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.  

[Biff Mayhem]

23 hours ago, Motor City Sonics said:

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.  

This is why you never reply in the affirmative if “someone” on the phone asks you if you can hear them. It’s usually a bot. I always repeat “what?!” because a human would answer differently. 

[oblong]

I never engage with anybody who calls me that i don't know.

I have to call Walgreen's a lot for prescription issues.  It takes 90 seconds to finally get thru the pharmacy line, meaning it's calling them directly.  Until then I get the automated script about hours and "if this is an emergency...."  I am told that "In most cases I can help you...." which is not true for my situation, which is why I am calling.  Their system is only as good as the app.  If the app can't do it, then I call.

 

[chasfh]

If I don't recognize a number, I don't answer. Let them leave a message if it's so important. They almost never do. Occasionally, if I am annoyed enough, I will log into my Google Voice, which is under a different number, and call the number back to see whether it's real and if so who it is. Vast majority of the time, it's not even a valid number, or if it is, a recording tells me some flavor of "we are not available to answer your call". So, number spoofing, because of course it would be.

On the other side of the ledger: One of my favorites when I call a bank about an issue is the menu items (which I have to listen to in its entirety because it has recently been changed 😏). The first option is usually, "to check your account balance, press 1", and I'm thinking, how old and/or offline do I have to be to have to call a bank on the phone to see how much money I have with them? Do people actually choose that option often?

Last one: whenever I call a utility like DirecTV for customer service, the first three options are usually about sending them money: "To make a payment by phone, press 1; to make a payment by credit card, press 2; to make a payment by check, press 3 ..."

[CMRivdogs]

15 minutes ago, chasfh said:

If I don't recognize a number, I don't answer. Let them leave a message if it's so important. They almost never do. Occasionally, if I am annoyed enough, I will log into my Google Voice, which is under a different number, and call the number back to see whether it's real and if so who it is. Vast majority of the time, it's not even a valid number, or if it is, a recording tells me some flavor of "we are not available to answer your call". So, number spoofing, because of course it would be.

 

I had an argument with my then pulmonary doctor over this a few years ago. At an appointment he asked how I was doing under a certain medication. I told him I hadn't heard from anyone.

"Do you answer your phone when it's an unknown caller?' No

"You should aways answer your phone". If it was important they should leave a voicemail.

We went round about this for several minutes. Then he said "you'll enjoy Dr. XXX" and walks out. 

It turns out his "assistant never sent the prescription in (the prescription comes from s speciality pharmacy). And never contacted the specialist to set up an appointment, until I called his office the second time.

I stll don't answer my phone on unknowns. I figure if they needed to call me they'd leave a message. If it's not in my directory...

[gehringer_2]

1 hour ago, CMRivdogs said:

I had an argument with my then pulmonary doctor over this a few years ago. At an appointment he asked how I was doing under a certain medication. I told him I hadn't heard from anyone.

"Do you answer your phone when it's an unknown caller?' No

"You should aways answer your phone". If it was important they should leave a voicemail.

We went round about this for several minutes. Then he said "you'll enjoy Dr. XXX" and walks out. 

It turns out his "assistant never sent the prescription in (the prescription comes from s speciality pharmacy). And never contacted the specialist to set up an appointment, until I called his office the second time.

I stll don't answer my phone on unknowns. I figure if they needed to call me they'd leave a message. If it's not in my directory...

UofM system always leaves voice mails and usually sends texts/emails as well. Nobody should be relying on a live telephone connection to communicate in the 21st century, it's been a debased system for a long time. Another thing that shouldn't be the way it is but we have a government that doesn't work.

Edited 1 minute ago by gehringer_2