Customer Service

I am sure that what I went through today has probably happened to at least one person who will read this today.
I had an issue with my credit card company and decided to call them up and file a dispute.  Sounds easy enough, right?  So, I call the number and get an automated system where you have to choose which option I need.  Easily done. I am informed that they are currently experiencing a high colume of calls and the wait could be up to 8 minutes long.  No problem so far.  After several minutes of really boring music, I get a representative on the line.  She asks how she can help me in a thick accent which I can barely understand.  I tell her my issue and she tells me she will have to transfer me to the disputes department, which is where I thought I was after going through the automated system.  The phone starts ringing and I think I am getting through to the disputes department.  Wrong.  Main menu, please choose the following options.
     Ok.  I go through the options again and get another representative on the line.  Even worse accent, barely distinguishable.  They ask for the exact same information as the previous rep.  I reiterate the information and am told that they will once again transfer me to the disputes department.  I explained to them that this is where the last customer service agent sent me, but am assured that I will be sent to the proper department this time.  I am now at least 15 minutes into the call.  I tell her to go ahead and please transfer me.  She does, and where do I go?  Back to the main menu to schoose the same options again. 
      I choose the option for the disputes again.  They are experiencing a high colume of calls and the wait could be at least 10 minutes.  Hmm.  What the heck, I've been on this long and I really want to resolve this issue.  After a nice long wait and the same music broken up by ads on how great there customer service is I get another representative, this one female who I can understand.  She wants the same information that I have just given the other 2 reps.  At this point I ask her if she can indeed help me with my dispute.  Oh, no!  She has to send me to the disputes department.  I told her that was the option I had pushed on the phone and that I have already been transferred to it twice already with the result being that I still haven't talked to anyone about the dispute.  I am now 30 minutes into the call.  She says they must behaving some technical difficulties and promises that this time I will get to speak to some one in the disptes department.  I take a deep breath and say OK.  I am on hold for another 5 minutes. 
     I am answered by the 4th person and am asked again for the same information that I have given out 3 times before.  I tell them this and they say let me pull up your account, but I will need your information first.  Really?  It's been taken 3 times before and not one of the reps has input it into the system.  She thanks me for my patience,  as did the other representatives numerous times.  I give her the information, AGAIN, and she says she will transfer me to the disputes department.  I hesitate, and let her know that if I am transferred to the wrong department I am going to cut the card up into small pieces and mail it to them.  Somehow, she gets me to the disputes department. 
     I am asked for my information again, for security purposes of course, by a gentlemen who thanks me for my patience.  After asking what item on my account I wish to dispute, he then proceeds to tell me that he sees the charge on the screen but needs a letter in writing from me explaining to them which charge it is that I am disputing.  In the meantime they will put a block on my card and send me a new one within 10 business days.  A letter in writing!  I have been on the phone for 45 minutes at this point and my pateince, which they keep thanking me for has run out.  The rep then points out that I could do an online dispute that would save me a lot of time.  They couldn't have told me this at the beginning?  Of course, I should have probably realized that it could be done this way, but thought if I talked to someone it would be much simpler.  Needless to say, I put the request in online.
     Does it not seem that customer service has gone downhill these past few years?  I live in what is considered a service oriented city and over the past 13 years have seen the service steadily decline.  I remember when you could get anything taken care of with only one person in front of you and it didn't take 45 minutes of pushing numbers on a phone and getting the run around.  Anyway, I feel much better now, and hope that this at least amused you a little bit.  Thanks for reading!