Over the last couple of weeks, I have had to call three different service centers, all of which asked for some information before letting me talk to a real, living, breathing human being.  I dutifully and faithfully entered my phone number, account number, etc. only to have the living, breathing (supposedly) human being ask me for the same information.  When I asked if she didn't trust the electronic capture of the information, she replied, “Oh, we don't ever see that.”

Now I don't now about you, but I have to wonder why in the world does the electronic system give a rats about my phone and account numbers if it's not going to pass it along to the people?  It's safe to say I was offended and frustrated with the whole thing.

So here are my two rules of automated voice answering systems:

1.  Don't use them.  Pay the few bucks more for a person.  The customer is calling because they have a problem.  They're probably frustrated and angry.  They're going to talk to a person eventually, so why make them more frustrated and more angry before they get there?

2.   If you absolutely can't live without one of these systems, don't capture useless information and don't capture anything twice.  Get in, get what you need, and get out.  Don't prolong the agony.

Now, if you'll just enter your name, bank account numbers and passwords, a living breathing human being will be just a click away.