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Discussion Boards => Off-Topic => Topic started by: paints on January 26, 2015, 06:56:24 am

Title: Automated Phone Systems
Post by: paints on January 26, 2015, 06:56:24 am
I received a check out of the blue for child support. My daughter is 28, so it's a little late.

I tried calling the Child support office, got an automated system. Which sent me to another automated system. Which sent me to another automated system!

After 3 days of trying to get to a person, I gave up.

It's the same thing when I call the phone company, or the electric company.

What happened to talking to a person???
Title: Re: Automated Phone Systems
Post by: mjdoug03 on January 26, 2015, 09:09:04 am
That's weird.  Don't cash the check.  They'll figure it out eventually and get that money back!
Title: Re: Automated Phone Systems
Post by: mgint on January 26, 2015, 09:13:37 am
it has gotten hard to talk to someone without going through several automated messages.
Title: Re: Automated Phone Systems
Post by: countrygirl12 on January 26, 2015, 09:35:55 am
What happened is companies are doing more work with less people.  They figure most questions can be answered thru the automated system or you can go online and find the answer.  And most times they are correct but people are lazy and just want to call someone and ask.  I see that all the time at work.  Instead of reading the manual that came with the item purchased they go home and open it and then call me and ask me how to use it.  UH READ THE MANUAL.

As for the check, that sounds a little odd, but can also be legit because eventually dead beat dads have to pay what they owe.

Usually if you keep pressing ZERO or saying AGENT you will get a person.
Title: Re: Automated Phone Systems
Post by: Sadie2426 on January 26, 2015, 02:34:16 pm
its hard when we don't want to talk to a computer but worse if we talk to someone outside the us
Title: Re: Automated Phone Systems
Post by: licorice99 on January 26, 2015, 02:37:48 pm
press 0 repeatedly. Eventually, you will get a person. Or if it is one that allows voice options, just say customer service rep or something similar repeatedly. A couple times, I've gotten mad and yelled "Just give me a real person, d****t!" That seems to work well.  ;D ;D ;D
Title: Re: Automated Phone Systems
Post by: teenangel on January 26, 2015, 03:33:47 pm
there a lot of companies that don't want to pay for a human to answer the phones. with companies the just want to line their pockets with the money made instead of paying someone to do the job
Title: Re: Automated Phone Systems
Post by: paints on January 26, 2015, 04:38:52 pm
What happened is companies are doing more work with less people.  They figure most questions can be answered thru the automated system or you can go online and find the answer.  And most times they are correct but people are lazy and just want to call someone and ask.  I see that all the time at work.  Instead of reading the manual that came with the item purchased they go home and open it and then call me and ask me how to use it.  UH READ THE MANUAL.

As for the check, that sounds a little odd, but can also be legit because eventually dead beat dads have to pay what they owe.

Usually if you keep pressing ZERO or saying AGENT you will get a person.

It's not laziness to want to be able to talk to a human being.
Sometimes reading a manual doesn't give you answers, but discussing it with a person can help.
Every time I run into an automated system, I wonder how many people lost their jobs to put that system in place.
I tried pressing zero, all I got was "Invalid response," and then it would repeat the menu.
Title: Re: Automated Phone Systems
Post by: BlackSheepNY on January 26, 2015, 06:23:19 pm
What happened to talking to a person???

Yeah, right!  Lots of luck with that!  By the time you DO get to a real, living/breathing, person, you're so PO'ed you want to scream.  Not to mention the fact that the person you'll get isn't even in the COUNTRY!
Title: Re: Automated Phone Systems
Post by: reiddb on January 26, 2015, 07:11:55 pm
That is kinda funny.....
Title: Re: Automated Phone Systems
Post by: Skyisbluetoday on January 26, 2015, 09:27:13 pm
Automated seems easier for the company, not for the consumer!
Title: Re: Automated Phone Systems
Post by: paints on January 27, 2015, 12:32:17 pm
What happened to talking to a person???

Yeah, right!  Lots of luck with that!  By the time you DO get to a real, living/breathing, person, you're so PO'ed you want to scream.  Not to mention the fact that the person you'll get isn't even in the COUNTRY!

And THEN, that person tells you how much the company values your business!

If they valued my business, and not just the money I send them each month, they would NOT have me listening to some automated guy telling me yadda yadda yadda for 15 minutes!
Title: Re: Automated Phone Systems
Post by: dauna on January 27, 2015, 04:41:06 pm
Nobody likes using automated systems, but--the conventional wisdom (ha, ha) is that they save the company money.  My suggestion?  Keep hitting the "0" key.  Also, repeatedly pounding the "#" key has been known to work.
Title: Re: Automated Phone Systems
Post by: tuyetmai on January 27, 2015, 07:26:16 pm
I recomment don't cash the check unless you find out where.  I think it's a scam.
Title: Re: Automated Phone Systems
Post by: paints on January 27, 2015, 08:37:09 pm
I recomment don't cash the check unless you find out where.  I think it's a scam.

The checks legit. It comes from Child Support enforcement, through the state of Florida.
I was just trying to find out why I'm getting it now, after all these years.
I took it to my credit union and they are checking it out.
Title: Re: Automated Phone Systems
Post by: vp44 on January 28, 2015, 06:56:31 am
I received a check out of the blue for child support. My daughter is 28, so it's a little late.

I tried calling the Child support office, got an automated system. Which sent me to another automated system. Which sent me to another automated system!

After 3 days of trying to get to a person, I gave up.

It's the same thing when I call the phone company, or the electric company.

What happened to talking to a person???
Ways around that is press the operator button, then you can route your call to whom you want to speak to. If that does not work press a button and see if you get someone on the line and explain your situation.
Title: Re: Automated Phone Systems
Post by: lbeery on January 28, 2015, 08:13:45 am
I agree with the automated system.  My bigges problem with them is that you listen for so long that you forget which one you were supposed to key in.  I have found that with a lot of systems, you can press "0" at some point and get to a live person.  SOmetimes though when you tell them what you need they put you right back into the automated system! Grrrr!
Title: Re: Automated Phone Systems
Post by: ShadeTree on January 28, 2015, 10:23:34 am
Outsourcing and greed is what happened to talking to a real person. But I have also found that even when you finally do get an actual person on the other end of the line, they end up not being much either. That's not always the case, but it does happen. And it's hard to deal with an actual person that either can't understand what you're asking them or you can't understand what they're saying or they just don't really know what they're doing and of course you're already irritated by this time after all the nonsense of button pushing and having to start over or getting disconnected etc because automated systems are stupid.  :bad:
Title: Re: Automated Phone Systems
Post by: aflyingmonkey on January 28, 2015, 10:36:42 am
I don't know if this applies to your case or not, but what i know of child support cases is that the other parent who is supposed to be paying the child support owes that money forever.  So if they stop working & the state can't collect or they miss a payment they forever owe it.   So when they start working again, the state will take the funds out of their check automatically & reimburse you the payment due from however long ago.     I know the state will also collect money due if the state had to pay welfare on the child because the secondary parent was a deadbeat.   As soon as that parent ever goes back to work, they owe that money & the state will collect it.   

Like taxes, the government will forever collect on the debt.