I agree with you there. It's an attempt to automate everything, that is, get people out of the system to make it more "efficient". It also serves to make it harder for the consumer to get action, make a complaint, follow up on his case, get information, or in this case, get justice; unless it's some simple FAQ that can be preprogrammed into an automated telephone maze.

There used to be a time when if you had a problem with a merchant you just called him up or went down there and it was either straightened out on the spot or at least you knew where you stood. You only get that kind of service now from the upscale companies that charge a premium, or the small ones that are truly competing for your patronage. Large firms, and government agencies, just don't care.

The idea is to use the new commmunications technologies to automatically handle all relationships with the customer so they don't have to hire people. It also frees them from the unpleasant chore of dealing with their customers. They say its for my convenience. Bullshit. Its for theirs.

For the last year, I have had the Spanish language edition of the local paper delivered to my house, even though I don't want it and never ordered it. No doubt my surname was targeted by some software and the paper boy notified. Picking up these things and disposing of them is a minor annoyance, and I read the office copy of the paper anyway. I've tried calling to get them to stop delivery, but all I get is someone's voice mail and no further action. I once actually caught one of their salesman at the local Publix and he dutifully took my name and address...and nothing happened. The website has all sorts of mechanisms to order and pay for the service, but none to cancel it. If they ever got a hold of my credit card number I'd probably be paying for it, too. I actually stopped the paper boy (actually, some surly homeless guy with no teeth) once at 4AM and told him to stop, but a few months later deliveries resumed.

You now have a situation where ordering, delivery, billing, paying and customer service are all handled remotely, or online. Getting routine matters "straightened out" means the customer has to follow up and do the legwork himself. In other words, they are shifting part of their administrative costs to the customer. You can't get people on the phone, and when you do they are some illiterate teenager who of course has never heard of your particular problem. Business has found a way of making you do work that used to be their job. Even the old and respected firms are now subbing out a lot of their service work to subcontractors, and when the work doesn't get done right all you get is the runaraound. And have you tried to cancel a software subscription lately?

Paying bills is all done by credit card or online,and even checks are no longer returned by your bank, so it becomes more and more complex to keep track of your accounts. When an error occurs, you just can't get it sorted out. Sure, I can handle all of this, I have access to the internet and I am well educated and I keep good records and keep up with my business. I also can afford a lawyer; man,THAT gets their attention! But it's my time and effort that is being expropriated. Also, a lot of people don't or can't: the old, the poor, the uneducated, the foreigners, all those who are not fully wired into the system but who are still expected to pay up on time. The apologists simply respond "tough shit, this is the 21st century, get with the program". Or the favorite snark of the times "quit your whining and get over it". And when their system shows itself vulnerable to automated fraud and identity theft on a global scale, they just pass the costs on to the customer and sell him "fraud protection insurance".

Why is it that in an age where everybody is wandering around with a mobile stuck in their ear, you can no longer actually talk to anyone on the telephone?