If public servants could shift things around to help you, if they had directives from government that spelled out regions of possible action, and had flexibility under that system to help you, with the possibility of complaint if you thought they were doing it wrong (which would just take things back to the old restricted format again), then you could really have someone go “I’ll see what I can do” in confidence that they would actually be able to put something together.

Now doing that requires a system that is more secure, and I would rather ID cards and decentralised information sharing (I use the authority of my ID card or in-person signature to allow you to share info, and only then can you do it), than no ID verification and all kinds of generic stores of my personal information.

If I have the power to give public servants discretion in my case, then I don’t need to worry so much about information sharing or flexibility being misused, because I can control it’s extent. I wouldn’t be at all surprised if such a system were faster, and provided smoother public services.

And just to be encouraging, a lot of the companies I deal with are getting better at talking to people, not worse. Perhaps you could catalyse this by including it in the business advice people get and providing a working template.

Now I have no idea what the legal requirements are towards customer service and accountability, apart from clarity on bills, but perhaps there could be some way of dealing with those who refuse to deal with customer concerns.

Now having said this, I wouldn’t want to encourage a heavily punitive framework, or if I did, it would have to be combined with clear ways for companies to avoid it and help/advice in doing so. The objective is to make businesses treat people like human beings, not to damage them.