4 ms·

I would argue automated call centers are a problem. If you end up needing to call someone since you've exhausted all other avenues you do want to talk to someo

I would argue automated call centers are a problem. If you end up needing to call someone since you've exhausted all other avenues you do want to talk to someone. At that point you will either: - waste a lot of time navigating prompts until you give up or reach a human. - automated call center will decide that prompt it gave you is the correct one and close your call... (had this happen a lot...) - automated call center asks you to state your issue, does speech to text, does a stupid prompt and close... And all metrics will show great for the company while you've given up or you start looking for other companies. Sure, lots of problems are solved by pointing to correct manual... although that would be an argument if product is user friendly enough. Now... on southwest airlines case... what manual could you look up to fix your cancelled flight?, how do you deal with that? Personally, I have had a cancelled flight on vacation. I could not find someone to talk to, automated prompts and calls closed. I booked another airline flight home and asked for a refund and compensation after the fact... This might not be an option in a lot of cases.

teeray 4y ago
> automated call center asks you to state your issue, does speech to text, does a stupid prompt and close I usually just talk complete nonsense to these prompts (but valid English sentences). That way the automation gives up when it can parse the sentences but can’t intuit meaning from them.
- adriancr 4y ago
  last time i tried that i got a 'please repeat' a couple times and call closed. On the other hand, calling a bank and saying you'd like to report fraud to the prompt directs you really fast to customer support.
  - SnowHill9902 4y ago
    If you don’t really have a fraud case to report, you are actually reporting fraud on yourself. Think about it.
    - adriancr 4y ago
      That is pretty funny now that you mentioned it.
    - Eisenstein 4y ago
      When someone picks up you can plead the 5th.
- jen20 4y ago
  My approach is to mash the keys until it gives up. This has a pretty high success rate.
jcranmer 4y ago
I think this is right on the money. If you assume that most troubleshooting starts with a call to customer service, then automated prompts to do standard troubleshooting isn't a terrible idea. But the call to a customer service is usually the last resort, at which point you need to talk to a human being, and anything that adds friction is only going to aggravate your users.

teeray 4y ago

> automated call center asks you to state your issue, does speech to text, does a stupid prompt and close I usually just talk complete nonsense to these prompts (but valid English sentences). That way the automation gives up when it can parse the sentences but can’t intuit meaning from them.

adriancr 4y ago
last time i tried that i got a 'please repeat' a couple times and call closed. On the other hand, calling a bank and saying you'd like to report fraud to the prompt directs you really fast to customer support.
- SnowHill9902 4y ago
  If you don’t really have a fraud case to report, you are actually reporting fraud on yourself. Think about it.
  - adriancr 4y ago
    That is pretty funny now that you mentioned it.
  - Eisenstein 4y ago
    When someone picks up you can plead the 5th.
jen20 4y ago
My approach is to mash the keys until it gives up. This has a pretty high success rate.

jcranmer 4y ago

I think this is right on the money. If you assume that most troubleshooting starts with a call to customer service, then automated prompts to do standard troubleshooting isn't a terrible idea. But the call to a customer service is usually the last resort, at which point you need to talk to a human being, and anything that adds friction is only going to aggravate your users.