Computer Interaction is More Humane than Human Interaction
Wow. I have just experienced culture shock in making a tech support call to Greece for internet banking. I was transferring money between accounts for the first time, which requires entering a number to confirm. This number, called a TAN number is a strange concept. When doing internet banking with the National Bank of Greece, one receives a crazy user name they can't change, some numeric password and a dot-matrix printout of hundreds of numbers in a random series in two columns: TAN numbers & Check Numbers. And no instructions.
So I chose my account from a drop down list. And then I chose another account I wanted the money moved to. I entered an amount. And I had to enter an explanation. And I hit "send". All in Greek mind you...And then an input box appeared out of nowhere asking for a TAN number. I used one and was promptly told this number has been used before. I tried another and was told it was not right. I tried another and was told this list was inactive. Hmmm....
I called customer service. At seven cents a minute with my international plan it was a bargain. After a polite automated answering system, a woman picked up the phone. I told her what was going on and she proceeded to scold me for trying to enter TAN numbers multiple times. She knew exactly what numbers I typed. I mistyped one set and that locked up the list which means that a new list has to be regenerated and mailed to the bank. Which means that my mother has to pick up that list with a power of attorney paper. All that so I can transfer the grand amount of $300 into another account.
"Why did you not follow directions?" she asked. "Why did you mistype the TAN numbers?" she asked. "Why did you enter a Check number in one of the attempts?" I put my tail behind my legs and explained to her that I was overseas, that I have never done this before and that I didn't receive any instuctions and just got a faxed sheet from my mother.
"You should have called us immediately if you didn't know what to do".
I proceeded to tell her that she should be more open to people's unusual circumstances. "Sure, no problem" she said. "We'll send you another list. Tell your mother to pick it up.
"Goodbye".
This is why I live in the United States. Land of internet banking for dummies. I have been internet banking since 1997. Never have I been scolded. I have been calling tech support for various things since 1995. Never have I been scolded.
Customer Service does not translate well overseas. Even the cold banking site of Chase now feels like a warm fuzzy place that makes me not feel bad about myself.
Do humans need HCI training for computers or do they need HHI training for treating other humans?
