The operator gave a cursory apology and then proceeded to read through her script. I did my best to patiently comply with her instructions until she asked me to clear my cache. I told her I was still dealing with the consequences from the last representative who asked me to do that, and we would have to skip that step.
"Can I put you on a brief hold?"
As I waited, I could feel my blood pressure rising. It was clear that my frustration was being ignored.
As I could have guessed from experience, the representative was conferring in the background with someone from their technical department. She was waiting for a response and would have to put me on hold again.
I interrupted and, as calmly as possible, told her this was unacceptable. I wasn't wasting any more of my time on the matter, and if there was no immediate solution, I wanted to close my account.
I had expected my request to finally trigger an escalation to someone with the authority to help. Instead, for the first time in our conversation, the representative actually listened. My account, which I've held for decades, is now closed.
It makes me wonder what exactly Capital One was buying. If what made Discover unique was its superior customer service, why not fold their system into the one that worked and let customers benefit? Instead, they jettisoned Discover's systems and downgraded the customer experience.
More than likely, they were after Discover's ability to process transactions without paying fees to Visa or Mastercard. The Discover customer base was an inconvenient byproduct of the purchase.
Unfortunately, this is not a unique story in today's economy. As corporations merge and grow larger, customers become inconvenient cogs in the machine. They downsize value, bypass quality, and ignore consumer needs as they race toward the easiest path to higher profits and the CEO's hearty performance bonus. No longer king, the customer pays more for less.
When faced with a proliferation of outsized corporate bureaucracies seemingly focused solely on increasing profits, is it any wonder that people, especially younger ones, are willing to cozy up to Democratic Socialism?
Carl Petersen is a former Green Party candidate for the LAUSD School Board and a longtime advocate for public education and special needs families. Now based in Washington State, he writes about politics, culture, and their intersections at TheDifrntDrmr.
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