Le 01/09/2023 à 18:42, Rich Ulrich a écrit :
> Hibou wrote:
>> Le 31/08/2023 à 07:27, occam a écrit :
>>>
>>> People have become very wary of standard apologies. "We take these
>>> allegations seriously" by itself is almost standard. People have become
>>> desensitized to it. It is almost like "errors were made", or "we
>>> apologise for any inconvenience".
>>
>> I'm sorry you think that.
>
> That feels a touch confrontational, compared to
> "I'm sorry you feel that way."

Yes, that's better.

Le 02/09/2023 à 03:01, Sam Plusnet a écrit :
> On 02-Sep-23 1:09, Peter Moylan wrote:
>> On 01/09/23 21:42, Stefan Ram wrote:
>>> "Kerr-Mudd, John" <admin@127.0.0.1> writes:
>>>>
>>>> An automated system is even now being trained to be deeply sorry
>>>> for the delay.
>>>
>>> At first it sounds absurd to think that an automated system could be
>>> sorry about something. But if that system is responsible for doing
>>> that thing, then it makes a little more sense. It would make perfect
>>> sense if you knew that being sorry would cause the automatic system
>>> to try to do better in the future so as not to be sorry again.
>>
>> One that always annoys me is "We are experiencing a higher than average
>> number of calls". No matter when you call, the queue is always higher
>> than average in length.
>
> Ditto emails - e.g. when you contact the Tilley hat company who have
> urged you to contact them if you have the slightest concern with, or
> question about one of their fine products.
>
> That automated response, and then nothing.

Putting two ideas together (phone and PN).... Once upon a time, long
long ago and before they were taken over by BT, Plusnet used to publish
a graph showing the volume of incoming calls by time of day and day of
the week. That was good service, but they dropped the idea, and I
haven't seen it anywhere else.

Phone systems that tell you your position in the queue are good. The
initial number may be alarming (as in the case of the Scottish vaccines
helpline during the Pandemic), but if the number is falling, one can
tell how long one has to wait.

The most entertaining system, IMHO, is Tesco's holding web page when
placing an order for delivery at Christmas. I've forgotten what the
initial number was last time, but it was in the hundreds of thousands.
It ticked down rapidly, though, and the wait was just half an hour.

The big advantage of web pages over phone systems is... no muzak! Oh,
and no messages saying, "Your call is important to us."

On Friday, September 1, 2023 at 8:09:35 PM UTC-4, Peter Moylan wrote:
> On 01/09/23 21:42, Stefan Ram wrote:
> > "Kerr-Mudd, John" <ad...@127.0.0.1> writes:
>
> >> An automated system is even now being trained to be deeply sorry
> >> for the delay.
> >
> > At first it sounds absurd to think that an automated system could be
> > sorry about something. But if that system is responsible for doing
> > that thing, then it makes a little more sense. It would make perfect
> > sense if you knew that being sorry would cause the automatic system
> > to try to do better in the future so as not to be sorry again.
>
> One that always annoys me is "We are experiencing a higher than average
> number of calls". No matter when you call, the queue is always higher
> than average in length.

And you have to listen to all the options because they were recently changed.

On 02-Sep-23 7:05, Hibou wrote:
> Le 02/09/2023 à 03:01, Sam Plusnet a écrit :
>> On 02-Sep-23 1:09, Peter Moylan wrote:
>>> On 01/09/23 21:42, Stefan Ram wrote:
>>>> "Kerr-Mudd, John" <admin@127.0.0.1> writes:
>>>>>
>>>>> An automated system is even now being trained to be deeply sorry
>>>>> for the delay.
>>>>
>>>> At first it sounds absurd to think that an automated system could be
>>>> sorry about something. But if that system is responsible for doing
>>>> that thing, then it makes a little more sense. It would make perfect
>>>> sense if you knew that being sorry would cause the automatic system
>>>> to try to do better in the future so as not to be sorry again.
>>>
>>> One that always annoys me is "We are experiencing a higher than average
>>> number of calls". No matter when you call, the queue is always higher
>>> than average in length.
>>
>> Ditto emails - e.g. when you contact the Tilley hat company who have
>> urged you to contact them if you have the slightest concern with, or
>> question about one of their fine products.
>>
>> That automated response, and then nothing.
>
> Putting two ideas together (phone and PN).... Once upon a time, long
> long ago and before they were taken over by BT, Plusnet used to publish
> a graph showing the volume of incoming calls by time of day and day of
> the week. That was good service, but they dropped the idea, and I
> haven't seen it anywhere else.
>
> Phone systems that tell you your position in the queue are good. The
> initial number may be alarming (as in the case of the Scottish vaccines
> helpline during the Pandemic), but if the number is falling, one can
> tell how long one has to wait.
>
> The most entertaining system, IMHO, is Tesco's holding web page when
> placing an order for delivery at Christmas. I've forgotten what the
> initial number was last time, but it was in the hundreds of thousands.
> It ticked down rapidly, though, and the wait was just half an hour.
>
> The big advantage of web pages over phone systems is... no muzak! Oh,
> and no messages saying, "Your call is important to us."
>
The 'hold' musak for our local surgery is interrupted every 15 seconds
or so by messages suggesting you should go away and try the local
pharmacist who might be good for what ails you - or to supply phone
numbers I might call, should I be suffering from domestic abuse.

Of course there is always the "You are now in a queue, and will be
answered as soon as one of our..."

--
Sam Plusnet