I telephoned a large business today. As usual, the answering machine
> asked me to enter my account number "for faster service". I did so.
> After the usual parade through many menus I was connected to an actual
> human being. The first thing she asked me for was my account number,
> even though I had keyed it in "for faster service".
> I find this happens all the time.
> What is the point of requesting an account number if it isn't going to
> be automatically forwarded to the person handling the call?
> With today's fancy computer systems, the idea is that after getting my
> account number, my account screen is immediately displayed to the
> person handling my call, saving the time to ask for my account number
> and her to key it it. But this never happens. (Some systems are
> fancy enough to check the caller ID of your phone number and use that
> to bring up your account, but these get fouled if you call from work
> or a different phone.)
> Anyone familiar with the programming of these 'automated' systems and
> would care to comment? Thanks.
I see it a lot. Call it a phase in. I always complement those whose systems managed to retain the manually entered info and give it to the answer desk!