Computerised Telephone Options

I spent a fruitless afternoon trying to contact a major bank about a mistake in my account. I covered several continents in my calls and found myself negotiating endless computerised options en route. I feel like an old luddite saying this but why can’t I just ring up and talk to a person when I ring up who actually has some grasp of my account or at least the type of account I am using. This system may be efficient for the accountants but its seriously inefficient for us poor account holders.