The other day my wife called CVS trying to get her prescription filled at a different location. I listened to her for 10 minutes in an infinite loop of listening to an automated voice and hitting menu numbers. At about the time I thought she was about to murder someone I asked "would you like help!". She said annoyed "I don't know what you're going to do that I haven't, but sure". I proceeded to hit 0 every time it tried to talk and it took hitting 0 like 50 times before it let me talk to a real fucking person. It's insane just how hard it is to actually talk to real people anymore. I don't care if the person barely speaks English and I have to use Google translate to fix my problem, you're expensive AI isn't better.

[–] DudeDudenson@lemmings.world 30 points 9 months ago

The whole point isn't to make it better but to "handle" the call as cheaply as possible.

If you just hang up in frustration at an automated system that's one less call the call center has to take and that allows them to reduce the staff

[–] Baines@lemmy.world 14 points 9 months ago (1 children)

lol Verizon Wireless support bot just hangs up on you if you do that

[–] captainlezbian@lemmy.world 6 points 9 months ago (1 children)

Yeah I’ve had a few of these things pull that shit. Like idk if I didn’t have a problem I need an actual person for I’d’ve use your fucking website

[–] Baines@lemmy.world 2 points 9 months ago

yea these companies are trash

[–] reverendsteveii@lemm.ee 10 points 9 months ago (1 children)

scream obscenities at the voice prompt. i'm not kidding. idk if it's voice to text, or just recognizing extreme changes in volume but almost any time that I scream obscenities at the voice prompt it routes me to a human who can actually do what I need.

[–] kureta@lemmy.ml 5 points 9 months ago

My wife was on a call with Vodafone a few days ago. I was finally able to get to a human and I think I know how. Just said stuff the chatbot could not recognize. Just gibberish. It shouldn't even be able to guess what you are trying to accomplish. After just a few tries it will redirect you to a human.

[–] SendMePhotos@lemmy.world 2 points 9 months ago

Gethuman.com helps.