I want to talk to a human - is it that hard?

[RaraRachael]

Just spent over an hour farting about trying to fix an issue with my Sky. Tried their online chatbot - waste of time, My Sky online "help" - waste of time, various phone numbers that just direct me to online helo.

Are there any numbers where I can talk to an actual human or even have a real person on a live chat instead of some stupid bot?

You are not being unreasonable. I have recently logged a complaint with Nationwide because it seemed that the only way to speak to a person was to phone the complaint.

I also kept being referred back to online. If the answer was on there I wouldn’t have to phone.

Google how to phone and make a complaint, that might work. May the force be with you!!

*complaint line!

I feel your pain! Am currently trying to get to an actual person at the student loans company and it is ridiculous!
Talk about screaming into the void!!!!
Bastarding computer systems can fuck off!!!!

When I was trying to get help from FedEx I asked the chat bot if I could speak to a human and I did get transferred to an actual live chat. Maybe try that?

I called 0333 759 1018 for help with Sky recently. It did try hard to direct me to online help but I’d already worked through all of that. I think when it was asking for which option I wanted (out of bad options) I said “I want to speak to a person” or something like that, or kept selecting the “other” option, and did get put through in the end. And they were great. Eventually.

I also had trouble with Sky a few months ago. Twice I eventually spoke to a human, but english was not their first language and couldn’t grasp what my problem was and it wasnt solved despite them assuring me it was all resolved. Eventually I phoned and picked the ‘I want to leave Sky’ option and as if by magic I spoke to someone who understood my problem and solved it.

Sky are particularly bad. Then if you do get a real person I think they must have an overseas call centre because the staff have very poor English.
I spent an hour on the phone to them, it was like pulling teeth. The person gave me wrong information and I ended up being over charged. I always write notes after every call to banks and businesses, name, time, what was said.
I made a formal complaint specifying when the call happened. They listened back to my call and refunded my loss.

Just a tip for chat bots. Just type in "agent" and eventually you will get a real person.

Finally got through to a woman who spoke good English . Problem fixed in 3 minutes.

Pity I'd already wasted most of the afternoon with bots and useless online stuff

I honestly wish there was a way to boycott all the companies that don’t have humans available to talk to anymore. It seems completely impossible but I too am so done with it

YANBU. I have no advice to offer,but I too am sick of never being able to talk to a human. I've been pissing about on Evri's website for the last half an hour because for some reason,they have decided that my postcode is incorrect. It has been fine for the last 3 years, hasn't changed and I am absolutely sure I am entering it correctly. Tried to phone them but all I got was a recorded message saying I had to enter the last 8 digits of my tracking number. It then told me that my parcel will be arriving between 7pm and 9pm this evening. I already knew that,I just wanted to redirect it to a neighbour as I won't be in! Tried their chat bot service but it only gives you certain options to choose,such as 'Where is my parcel', nothing for your postcode not being accepted. I bloody despair sometimes. And businesses wonder why they're losing money and customers.

John Lewis sent an email on the 5th asking me to contact them to arrange delivery of a Hypnos mattress we'd ordered that was now in stock.
Too busy to ring them last week, so I rang this afternoon. Only to find the number given had a message to say that the customer service number had changed to (rattled off so quickly and I had no pen to write it down, had to go again. Then it gave 6 options, no 3 was the only delivery one it was to check time of delivery, so went for that, which then took me through all the options of trying online yada yada yada, wasn't actually option 3, that wasted a good 12.5 minutes. So tried again this time option 6 any other business - that rattled through about a dozen FAQ and again encouraged me to go online (not that online could solve the issue). Eventually after a long time I got a real person. She was very helpful and asked me to hold for ages, then said the mattress had not actually arrived at the warehouse and to ignore the email we'd been sent!
What a waste of 30 minutes of my time!

I hate automated phone and chat bots with the fire of a million suns. Just connect me to a person who can solve the problem! These days I just click or select "other" whenever I can, I'm sick of wasting my time going round in circles with their stupid bots and useless FAQs.

Oh god I hate bots and automated phone lines. They have absolutely no grasp of nuance whatsoever. It's probably helpful if l were an unresourceful fool who can't see basic information that's clearly displayed on the website. But for any kind of query or help needed, having already done the obvious and still not found my answer, it's frustratingly abysmal customer service.

Profit is all that matters to companies nowadays. Even profit isn't good enough, it has to be year on year increases in profit.

Moving customer service abroad was first step, now it's all online. Customer service doesn't directly generate customers in the ways sales or retentions does, and the effects of good customer service on attracting new customers is much harder to measure, so it'll continue to be run in the cheapest way possible.

The online bots are horrendous, they just don’t understand/work. But big companies are happy to sack actual staff and replace with these.

I also kept being referred back to online. If the answer was on there I wouldn’t have to phone.

OMG! this bugs the fuck out of me! "Did you know you can log x,y,z online?"

I wouldn’t mind the online bots, but they NEVER work. It’s shit.

I feel your pain here. The lack of a real person to explain things to is a pet hate of mine. Chatbots are also normally useless fuckers too. I've never come across a helpful one.

I remember going round in circles trying to speak to Student Finance England when my uni student DD encountered problems with them while on the first leg of her year abroad. DD was in South America, so couldn't phone them herself.

I went almost dizzy going round in circles trying to get through. Then when I eventually did they wouldn't speak to me even though DD had set up permission for that before she left. I must admit I wanted to throw my phone out of the window (didn't obviously).

We ended up having to write to our MP to get it sorted because we simply got nowhere, and any information requested by SFE (which we did provide) was just ignored, lost, deleted by them every time. Our MP got it sorted within a week.

I tried to speak to somewhat gov relatedentity recently.
4 times that machine hang up on me after telling me to go online and do it online when I could NOT because fault in system.

I swear to god. This is how many villains will be made

They're idiots as they STILL haven't worked out people will actually pay more to be with a company with decent customer service. And that means a bare minimum of a phone line and someone that can speak and understand good English at the end of it.

How fucking hard is that to understand?

I would never ever use Sky, Virgin or fucking Talktalk for that reason alone.

Like a pp said. If you say 'speak to someone/speak to an agent ' enough on the automated calls, quite often you get put through to someone.

Customer service is yet another one of those things in life that is 100x shitter than it was 20 years ago and I really value companies that still make an effort and I make the effort to tell them so and stick with them.

Student loans😂
"did you know you can do this online? We just sent you link. Goodbye"

You have to either text or say "I want to speak to a human advisor." The automated bots have to transfer you.

I thought they were supposed to do that too, but they don't seem totally reliable at doing it. Pot luck, it seems.

You have my sympathy, I’ve tried to contact Sky at least ten times in the past few months with no success. I’m Trying to get information on the phone switchover to internet calling for my 90 year old in-laws who are no longer able to manage their account and can’t remember their passwords. Got absolutely nowhere. They used to have brilliant uk call centres in Scotland (Dunfermline and Livingston), but now everything is overseas. I hate the fact that you cannot get hold of a real human. Their chatbots are awful, constantly cut you off. I find them extremely frustrating. Customer service (once they have secured you as a customer) is non existent.

I voted YABU, and I'll try and explain why.

As someone who creates online help guides and standard responses, and quick fixes via phone messages, it is very frustrating when these are ignored.

Customers could save themselves so much hassle just by reading the help pages. They are there for reason.

There is a high chance your issue will not be unique, and a reason why it is in the 'FAQs'.

In an age where nobody answers their phone, I'm amazed by the number of people who immediately reach for it, and I'm talking young people as well, when they need help without checking other ways to sort their issues.

I'm afraid as a society we will have to get used to because

1. Customer service with real humans at your disposal is a huge money drain, and on balance a few complaints or people cancelling accounts is seen as an acceptable hit.

1. We are moving towards a society that refuses to do anything for themselves..more selfish, more demanding. Companies willnot put up with this.

1. If you want a friendly , English person answering your call within 5 rings, be prepared to pay through the nose for your service. Most customers just want the cheapest possible, and that comes with offshore call centres at the best.