It's not necessarily the fault of the customer service representative.

I work in customer service and my company has VERY rigid rules about what we can do and say on our phone calls. No small talk. No laughing, no conversation that is not directly related to the service you are providing. In other words, you can't act human. We have 6 sentences we are REQUIRED to use in every call, whether it makes sense or not.

1. I understand that you are calling because....
2. I'd be happy to assist you with....
3. May I ask you a few questions so I can better assist you
4. Are you the applicant?
5. I have provided you with these options, which would you prefer?
6. Is there anything else I can help you with?

No exceptions. Leaving even ONE out results in a low score, which brings your overall average down, and in my company, if you don't at least score an 80% or above, you can be terminated.

It sucks. It's draining. It's toxic. I hate it. I'm actively trying to find another job but I'm not getting any responses from the companies I'm applying to.

So yeah if you're experiencing bad customer service, it's probably because they're sticking to their guidelines and sound like a robot.

I spent many years working in customer service. I put in my time and got a paycheck.

Yes it has.

Everything has gone downhill in the last 5 to 6 years.

Yes, I'm so grateful I work for a small business and I can be more person centered rather than have to follow a specific procedure every time.

Oh yes it is horrible with many businesses especially corporate businesses. I dumped Cox cable-internet and got OEC (a local company) this past month and their customer service is wonderful. No putting people on hold or having to punch numbers for questions.

If you got someone not from a foreign country you're lucky ,i get a guy named abdul that i can't understand not being rude i ask for someone i can understand then i get a guy named bruce and i swear it's the same guy lol. All these big companies farm out cust services to foreign countries i assume because it's cheaper

My observation: The more AI/computerization, the poorer the customer service and the more likely I'll try to find another company to deal with.

I spent several days web-chatting with people at my cable company customer service. Errors and troubles due to a bad phone number. Trying to fix it was nob-trivial. Then other problems.

I said it would be more efficient if they had a phone number. Typing is so slow.

Yet nowadays I am finding it is better just to ask Google Search in AI Mode for answers. It usually does a good job. Yet it does make mistakes.

But humans can hang up. I complained to one and they ended the chat without saying anything. No apologies. Of course I opened a new chat to complain some more, and also complain about getting hung up on. This person took the heat and apologized.

It was bad in 1981 also

Yes
It's been this way for years

Its getting worse.
I recently had some questions about my power bill.
I called customer service and the guy on the other end of the phone could only tell me what I already knew.
I asked for someone in billing.
He said that he couldn’t get that department for me that he would have to send in a request what ever that meant.
They have made things so complicated that you have to be a detective to figure out what it is you are being charged.
Its all by design in my opinion.

Yea it happened because we went too far the other way. There were too many people bishing about customers on social media and customers got to the point of ass kissing employees to such a degree that now we are here.

Customer service has been garbage since the 90s. An entire generation has been convinced that much of the shopping experience is their responsibility when in fact it is not.

That is 1 symptom of us transitioning from first world to second world status.

they give you a useless run around for sure if they even answer the phone

No one cares about anyone, it's kind of a thing.

Sometimes

But then again the world has always lacked empathy

Depends who ya bump into

What I dislike most about customer service nowadays is the inability to speak to a living person without long delays. I occasionally find this even in making appointments for healthcare visits, which is insane.