Frustrated! Venting! US Airways, Voice Mail, Mexico City???

[amicus]

Frustrated! Venting! US Airways, Voice Mail, Mexico City???


I leave Wednesday from a small city in North Carolina enroute to San Diego, California.

Reservations are made and paid for, but I have several things to ship, including a rather oversized computer.

Shipping costs, be it Fedex, UP or the Post Office, including insurance do not make it economical to ship either a monitor or a printer, may as well buy a new one when I get there.

But the thousands of files on the computer…yes, could just pull the hard drive, could buy an external hard drive and transfer files enmasse.

I decided to make the computer, packed in a plastic container, my second piece of check in baggage and sought to discover the cost and limitations for a third and possibly fourth piece of check in baggage.

That was three days ago, including the weekend.

Finding the telephone number for the local airport, I ran into automated answering devices, voice mail, I guess and in addition to endless advertising promotions for US Air and America West, which apparently just merged, and kept getting bounced from one automated voice to another.

After I was sent to the ‘cargo’ department and finally found a live human voice, it was recommended I return to the ‘main’ 800 number for US Airways and if I could not find answers, ask for a supervisor.

Well, I got no answers from 7 different ‘live’ human voices that all spoke with a very heavy Spanish and in one case, French accent.

When I finally asked to speak with a supervisor, I was told they would tell me the same thing, so I said, ‘Please transfer this call to your supervisor’. So, I was put on hold again, listening to advertising and voice menu’s for another 10 minutes until another recorded voice came on the telephone to tell me the call was being disconnected.

And it did. The bastards hung up on me.

Well, bright and early this morning, I found out why, after 20 minutes of the phone chase with automated voice menu’s, I finally got another real person, again, with a very heavy Spanish accent. Since I had waited the weekend to talk with the local airport reservations desk and did my damnedest to ‘push the right button’ upon prompting, I finally asked, “Where are you located?” This is the main 800 number for US Airways, mind you.

“Mexico City.” The voice answered. “Mexico City?” I roared into the telephone.

It would appear, at least to me, the US Airways has outsourced its main information service to Mexico City. At least they gave the dimensions of the baggage in both inches and centimeters, although the pronunciation of ‘centimeters’ in Spanish, took me three attempts to comprehend.

So, Wednesday afternoon, me and my boxed up computer will arrive at an airport and hope for the best.

Wish me luck…and see you soon…(maybe)


Amicus….

Edited to add: I forgot to mention the irony of immigrant demonstrations planned across the country today and that whole wormpile of controversy, not to mention the ongoing 'outsourcing' bitterness by Lou Dobbs and CNN in general. Sighs...

 

[shereads]

Those automated 'customer service' telephone mazes are going to turn us all into psycho killers eventually. Two good reasons to become a tower sniper:

1. My new mortgage company's toll-free customer service line, the patented No-Way-Through, No-Way-Out Voice-Guided Path to Nowhere. Thank you, HSBC Mortgage Services, for a virtual minefield of menu choices so convoluted and infuriating, you have to wonder if it was designed not only to eliminate the expense of human contact, but of actual customers, who are now viewed as a hindrance to efficient operations.

I spent 35 minutes last Friday attempting to ask the question, "How can I register for online account access when your website requires a 15-digit account number and mine is only 10 digits long?" Unfortunately, a 15-digit account number is also required for access to customer service by phone. This is one of several systems I've come up against recently that don't offer a way to bypass the menu and speak to an operator - but this one is ingeniously evil, in that it tells you your call is being transferred, asks you to hold, and then - after having you wait long enough that you must, indeed, be waiting for your turn with an actual human being - sends you back where you started: "So that we can properly direct your call, please enter your 15-digit account number..."

In the name of all that's holy, you shriek into the phone despite there being no one to hear you, which part of 'I don't have a 15-digit account number' do you not understand? And why is the 10-digit account number printed on my bill just fine when you're processing my payment, but useless when I have a question? What! The! FUCK!

"We're sorry; we did not understand your request. Please enter your 15-digit account number so that we can properly direct your call."

-----

2. American Airlines' voice-recognition system, which hears "Chicago" as "Reno, Nevada." Four times in a row.

 

[zeb1094]

Those automated 'customer service' telephone mazes are going to turn us all into psycho killers eventually. Two good reasons to become a tower sniper:

1. My new mortgage company's toll-free customer service line, the patented No-Way-Through, No-Way-Out Voice-Guided Path to Nowhere. Thank you, HSBC Mortgage Services, for a virtual minefield of menu choices so convoluted and infuriating, you have to wonder if it was designed not only to eliminate the expense of human contact, but of actual customers, who are now viewed as a hindrance to efficient operations.

I spent 35 minutes last Friday attempting to ask the question, "How can I register for online account access when your website requires a 15-digit account number and mine is only 10 digits long?" Unfortunately, a 15-digit account number is also required for access to customer service by phone. This is one of several systems I've come up against recently that don't offer a way to bypass the menu and speak to an operator - but this one is ingeniously evil, in that it tells you your call is being transferred, asks you to hold, and then - after having you wait long enough that you must, indeed, be waiting for your turn with an actual human being - sends you back where you started: "So that we can properly direct your call, please enter your 15-digit account number..."

In the name of all that's holy, you shriek into the phone despite there being no one to hear you, which part of 'I don't have a 15-digit account number' do you not understand? And why is the 10-digit account number printed on my bill just fine when you're processing my payment, but useless when I have a question? What! The! FUCK!

"We're sorry; we did not understand your request. Please enter your 15-digit account number so that we can properly direct your call."

-----

2. American Airlines' voice-recognition system, which hears "Chicago" as "Reno, Nevada." Four times in a row.

1. Add five zeros to the begining of your 10 digit account number. It might work.

2. Use the AA web sight! or Try saying ORD or MDW for the Chicago Airport you want! O'Hara or Midway.

 

[shereads]

1. Add five zeros to the begining of your 10 digit account number. It might work.

2. Use the AA web sight! or Try saying ORD or MDW for the Chicago Airport you want! O'Hara or Midway.

1. Tried that. Also tried hitting desk with phone. Same result.

2. I was in the car at the time. On my way to pick someone up at the airport and needed the arrival gate. Will use Orbitz next time.

2.2. Oh yeah? Well then why did the voice prompt ask for the departure city?

"Please speak the name of the departure city."

"Shih-KAH-Go."

'We're sorry; there are no flights arriving from...REE-no. Nev-AH-da. To return to the main menu, press or say 'one.' To be disconnected, or placed on hold and then disconnected, please attempt to bypass this voice-prompt menu by pressing zero or saying, 'Operator...'"

Questions: Why, if the call 'may be recorded for quality assurance purposes,' is there no assurance of quality?

Also: Why do the voice prompts at my insurance company's and bank's customer service lines both ask for an account number and social security number before they can direct my call to someone who immediately asks for my account number and social security number?

Don't make me come over there.

 

[zeb1094]

1. Tried that. Also tried hitting desk with phone. Same result.

2. I was in the car at the time. On my way to pick someone up at the airport and needed the arrival gate. Will use Orbitz next time.

2.2. Oh yeah? Well then why did the voice prompt ask for the departure city?

"Please speak the name of the departure city."

"Shih-KAH-Go."

'We're sorry; there are no flights arriving from...REE-no. Nev-AH-da. To return to the main menu, press or say 'one.' To be disconnected, or placed on hold and then disconnected, please attempt to bypass this voice-prompt menu by pressing zero or saying, 'Operator...'"

Questions: Why, if the call 'may be recorded for quality assurance purposes,' is there no assurance of quality?

Also: Why do the voice prompts at my insurance company's and bank's customer service lines both ask for an account number and social security number before they can direct my call to someone who immediately asks for my account number and social security number?

Don't make me come over there.

1. ok, try the four digit year that your morgage was initiated with a dash '-' between that and the rest of the number.

2. There you go you pronounced it wrong. It's She-Caw-go.

 

[amicus]

Thanks, Shereads, I was certain I was not a voice alone in the wilderness on this and a pleasure to hear from you again.

However...in attempting to 'do the right thing', I went to the post office to execute a change of address and was informed that mail from my post office box would not be forwarded, that I was required to inform each, individually that my address had changed.

There is no home delivery in this little hamlet where I am hiding, to write and escape grandparental duties for a spell, thus, I had no choice but to receive mail through a PO Box.

With just a smidgin of favor from the Gods, I will get moved, I will get my baggage and I will not crash in the midst of an immigrant rally in Des Moines or Santa Cruz, but no one will be able to mail me.

Ciao...


amicus....

 

[neonlyte]

Amicus,
I feel for you. I changed insurers last year, UK company, phones answered in India. Nothing against India, they need the jobs, but they speak from a card index of known problems, anything 'different' and they cannot help.

 

[shereads]

2. There you go you pronounced it wrong. It's She-Caw-go.

"We're sorry. There are no entries in this thread matching 'Ken-neh-BUNK-port, New ZEE-land.' To return to the main menu, press 1. To go postal, please hold while we transfer your call to a firearms specialist..."

 

[zeb1094]

"We're sorry. There are no entries in this thread matching 'Ken-neh-BUNK-port, New ZEE-land.' To return to the main menu, press 1. To go postal, please hold while we transfer your call to a firearms specialist..."

Hey, I tried!

Next time just press 0, sometimes they haven't disabled that at the PBX and you get a live person. If that doesn't work just don't answer the first question or menu, this will sometimes have a default condition on them to transfer you to a real person.

There is a web site, forgot what it's called, that has the secret codes to most companies in the US. These are the sequence of numbers to get you past all the menus to a real person. Sorry I can't remember what it is.

 

[shereads]

Nothing against India, they need the jobs,

True. And as we are learning, customer service is one of those 'jobs Americans won't do' for 60 cents an hour.

but they speak from a card index of known problems, anything 'different' and they cannot help.

I feel your pain. I'm not sure if my pain originated in India or Pakistan; I only know that the people are unerringly polite and refuse to be baited by my bad mood - which, along with their charmingly accented, lilting English, is a dead giveaway that my call has been transferred outside the U.S.

Another clue that your call has been outsourced via satellite to a polite but less than fully helpful phone center: having to explain what 'replacement value' means to an insurance company representative who invariably introduces him/herself as either David, Robert, Janice or Elizabeth. (Try it! If a new name has been added to the script, I'll buy the next round.)

 

[TheEarl]

I feel your pain. I'm not sure if my pain originated in India or Pakistan; I only know that the people are unerringly polite and refuse to be baited by my bad mood - which, along with their charmingly accented, lilting English, is a dead giveaway that my call has been transferred outside the U.S.

Another clue that your call has been outsourced via satellite to a polite but less than fully helpful phone center: having to explain what 'replacement value' means to an insurance company representative who invariably introduces him/herself as either David, Robert, Janice or Elizabeth. (Try it! If a new name has been added to the script, I'll buy the next round.)

I once got through to a call-centre where my call was answered by a very strongly Pakistani-accented man who was adamant that his name was Kieran. <pulls face>

The Earl

 

[neonlyte]

I once got through to a call-centre where my call was answered by a very strongly Pakistani-accented man who was adamant that his name was Kieran. <pulls face>

The Earl

I remember him

True. And as we are learning, customer service is one of those 'jobs Americans won't do' for 60 cents an hour.

Don't fret Shereads. the jobs come back, one unemployment reaches 20%, it's still 60 cents an hour though.

 

[shereads]

There is a web site, forgot what it's called, that has the secret codes to most companies in the US. These are the sequence of numbers to get you past all the menus to a real person. Sorry I can't remember what it is.

I'll hold.

 

[cheerful_deviant]

You fly US Air? You're braver than I thought.

The last time I flew US Air was about 5 years ago and the plane appeared considerably older than my then 26 years old. A car in that kind of condition would have been in the junkyard already. I thought maybe it was backup they were using as a stand in. But my return trip was on a plane that was almost as old. A decripit old DC-9.

US Air is mostly just a flying bone yard.

 

[zeb1094]

I'll hold.

Opps, Looks like we lost the 10th caller, ladies and gentlemen.

So that means tomorrows prize will be even bigger!