually help you get what you're after faster? I've never been a call center agent, but I've worked closely enough with call centers

Honest question: does this actually help you get what you're after faster? I've never been a call center agent, but I've worked closely enough with call centers to know that they are often divided up in to different skill sets. Even if the automated responses won't get you what you need (modern ones can do quite a lot!) and you really need to talk to a person, you still have to talk to the right person. (Or the right group, anyway.) My impression is if you mash '0' until someone picks they will just end up transferring you to the right group to handle your query and you might end up waiting longer overall.

goostavos 8y ago
>Even if the automated responses won't get you what you need I honestly hate that this is a thing at all. If I'm calling customer service, it's because I've exhausted every other option _other than calling customer service_. I'm not here to have fun, I've got a problem than I unfortunately need a human to solve. Sitting through several minutes of "helpful" suggestions, options, and tips completely unrelated to why I am calling only heightens the annoyance of needing to call in the first place.
- tomjen3 8y ago
  You and me, but that is not the case for a lot of people.
- newsbinator 8y ago
  I feel the same way as you, but the HN crowd is different in this sense from ordinary people. Our first resort is a search engine and a FAQ page, and possibly making a forum post. For many people, their first and only resort is to ask a person on the phone, no matter how factual or trivial the question is.
CaptSpify 8y ago
> Honest question: does this actually help you get what you're after faster? For me, yes! Absolutely! Having worked in a call-center before, there is a large amount of undeserved trust in their routing. I'm usually going to be transferred two or three times if I follow the phone-tree or not, skipping the phone tree just lowers my latency to those transfers.

goostavos 8y ago

>Even if the automated responses won't get you what you need I honestly hate that this is a thing at all. If I'm calling customer service, it's because I've exhausted every other option _other than calling customer service_. I'm not here to have fun, I've got a problem than I unfortunately need a human to solve. Sitting through several minutes of "helpful" suggestions, options, and tips completely unrelated to why I am calling only heightens the annoyance of needing to call in the first place.

tomjen3 8y ago
You and me, but that is not the case for a lot of people.
newsbinator 8y ago
I feel the same way as you, but the HN crowd is different in this sense from ordinary people. Our first resort is a search engine and a FAQ page, and possibly making a forum post. For many people, their first and only resort is to ask a person on the phone, no matter how factual or trivial the question is.

CaptSpify 8y ago

> Honest question: does this actually help you get what you're after faster? For me, yes! Absolutely! Having worked in a call-center before, there is a large amount of undeserved trust in their routing. I'm usually going to be transferred two or three times if I follow the phone-tree or not, skipping the phone tree just lowers my latency to those transfers.