I had a similar experience with Hello Fresh, an automated grocery/meals delivery service. I'd heard of it, so one day when I saw an Internet ad, I clicked on it out of curiosity, figuring it probably didn't matter because they wouldn't deliver it to the sticks where I live. Most food delivery services don't.

I was surprised to see my address was OK, so I started examining further, in an automated process that quite briefly explained how the service worked and then asked for a few preferences, like, do I prefer to eat meat or fish, am I a vegan or vegetarian, and what is my level of cooking skill.

What the process did not do is show me a menu, a selection of the sorts of ingredients I could order for meals.

Then I was prompted to enter my payment information. I figured, what the heck, if I don't like what I see, I'll just not complete the order process or cancel the order. Simple.

Thus began my nightmare.

I had no idea I was caught in an automated business process that would do everything possible to ignore what I wanted and keep me as a customer whether I wanted to be a customer or not.

As it happened, when I was finally able to see a menu after providing my credit card number, I didn't care for what I saw. So I tried to cancel. The automation wouldn't let me cancel. I spent 20 minutes going down various paths, only to be completely frustrated.

I ended up googling a customer support number. (Not provided on the automated web site.) I spent 20 minutes on hold, then 20 minutes patiently explaining that I did not want to be a Hello Fresh customer because the food selections available didn't suit my tastes, no offense, nothing personal, etc.

It took longer than should have necessary, but a rep finally agreed to cancel my order. I thanked her and assumed that was the end.

Oh, no

A month later, a great big Hello Fresh box showed up at my door. I called that number I had googled.

"Sir, you signed up for a recurring order, so we have no ability to refund the amount we charged you."

"I called immediately upon finally seeing your menu while I was considering if I wanted to purchase your service. I told a rep I had no interest in being a Hello Fresh customer."

"Our record show that you canceled your first month's order but that you did not cancel your account. Until you cancel your account, you will continue to receive monthly shipments. Thank you for being a Hello Fresh customer. We hope you have a lovely day."

Clearly, she was reading from a script.

It took me literally an hour to finally elevate the issue to someone with enough authority.

"We don't have to do this sir, because you signed up for a recurring service that you did not cancel. But as a special favor, I will now refund the amount charged to your account."

"Thank you, because under no circumstances do I wish to enter into any sort of a contract with HelloFresh. I do not want to be your customer, because I am not interested in the food you're selling. No offense, nothing personal, etc."

Problem solved?

Nope! Next month, another package showed up at my door.

"Sir, you canceled last month's order and we refunded you for it even though you received it. But you did not cancel your account. We cannot do you another favor."

Facepalm.

Needless to say, Hello Fresh's predatory automated account practices have not engendered good will. I don't feel anything positive about the company, and any chance I might change my mind and buy from them is now gone forever.

The customer reps I spoke to were prisoners of the automated system in the same way I was. All they could do was read from scripts and follow predetermined logic paths. They weren't people with free will and human judgement anymore than I was as a customer. We were all cogs in a business-logic machine, maximizing profits for shareholders.

Adding to the abuse, the call center was somewhere in South Asia judging by the English variant of the people I spoke to there. Hello Fresh was further maximizing profits, apparently, by hiring cogs in an areas where customary wages are super low compared to the market where they do business.

Brave new capitalist world.