Michigan Radio & TV Buzzboard

Got reconnected to OnStar recently to take advantage of a promotional offer.

Now, instead of a real person, the user interacts with a robot. However, I've found a way to beat it. If you mumble or just speak gobbledygook, it hands your call over to a real person

Turkeytop wrote: ↑

Sat May 07, 2022 3:20 pm

Got reconnected to OnStar recently to take advantage of a promotional offer.

Now, instead of a real person, the user interacts with a robot. However, I've found a way to beat it. If you mumble or just speak gobbledygook, it hands your call over to a real person

I've found that trick works with most any automated phone system. Some days I have the proverbial frog in my throat -- "I'm sorry, I didn't understand you. Please stay on the line while we connect you with a customer service representative."

India much?

Sometimes an automated response system is easier to understand.

kager wrote: ↑

Sun May 08, 2022 9:08 am

Sometimes an automated response system is easier to understand.

Yes. But does it understand us. One day I was looking for directions to an address on Amber Court. It kept trying to send me to Hamburg New York, about 140 miles from here.

kager wrote: ↑

Sun May 08, 2022 9:08 am

India much?

Sometimes an automated response system is easier to understand.

I'll preface this by saying I've never tried it. Several friends say if you can get to the Spanish help desk, they are bilingual and easy to understand.

I agree that often (dare I say always with T-Mobile and Comcast) you can't understand anything they are saying. With both, I have to ask for more repeats than a broken record.

So, I used the OnStar a bit when we were in Florida. After we came home, I kept it because I was working on an election campaign and it helped me to navigate in unfamilliar parts of the city.

Yesterday I called in to cancel it. Told her that with gas prices so high, I needed to cut my driving costs. She put me on hold for about a minute and came back and offered me the next three months for free.

I bought a year of Onstar last year. The problem is that it failed after my battery died in September. Figured it would work better after having the module reprogrammed, but the idiots at the Saab shop replaced the module and said "call On star to fix it." Call Onstar, and they couldn't reset it to make Onstar work. My XM radio also disappeared as well. Stupid shop couldn't fix that and said, "Are you sure you had XM standard in this vehicle and not added on?" I basically told the guy that it's literally on the original sticker. He said he would have to go reset the radio. Being I had already spent two hours at the shop getting my brake light and headlight replaced (I have the Xenon lights requiring the bumper to be removed for a ballast replacement), I decided to give my local guy a chance. So, I have no Onstar and no XM.

And it still doesn't recognize 'Quanicassee' (the name of a village in the thumb).

Had to take my wife to a medical appointment in a part of town with which I'm unfamiliar.

So I asked OnStar to take me to the address 111 Waterloo St.

It soon became apparent it was leading me in the wrong direction, When it announced "You have arrived at your destinarion, on the left." I was actually at 667 Waterloo St.

I turned the car around and started driving in the direction from which I had come. I once again asked to be directed to 111 Waterloo St. This time, it took me to 111 Waterloo St. We entered the building and walked down the hall to the office of the clinic.

The office was closed and in darkness. I sign on the door said "We have moved to 667 Waterloo St, the address from which we had just come.

How do they do That? In requesting directions I didn't name the clinic, only the address.

paul8539 wrote: ↑

Sat Jul 02, 2022 8:00 pm

And it still doesn't recognize 'Quanicassee' (the name of a village in the thumb).

Try Quanikaze. Did you ever see those houses? LOL.

Have never used it. The equipment in my brand new 2015 traverse is too outdated to use with the current system