I design IVRs for a living, and I agree wholeheartedly. Nothing bugs me more than a customer that wants to use their IVR to replace CSRs rather than to add value to their customers experience. IVRs, if done well, will aid the caller to getting information from the customer's database or speaking with the right CSR (as in a call director).
If done poorly, they're designed only to save the customer actual dollars per month, while sacrificing customer experience. Granted, I don't have much choice in what my customer wants, but part of my job is teaching my customers about GOOD IVR design.

Sorry to go off like that, but I hate bad IVRs more than most people!