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Customers don't want chat bots

creativegood.com

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Re: Customers don't want chat bots

#111

Post by kodah »

> 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.

A couple counter points that are kind of the same point.

1. I actually hate talking to customer support that doesn't speak my language as fluently as I do. It makes communicating the important part of what's wrong in these complex scenarios that much more frustrating.

2. Customer support, even when human, often is useless because their roles get restricted to scripts. Discover is a company that used to have amazing customer support, especially when dealing with the complexities of charge disputes. I listened to a woman refuse to give me any idea of what "evidence" I should submit to a charge disputes with a hotel that was billing me despite no services rendered. Instead she read off what seemed to be a script. I hung up, dialed back in, got someone new and they answered my question in great detail.

I think my point is the same as the authors; there should be a high bar for customer service but I'd take it one point higher and say we've been letting that bar slide for a while.

Re: Customers don't want chat bots

#112

Post by agloe_dreams »

wiz21c wrote: post #108

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

The critical problem with chatbots is that companies don't trust them to do things. I generally am reaching out to support because I want something done, not because I want advice. This may not be true of everyone but for many, they have a real need. I need X price matched, I need to get my bill corrected, etc. Users know the chatbot won't do it.

Re: Customers don't want chat bots

#113

Post by gspencley »

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…

> Nowadays most large organisations are structured now that it's impossible to have a conversation with a human who actually has the power to make a decision.

In my experience it's equally impossible to have a conversation with a human that has a 1st grade level set of communication skills. You write out a detailed account of your problem and then get some copy/paste response back that has nothing to do with your complaint, and suggests that the person did not even bother to skim your complaint, let alone try and comprehend it.

Re: Customers don't want chat bots

#114

Post by lozenge »

LeafItAlone wrote: post #91
nfriedly wrote: post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You have my condolences. My brother and I ended up hiring a lawyer to handle our dad's estate, and I'd recommend it to anyone. 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." (Although legal fees for estates are capped here in Ohio, not sure if that's true where you ar…

> 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?

Seems plausible to me, during bankruptcy or winding down of a company the same happens. If you miss your chance to join the list of creditors then the money has already been disbursed and there's nobody responsible for making you whole. Of course there are a lot of rules and details. A death is like a bankruptcy in that assets are used to pay for debts and remaining debts don't get inherited.

Re: Customers don't want chat bots

#115

Post by ajkjk »

Tempest1981 wrote: post #105
pknomad wrote: post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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")

Yes, also known as Delmarva.

Re: Customers don't want chat bots

#116

Post by charlie0 »

Chatbots can be awful. I called one yesterday because I needed to set up a new account. Twice I tried different phrases for new accounts and each time it sent me down a path where it would invariably ask me for an existing account number.

Re: Customers don't want chat bots

#117

Post by kayodelycaon »

NoZebra120vClip wrote: post #2

Today I needed to contact a government service office for a task that only a human could perform. Now unfortunately, the phone tree of this office is broad and deep, you need to authenticate with about 4 data points before continuing, and if you hit the wrong option after authenticating, they will hang up on you without a second thought. So I authenticated got through to the correct option on the first try, and it se…

Yup. Ohio unemployment office. They didn't process my application during the pandemic. I had to sit through a 6 minute monologue and then immediately get hung up on after it's finished, many, many times. Several people I have talked to had the same problem. Their applications automatically expired and couldn't be resubmitted because no one on the government side did anything.

Re: Customers don't want chat bots

#118

Post by pornel »

mrweasel wrote: post #38
dgb23 wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can provide that with a simple HTML form though.

That honestly never crossed my mind, but I think your right. Anything a chat bot could do or approve could simply be accomplished by an HTML form or some type of self service. Chat bots will take over more and more, but only to save money, not to improve the customer experience. I do get that some people call in with the simplest of question or problems, but for the people who call in with actual issues, I doubt that…

Many of them are forms in disguise. I furiously hate Virgin Media's "chatbot", because every conversation with it is "what's your name? Postcode? Account number? Select from these 3 options". This is just a contact form with a slower UI.

Re: Customers don't want chat bots

#119

Post by pif »

wiz21c wrote: post #108

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

> Nobody cares about customers.

Not even customers care about themselves!

Customers say they want a good support, but nobody buys a good support: customers buy cheap! If ditching the customer support department will let you lower your prices, you'll have customers; is maintaining a decent customer support service will keep your prices a few cents more than your competition, you will have no customers.

Re: Customers don't want chat bots

#120

Post by tanjtanjtanj »

ithkuil wrote: post #56
sgt101 wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I had the same, it refunded me, then 3 weeks later I got a notification from Amazon that they would be taking the money off me. I complained and was ignored. It was only $10 but it teaches a lesson.

I'm very surprised. My experience with Amazon refunds and in general customer support is that they care more about upsetting a customer than fighting for pesky 10 bucks. Could it be that their behaviour is different depending on who is the customer, i.e. what is the customers yearly spend? I shop frequently on Amazon. Last year I sent a gift to my nephew how was living in a dorm at the University. The gift was a como…

In 2018 I ordered something from Amazon and it got marked as delivered but didn't make its way to me. Amazon sent a replacement AND refunded me for the item.

In 2022 I ordered an item of similar size and cost and it was marked as delivered along with a photo of a house I could not recognize at all. When I asked Amazon to look into it I got the corporate flow-chart equivalent of "Oh haha, that sucks". I asked for it to be escalated and they more or less said that the order already has the "oh haha, that sucks" flag on it and can't be changed.

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