Oh fucking hell yes, how much I hate that shit. Bring back the "press 5 for XYZ" phone trees, I never have problems getting the systems to understand what I'm trying to indicate there.
I realize the decision makers have been prioritizing the opposite. Making calls take as long as possible but I have no idea what is incentivizing them to do that.
That's what they actually are, you just get an interactive type through for selecting your number. You can just type it all at once if you already know it.
I have no idea how to go about implementing such a thing, but it would be cool if someone picked up the idea and ran with it.
Since the experience, I have grown increasingly hostile to most "Automated customer Support Systems". (Capitalization intentional). The intent is generally to minimize the human contact available to the customer.
It's ASS all the way down. The customer has very little choice or input in the matter.