[ale42]

For such an operation like an ownership registration for a washing machine, this is totally true. But for some things (e.g., asking details about an invoice) I need to speak to someone, not to fill a form I receive an answer to in 3 days (and possibly not what I need). I say this because some companies are actually removing the option to call them in the first point, or hide it so it's very hard to find the number to call.

[hedora]

I’ve dealt with multiple companies that hang up after hearing what your issue is, before and after AI became common.

Since it is standard industry practice, I think draconian regulations are appropriate.

Off the top of my head, if you are caught having a policy to do this, you pay all customers $100/hour retroactively for the total time they spent on hold (clawing back executive comp if necessary).

An amount equal to the total automatically goes to the whistleblowers that reported the behavior (even if they engaged in it).

[sokoloff]

> even if they engaged in it

I can't imagine any way that could be abused... (Cue "I'm going to write me a new mini-van this afternoon.")

[hedora]

Yeah; to avoid trouble, the call centers would need to avoid the appearance of impropriety, which is a higher bar than not engaging in the behavior.