OT: Frustration Anger and Humor

[Tom_PSU]

I’m wondering how many others here have endured this? So this morning I’m on my IPhone and call this number to receive a refund on a purchase I made. The line is answered by a recording, and after the perfunctory greeting it tells me to make a selection from the following options as our menu has changed.

First off, every place I call that’s all I hear. No wonder nothing gets done, because everyone in either the corporate headquarters or doctors office is engaged full time in changing menus.

Well I make my selection and another recording asks me for the last three digits of my credit card, DOB and something else that I can’t remember right now. Then a message appears asking me to retype what’s on the screen to prove I’m not a robot. Well, I fail the first time, and the condescending computer SOB says try again. And I’m trying to figure out how society has evolved to the point where a human has to prove to a computer that he’s not a robot. Okay success, another message then appears telling me to phone the customer relations department.

So I call and receive another Chinese water torture our menus have changed message. Finally, supposedly I reach a human whose Indian accent is so thick that Mahatma Ghandi couldn’t understand him. Plus the connection was so poor it sounded like the guy was under a mortar attack. Finally I throw the phone down in frustration and anger and give up with the realization that was their plan all along. Then I laughed because they got me, and the human with the accent was also probably a robot.

 

[psuro]

 

[GrimReaper]

I’m wondering how many others here have endured this? So this morning I’m on my IPhone and call this number to receive a refund on a purchase I made. The line is answered by a recording, and after the perfunctory greeting it tells me to make a selection from the following options as our menu has changed.

First off, every place I call that’s all I hear. No wonder nothing gets done, because everyone in either the corporate headquarters or doctors office is engaged full time in changing menus.

Well I make my selection and another recording asks me for the last three digits of my credit card, DOB and something else that I can’t remember right now. Then a message appears asking me to retype what’s on the screen to prove I’m not a robot. Well, I fail the first time, and the condescending computer SOB says try again. And I’m trying to figure out how society has evolved to the point where a human has to prove to a computer that he’s not a robot. Okay success, another message then appears telling me to phone the customer relations department.

So I call and receive another Chinese water torture our menus have changed message. Finally, supposedly I reach a human whose Indian accent is so thick that Mahatma Ghandi couldn’t understand him. Plus the connection was so poor it sounded like the guy was under a mortar attack. Finally I throw the phone down in frustration and anger and give up with the realization that was their plan all along. Then I laughed because they got me, and the human with the accent was also probably a robot.

Incompetence by design.

 

[BostonNit]

Was having a phone screen problem yesterday. I google the symptoms and find a complete reddit thread discussing it. I read through the thread and apparently the problem is caused by a bad batch of screens and related hardware that displays the images on the screen. The only solution is to replace the phone, because even a screen replacement doesn't solve it. Every single person was told to do a factory reset and reload their phone as part of the troubleshooting. There were literally ZERO people who said a factory reset helped, and 100% of the people who said all it helped with was wasting an hour of their time to do a backup, factory reset, and reload.

So after first going through Verizons online chat, I get to problem determination step, message the service rep the link to the reddit forum discussing this problem, and I get disconnected. The chat window won't reload on my PC and the 30 mins up to that point were wasted.

So then I call the number. Repeat the account validation, etc. other steps with the phone support person. Get to the problem determination piece. Am told the next step is to do a factory reset. I told them I wasn't going to do one because there is ZERO evidence that is solves this specific problem and substantial evidence that it does not. I tell them what to google to find the reddit discussion on this exact problem. Get placed on hold so she could determine if we can move forward with device replacement without the factory reset step... and get disconnected.

Third try, and another 45 mins or so after hold time etc. Once again get to the problem determination/factory reset step. Have them walk me through how to do it. I say let me put you on hold while my phone resets (I was using another line to speak with them). Got up, took a leak, ate a slice of pizza out of the fridge, then grabbed the phone 5-10 mins later and said "factory reset complete, screen problem still happening".

3rd REP: "Ok thanks for following the problem determination process, we will order a replacement phone for you."

Total elapsed time? Just under 3 hrs (without even doing the worthless factory reset and reload).

Replacement phone just arrived. Why is this all so difficult?

 

[Bones80]

What I love is when you call (or chat) the Verizon assistance line to get help with what should be a quick fix and find out they don’t want to help you, they just want to sell you a new and more expensive plan.

 

[rudedude]

I’m wondering how many others here have endured this? So this morning I’m on my IPhone and call this number to receive a refund on a purchase I made. The line is answered by a recording, and after the perfunctory greeting it tells me to make a selection from the following options as our menu has changed.

First off, every place I call that’s all I hear. No wonder nothing gets done, because everyone in either the corporate headquarters or doctors office is engaged full time in changing menus.

Well I make my selection and another recording asks me for the last three digits of my credit card, DOB and something else that I can’t remember right now. Then a message appears asking me to retype what’s on the screen to prove I’m not a robot. Well, I fail the first time, and the condescending computer SOB says try again. And I’m trying to figure out how society has evolved to the point where a human has to prove to a computer that he’s not a robot. Okay success, another message then appears telling me to phone the customer relations department.

So I call and receive another Chinese water torture our menus have changed message. Finally, supposedly I reach a human whose Indian accent is so thick that Mahatma Ghandi couldn’t understand him. Plus the connection was so poor it sounded like the guy was under a mortar attack. Finally I throw the phone down in frustration and anger and give up with the realization that was their plan all along. Then I laughed because they got me, and the human with the accent was also probably a robot.

 

[BostonNit]

What I love is when you call (or chat) the Verizon assistance line to get help with what should be a quick fix and find out they don’t want to help you, they just want to sell you a new and more expensive plan.

Both phone reps tried to sell me a "total home support" policy so they could help troubleshoot and replace any appliances that went wrong in my home. How do you force a factory reset on a dishwasher??? lol

 

[Midnighter]

No humor and not on the phone, but I am damn tired of PayPal scammers. I receive one money request a week for some subscription or something for like $500 and they’re hoping you call the number on their ‘invoice’ so they can get you to give them what they really want.

 

[ILLINOISLION]

I cancelled my landline back in Sept. Despite three different calls totalling close to three hours I keep getting month-after-month of new bills. Just got Feb’s, total is now up to almost $300.

Ridiculous…..absolutely ridiculous. AT&T.

 

[troutrus]

It’s one of the big reasons why I’m happy to be old. I figure I don’t have to put up with this crap much longer.

 

[manatree]

 

[PSU Mike]

Incompetence by design.

They definitely try to get you to tap out. The little bit of code and resources to route you around is negligible compared to the loss if they have to take the action you want them to.

 

[northwoods]

I’m wondering how many others here have endured this? So this morning I’m on my IPhone and call this number to receive a refund on a purchase I made. The line is answered by a recording, and after the perfunctory greeting it tells me to make a selection from the following options as our menu has changed.

First off, every place I call that’s all I hear. No wonder nothing gets done, because everyone in either the corporate headquarters or doctors office is engaged full time in changing menus.

Well I make my selection and another recording asks me for the last three digits of my credit card, DOB and something else that I can’t remember right now. Then a message appears asking me to retype what’s on the screen to prove I’m not a robot. Well, I fail the first time, and the condescending computer SOB says try again. And I’m trying to figure out how society has evolved to the point where a human has to prove to a computer that he’s not a robot. Okay success, another message then appears telling me to phone the customer relations department.

So I call and receive another Chinese water torture our menus have changed message. Finally, supposedly I reach a human whose Indian accent is so thick that Mahatma Ghandi couldn’t understand him. Plus the connection was so poor it sounded like the guy was under a mortar attack. Finally I throw the phone down in frustration and anger and give up with the realization that was their plan all along. Then I laughed because they got me, and the human with the accent was also probably a robot.

You will not be surprised to hear that, after multiple similar experiences, I (having just recently turned 80) have on multiple occasions said to my wife "I absolutely hate today's world" adding, and not entirely in jest, "I am so thankful that most of my life predated today's world, as a part of me is actually almost glad I won't be in it that much longer". I especially enjoy the "I am not a robot" test identifying the traffic lights that is impossible to get right it is so subjective and poorly executed (or the choice of four prompts, none of which is applicable to your call, but which allows you no other options and actually even cuts you off if you don't promptly choose one of them, all after a long wait to initially just get through, and while you are being reminded numerous times of "how important your call is"). What we've managing to do to service, civility, common sense, political sanity, and human communication by calling new initiatives "progress" is simply criminal. And I see it getting even worse, not better. There is a reason I walk through the woods several miles a day

 

[northwoods]

It’s one of the big reasons why I’m happy to be old. I figure I don’t have to put up with this crap much longer.

You'll love my reply to Tom's initial post (which was made before just reading yours). Same thoughts exactly.

 

[PSUAVLNC]

We just cut our cable and satellite tv cords. You wouldn't believe the carp we went through just to disconnect service. So happy to be 100% streaming.

 

[PSUAVLNC]

You will not be surprised to hear that, after multiple similar experiences, I (having just recently turned 80) have on multiple occasions said to my wife "I absolutely hate today's world" adding, and not entirely in jest, "I am so thankful that most of my life predated today's world, as a part of me is actually almost glad I won't be in it that much longer". I especially enjoy the "I am not a robot" test identifying the traffic lights that is impossible to get right it is so subjective and poorly executed (or the choice of four prompts, none of which is applicable to your call, but which allows you no other options and actually even cuts you off if you don't promptly choose one of them, all after a long wait to initially just get through, and while you are being reminded numerous times of "how important your call is"). What we've managing to do to service, civility, common sense, political sanity, and human communication by calling new initiatives "progress" is simply criminal. And I see it getting even worse, not better. There is a reason I walk through the woods several miles a day

Amen!!!! I am living in your world my friend!

 

[AvgUser]

I will add that the call-director voices speak way too fvcking slow

 

[Nittany1865Farmer]

Another huge pain in the arse is Sirius XM radio. I cancelled my car subscription after they raised the rate again at the beginning of the year. (every six months the rate was increasing)!! The lady handling my call kept trying to "work out" a new package for me that would suit my listening needs, but guess what? I would have had to buy multiple add-ons to get all of the stations that I was listening too, and this would have costed more than my original plan. So I told her to completely cancel my subscription. Now I get letters and fvking #$#@$$@!!! telemarketer calls from them every day trying to get me back as a customer. Go jump in a pit of hot boiling lava you herd of leeches!!

 

[Fac]

Another huge pain in the arse is Sirius XM radio. I cancelled my car subscription after they raised the rate again at the beginning of the year. (every six months the rate was increasing)!! The lady handling my call kept trying to "work out" a new package for me that would suit my listening needs, but guess what? I would have had to buy multiple add-ons to get all of the stations that I was listening too, and this would have costed more than my original plan. So I told her to completely cancel my subscription. Now I get letters and fvking #$#@$$@!!! telemarketer calls from them every day trying to get me back as a customer. Go jump in a pit of hot boiling lava you herd of leeches!!

Whenever my rates try to go up my calls and says give her the old rate or she will cancel. Always works as $x is better than no $x.

 

[psu31trap]

I’m wondering how many others here have endured this? So this morning I’m on my IPhone and call this number to receive a refund on a purchase I made. The line is answered by a recording, and after the perfunctory greeting it tells me to make a selection from the following options as our menu has changed.

First off, every place I call that’s all I hear. No wonder nothing gets done, because everyone in either the corporate headquarters or doctors office is engaged full time in changing menus.

Well I make my selection and another recording asks me for the last three digits of my credit card, DOB and something else that I can’t remember right now. Then a message appears asking me to retype what’s on the screen to prove I’m not a robot. Well, I fail the first time, and the condescending computer SOB says try again. And I’m trying to figure out how society has evolved to the point where a human has to prove to a computer that he’s not a robot. Okay success, another message then appears telling me to phone the customer relations department.

So I call and receive another Chinese water torture our menus have changed message. Finally, supposedly I reach a human whose Indian accent is so thick that Mahatma Ghandi couldn’t understand him. Plus the connection was so poor it sounded like the guy was under a mortar attack. Finally I throw the phone down in frustration and anger and give up with the realization that was their plan all along. Then I laughed because they got me, and the human with the accent was also probably a robot.

I called Medicare to coordinate my mom’s benefits upon her retirement and removing an open insurance claim from 2004 which was news to us. I retrieved a non-fault close out letter from her insurance which was sent to Medicare in 2006. This did not matter to the person on the phone, she said “mistakes happen and your mom or the insurance company should have followed up with us”. I knew where this was going so I remained calm and accepted the fact that she was going to make me jump through hoops if I wanted that claim removed from their system. She then gave me a fax number that did not work. I called back and asked if there was another fax number and was rudely told “No sir that’s the only fax number and it’s usually overwhelmed with faxes or broken”. Finally, I was told to mail in the document which will add 2 to 3 weeks to the entire process, in the meantime the bills keep piling up.

 

[Lanz]

I’m wondering how many others here have endured this? So this morning I’m on my IPhone and call this number to receive a refund on a purchase I made. The line is answered by a recording, and after the perfunctory greeting it tells me to make a selection from the following options as our menu has changed.

First off, every place I call that’s all I hear. No wonder nothing gets done, because everyone in either the corporate headquarters or doctors office is engaged full time in changing menus.

Well I make my selection and another recording asks me for the last three digits of my credit card, DOB and something else that I can’t remember right now. Then a message appears asking me to retype what’s on the screen to prove I’m not a robot. Well, I fail the first time, and the condescending computer SOB says try again. And I’m trying to figure out how society has evolved to the point where a human has to prove to a computer that he’s not a robot. Okay success, another message then appears telling me to phone the customer relations department.

So I call and receive another Chinese water torture our menus have changed message. Finally, supposedly I reach a human whose Indian accent is so thick that Mahatma Ghandi couldn’t understand him. Plus the connection was so poor it sounded like the guy was under a mortar attack. Finally I throw the phone down in frustration and anger and give up with the realization that was their plan all along. Then I laughed because they got me, and the human with the accent was also probably a robot.

HAHA. Yes, Tom I had a similar experience over a $20 rebate. In the end I successfully received the $20, but it was so painful and time consuming I feel like I just should have let them keep my $20.

 

[nittanyfan333]

No humor and not on the phone, but I am damn tired of PayPal scammers. I receive one money request a week for some subscription or something for like $500 and they’re hoping you call the number on their ‘invoice’ so they can get you to give them what they really want.

Mine are the emails and texts about my "accounts" about to be locked out, and my crypto wallets getting closed. i'm so damn sick of it.

it's easy to tell the scams though, if you have even a slight grasp of the english language. you'd think the scammers would have a QC department that would proof-read these messages. "we have taken liberty to delete you're account because of fraudulent activities"....

 

[Metal Mike]

I’m wondering how many others here have endured this? So this morning I’m on my IPhone and call this number to receive a refund on a purchase I made. The line is answered by a recording, and after the perfunctory greeting it tells me to make a selection from the following options as our menu has changed.

First off, every place I call that’s all I hear. No wonder nothing gets done, because everyone in either the corporate headquarters or doctors office is engaged full time in changing menus.

Well I make my selection and another recording asks me for the last three digits of my credit card, DOB and something else that I can’t remember right now. Then a message appears asking me to retype what’s on the screen to prove I’m not a robot. Well, I fail the first time, and the condescending computer SOB says try again. And I’m trying to figure out how society has evolved to the point where a human has to prove to a computer that he’s not a robot. Okay success, another message then appears telling me to phone the customer relations department.

So I call and receive another Chinese water torture our menus have changed message. Finally, supposedly I reach a human whose Indian accent is so thick that Mahatma Ghandi couldn’t understand him. Plus the connection was so poor it sounded like the guy was under a mortar attack. Finally I throw the phone down in frustration and anger and give up with the realization that was their plan all along. Then I laughed because they got me, and the human with the accent was also probably a robot.

Tom You forgot "This call is important to us"

 

[Woodpecker]

Another huge pain in the arse is Sirius XM radio. I cancelled my car subscription after they raised the rate again at the beginning of the year. (every six months the rate was increasing)!! The lady handling my call kept trying to "work out" a new package for me that would suit my listening needs, but guess what? I would have had to buy multiple add-ons to get all of the stations that I was listening too, and this would have costed more than my original plan. So I told her to completely cancel my subscription. Now I get letters and fvking #$#@$$@!!! telemarketer calls from them every day trying to get me back as a customer. Go jump in a pit of hot boiling lava you herd of leeches!!

Similar experience with them. I tried to cancel and went back and forth until they said something like $5 for the next 6 months. I said yeah, OK, I suppose I can do that and after a couple minutes of disclaimers the agent tells me that I need to verify that I agreed to $20 for the next 6 months. I told them no and I will never do business with them again. That was 5 years ago but the still contact me several times/week.

 

[Daveb9127]

Whenever my rates try to go up my calls and says give her the old rate or she will cancel. Always works as $x is better than no $x.

Same with Sirius here. They wanted to take it from 5.99 to 23.99, I told them I'm only in my car 10 minutes a day, it's not worth it unless I have my old price. Got it. I try to call before the sub runs out, but I forgot this time.

 

[ODShowtime]

Every year there is the dance with Sirius to not get gouged. You threaten to cancel then you're offered the reasonable price for another year. Well, we have some progress this year as the whole dog and pony show is now automated. You call, they ask you if you want the reasonable price via robot, say yes, move on.

 

[Moogy]

Every year there is the dance with Sirius to not get gouged. You threaten to cancel then you're offered the reasonable price for another year. Well, we have some progress this year as the whole dog and pony show is now automated. You call, they ask you if you want the reasonable price via robot, say yes, move on.

Years ago, after the 3rd time successfully doing the "call to complain, get a MUCH lower price" dance, I simply told them that, on principle, I'm not supporting that business practice. Cancelled and haven't gone back. I don't know if they've fixed it, but back then I had a Sirius and an XM account, and they still were charging 2 much different prices, despite being the same general product under the same corporate leadership, following the merger.

 

[manatree]

Here's my most recent similar scenario. Back in September I get a letter from Geisinger saying that they over charged me $50 and were issuing me a refund. In November, I receive a letter with a Debit Card from some bank (Bank Of America?) explaining that refund was in an account with the bank and I have to activate the card in order to get the money. Reading the fine print I noticed that there would be a fee if I were to use it at an ATM to get the money. Why should I pay a fee to get my refund?

Reading the even finer print they gave a number to call if I wanted an actual refund check. So I call the number and the only option was to input the debit card numbers to activate it. After about fifteen times of inputing four random digits before pushing # instead of the sixteen digits on the card it finally kicked me to an actual person. The first person put me on hold for about ten minutes before transferring me to a second. The second put me on hod for ten minutes before transferring me to a third. The third put me on hold for another ten minutes before transferring me to a fourth person. The fourth person put me on hold for another ten minutes before transferring me to a fifth person who was finally authorized to issue me a check. I swear to God that the second and fourth person sounded exactly the same.

The check finally arrived the second week of January.

Why didn't Geisinger just issue the refund to the credit card that I used to make the original payment? How much money is Geisinger getting in exchange for this arrangement with the bank? I like my doctor, but this kind of bull crap actually made me think about finding another.

 

[kgilbert78]

My other favorite one is "we'll have someone call you tomorrow". I'm still waiting on some of those.

 

[PSU73]

Had a major life event happen a couple months ago. Had to call one of the largest investment firms in the country to make the needed changes. Problem is that their system does not have a single point of contact. You get whoever answers. With my circumstance, new account(s) needed to be set-up (within their house) and funds transferred to them. It was all to be done by me on-line. Many times the process did not complete and I was instructed to call the 800# when the on-line effort came to a halt, and of course got someone new. Had to explain all over. Happened repeatedly. Had different people tell me different things and especially re: step-up in cost basis...one said it's automatic and another you can choose whether you want to our not (the latter is the case). I had to argue with them to NOT do it as it was not an advantage to me (due to a loss position) and would in fact penalize me.
I needed $ for the unexpected expenses and asked to have a wire done. They told me the value date was Friday (which means it should hit my destination account that same day) but it did not get sent until Monday. They did debit my account on Friday however.
These folks did away with a single contact years ago and based on my recent experience, when I would have valued that heavily, has caused me to decide to move assets to another firm. Now, unhappy with them, I decided to move some of my funds and the account transfer request submitted Tuesday has still not been processed. The account value is significant, as it is a retirement account, and they still have not transferred the account. I was required to liquidate the account (convert to cash) because my prime asset was in an investment that was unique to their firm and therefore not transferable. So now it's the weekend and if it is transacted on Monday, it will be 7 days.
Seven days to do what is an existing automated brokerage-to-brokerage transfer product (using the ACATs system).

On Monday, I start moving my separate brokerage account to another investment company by wire transfer. I've been holding back so far on responding to their emails asking me to review my recent 'customer experience'.