So I was checking on my bank accounts online today and noticed a charge on my still active Trustmark account (that's my bank in Mississippi) that I did not recognize. It had an 800 number with the charge so I called it and got an automated phone system. An automated phone system with advanced voice recognition. Man, I hadn't realized that voice recognition had come so far. The computer could respond to yes and no questions, recognize credit card names, recognize strings of numbers and letters said in a normal voice that I would use with any telephone operator, and could convert my "twenty four forty-five" into "Twenty four dollers and forty-five cents" with ease.

The other odd thing about this encounter was that the charge was for a PC World subscription... that I had in 2000. It even told me that was when I had it. I had the option of canceling, paying a $1 fee or some such and recieving the rest of my issues (From 2000?) and a refund, not canceling (and recieving magazines I havn't been getting for the past four years?), canceling and paying $2 to get to magazines I have never heard of, or canceling and getting a refund. I chose the latter. So apparently I'm going to get refunded for a magazine I got four years ago and paid for this past week. Somehow.

Weird stuff.
- posted by Nick @ 6/04/2004 05:12:00 PM | 0 comments