I am actually, genuinely mad at a computer lol. I had to call UPS today (goddamn brokerage fees, don’t get me started) and got the automated system. Since I wasn’t tracking a package or shipping it, nor any of the other options I pressed ‘0’. The following interaction then occurred with the automated system. UPS: We’re more than happy to get you to a representative but please choose an option. Do you want to track a package? Ship a package? Find UPS locations?
Me: clicks 0 again
UPS: this time it’s a recording of an actual human You are REQUIRED to give a reason for your call. Push 1 to go back to the main menu and chose a VALID reason for your call.
Me: … clicks 0 again … hears dial tone
It hung up on me! I couldn’t believe it! What the hell? Part of me thinks it’s kind of funny but part of me is actually insulted. I mean, how rude!
At some stage in the development of AI, I wonder if there will be a market for AI systems that are designed to negotiate past customer-facing AIs to reach a human being. You call the AI system that you subscribe to, tell it which company you want to talk to, and it calls you back when it reaches a human being. When a human service rep finally picks up, they hear (from your AI): “Your service is important to us, please hold for the next available customer.”
I have to call UPS from time to time. I just pick random buttons until I get to a person. 9 times out of 10, it’s a billing issue, but mashing in a tracking number a bunch of times (which will be wrong, since you made it up) hopefully gets you the “hmm, I didn’t quite get that, let me transfer you…” script.
In the last year or two, I’ve found it’s much faster to just send them a facebook message. In fact, that tends to work the fastest for a lot of big companies.