I'd prefer a more direct approach. Your call use matter to us but we have rebranded and don't care. Stay on the line so the next incompetent representative, working off shore, with minimal skills and even more monute compensation can mangle your issue more.

And then you get some one in a foreign country - reading from a script - telling you to calm down and they will help you .......NOT !!!!!!

I so believe in the live voice that I prefer to answer when I can rather than let a call run to voice mail when I am busy. I use every customer service opportunity to comment (complain, critique) "call centers" -- I hate the menus that try to sell to you while you wait to learn the option # you need. I try to note those options down to hopefully bypass the nonsense but sometimes that fails.

I believe that it is all part of a strategy to get you to figure it out "on-line".

Ben may be on to something, eg, self check out at Home Depot and CVS

At my house, my welcome mat reads"Please stay on the Mat.Your visit is important to us ..."

I agree, it is frustrating, sometimes maddening, but often when I press zero instead of answering all the prompts, I get a live person right away! Whether I have a satisfactory or terrible conversation with a representative, I answer the questionnaire at the end of the call. I like to give credit where it's due, too.

I spend most of my day on hold with airlines, hotels, car rentals, etc. I figure I must listen to that "Please hold" message about a hundred times per week. Once you get the recording you're stuck, but if you are lucky enough to get an automated voice answering offering to "help if you just answer a few questions" I've found that repeatedly saying "Representative" or "Agent" will frustrate the system and get you through to a live person quicker.

What's better....the voice mail or a real person that is emotion less and sounds pissed off?

I can't stand it when another lawyer has his/her secretary call me and, when I pick up the phone, the secretary says, "Please hor Mr. So and So." Drives me up the wall.

I'm worried about all of you.

My first rule is not to use my device as a phone . We have disconnected the home phone . The ringer on my cell is turned off . I have total control. If I must make contact and I get a non human response I hang up. I'll leave the rest of you lemmings to suffer the indignant rudeness of today's style of communications . Your call IS NOT very important to us otherwise a human would answer! If they want ME they can send me a letter. Which I probably wouldn't be opening any time soon ! We have allowed ourselves to be sucked into the world of cyber existence . Humans no longer interact . Vestigal body parts will fall off . Ear lobes , pinkies and the appendix will be gone forever . HAL told us to expect this . My dogs talk to me with eye contact . No other way to go folks . I'm tellin' ya that !!

Hollander Sends

In my business this is a HUGE problem. My way around it is to agree to take a survey, inevitably, I am rerouted back to the USA...and because of that I actually do the survey.

I know I am fairly young, I have difficulty paying attention to all of the prompts..part of it is because I'm multitasking the other part is I am hyper sensitive that the person answering speaks slower and will not understand my concern. It is beyond frustrating.
LIVE is BEST.