Such examples of technology used in this manner are those companies that use automated multi-choice telephone menu systems to handle their in-coming calls. These systems are unfortunately, becoming more common place, no doubt on the grounds of cost saving rather than actual ?improvements to customer service?.

You know the type of thing; you call a company wanting to speak to a human being. Instead you're faced with;

?press one for sales, press two for accounts, three to be plunged into a bottomless pit of silence, four to be cut off immediately or five, to start the whole soul destroying process again without any hope of actually speaking to a living being.?

These types of systems drive us and no doubt everyone else, completely do lally.

One example this week that got us leaping around our desks in frustration was our attempt to speak to one of the country's largest telecoms companies regarding the telephone services in our new office.

You've guessed it: ?press one for this, press two for that!? However, none of the choices presented by this ?wonderful system? applied to what we needed to speak to them about. So after 20 minutes of pressing buttons we gave up and sent them a fax having never got as far as speaking to a human.

Mind blowingly frustrating and horrendously bad customer service in anyone's book I'm sure you'd agree. (We got a response to our fax the next day ? but at least they rang us, which is one consolation i suppose).

The worrying thing though, is that it's not just the big utility giants or banks that deploy these automated call routing systems. We're starting to see them in small companies.

Why? How can such services enhance the customer experience?

If you're a small business, limited on staff or need to filter and route your inbound calls in a specific manner; why not employ one of these ?virtual receptionist? type of companies that are springing up? At least then your customers will be able to speak to a human being. They may not be able to offer immediate assistance, but at least they will be able to take a message or offer some advice.

Anything better than ?press one for this? or ?press two for that?.

It's common sense really.

Note: When you call us (0845 658 1331), you'll always speak to a human being. No matter how big we get, we'll never deploy automated call handling systems.