hmm - voice prompts - blessing or curse
26 11 2007All..
Thanks to a listserve that shared this article; I figured y’all will find this article revealing. Click to this very intriguing article. It impacts deaf as well. I’ve used VRS to call a company just to find out where I can mail a product to for repairs only to get a never-ending voice prompts to get to where I want. I thought "ridiculous!" I know many of you can attest to this as well.
Amusing albeit a bit disturbing and makes Deaf wonder where will this lead to for persons who depend on visual aids? Click and read on.
eyes open & thumbs up,
Ed B.
RT Admin.
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When VRS became available, I made peace with all those voice prompt systems because I could finally navigate them. When they started putting automated cashiers in the grocery stores and the hardware stores, I used them because it meant I did not have to smile politely, pretend to read lips, and make gestures to a real person that I hoped were appropriate responses to their comments and questions.
That was then. Now I live in a rural area and my satellite - most days - will not support VRS. The automated cashiers keep giving me instructions that I cannot hear, then shut down and call for a live person to come fix the machine anyway.
I am old, cranky, and retired. I vote with my checkbook. I no longer do business with anyone who will not give me a live person. I bank at the local bank because they know me by name and there is always a live person to meet my needs. I quit shopping at Albertson’s and buy all my groceries at Whole Foods (there is a cashier at the Whole Foods in Santa Fe sho signs fluently).
I do not go to Home Depot, instead I go to the local True Value where there is always a human at the door to help me find what I need, always a pad of paper and a pen handy, and a live cashier to ring me up and wish me a nice day.
The machines proliferate ONLY because we let them. When we all stop doing business with the companies that force the machines on us, they will get rid of the machines and hire live people.
Oppression continues only as long as the oppressed will allow it. Rage against the machines; do NOT do business with the companies that use them.
(jk-II)
Jk-II,
[smiling] - I like the way u said it vote with your wallet. Exactly!
Unfortunately, new technology of touch screen is becoming more popular even among the teeming masses so it is unlikely to go away soon.
eyes open & thumbs up,
Ed
I can relate to what you’re saying.
I use a CapTel phone and have had problems with making the automated selections in the allotted amount of time, since the captions appear several seconds after the spoken conversation.
You make a good point about shopping at places that don’t have the automation, when you can.
susan
Ohhhh, amen! Automated phone trees have infiltrated my family doctor’s small practice and a few other businesses that I patronized for many years. They are in the stores, in my teachers’ phone lines, and even in some of my relatives’ home phones.
With the high cost of phone receptionists and the difficulty of keeping them on the job, it was inevitable. There is a strong backlash and the effect of that is more hang-ups on relay calls…even video relay calls.
My message service for my business is taking the backlash, too…less people are leaving messages and hang up when they hear the electronic voice.
A great idea would be to have a website with a forms fillout in which people can look you up, see your picture, see your message and your daily items of news, and leave messages with a confirmation screen immediately afterwards.
I can relate with jl-il for I feel the same way!
I now begin to wonder “oppression” against us will ever end?????? I don’t think so!
But in other word, we re so forunate to see that the technology we re now using gets better for deaf people to use and at same time to have somebody like ED BOSSON to stand up and speak for us at same time to keep us updated info what’s going on with FCC’s rulings which we appreciate it very much no matter how many times we agree and disagree with FCC’s rules…
I get rid of those voices the fastest way I can get away with… telling the terp to hit either the pound sign # or operator 0.
99 out of 100 times I get a LIVE person.
W David Samuelsen,
I do that, too - but increasingly the companies are getting wise to that and blocking that. Even so, my average is now more like 50/50 so still worth chance to do that.
eyes open & thumbs up,
Ed
I just had the unfortunate experience of using two different 800 numbers via IP relay where I found no option to go to a live person unless I went in the queue… and then they told me I was number 28……… I did wait a bit but the number never went down. I find I prefer to use email to resolve these types of problems and use those when I can. Sheila