Sir, - The ever increasing use of recorded messages by high-profile companies in dealing with telephone enquiries is most infuriating.
I recently had to phone a major cable TV company to complain that I had not received transmission (pay per view) of the recent big fight. For fully 10 minutes I was subjected to a very irritating barrage of recorded commercial messages punctuated by a recorded voice telling me someone would be with me shortly. After 10 minutes I gave up and slammed down the phone. There was no human presence on whom I could vent my now considerable anger - particularly as I had just received a bill for the (non) service.
I recently retired from business where I spent over 40 years dealing with the public. We were most diligent in answering the telephone and dealing with the caller personally - after all, this was how a high percentage of our business was generated, and was surely the least one could do.
This modern-day, impersonal and very discourteous method is, I'm, sure raising blood pressure levels on a large scale.
I tried again subsequently and never got to speak to a real, live person, so now I have to write to register my complaint - and to cap it all I broke my phone when slamming it down in anger.
Hardly the way to win friends and influence people. It's nice to talk - but is anybody listening? - Yours, etc., Michael McCormack,
Clontarf, Dublin 3.