The communication illusion

[Unkel Kunkel]

It is ironic that with ever more sophisticated means of communication it seems increasingly difficult to to interact and discuss anything with a human by the quaint and old fashioned system of actually speaking to one.

That quest can be stymied at the outset as fewer  organisations  now seem to supply a telephone number and those that do invariably begin have a recorded message saying how good their website is and how awfully busy they are, in effect saying “if you are so stupid to insist on being a bloody nuisance… then hold please hold the line…..”

Large organisations seem the most likely to frustrate.

Last week,I met someone who related how they had actually managed to get to the office of a certain Govt. Dept. Undeflected by the response to look at their website, he posed his question to  someone, who responded by disappearing for a few moments and returning  with a print-out of the “F.A.Qs” which she handed him,

“ The answer to your question is on page 13 of our frequently asked questions”, bid him farewell and quickly disappeared again.

Page 13…

 

 

Edit.. Apologies .. this should have been destined for “ Lounge Bar”..

 

 

[Mark B]

Frustrating. Follow all the options to end up where you started twenty minuites earlier, or finally the phone rings at the relevant extension then  it cuts off after waiting for ten minutes. Made a call yesterday, and was told there was a forty minuites wait to speak to an adviser, I think they hope you are so deflated that you won't bother, it worked.

[Chris A]

Fairly recently my mobile phone line provider decided they were going to improve my offer with some extra service for only 3€ per month. If I didn't want it i had to let them know via a link to their site. The link didn't work. After several tries and then using their robot online service, which just sent me back to the link that didn't work, I eventually got to speak to a human and after I managed to convince them there was no other way to get this improvement stopped they did do it for me.

It took well over 1 hour of my time to get a result. They clearly work on the basis that as it is only 3€ per month most people won't bother to cancel it, even though it is of no use to them.

[Iain T]

I have to have a blood PSA test every 6 months and fed up with it taking up to three days for my NHS GP medical centre to answer the phone. They didn't take my last comments on their service well and told me to book online for the next one. So the time comes and I go onto their website and send appropriate email and waited. Two days later I received an email saying this service is not provided for blood tests please phone reception 😡😡. You can guess how the next conversation went!

However they got their own back and lost the sample. So to date from starting this simple request it's taken six weeks to get the second blood drawn! 

Iain

[Colin Lindsay]

My wife phoned the local GP Surgery, left her phone running, and over four hours later was still on hold. I phoned recently to arrange an appointment to see a GP re potentially serious health conditions, and was told via a recording that unless it was an emergency, call back tomorrow. I did, and got the same recording.

O2 were the same; I have an old mobile that I keep credit on for charitable donations, to avoid being plagued or scammed on my main phone - I topped it up with £20, and the money disappeared. I now have £20 worth of calls and data, though, and no use on that phone, although I could phone the Cat Charity and tell them how great they are for an hour or two. I could not get through to O2 to change this setting, which was imposed on me by O2, they kept referring me to the FAQs on their website which did not cover the issue of how to opt out. Eventually I went to the O2 shop and they told me to go to Giff-Gaff.

What does get on my goat is that every service you use these days sends you a questionnaire. 'How did we do?' Delivery services do it all the time. 'Would you use us again?' No idea, I never did, it was the guy who sent me the parcel.

[Badwolf]

Many, many years ago I was involved in the office of a large Government department. It was specifacally set up as a link to other offices and to answer stand alone questions personally over the counter. There were 20 trained staff. It was a terrific success and became a flagship office. Years !after, I had to call to a small local version of that office, only to be told that the phone was over there, feel free to use it, and I was left. A couple of years after that even the local office had gone. Internet or phone 'services' only. So much for progress.

 

[Gully]

BT dug through my broadband lines recently (ironically, part of the high-speed roll-out!). My actual ISP is EE and it was with some trepidation I followed their text-based fault finding service (which I had to look up on 5G). However, it worked really well. A bot checked the lines, couldn't find a fault, so they arranged an appointment for someone to call me (within 15min), which they did. That person then arranged for the engineer to come out the next day, which they did and established the exact nature of the fault. It was sorted fully 48 hours later.

So not all message based systems are frustrating!

As an aside, I feel part of this is generational. Gen X and younger expect to use smartphones and websites for engagement - companies are happy to embrace this as it removes the need for expensive customer services teams explaining information readily available (in the company's view) via their website, but that approach excludes Mr/Mrs Miggins who have only ever used a computer with support in their library... Pre-Gen X people are likely to be more analogue and have a phone call as their first line of attack when a problem arises - they are not likely to be a satisfied with the current digital approach to customer services / interactions. As for doctors' surgeries, I feel it's all about £...

Gully

[Colin Lindsay]

56 minutes ago, Gully said:

As an aside, I feel part of this is generational. Gen X and younger expect to use smartphones and websites for engagement - companies are happy to embrace this as it removes the need for expensive customer services teams explaining information readily available (in the company's view) via their website, but that approach excludes Mr/Mrs Miggins who have only ever used a computer with support in their library

Ever find that a lot of help lines imply you have the same expertise as the engineer who built the stuff in the first place? 'Have you checked the resistance across the terminals of modules three and four? Confirm the version of the 3-stage transmuftliplier you're currently using... Copy and paste your crash log and attach it as a .mmt file... run a system BIOS reboot... what model of plane was your baggage on? Select your car model from the drop-down list of 50,000 world-wide variations...' You can't even ask anyone WHAT ON EARTH? and sometimes you just need the extra help of an actual human being.

The other extreme is the BT Help Forum where some posters have an amazing 30,000 replies / posts and are classed as 'forum gurus'... but when you check, they're all the same answer posted 30,000 times: 'Restart your router'

I just love sitting somewhere like the O2 shop and some spotty wee guy is explaining the tariffs on my latest contract and I'm thinking: bet you don't have a clue how to set valve clearances.

 

[Badwolf]

...and when your model isn't on the drop down menu and the service goes into a spiral when you don't answer the question because the answer's not there!! Tried to buy a battery 5 years ago. It wouldn't let me progress to the battery listings without my car model, which it couldn't find from my reg number!!!

[Unkel Kunkel]

 it’s not just me then.. that’s quite a relief!

[PeteH]

The Increasing inability to even E-Mail most of the Larger Corporations and Suppliers, Is becoming incredibly annoying. I don`t wish to sit staring at the screen waitng for some "bot" to reply, Just like I don`t want to sit listening to muzak. My current energy supplier (EDF) is the worst offender. They are Appalling, getting contact is impossible. I did it once by cancelling my direct debit and threatening refusal of payment until they spoke to me. At this point in time it may just happen again, if they (try to) hike my Direct debit at month end without speaking to me first!

Pete