Bring back human beings

I spent hours upon hours recently trying to SPEAK to someone at Virgin Atlantic customer services.
In the end I went through to their “Upper class” ticket sales line -I guess they answered because they thought I was going to buy a ticket at £5K etc.
I explained my real reason for calling only to be told quite politely but firmly the “customer services are NOT customer facing and it’s impossible to speak to anyone directly,send in an email”.
My reaction was that that’s not very customer friendly and my best course of action would be to spend my holiday money elsewhere.

When I was studying for 'A' levels in late 60s I was taken to an old cotton mill where a computer was being built. It was one of those factories with a long floor where you could hardly see from one end to the other. people were running around with large magnetic reels clutched to their chests and valves as large as a milk bottle. It only did what a desk top calculator would do. I am typing this on my little lap top
I have also had occasion to ring for technical help to Utility Warehouse. When I say "imagine you are explaining to your grandmother and tell me simply" They are very helpful and not at all condescending or patronising. (Which I wouldn't tolerate)

I was thinking of using Vinted but perhaps not!

Humans are too expensive and require managing! Also, they often don't know the answer and don't care.

The ones I really don't like are the ones where you have to give your postcode - mine ends in an 'a' and no matter how clearly I try to say 'a' the bot on the phone hears 'e' . They obviously can't take accents into account.
And don't get me started on trying to use my mobile to pay for parking at the local railway station ?? My previous car reg had an 'f' in it. I spoke clearly (I thought ) but the acknowledgement text would come through with an 's'. After 20 minutes of this, and trying 'f for foxtrot' and 'f' for something way stronger I finally managed.
Give me humans every time!

Couldn’t agree more. We became so fed up with our “well known bank” we decided to try a local building society bank. So glad we did. We can speak to a real person who is locally based. Made our online banking such a lot easier.

Sago

I feel your pain Lucca I had to get rid of Sky once on behalf of my demented mother, it was a trial.
When I finally spoke to someone they insisted it was better that my mother kept her package and transferred everything to the nursing home, eventually I lied and said she had lost her sight?.
I will burn for that I’m sure.

What a dreadful thing to say ?