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Letter of the Week: Press zero if frustrated

Why aren’t agents empowered to cut through the crap and deliver prompt and efficient service?
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Voice mail is driving me crazy, says a letter writer.

To the editor:

They all have them. Press 1, press 2 and so on. Some bury the route to a real live person way down in the menu system, if at all.

I called Telus with a question this morning. Went through all the steps and provided all the information the auto attendant asked for. Wait time was too long so I requested a call back, leaving all the personal information requested. Call came in. The live agent was following a script. The individual was incapable of independent thought. I had provided all that information I was being asked for via the callback module. I have caller ID and can confirm the number calling, why doesn’t the agent have the same capability? I gave you my name why are you asking for it again? My question was brief and succinct but the agent would not go off the script.

Why bother with asking all that information while using the automated phone answering system if the agent can’t access any of it when you finally connect with a real person? Why do I have to repeat all the hoops I jumped through before to get a simple yes or no answer to a very simple question. My question was: Does Telus sell phones designed for people with dementia? Yes or no, that’s all I wanted to know.

Why aren’t agents empowered to cut through the crap and deliver prompt and efficient service? Why have an auto attendant collect all that data if an agent can’t use it? Telus has duplicated the process to get an answer to a simple question.

Come on automated phone answer people, get in touch with reality and true efficiency. The auto answer system itself is not very efficient if information needs to be repeated and repeated while on the same call. Technology provides for information capture and instant retrieval. As a technology business Telus says they are at the forefront. Yeah, right. Telus, look beyond your nose to the obvious. Save us all time. Your agents are living individuals capable of independent thought so let them exercise brain smarts. Don’t be afraid, embrace their help.

I spent 45 minutes to get a simple yes or no answer to a question. Telus calls that efficiency and good customer service. I say let your agents do their job and fire your auto attendant for gross dereliction of duty. That goes for all the other auto attendants I encounter along the way. Just because you can doesn’t mean you should. Whatever happened with common sense? Why does the public put up with this nonsense?

Patrick W. Olenick, Kelowna