I just had to pay my internet bill with Cox Cable, and after I couldnt remember wether or not I had set up a user account with them I used the "forgot my id" option that asked for my account number and where my mother was born. And apperantly I dont know where my own mother was born because neither the state nor the town of her birth were correct... so I call them.
All to pay my bill, so while navigating the annoying robo-phone system it finnally gets to the part where I will actually pay my bill and asks me to enter my debit card information. Ive done this before with other services and I do not like it, I have a very long last name and robots dont seem to understand german names so I ask for an operator. I go through some rickitarack with him and he tells me there would be a five dollar charge for me to pay with a card through him. Not to talk to him mind you, not to sit on the phone for half an hour while we try to figure out where exactly was my mother born, only if I wanted him to process my debit information. Cox even goes as far to point out on thier online pay system that all payments are subject to applicable charges/taxes and fees.
Im not looking for a back rub, just to talk to a human whom I am already paying. Is that so much to ask to the point of charging extra? especially five dollars when I dont make much more than that an hour.
Posted by Raymond Arnold (Member # 11712) on :
Wow. That is terrible. I'd have tried at least threatening to change your service (granted, I tried that once, when they required me, a person with no car, travel in person to their building during hours when I would normally have been in school. They called my bluff and I was back to square one, but you never know, different company might be more easily cowed).
Posted by Blayne Bradley (Member # 8565) on :
ten minute weight with any Canadian cable company and they do all of the above for free and a smile.
Socialism for the win!
Posted by FlyingCow (Member # 2150) on :
Humans nearly always cost more than "robots" (or, automation, I should say). It's just that the cost is for the company and not always passed on to the end user.
Posted by AchillesHeel (Member # 11736) on :
What gets me is that they only charge when I pay my bill with a human, no other operator service costs beyond the simple pre-agreed monthly bill. It seems to me that they are purposly charging to pay through a human knowing that there is a demographic who is unfamiliar with the internet and would rather default to an operator than the robot. My own grandma for instance, so they would charge her, so she could pay them.... because she does not have the skill set to pay online.
So Blayne, socialism huh?
Posted by FlyingCow (Member # 2150) on :
Actually, they're probably forcing you to pay for that service to disincentivize that behavior.
They have likely had enough adoption of their automated system that they were able to redeploy (or reduce) headcount assigned to performing that operation.
They can't eliminate the headcount designated for that task entirely, but they can limit the cost impact of having to pay a person to answer the phone by passing the cost on to the caller.
In this case, they have set up a User ID system that includes backup questions for those that forgot their password. They are probably relatively confident that the number of people who misremember their password *and* can't answer the reminder questions is low, and that the recidivism rate after having to pay a fee would also be very low.
Posted by Godric (Member # 4587) on :
I get charged a similar fee if I pay my mortgage over the phone. $7.95 to use the automated service, $12.95 to speak with a representative.
Problem was, the free online payment option wouldn't recognize my checking account # - only the automated phone option did.
Bleech...
Posted by FlyingCow (Member # 2150) on :
What is more surprising to me is when there's a charge for an automated option.
For instance, when I tried to renew my car's registration, the state wanted to charge $5 to accept the online payment. Instead, I mailed it for the cost of a stamp.
What's confusing to me, though, is that on the state's end, they had to pay for someone to receive and sort the mail, then for someone to process the paper check by hand, then for data entry of the check information, paper storage and eventual disposal. Whereas, if I'd paid via credit card, the only cost would have been the credit card's nominal fee (which is small with high volumes of charges) and maintenance of the server handling thousands of such payments per day.
Then again, no one ever accused government of being sensible and efficient... especially not in NJ.
Posted by Sterling (Member # 8096) on :
My old "C" textbook had a line in it that "human time is more valuable than computer time."
Conversely, apparently your human time is less valuable than their human time.
On the other hand, I ordered a credit card added to an account for my wife a while ago, spoke to a human in a foreign country, and voila- a credit card with a mis-spelled last name.
It does seem inevitable that there will be matters that simply can't be handled by a phone tree or online form; it would be nice if companies would recognize this, and not punish people for what often amounts to failures in the design of the company's user interface.