OK. Representative

Everyone who has an American Express Card knows how you can get past that annoying "female" bot voice that insists on you putting all your info in before any help. And most of us know that by pressing zeros or any silly combination of a hashtag or star followed by a zero, gets us awarded with the coveted status of; "OK. REPRESENTATIVE."

It's a ritual that Amex is not fixing. And whether you have a green, gold or platinum card, this awful treatment is the same. It's what the Wall Street Journal calls the "breakpoint" – the point where technology shows customers how bad companies treat them through technology. Amex and all those other bot-service-depending companies must know this. You see, once you're past the Amex bot-lady, the representatives are trained to make excuses, and aren't shy to act out your pain. They also immediately get into the famous Amex person-to-person action which keeps you thinking that we're all a victim of the bots – even those who work for the company that serves those bots up.

There is a solution to erasing the "breakpoint" problem; it's called refining service. Better and improved service has always been the answer to better marketing, better bottom-lines and better acquisition numbers. But somehow we've falling in love with technology so much, that we're willing to lose customers over it. Read Sharon Terlep's article and let's grow marketing by refining technology on behalf of all customers (read; you and me), rather than leaping to the next trend.