I have noticed a disturbing trend. It seems that many businesses are opting for voice-trained response systems instead of human operators. Maybe people are too expensive, because they tend to make small talk. I say this because I have been dealing with PayPal customer support for about three weeks on an issue that stems from a certain policy they have regarding the use of checking accounts. I have been trying to do some eBay business, and have gotten to the point where I have bought too much stuff from them. They flagged my as having spent to much, and asked me for a checking account number.
Well, I had no problem with that. I gave it to them. But it didn't take. So, I called them. Well, actually, I tried to contact them via e-mail. I had to select categories and then enter a PIN on the phone before the machine would talk to me. If machines that have to use and understand human speech become the norm, we are in trouble. A machine is only as good as the programmers who programmed it, and they are human too. For some reason, they like to make it very difficult to reach a human being. And once you get past the machine, after it cannot figure out what you want, you can go on hold for quite a while.
I called them, and it took a good two minutes for the machine to yield to my will. After that, it dropped me onto hold, where I was subjected to some horrible upbeat Jazz-like music, with a radio-announcer voice constantly telling me all the ways that I could get my problems solved by using their help system on the web page. I finally spoke to a human, and was told that my account was already being used. It seemed to have been stuck to a previous e-mail address that became a spam magnet, and I stopped using it. Subsequently, I closed that PayPal account, and another which had also been used with the same bank account.
Then I called them back. Same ordeal getting into a hold queue, then a different agent telling me the same things as before. After updating the story, I got another answer which was that I had to get the checking account off of a third PayPal account which belongs to my wife. She has her own use for it, and a checking account for that use, and the funds don't mingle with our home accounts. I tried to tell them, but they insisted that she call them to give them permission to break the connection. She did, and waited through the same hold pattern to be told the same things I already knew. Twice.
I have since called three more times, and e-mailed them a dozen more. They don't reply to emails most of the time, except by an automated response system, but I did get to speak to a customer service supervisor, with no resolution, and got a personal email from a tech in their system somewhere. I still don't have a satisfying outcome. I finally had to close the account because it is getting personal now. I'm waiting for my check, and then I'm going to tell people what they are in for.
Which leads to the idea part: I'm sure this is nothing new, but what about renting some office space, and putting a bunch of phones in there, and hiring some underemployed Americans to answer the phones and direct calls to qualified technicians? This would have the advantage of giving a sympathetic and understanding voice to people when they call because of some frustration they are experiencing. Heck, even if the problem were never solved, at least the caller would feel like someone cares. The technology exists to route calls to phones based on a formula to make sure every phone operator gets the same amount of time in calls. They could also put computer terminals in, where people could log the calls, and when someone has to call five or ten times, the problem wouldn't have to be re-described.
The problem here is time. If I call a company, like PayPal, and have to voice-navigate a computer system to get to a person, they have stolen some of my time. And when I send a long message and the system logs me off for inactivity before I finish the message, and then drops the message because I have to log in again, they have stolen my time. I have never experienced such poor customer service from any entity, not even the Department of Motor Vehicles.
This is my idea. I could make a million bucks off of it.
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