Customers don't want chat bots • Hacker News Board

Re: Customers don't want chat bots

#101

Post by JshWright » Fri, Jul 07, 2023, 1:43 PM UTC

sonar_un wrote: post #72

mgaunard wrote: post #7

As a customer you want someone to resolve your issue, which is mostly a matter of someone being responsible to file a ticket and ensure it gets solved. A chatbot has no responsibility, it is just a useless parrot of the documentation. It doesn't serve any useful purpose except worsening the experience for the customer.

The thing is, I wouldn't be asking for support if I was able to find a fix for my issue in the first place. ChatBots are unable to fix the initial problem because the system used to fix said issue doesn't already exist in the account tools. Human intervention is required to fix the problem, so therefore chatbots are completely useless in this context.

> The thing is, I wouldn't be asking for support if I was able to find a fix for my issue in the first place.

You are the exception though, the vast majority of people don't do that. Those are the users the chatbot is designed to help (because they represent a large portion of a typical support team's interactions).

Re: Customers don't want chat bots

#102

Post by freilanzer » Fri, Jul 07, 2023, 1:45 PM UTC

sidewndr46 wrote: post #95

LeafItAlone wrote: post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> She did things like send the hospital a letter that said in essence "give me a single bill with a total for all services provided at your hospital. If it's not on this bill I'm not going to pay it." That is a great thing to say, but does it actually hold any weight? Or is it like the construction trucks that have signs saying they are not responsible for damage from items blown off them?

The billing department can call your bluff, then get in line in probate court to get paid. Possibly years down the road depending on how long it takes. Keep in mind hospital bills are just a fantasy, I've received bills >$50,000 US for less than 1 hour in the hospital.

> Keep in mind hospital bills are just a fantasy, I've received bills >$50,000 US for less than 1 hour in the hospital.

Then it makes even more sense to do that.

Re: Customers don't want chat bots

#103

Post by nehal3m » Fri, Jul 07, 2023, 1:47 PM UTC

Typically I call customer service because I'm trying to tackle a problem that cannot be solved by using their normal interface. There is usually some subtlety or exception that requires an agent capable of understanding them at the other end, otherwise I wouldn't have bothered calling.

Chatbots almost by definition cannot deal with that, at least I've never experienced one ever. And I imagine that if they can understand what I want it's just too easy to code them to toe the company line and tell me to pound sand.

Empathy and understanding are not parameters, yet.

Re: Customers don't want chat bots

#104

Post by notpachet » Fri, Jul 07, 2023, 1:51 PM UTC

seanhunter wrote: post #69

A big part of the problem isn’t actually chat bots even though it may well seem to be. It’s that you can’t pop some system atop a teetering ziggurat of shitty data from mutually incompatible systems and think the fundamental problems are going to just disappear. Example: I am currently executor of my dad’s estate and trying to get various policies and pensions and whatnot transferred into my mother’s name. One compan…

> teetering ziggurat

My next internal project codename

Re: Customers don't want chat bots

#105

Post by Tempest1981 » Fri, Jul 07, 2023, 1:52 PM UTC

pknomad wrote: post #83

wouldbecouldbe wrote: post #46

I dont want useless customer support. Wether that's a human or a bot. It's extremely frustrating to have a real issue, take for instance a plane cancelled or delayed when travelling with kids, and not being able to talk to a real person who can actually help. Let alone having to wait 30-60 minutes to get a hold of someone. Nowadays most large organisations are structured now that it's impossible to have a conversatio…

Same. Few years ago, I was stuck at Dulles due to a snow storm and had to resort to online customer chat support via the United app. I only used it because United was pushing people really hard to use the app for support. I was connected with a support rep who obviously did not live in the states because he tried to give me an impossible itinerary. Anyone living in DMV area knows taking an AA flight from DCA that's a…

I figured out most of the airport acronyms... except DMV... Delaware-Maryland-Virginia? (Search focuses on motor vehicles, even with "-motor")

Re: Customers don't want chat bots

#106

Post by nottorp » Fri, Jul 07, 2023, 1:53 PM UTC

smeej wrote: post #35

carlosrdrz wrote: post #26

> Instead, the reason people go to customer service is because of a question that’s so specific, or complicated, or gnarly in some respect, that there’s no way the app will have the answer: you need a human. I can see the author probably hasn't done much customer service? I'd say maybe 1% of customer queries go in that direction. I agree dealing with a bot in that situation sucks, but a big chunk of customer question…

You've nailed it. I've been a customer support specialist in tech startups for the last many years, and the HUGE and overwhelming majority of questions are about things that have been covered in detail in the support documentation by any even half-competent team. People do not normally search for their own answers. More than 90% of tickets are well-answered (according to the user's satisfaction score!) by a pre-writt…

But they're not replacing those agents with chatbots. They're replacing all agents with chatbots.

Re: Customers don't want chat bots

#107

Post by okillbite » Fri, Jul 07, 2023, 1:53 PM UTC

tetha wrote: post #70

mduggles wrote: post #32

Typically chatbots that I interact with are just attempting to steer me back towards FAQs. I don’t need a different interface to search your documentation in an attempt to keep me on the cheap customer service path and away from the expensive customer service path. Which isn’t to say they can’t be helpful. I’d much rather chat with a bot than call a person, if the bot is capable of doing the things I need. The thing…

I like the vision our chatbot team at work has there. They want their bot to have 2, maybe three tasks. First, it's supposed to be a neater way of presenting that initial phone choice of "Press 1 if you have an internet issue. Press 2 if you have a telephone issue". It's easier for some people to say "My phone is dead and has no free tone when picked up" and have the system recognize this as a phone issue. And second…

It's actually more than a few minutes. I can't speak for other places, but generally there will be an agent that is monitoring many inbound chats, and in a lot of cases the resolution can likewise be automated.

In the past this was managed by a fairly deep call queue, and has saved fairly significant amount of $ vs receiving and resolving everything manually.

Indeed we have internal clients (vs paying customers) but overall this has been quite successful for us.

Re: Customers don't want chat bots

#108

Post by wiz21c » Fri, Jul 07, 2023, 1:53 PM UTC

Nobody cares about customers. If you can replace the support department with a chat bot, then it'll be done.

Re: Customers don't want chat bots

#109

Post by kayodelycaon » Fri, Jul 07, 2023, 1:54 PM UTC

tetha wrote: post #70

mduggles wrote: post #32

Typically chatbots that I interact with are just attempting to steer me back towards FAQs. I don’t need a different interface to search your documentation in an attempt to keep me on the cheap customer service path and away from the expensive customer service path. Which isn’t to say they can’t be helpful. I’d much rather chat with a bot than call a person, if the bot is capable of doing the things I need. The thing…

I like the vision our chatbot team at work has there. They want their bot to have 2, maybe three tasks. First, it's supposed to be a neater way of presenting that initial phone choice of "Press 1 if you have an internet issue. Press 2 if you have a telephone issue". It's easier for some people to say "My phone is dead and has no free tone when picked up" and have the system recognize this as a phone issue. And second…

Unfortunately, the majority of times I call customer service, none of this collected information gets transferred or they make me confirm everything again. It's extremely aggravating. For every company who gets this right, there are ten who don't.

Even if you do everything perfectly for every customer, I lump you in with the other ten because I think I got lucky rather than thinking you having a working system. :(

Re: Customers don't want chat bots

#110

Post by Tempest1981 » Fri, Jul 07, 2023, 1:55 PM UTC

blitzar wrote: post #9

AllegedAlec wrote: post #4

I have never met a chat bot that worked . I try the same question worded 6 different ways, I try asking it to connect me to an actual fucking human being. If it even does I still get stuck in a choice menu at first, which half of the time tells me that I can get help with this via their chat bots and disconnects. Fuck chat bots and the money-saving horse they rode in on.

Amazon. My personal best time for a full refund was slightly under 2 minutes. It may be that having a long standing account, not claiming every delivery has been "lost" and rarely returning products makes me appear unlikely to be the usual customer asking for a refund.

Does having "Prime" give you better support, I wonder? (Do you have it?)