[devonkim]

The reasons I would like refer a human or automaton depends upon the kind of transaction I need. If it’s something I think is done pretty often I’ll look for a web form with a workflow that someone has invested some time into to make sure the business process works. Additionally, 90% of the time I call a human to do this I can clearly tell that they’re filling out yet another form or even the same one I just had problems with - this is ultimately a UX and business process failure that results in a call center call. I typically wind up playing “let me spell my address and e-mail to someone using variations of military phonetic semaphores” when I can just type it in myself. The number of errors I’ve had over repeating entries over the phone that have resulted in rather serious repercussions are too numerous that I’d rather just type forms in myself if possible.

Where I want a person is when I want to bypass processes completely or I have a big exception that warrants a human. So if I’m calling your call center, you may as well send me up to tier 3 or higher because I’m going to be a pain.

And given I did support for a couple years myself, sure I’ll try to make their day a bit better where I can and try to have all my info ready and to be as calm as possible. Because I know it can take a while, so I usually have an hour or two set aside for these calls and can just wait and not have to hurry anyone.