Customers don't want chat bots • Hacker News Board

Re: Customers don't want chat bots

#151

Post by drunkpotato » Fri, Jul 07, 2023, 3:00 PM UTC

fragmede wrote: post #129

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…

Where AGI is still the realm of science fiction, I think an AGI could recognize that is a unique entity, and that CompanyName isn't the same from city to city.

I think humans already struggle with this, without sufficient background knowledge and context. Reality is messy.

Re: Customers don't want chat bots

#152

Post by gwbas1c » Fri, Jul 07, 2023, 3:00 PM UTC

My internet went down, and I couldn't reach customer service. I could only reach (drumroll), a chatbot. The chatbot couldn't confirm that anyone knew about the problem and was working on it. (How do I know that it just doesn't always say "someone's working on it?")

I submitted an FCC complaint.

A few days later, a customer service rep called me. She told me that I could contact the chatbot. I told her I'd never submit an FCC complaint if I could talk to a real person, because I don't trust the chatbot.

Re: Customers don't want chat bots

#153

Post by rationalist » Fri, Jul 07, 2023, 3:00 PM UTC

JAlexoid wrote: post #84

blagie wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So was I, the first few times this happened. My experience is that Amazon customer service did a complete 180 in 2020. Prior to that, every issue was resolved to my satisfaction, and they felt too generous, if anything. Today, every Amazon rep I speak to isn't even empowered to resolve the most basic issues, and sounds like they hold their employer in complete contempt. Which is to say, they follow the scripts and /t…

I can't say I had a bad experience with my Amazon interactions. I have 3 free UPS's, that were wrong and Amazon just refunded me without requesting a return. And I even had a hard drive go back, because of degraded performance - but it did require some extra troubleshooting on the phone. Granted, I live in a rural area and I spend a lot on Amazon with Prime - from cleaning supplies and food to furniture and tech.

> UPS's, that were wrong and Amazon just refunded me without requesting a return.

That's because they contain batteries that Amazon will not accept.

Re: Customers don't want chat bots

#154

Post by pessimizer » Fri, Jul 07, 2023, 3:03 PM UTC

I definitely want and prefer chatbots. Telephone/internet customer service isn't a job that people should be doing, it's soul destroying.

The problem with chatbots is that they make customer service time far cheaper than my time. If they have to pay $15/hr for somebody to argue with me about a $10 refund, they're motivated not to do it. If that cost goes down to $0.15/hr, however, you're incentivizing Kafka.

Re: Customers don't want chat bots

#155

Post by seanhunter » Fri, Jul 07, 2023, 3:04 PM UTC

fragmede wrote: post #129

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…

Where AGI is still the realm of science fiction, I think an AGI could recognize that is a unique entity, and that CompanyName isn't the same from city to city.

That’s not the problem here unfortunately. The problem here is that there is no interconnection of any kind between any system that knows about city A and B and the systems which know about city C. So there’s literally no way to help a customer who has a problem described in those systems. An AGI chatbot couldn’t be any more helpful than the human was because it has no access to anything about city C.

Now could that be fixed? From a tech perspective of course it could. However there’s probably a deep organizational reason this hasn’t happened. In this case, it’s because city C is a bunch of customers they bought during the windup of a bankrupt life insurance company and are running them down over time. So there probably isn’t enough profit in the portfolio they are running down to justify the IT investment.

As I say, these are the kind of things a chatbot (however smart) isn’t going to be able to fix.

Re: Customers don't want chat bots

#156

Post by LeafItAlone » Fri, Jul 07, 2023, 3:05 PM UTC

gwbas1c wrote: post #152

My internet went down, and I couldn't reach customer service. I could only reach (drumroll), a chatbot. The chatbot couldn't confirm that anyone knew about the problem and was working on it. (How do I know that it just doesn't always say "someone's working on it?") I submitted an FCC complaint. A few days later, a customer service rep called me. She told me that I could contact the chatbot. I told her I'd never submi…

Wouldn’t this be a perfect use case for a chatbot?

Can you elaborate on why you didn’t trust the chat it but would trust a human?

Re: Customers don't want chat bots

#157

Post by stainablesteel » Fri, Jul 07, 2023, 3:05 PM UTC

yeah i do, skimming biology literature is tedious and requires extensive effort. i'd love a chat bot trained on scientific literature where i can ask questions about what is out there on very specific topics across articles that might otherwise look irrelevant.

Re: Customers don't want chat bots

#158

Post by ouid » Fri, Jul 07, 2023, 3:07 PM UTC

pessimizer wrote: post #154

I definitely want and prefer chatbots. Telephone/internet customer service isn't a job that people should be doing, it's soul destroying. The problem with chatbots is that they make customer service time far cheaper than my time. If they have to pay $15/hr for somebody to argue with me about a $10 refund, they're motivated not to do it. If that cost goes down to $0.15/hr, however, you're incentivizing Kafka.

[dead]

Re: Customers don't want chat bots

#159

Post by myth2018 » Fri, Jul 07, 2023, 3:09 PM UTC

pessimizer wrote: post #154

I definitely want and prefer chatbots. Telephone/internet customer service isn't a job that people should be doing, it's soul destroying. The problem with chatbots is that they make customer service time far cheaper than my time. If they have to pay $15/hr for somebody to argue with me about a $10 refund, they're motivated not to do it. If that cost goes down to $0.15/hr, however, you're incentivizing Kafka.

> Telephone/internet customer service isn't a job that people should be doing, it's soul destroying.

That's true, but it's a different issue.

My gas company has already deployed a number of chatbots and automated phone responses. Now you simply just can't talk to a real person via phone.

These days they double-charged an invoice and I simply had no way to inform them about the problem they created. And this is not the sort of service you just move on to a competitor.

Re: Customers don't want chat bots

#160

Post by rationalist » Fri, Jul 07, 2023, 3:10 PM UTC

0x445442 wrote: post #121

I use Ting as my mobile provider. They use the T-Mobile network so the coverage is not on par with Verizon but it's good enough. I'm willing to sacrifice the coverage because when communicating with Ting I ALWAYS get a very helpful live human being.

I used to use Mint, and their chatbot said customer service was closed and to try back in the morning. Interestingly, I typed "emergency" in all caps three times, and it connected me with a human.