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Like seriously. My mom is trying to order a refill for one of her perscriptions on the Walgreens Pharmacy phone line and instead of "Press 2 for refills" or something like that, they do the whole, "Say refills for refills." And then when she does say "refills" no matter how loudly or clearly she says it, the bot gets all confused and says, "Sorry, I couldn't understand that." Just come on. At the very least, give the choice to push a specific number for each option.

Like seriously. My mom is trying to order a refill for one of her perscriptions on the Walgreens Pharmacy phone line and instead of "Press 2 for refills" or something like that, they do the whole, "Say refills for refills." And then when she does say "refills" no matter how loudly or clearly she says it, the bot gets all confused and says, "Sorry, I couldn't understand that." Just come on. At the very least, give the choice to push a specific number for each option.

19 comments

[–] Sarcastaway 3 points (+3|-0)

Probably an accountant. You'd be astonished how many man-hours you can eliminate with a $10,000 software package.

Also, you can usually say "human" in just about any context and you'll usually be put through.

[–] PhunkyPlatypus 3 points (+3|-0)

I've also heard that if you cuss enough they'll connect you to a human. Not sure of the validity of that claim though.

[–] jobes 2 points (+2|-0)

You should find a few numbers that have automated voice prompts and do some scientific research on this topic

[–] PhuksMulder 3 points (+3|-0)

Who are these people? Did you know they only give you one bag of peanuts on a plane these days? Who are these people?

Oh so outrageous lol

[–] PhuksMulder 2 points (+2|-0)

Almost forgot. Sean King is a pseudo black race baiting piece of shit. Probably not the best username.

[–] jobes 2 points (+2|-0)

God I hate those fucking things. I work at an office where the outside has a ton of background noise from the nearby highway, so trying to answer one of those things becomes nearly impossible because of the extra interference. Like what problem were these voice prompts trying to solve? Did anyone in the history of man ever have an issue with the "press 1 for xyz" system??

[–] dallasmuseum 2 points (+2|-0)

Like what problem were these voice prompts trying to solve?

Because most phones used now are cell phones and have the numbers on the screen you are pressing against your face. I still fucking hate voice systems and as soon as it doesn't understand me, it gets a string of swears until it redirects me to an operator.

[–] jobes 2 points (+2|-0)

How are they so effective at detecting swear words but so bad at detecting the words you need to use to navigate the system?

[–] dallasmuseum 2 points (+2|-0)

I think they detect the tonal and volume shift. Also, they usually have a failsafe of redirecting you to an operator after so many fails.

[–] KillBill 1 points (+1|-0) Edited

Went through this shit with a parcel pickup service. The dumb bot wanted my phone number and hung up when it couldn't recognize what I was saying. I rang their head office and got put through to some manager who i thought brushed me off but when I called a week later, the bot now gave the option to speak to a customer service rep instead of saying goodbye.

[–] Butler_crosley 1 points (+1|-0)

Most of the questions can be answered by pressing 1 or 2 or pushing the numbers when they ask for something with numbers. Or just say pharmacist and they'll connect you to the pharmacy.

[–] jobes 1 points (+1|-0)

There are a lot of systems now that do not even have a keypad option. "Press 1 or say 'pharmacy'" is fine, but some systems are now only accepting "say pharmacy". I think the USPS is currently the worst offender at using that. It took me about 30 minutes to reschedule a delivery because everything was voice based

[–] Butler_crosley 1 points (+1|-0)

Walgreens however does have the keypad options or at least mine does. They just don't advertise that you can use the keypad to answer the questions and you have to listen to the options they say in order to know what button. My Southern drawl isn't really that strong (I've been called a Yankee in South Georgia even though I'm a native Georgian) but most voice activated can't understand me so I just start pressing buttons in an attempt to get around the system. Or I'll just say customer service or representative if I can't use the buttons approach.

[–] jobes 0 points (+0|-0)

I've been called a Yankee in South Georgia even though I'm a native Georgian

Lol. I never thought I had an accent being from the Midwest, but I've had two doctors over the last two months that made me question that. I was watching Braveheart in the ER and the doctor joked that I sounded like I had a Scottish accent, then a radiologist thought I was arrabic. Maybe I just don't talk consistently for those systems