One of my pet peeves is being "held hostage" on the phone. When I call a store or 800 number it's often because I'm trying to save time. Yet, almost all of them now refuse to answer my questions or even put a service person on the line until after I've verified my home address, phone number, and email address. As time ticks away, I am using it to tell them what they want to know and getting none of the information that I want to know. This utter lack of respect for the customer annoys me.
And, sometimes, I just want information and don't want to identify myself. I have this recurring image of standing in a supermarket aisle, asking a clerk the price of a box of cereal. The clerk tells me store policy won't allow him to give me the price until I verify my information. Sounds absurd, yes? So, why does phoning somehow change the balance dramatically?
I've tried lots of end runs around this problem. Today, I said to the operator, "nothing has changed." Part of the reason I get so frustrated is that I've owned the same home for nine years and had the same phone number for thirteen years. Nothing has changed; nothing will change. Yet, she still went on to repeat my home address, phone number, AND email address. When I challenged the logic of asking after I'd said nothing has changed, she nearly burst into tears and explained that she would "get written up" if I didn't have the conversation according to her script.
A word of warning to all the companies engaged in this practice: My tolerance level for foolishness tends to be lower than most but, eventually, even your best natured customers are going to grow weary of this practice. The paradox -- which provides ultimate justice in my book -- is that the most frequent customers will get annoyed first.
And, sometimes, I just want information and don't want to identify myself. I have this recurring image of standing in a supermarket aisle, asking a clerk the price of a box of cereal. The clerk tells me store policy won't allow him to give me the price until I verify my information. Sounds absurd, yes? So, why does phoning somehow change the balance dramatically?
I've tried lots of end runs around this problem. Today, I said to the operator, "nothing has changed." Part of the reason I get so frustrated is that I've owned the same home for nine years and had the same phone number for thirteen years. Nothing has changed; nothing will change. Yet, she still went on to repeat my home address, phone number, AND email address. When I challenged the logic of asking after I'd said nothing has changed, she nearly burst into tears and explained that she would "get written up" if I didn't have the conversation according to her script.
A word of warning to all the companies engaged in this practice: My tolerance level for foolishness tends to be lower than most but, eventually, even your best natured customers are going to grow weary of this practice. The paradox -- which provides ultimate justice in my book -- is that the most frequent customers will get annoyed first.