Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Tell HN: There needs to be a “right to speak with a human”

news.ycombinator.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

1–10 of 348 posts

Tell HN: There needs to be a “right to speak with a human”

#1

Post by candiddevmike »

Over the past few weeks I've been in five separate instances where I needed a company to help me something, and I could not reach a human. Instead, I had to open tickets that went nowhere, reply to tickets via email, be told conflicting things by different people via email... It's so frustrating, and I'm sure there are others who experience this.

Part of me thinks (perhaps naively) if I had the ability to speak with a real person over the phone, we could sort this out instead of constant emails or creating tickets that go into a black hole. As more companies outsource, automate, or severely cut their customer service department, there needs to be some kind of pressure to stop these frustrating experiences from happening. Voting with our dollars doesn't work when these companies are so integrated with our lives.

Re: Tell HN: There needs to be a “right to speak with a human”

#2

Post by yonixw »

I don't see it as a solution because they will all just outsource it to humans from a country that cost less per hour, so your experience will be about the same.

The only solution IMO is to spend more money on support, but that should be a public ranking and not a "right"/law.

As an example, in my country, one of the big banks have ads with literally 2 sentences: "Talk to human, and we have a human branch in every city." No financial advantage what so ever so it looks like this is common enough issue that can move customers in some sectors.

Re: Tell HN: There needs to be a “right to speak with a human”

#3

Post by crate_barre »

yonixw wrote: post #2

I don't see it as a solution because they will all just outsource it to humans from a country that cost less per hour, so your experience will be about the same. The only solution IMO is to spend more money on support, but that should be a public ranking and not a "right"/law. As an example, in my country, one of the big banks have ads with literally 2 sentences: "Talk to human, and we have a human branch in every ci…

The outsourced humans are still better than robots at customer service.

Re: Tell HN: There needs to be a “right to speak with a human”

#4

Post by ss108 »

I agree. You mentioned email, but to me the main issue is when one calls a support number. I absolutely despise calling a customer support number and having to listen to the "automated" response that gives one menu options that one navigates via numbers on the telephone (it's only automated for them, not the for the end-user, who has to manually chug through this process, with menu items that don't even necessarily correspond to their specific question).

I absolutely abhor speaking to a machine via voice as well. From Alexa to saying dumb shit like "pay my bill" to a system over the phone, I will not do it. I think it's disgusting.

Re: Tell HN: There needs to be a “right to speak with a human”

#8

Post by tvanantwerp »

In my experience, companies value call center staff so little that turnover is extremely high. That means that you're unlikely to speak to someone with enough experience to solve your problems correctly. I can't count how many times I've had to call a company half-a-dozen times and received half-a-dozen different wrong or unhelpful responses. I'd like calling to be more available, but I don't believe it's a silver bullet solution.

Re: Tell HN: There needs to be a “right to speak with a human”

#9

Post by sokoloff »

That seems to preclude or seriously hamper someone trying to start a side hustle or anything small.

Write an iOS app? Before you can ship it, you need to be able to take phone calls.

Make a low-volume product in the evening and sell it to your fellow hobbyists, relying on your day job to pay the bills? Too bad; hope your boss understands that you'll need to take phone calls.

Re: Tell HN: There needs to be a “right to speak with a human”

#10

Post by SketchySeaBeast »

I agree. My biggest gripe is these new pop-up financial institutions that provide insight into your credit history or loans. It's impossible to find the contact info of a real human being and in many cases the only obvious way to even open a ticket is by creating an account first. If I have evidence someone is trying to commit fraud by pretending to be me and signing up for your services do not force me to sign up for another just to contact you about it. You're trying to use identity theft as an enrollment tool.
Post reply on HN