Vanishing phone customer support is driving us all insane

Good for some who know how to navigate self help setups. Opens up lower cost options. For example cheap cell phone plans exist because of mostly self service, order sim online and setup online with no physical store and only mediocre phone support. Same with low cost airlines.

Bad for those who have trouble navigating things online, often the elderly.

Re: Vanishing phone customer support is driving us all insane

#7

Post by B1FF_PSUVM » Sat, Mar 18, 2023, 12:40 AM UTC

xwolfi wrote: post #2

I wish I could read it, but I agree with the headline !

Pot calls kettle black - as if "driving us all insane" is not part of the media outlets' job ...

Re: Vanishing phone customer support is driving us all insane

#8

Post by irrational » Sat, Mar 18, 2023, 12:48 AM UTC

bruceb wrote: post #6

Good for some who know how to navigate self help setups. Opens up lower cost options. For example cheap cell phone plans exist because of mostly self service, order sim online and setup online with no physical store and only mediocre phone support. Same with low cost airlines. Bad for those who have trouble navigating things online, often the elderly.

Or the young. I spend so much time helping my teenagers and early 20 somethings with online tasks. They know how to use a few select websites/apps, but outside of that they are pretty much clueless about computers (despite my efforts to educate them).

Re: Vanishing phone customer support is driving us all insane

#9

Post by sebastien_b » Sat, Mar 18, 2023, 12:52 AM UTC

One thing a lot of companies are moving to is asynchronous service - where you do an online/text chat, but sometimes that’s just as aggravating.

However some companies do it well - recently had to do a warranty exchange with Apple - after I couldn’t find anything useful in their warranty webpage, I hit their Support app with the question (which essentially initiates a chat via Messages)

Within minutes I had a response, where a voice callback was scheduled (within about 10 mins since I was available), then onto an immediate escalation (by them, not me) to further verify/qualify the defect, to eventual resolution, all within 30 mins (which included me fumbling a bit to get pictures while the agent waited).

Overall I was very satisfied with the overall process, as I didn’t have to sit and wait on hold at all to start addressing my issue.

Re: Vanishing phone customer support is driving us all insane

#10

Post by lucumo » Sat, Mar 18, 2023, 12:53 AM UTC

Unlikely. Phone support was one of those things that was driving people insane before. Remember jokes about hold music, foreign accents and phone menus?

I personally can't stand phone support. It always takes way longer than it needs to, and I can't do anything else during it. Just firing off an email is far more efficient. Easier to do after office hours too.