The incident happened after the Pixel 6 Pro user was placed on hold by the IRS while trying to contact the agency. After approximately an hour and a half, an agent answered the phone. But, upon hearing the AI assistant was going to fetch the user, the agent allegedly called out the user for enabling it for the call. Specifically, the agent stated that the IRS would not take calls from anybody who is utilizing Hold For Me and any other Google-built holding feature — apparently on a Pixel phone or otherwise. Then, the agent promptly hung up before allowing the Pixel-user to respond.
Is this just a Google Pixel or Hold For Me problem at the IRS?
Powerbird101 was initially perplexed by the fact that the Agent specified “Google” in response to the feature being used. However, the problem, while vaguely stated by the IRS, may not actually be with Google or the Pixel. Or even with the Hold For Me feature. At least not specifically, although the feature has run into some other issues in the past. Other Redditors took to the forum with jokes about what the IRS might do when “Apple invents” a similar feature. Or to share their own experiences. According to some users, some banks and financial institutions appear to have expressed similar sentiments when the feature was used. For example, Capitol One reportedly expressed concern that there might be somebody else on the line during the conversation. The primary concern is likely related to call recording and user privacy. In fact, the IRS does have a policy restricting the use of call recording. If that’s the case, then the feature will likely not be usable on the current or future Pixels when calling the IRS. Conversely, one alleged IRS agent and Pixel user in the thread also claimed that the offending agent didn’t follow procedures. Summarily, stating that agents aren’t allowed to wait on those kinds of services in order to keep call times down. But that there shouldn’t have been an issue since powerbird101 was already connected to the agent.
