I think you’d get this problem, monopoly or not, whenever cost saving measures are in place (and they always are, for good reason) at the customer-interface level.
Maybe there should always be a hidden option that only people that meet a certain troubleshooting ability threshold get access to when calling in for tech support….
> I think you’d get this problem, monopoly or not, whenever cost saving measures are in place (and they always are, for good reason) at the customer-interface level.
I'm guessing that these scripts that we're all complaining about solve 95% of problems customers call in about. Sure makes things painful for the 5% of cases, though.
I've been a (grudging) Comcast customer for ~17 years, and I have been impressed by how their monitoring has improved over that time. It's been quite a number of years since I've had to convince them that I had an actual problem that their systems didn't automatically detect.
There is a hidden option - you can call it "proof of work", or "proof of determination". You keep calling, and trying ways to escalate, maybe even send a paper letter; eventually, something in the customer "support" process will yield and you'll get through to someone who can actually help you.
Maybe there should always be a hidden option that only people that meet a certain troubleshooting ability threshold get access to when calling in for tech support….