[martinni]

Doesn't this defeat the purpose of the entire automated phone system? An agent time is precious the automation is there for simple tasks that doesn't require any intervention. If everyone starts requesting an agent it'll clog up the system for everyone.

[sudhirj]

Automated phone systems are completely useless after the advent of the internet and the smartphone. Anything on any company's IVR is more accessible on the app or the website. There's no way I'd call my bank from the bank's app to have my damn statement and balance read out to while I'm looking at it. If we call someone these days, it's to talk to a human.

[dvtrn]

They became useless when they became, for the caller (or at least for me), an exercise in double-and sometimes-triple entry of "validating" information as you move across queues because I guess no one has figured out how to store the 29 buttons I have to press for an account number from one queue to the next and and refusing to take DTMF tones (looking at you ComEd Energy) as inputs and in general, being as user hostile as possible to callers before getting even placed into queue.

USAA gets this right, to your point.

I can't tell you how many times I've opened the App, started doing something in their "support menu" and been told "You need to call support for this, press this button", the phone starts ringing and even if I have to wait a few minutes, the person who picks up the phone already knows who I am, why I'm calling based on inputs from the Mobile App. They authenticate by sending a security code to the app. Hands down my favorite experience calling support is whenever I need to call USAA for something.

(Plus, despite being retired from the services for 12 years now, it is nice sometimes hearing "Good Morning Sergeant Torres". Takes me back to my days on the flight line in a strange way, heh)

[nkrisc]

Automated phone systems solve the business's problem, not my problem. Maybe they should hire more agents or figure out what's causing such a great call volume that they can't handle it.

[lotsofpulp]

The better solution for businesses is to figure out potential future net income of a caller based on their caller ID, and then place them in the queue accordingly.

This already happens via rewards programs that route you to quicker or better support agents if you're in a higher rewards tier, implying that you're worth more to the business.

Perhaps one can even obtain income or credit information, or glean it from the caller's address based on median income or home price history.

[ska]

This only works well if they staff/build infrastructure for a reasonably short wait time for everyone, because too many disgruntled users will cost you also.

[nickthemagicman]

I personally think companies purposefully cut costs on customer service, especially if they're monopolies like Comcast who don't have to care about the customer that much. This helps.

[CharlesW]

> An agent time is precious…

This is their job that they're being paid for. I'm not, and that makes my time more precious than theirs in this case.

[chrisseaton]

If you didn’t need to speak to a human, why would you be calling up?