AIBU to think everyday life admin has become far too complicated?

This is even worse if you ever change your mobile phone number, I did and had a right nightmare because it’s actually linked to so many accounts and they want to text you the verification code 🙄

It’s always fun trying to sort out things when the email verification is sent to an email address you can no longer access.
”we will email you a link so you can update your email address”.
”No, listen….I just said I can’t access that address”.

I absolutely hate apps for parking, they’re so unnecessary!

Yesterday I’d arranged a call with my pension provider, they’d sent me a message saying it was a general overview being offered to run through options etc since I’ve left that workplace.

The lady calls me, I explain the only thing I’d like to know is can I restart a direct debit and continue to pay in, she says she’ll need to put me through to a different team.

This isn’t a different team but an automated phone system and ends up with them texting me a link to their online chat to talk to a different person who tells me it is possible, but I need to do it myself via the website, but can’t explain how or where.

The online chat format on a phone is really tricky and annoying and I still don’t have it sorted 🤷‍♀️

If they’re going to offer calls then they should be able to sort basic queries by phone, it ended up being really annoying.

I hate that just about every time you want to buy a ticket for an event, buy something, or go to a museum etc you have to create an account. Lots of the things are one offs, im not planning to go again. Then be spammed with 5 emails a week telling me about whats on, what offers they have.

During covid we went away for a weekend and wanted to use a council run tennis court. To use it I had to join the local leisure centre (free) and become a member, and create an account, and then be emailed a pin number. Then when I entered my details, and paid, they could email me a code to use the tennis court. Once. For an hour! It was stupidly faffy when it could probably have been a 2 min phonecall

I kept getting an “error, try again later” when trying to book a car park space. The auto response to my effort to get help was “someone will reply within 24hrs” - well after the time I needed the booking.
I used a different App

You used to be able to phone and talk to a person. With so many of the AI bots, when you do manage to fight your way through to the “we will put you in touch with an agent” option they say “this may take 15 mins” (or whatever) ie they will contact you when it suits them, not taking into account I (the customer) have contacted them at a time to suit me.

Just for entertainment, our IT system blocks the NHS on line booking system for appointments. I work in supported living, one of my tasks at work is making appointments for residents 😭

I have rung the bereavement line in sheer desperation, having completely failed to get hold of anyone by any other method...

Apps/ systems are great for simple, routine tasks when your phone has plenty of battery life and access to reliable WiFi. But there needs to be a real life human being available to help when those conditions aren't met.

I agree. It is not possible to talk to a person at EE about a phone upgrade. Chat function only. You can communicate with a person (sorry…agent), but I find it So Bloody Slow. I want a conversation using my voice, not to be staring at a chat box with “agent is typing”.

I think one of the issues is that companies use technology as an excuse to cut staff, customer service provision and overheads to make more profit.

Putting everything online and using AI is mainly to their benefit rather than the customers.

I agree that the endless need for password, signing in, verifying and dealing with AI bots is draining rather than helpful.

I was in the doctors’ waiting room the other day (large village GP practice). An older man (80s) came in and asked at reception if he could make an appointment to see a doctor. She told him she couldn’t do that as it all had to be done online now (online triage appointment system), he said he didn’t know how to do that, she said don’t worry I’ll text you a link. He walked away looking utterly dejected. Absolutely ridiculous.
I get how the online system is better than having to ring at 8am and wait in a queue for an hour, but there should be the ability to make in-person appointments.

Then perhaps we need to start acknowledging just how vulnerable this technology is, and how unsuited it is to the myriad purposes that have been piled on it, solely to allow private companies to make more and more profit for less and less work.

Computers have been forced on us at every level and increasingly the human ways were better. Now we’ve got AI being pushed in daily life, despite the huge environmental costs, because the companies have sunk so much money into it they have to find uses for it, whether it has them or not. There used to be a middle ground, back in the 90s/ early 2000s. And don’t tell me it’s too expensive to do things with people now instead of machines, we’ve managed building civilisations without computers for thousands of years.

I agree everything is much more complicated. I wanted to book swimming and include a free carer but you can’t do that on line so I ring but every option leads to being hung up on! Same when I wanted to book a fridge repair.
or you sit on hold for ages while a voice tells you they are experiencing higher call rate on average than usual. Funny how they are always experiencing that, it’s not really how averages work!

I miss the days where you walked a short walk to your local doctor/ dentist/ swimming baths/ bank etc saw a human you knew who knows your needs and you get them met.

And I’m In my forties I’ve got the years of this chaos to go.

I will admit I’m the reason that parking apps are so prevalent, I love them. Even before cash was rare, I never had the right change for a parking machine and paid a lot of fines or just didn’t park (plus it has to be said got away with a lot of times where I didn’t pay). I love that I can park, walk away and pay as I do so.

I also find the NHS app, the .gov.uk website and the council website pretty good.

However, I 100% agree that losing the human backup to all this has been an unmixed disaster. I’ll never forget my first encounter with the Evri chatbot, it was so hilariously bad I stayed on it almost in awe (as well as fury - I still avoid any company that use them). The human chat encounter has disappeared and they used to be quite good! I had my first ever encounter with an AI voice service the other day and it was fantastically alien and horrible. The fact that voice services are going to be enshitted as well is bloody depressing.

Big up First Direct and their ongoing phone based services. But for how long?

I was in a Lloyds branch the other day for an essential service that had to be done face to face. The branch is closing and I commiserated with the lady who was dealing with me (efficiently and with minimum stress). She said ‘oh no it’s fine, we all wanted to retire’. No wonder youth unemployment is skyrocketing.

I resent being asked if I want to add a tip when you order and pay and on a qr code....how do I even know if the food or service is even average when ive encountered neither?

Also I think im reasonable at navigating tech stuff but if you have an issue that's not straightforward or can't be resolved on the website, portal, app whatever, most companies seem to make it as difficult as possible to find a phone number to speak to a person. Then when you do call, youre put in a queue (because guess what, not everyone wants to use the app, or has a problem it cant deal with) which plays horrific lift music interspersed with a recorded message every 2 minutes, telling you its much easier to do online or using their app! Well duh, im not waiting 50 min listening to shit if I could do it in 5 min online!

Apps for parking are ridiculous. I once couldnt pay because you needed an app, which I didn't have, and there was no Internet signal.

Texting a code is a pain when I'm at work and not allowed to have my phone out. Or when I was on my online banking app which logs me out everytime I navigate away from the banking screen.

BT recently wanted to email me a code so that I could log in to my emails. 🤨

It's all quite annoying.

Yay Ireland! And yay Leeds. I spent 6 months trying to pay my council tax in Newcastle, when they eventually allowed it if course I had to pay twice as much per month because it was overdue...but like most people I want to budget monthly. I bet some of the arrears pile up that way. Oh yes and the annoying 10 payments per instead of 12. Durham on the other hand a breeze, 12 payments no problems and set up in minutes, one easy access online account for everything.

It’s your personal info and bank details hackers are after not how much gas and electric you’ve used

I agree that if you're not tech-savvy it's probably much more difficult.

But otherwise, no. I have everything possible automated and most other things can be done with a few taps whilst I sit on the toilet or wait for a kettle to boil.

I did t even k ow you could have joint names on insurance or a clubcard, that’s insane.

In Ireland they’ve brought in a law where you legally can ask to talk to a human instead of a bot. I find technology easier in some cases, ridiculously difficult in others, I think if companies would stop cutting human jobs right down there’d be a nice middle ground

I used to do this I with My surgery but they've stopped people being able to do this now.

Use of AI is causing a lot of this and BOTS as you say.

I'm increasingly frustrated by having to go to an app when I am doing something on my PC.

I just want to check what is in my bank account.