Wednesday, November 26, 2008

Does this make any sense??

Gotta love "the system", that's all I can say!! I vaguely remember mentioning something about this sometime ago (probably a year ago when no one read my blog) but I'm reminded of this again.

The definition of insanity? Doing the same thing over and over, and expecting a different result.

When calling our State Disability Department you get the following greeting,

Thank you for calling the California State Disability department. Gracias por llamar...blah blah...For information in English, please press one. Para escuchar (listen) un mensaje en espanol, oprima el numero dos.

Grandy presses 1 and gets the following greeting:

We have a new direct phone number for our spanish speaking customers, that number is...

Really?

I pressed ONE! Why would I need to know this?

Then we get through the process of:

Please enter your social security number; please enter your passcode; please enter the maiden name of your mother's second cousin, twice removed. (ok...maybe only once removed)

We get through that and get.

Wait times of 7-10 minutes may occur if you are calling between the hours of 8am and 10am, Monday Tuesday and Thursday; 10:15 - 2:00 Wednesday and Friday. Ah hell...just be prepared to wait f-o-r-e-v-e-r any day that ends in "y".

Grandy holds her respective 10 minutes, while being subjected to the same trumpet song that I think gets played during any sort of prisoner torture training.

At the end of eternity 10 minutes, there's this:

We're sorry, but the State Disability Department has reached the maximum number of calls in the holding pattern. Please try back again never later.

**Disconnect**

::sigh::

13 comments:

songbird's crazy world said...

Grandy, I can truly feel your frustration. I hope you're able to get through next time you call.

Mrs. F said...

I would have ripped out a clump of hair at that point.

Ugh!

Joyce-Anne said...

I'm sure you have nothing else to do but to call back at 10 or 15 minute intervals when they *may* be able to take your call. Arghhh!

Jenn @ Juggling Life said...

Such frustration.

Jessi said...

Oh wow, that had to suck. I've gone through my fair share of horrible automated systems, lengthy wait times, and less-than-okay customer service reps even...but at least I didn't wait, only to be told that I had to call back another time. What a waste!

Unknown said...

Poor Grandy, lost in voice mail hell...I tried to call the number listed by our local electric company to sign up for a program where they round up your bill to the nearest whole dollar and use the $$$ to help the elderly paytheir bills...Voice mail hell had me so frustrated I gave up and wrote them an email telling them that...Much to my surprise they called me right back and walked me through the process...A tiny glimmer of hope for the continuance of the concept "customer service"

Wishing you a warm & peaceful thanksgiving

Suzanne said...

No, it doesn't make any sense.

Just like me getting a letter from SSI for Gameboy, with a number to call-but when you call it and go through pressing numbers for a few minutes, it tells you to go online. Alas, there is nothing on the website to address our issue!

Christina said...

Hmmmm...they must share a phone system with the Franchise Tax Board who I wrestled with all summer over the baseball club's non-profit status. Was hung up on with the jammed phone line message three times. Learned to place my call at 7am on the dot when phone lines opened. Then I had a shot at getting a real person AFTER the obligatory 20 min wait. Oh, same music too. Love the CA state govt system ;-)

Anonymous said...

I suspect these places really have no more employees -- just the answerphone. Think of all the money the government saves on salaries.

Mariuca said...

Hola Grandy! You’ve been tagged here, have fun!

songbird's crazy world said...

off topic, but you've been tagged The Rules:1. Link to the person who tagged you
2. Post the rules on your blog (this is what you are now reading).
3. List 6 random things about yourself.
4. Tag 6 people at the end of your post.
5. Let each person know they have been tagged and leave a comment on their blog.

Grandy said...

Songbird~ Thanks. I was...but the answer sucked worse.

Paloma~ I wanted to, but was at work.

Joyce-Anne~ I know.

Jenn~ Yep!

Jessi~ You know what else? The voice activated system doesn't recognize curse words. Will have to post about that another time.

BeeDancer~ Back at you lovely lady. I hope it was a pleasant one.

Grandy said...

Suzanne~ ICK!!

Christina~ ::biting my cheek:: ME TOO!!

xup~ You'd think our deficit wouldn't be so great with all the savings they are getting.

Mariuca~ Tagged? Thanks!!

Songbird~ Ooohh another tag? I'll try to get caught up on these soon. Thanks!!