The pet peeve thread

[chasfh]

Maybe I posted about this before but I don’t remember, but:

When you’re phoning for customer support, the AI voice gets all your information—name, address, birthdate, last four of social, and a description of your issue—and then when you get passed to a human, they ask you all the same information again, claiming they don’t have it in front of them. This appears to occur in the vast majority of customer support phone call situations. If the support human doesn’t have all the info passed to them, them why is the AI voice asking it of you in the first place?

I don’t know whether I’ve merely lucked into substandard support systems repeatedly, whether the companies intentionally use AI voices to harvest the information and keeps the support human in the dark, or whether the support human gets the info passed to them but is instructed to ask for all the info all over again, but no matter what the deal is, it’s bad.

Furthermore, I have no feel for whether this entire situation is intentionally deployed with the specific goal of training people to stop reaching out to customer support, at least by phone, by frustrating them. There’s a non-zero chance of that, too.

[CMRivdogs]

1 hour ago, chasfh said:

Maybe I posted about this before but I don’t remember, but:

When you’re phoning for customer support, the AI voice gets all your information—name, address, birthdate, last four of social, and a description of your issue—and then when you get passed to a human, they ask you all the same information again, claiming they don’t have it in front of them. This appears to occur in the vast majority of customer support phone call situations. If the support human doesn’t have all the info passed to them, them why is the AI voice asking it of you in the first place?

I don’t know whether I’ve merely lucked into substandard support systems repeatedly, whether the companies intentionally use AI voices to harvest the information and keeps the support human in the dark, or whether the support human gets the info passed to them but is instructed to ask for all the info all over again, but no matter what the deal is, it’s bad.

Furthermore, I have no feel for whether this entire situation is intentionally deployed with the specific goal of training people to stop reaching out to customer support, at least by phone, by frustrating them. There’s a non-zero chance of that, too.

 

Having been on the other side prior to the proliferation of AI, it's all part of the script. Since the vast majority of these CS folks make about as much as fast food workers (without smelling like french fries and Jamoca shakes) it's basically required at most companies. If they have the information on their computer screen, there is still the requirement to verify informqtion.

A bit like going to the doctor for a series of tests and every person you run into will ask you to verify your date of birth. 

[chasfh]

3 hours ago, CMRivdogs said:

 

Having been on the other side prior to the proliferation of AI, it's all part of the script. Since the vast majority of these CS folks make about as much as fast food workers (without smelling like french fries and Jamoca shakes) it's basically required at most companies. If they have the information on their computer screen, there is still the requirement to verify informqtion.

A bit like going to the doctor for a series of tests and every person you run into will ask you to verify your date of birth. 

Then I will no longer waste my time telling agent anything about it, if all it gets me is a doubling of my effort. It's so much faster and easier to just say "agent" until I get a human—unless you can tell me that just makes it worse, and why.

[CMRivdogs]

28 minutes ago, chasfh said:

Then I will no longer waste my time telling agent anything about it, if all it gets me is a doubling of my effort. It's so much faster and easier to just say "agent" until I get a human—unless you can tell me that just makes it worse, and why.

TBH, I don't know. My experience was in smaller operations, last one just before COVID (I quit, retired very shortly after the shutdown). Give it a try, it just might work. When I do have to use the system, that's what I do anyway. 

I find it just as frustrating for things like doctors'  appointments or changing hotel reservations. Most everything else is with smaller businesses. 

[Motor City Sonics]

On 4/25/2026 at 9:05 AM, chasfh said:

Maybe I posted about this before but I don’t remember, but:

When you’re phoning for customer support, the AI voice gets all your information—name, address, birthdate, last four of social, and a description of your issue—and then when you get passed to a human, they ask you all the same information again, claiming they don’t have it in front of them. This appears to occur in the vast majority of customer support phone call situations. If the support human doesn’t have all the info passed to them, them why is the AI voice asking it of you in the first place?

I don’t know whether I’ve merely lucked into substandard support systems repeatedly, whether the companies intentionally use AI voices to harvest the information and keeps the support human in the dark, or whether the support human gets the info passed to them but is instructed to ask for all the info all over again, but no matter what the deal is, it’s bad.

Furthermore, I have no feel for whether this entire situation is intentionally deployed with the specific goal of training people to stop reaching out to customer support, at least by phone, by frustrating them. There’s a non-zero chance of that, too.

I am very cynical with all this crap.   That AI asking for your name and address - it's recording your voice and I think there is the STRONG possibility that somewhere down the line the recording of your voice will be used to get you into something you never agreed to do.    "Well, we've got a recording of you giving your info for this.......". 

Sure, it would be foolish for major companies to do this, but look what Wells Fargo did with customer information.  Opened millions of fake accounts.    They got busted.  Paid a fine (which was far less than what they probably gained in the scam) and then they DID IT AGAIN. only using info from people who weren't their own customers.   Gee, wonder where they got that info?    Wells Fargo shouldn't be allowed to exist anymore, yet people still kneel to them.  

I'm just so beaten down by all of it.   I just don't get why there is so much dishonesty and scumbaggery in this world and especially in this country (because the wealthy NEVER get punished in the USA).  We've reached a point where dishonesty is celebrated and when you just live your life in relative honesty and with relative integrity, YOU are the one that's the outsider.   A.I. is only going to accelerate it all.