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0 pointszamfi2y ago0 comments

I think the parent poster is arguing that we should normalize this behavior not that there's no excuse for not calling the number back given the reality we have today.

You're saying it's natural for people not to want to call back and wade through a million menus, and I agree.

But the conclusion from this is that companies should change their processes so that calling back is easy, precisely because otherwise people won't do it.

And the more people that do it despite the costs, the more normalized it'll be, and the more companies will be incentivized to make it easier.

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dataflow2y ago

We certainly should normalize this, but my point was that it's going against the grain, so efforts like this may be in vain without a bigger lever to pull. e.g., I imagine you'd need to convince some sort of authority (CISA? FIPS? not sure whom the right entity is) to point out the best practices here before organizations start paying attention.

psd12y ago

Unfortunately there's a dark incentive. Providing support costs money, but an automated phone menu does not (or at least, it's negligible). So you want to chuck your customers into hold music hell and winnow out as many as you can. This also makes your staff scheduling easier.

If your customers are captive, this is all upside. And most customers will tolerate this. The ones that do churn somehow don't generate blame for the psychopaths who implement this hostile practice, those bastards cut support costs and get promoted out.

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