Automation And Customer Service

Automation of services has come too far, in my humble opinion. Just watching my brother,myself and my mother deal with different things and getting stuck with dealing with machines instead of people and the frustration and time wasting that comes along with it is enough to convince pretty much anyone that the "new customer service" offered by most places falls way short of anything like actual customer service. What happened to caring about what your customers think or want?

Perhaps I am "old fashioned" but I would rather  pull out every hair on my body than deal with these bloody machines that spin you around in circles and keep you from accomplishing a damn thing! I actually do remember when the customer came first! I didn't think I was all that damn old, but it just goes to prove I am getting there!

For people dealing with issues and crisis in their life,dealing with this "new customer service" can lead to all sorts of stress and chaos they don't need. For instance, say you lost your home and just want to set up a cell phone, first you need to activate but they charge you extra to do it; unless you do it online. That's the catch for people who are already struggling just trying to find a place to live! So, they get on a computer and go through the process but it requires an email and that can be another issue, especially if someone's hacked that email or you forgot the password because you don't use it that often. More time spent trying to work that out and then it sends you back to the same machine which if it decides to allow you to move on can be OK; but if it decides to develop the slightest glitch... well that doubles or triples your stress. So, you decide to phone someone for help, yeah right, if you get an actual person, without waiting for 30min. to an hour on hold, you would be lucky if they can actually help you and are not just reading from a script of "pat" answers! Add to all this any mental health issues and I begin to understand why people feel like going beserk on some of these companies!

For myself, I try to avoid dealing with anything over the phone, for I actually get along better with computers than people. However, sometimes I just get fed up with the glitches and b***sh** and go zone out with a book or movie. Luckily, I've never had to accomplish anything that important, either over the phone or with a glitchy computer, that I either couldn't ask someone calmer to do or take a break and get back to it later. I have/am blessed to have my mother to help me through most of it or at least my girls.

Still, I'd like to go back to when the customer actually mattered and customer service was done by people who cared!!!