TuttleTree.com

I'll tell you what! Talking to phone robots. Nobody likes talking to those things, and they're ridiculously imprecise. Just let me push the numbers! And what about a scenario where maybe I don't want everyone within earshot to know my social security number? But that's not even why I started this entry. No, the real problem is customer service phone routing systems that send you to a specific group of representatives based on your calling telephone number. Today I called Verizon because I heard from a friend that they're giving away free FiOS internet speed upgrades. Not only do they have an annoying phone robot that requires you to answer 5 questions deep before sending you to a person (mashing 0 gets you nowhere with this one…), but then that person can only deal with a certain set of accounts. Now I'm all for security and protecting privacy and all of that jazz. But when I spend half an hour on the phone with a CSR only to find out that she can't make any changes to my account because she can't do anything to PA accounts… I'm not a happy customer! How many YEARS have we had the option to take our phone numbers with us when we change providers or move? And we haven't run into this problem before? I'm calling BS. You're already driving me freaking batty with the phone robot, the least you can do is make it USEFUL and ask me which state I'm in. That. That's what grinds my freaking gears. Now, I'm still on hold, 45 minutes later, trying to get through to someone who can change a PA account. The first woman, who couldn't help me, hung up on me when she tried to transfer me. Nothing is really free, is it?