Automated services are an absolute pain. As with any new ideas every aspect of everyday life get flooded with them. I spent a lot of last week making clear to various companies how far backwards we have gone. I always start with “Is this conversation being recorded?” “Good” I then proceeded to tell this company that there are many mental health sufferers who after taking half an hour to talk to a human will now be much worse. In contrast in the 1960’s my mother was a switchboard operator for Good years Wolverhampton (one of 50 operators) she could memorize hundreds of phone numbers and could get someone to the correct human in seconds! We all benefit from useful inventions but when you need to talk to a REAL person there is no substitute.