This morning I tried paying my rent on an app my landlord has his tenants use. It wasn't my first time using the app as I had to pay my down payment and first month's rent using the app and my debit card. So I made the payment this morning, which hurt because it was $1,700, but when I clicked on "Pay Now" I got an "Incorrect Billing Address" error which didn't let the payment go through. I checked my bank account to see that the $1,700 had been withdrawn from my account, panic settled in so I sent screenshots to my landlord and called my bank. Wouldn't you have guessed it, I had to face off with a dang automated phone system for about 45 minutes and 3 hang up and redials just to finally get to a human being that I could speak to. Once I got on the phone with the agent, they helped calm me down and were able to look into everything for me and get the charges reversed.
This time I was lucky, but when will these automated phone systems finally do me in. I swear these automated phone systems will end up being the death of me. I know something similar to today's "Incorrect Billing Address" issue will cause me to call my bank in old age and that automated phone system will eagerly answer knowing it's bound to trigger the fatal heart attack that ends my life.
I think I should run for president based on bringing an end to these dang automated phone systems. A vote for me is a vote for a human being! Oh, and before I forget, the song I'm listening to today is "After Dark by Mr.Kitty". Hope this was an entertaining read at the very least. Have a great day!
Interesting that the app gave an error message yet still completed the transaction. Glad you were able to resolve the issue :-)
ReplyDeleteI have not encountered this issue since I live with my parents, but i hope I won't have to. It sounds slighlty stressing.
ReplyDeleteSomething I've found helps: yell gibberish into the phone.
ReplyDeleteMost of the time, after a moment or two of this, the "Operator" gets overwhelmed by the signal it can't interpret, and defaults to an actual person. I use this method now, basically any time that I start to hear an automated voice pick up on the other end.
It's been staggeringly effective.
Yeah it is terrible and only frustrates the end user even more so by the time they do speak to a representative they are rude.
ReplyDeleteLegit as soon as a robot starts talking, I immediately say "Agent" and its interrupts and confuses them, so I get a person. #Humanlivesmatter
ReplyDeleteI really hate making phone calls. They give me a lot of anxiety so I can't say I run into these issues too often.
ReplyDeleteIt sucks that you have to go through that, but What you describe is my exact frustration when having to deal with one of those automated phone system.
ReplyDeleteI feel it, every time I get a robot, I just start spamming zero until the robot doesn't understand and then I get a person. It doesn't even make since why they even have the robot when people just skip them all the time.
ReplyDeleteWhere are the real people when you need them? It is so frustrating when we have to go through these automated system sometimes and they don't work accordingly.
ReplyDeleteI hate automated phone systems. As soon as I hear the robot voice I "Speak to a representative" so fast. On the flip side I also hate when someone answers the phone, immediately puts it on hold and the call disconnects.
ReplyDeleteAutomated phone systems can get pretty frustrating at times, which is ironic because aren't they suppose to make things easier?
ReplyDeleteYes! I hate them so much! Especially when you are trying to reach a real person and they say "I couldn't quite understand that" and proceeds to read all the options available.
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