I am a firm believer in not treating anyone like an idiot, even if they are. I am also a firm believer in robots – however, I don’t think they should be answering emails.

Take, for example, my recent encounters with both Google and Microsoft’s [insert air quotes here] customer support.

I was having an issue with Google Apps Sync for Microsoft Outlook. The details are not important, but what is important that after weeks of frustration, I caved and emailed customer support with the problem. Someone wrote back and asked me to attach the log files from Outlook. I followed their directions, but Google rejected my email saying my attachment was just too big.

So I replied, and I explained that Google rejected my attachment, blah blah blah, and explained that I was inserting a piece of the log file into my email instead. Google’s robot “representative” responded with the following:

Thanks for the additional information.

However, the email received only contains part of the log file. Could you please attach the full log file to your reply instead of copy/pasting in the body of the message?

This way, I will be able to run a proper diagnosis of the issue and provide you with a potential resolution.

Please keep me posted. In the meantime, if you have any other questions, do not hesitate to ask. I will happily assist.

Honestly, it’s like he didn’t hear a word I said. It’s like when I ask to put their shoes on because we’re going out and then they get in the car without shoes and I say, “Where are your shoes?” to which they reply, “You never told us to put our shoes on!” Maybe not exactly like that, but close.

So then I had to contact Microsoft for not accepting an XBox card. I explained the exact error message I got, which was: “An error has occurred during the transaction. Please try again later.” This was just shy of meeting my expectation for specificity, so I looked it up on Microsoft’s support site, where it was clarified to mean, “A temporary error has occurred. Please try to redeem the prepaid code later.” Ah, of course. But just in case, let me ask them again.

This was the response from the Microsoft robot:

Thank you for contacting online support for XBOX. I am Travis and I will be helping you today with this issue.

As I understand, you are having issues in redeeming the prepaid code. This issue may make you feel upset and we will work toward resolving this situation for you.

You can visit this link for the details prepaid code redemption errors : http://support.microsoft.com/kb/818928. You cannot use prepaid codes if your account is suspended or has a past due balance. These issues must be resolved before you can use a prepaid code.

You can also visit : http://forums.xbox.com/xbox_forums/xbox_support/f/28/t/153164.aspx for additional details about this issue.

Please verify as well that you are entering the code properly. Keep in mind that the code will contain no vowels and no zeroes. You can also try entering the code on https://xbox.com or by using a wired USB keyboard or chatpad on your console.

To enter a code on the console by following these steps:

1. Press the Guide button (big silver X button on the controller)
2. Tab over to Marketplace
3. Select “Redeem Code”
4. Input the code and accept.

Well, Travis, if your goal is to make me less frustrated, then you were somewhat less than successful. You were successful, however, in making me want to throw something. Luckily, Microsoft provided me with a handy graphic depicting such an action, although I am neither a man nor bald and I don’t usually wear suits. But it will do.

Photo Courtesy of Microsoft