why can't I talk to a person, instead of a recording??

[lovemyshiba]

I know this is trivial with everything else that is going on, but it bugs me.
I have some things to straighten out with my financial loans from school before I can file my taxes. It should all be taken care of (they told me the 17th would be a good time to file), and I recieved a letter yesterday saying they are paid off, but there's still a small chance they could take my tax return, and to call with any questions.
So, I call the IRS--I got 10 recordings, and never a human on the phone--there's not even an option to speak to someone. Then I called the loan office, and I got the same thing. It's so rude. I know it's efficient for them, not having to pay more people just to field calls, but when someone truly needs to speak with someone, it's a big pain.
These are not the only 2 numbers that this has happened with, it just frustrates me.

[All Creatures Great And Small]

Give this a try, it sometimes works: Refuse to push any buttons. Pretend you still have the last rotary dial phone in the known world, and that you have no idea what the recordings are asking you to do. Sometimes it will default to a human being, but not always. Did you try the IRS website? I doubt that would have the answers you need either, though.

I totally hear you on this complaint - sometimes your need just doesn't fit into one of their carefully crafted little boxes. Another one that drives me nuts is the voice-activated system, where they ask you to "speak" what you want. I called American Airlines once, and asked for information on a flight from Chicago, and no matter how many times I said Chicago, it kept saying "I'm sorry, I don't understand your request; please speak clearly" etc.
After I made enough "unintelligible noises" into the phone, it defaulted to a live human being who had absolutely no difficulty understanding my extreme Midwestern accent .

[Ann]

*nods* When I was in the USA and had to call around to several places (the Swedish embassy, hospitals, etc.) I encountered this many times too. How annoying it was... And like, if you didn't hear what number they said to press you had to go through it all again!

Sweden has started doing this as well now, which is a real pain for me since I do have one of those super-old phones that won't work when it comes to that.

[Edwina's Secretary]

I went through this yesterday trying to resolve an insurance issue. I just keep pushing "O" until I get a person!