So agree!! I think asking a CM to call the character hotline is only good for common characters in predictable locations. I don't think they know anything about the more randomly used spots.
And I never forgot the one time I asked at Magic Kingdom Guest Services for Brer Bear - they told me he didn't meet anymore, and hasn't met in awhile. I doubted the information, but the CM informed me that it was correct. I sadly left the building

, and then right in front of me coming our for meets is Brer Bear! Literally right there in front of me! Me and my nephew Ben happily meet him, and then afterwards I walked back into Guest Services and told the same CM that Brer Bear is OUT RIGHT NOW!! She looked very surprised her information was wrong! That's when I learned that the information from the character hotline is not "set in stone". They just don't know everything, so I learned to just keep my eyes open, and check known locations for characters anyway!
Glad to see I am not the only one who doesn't take the character hotline's word as gold! But the character hotline is good for finding established characters on a predictable schedule.