According to Cybernews:
“In total, 55.4% of survey respondents admitted to crying, yelling at loved ones, or breaking a device after a frustrating support interaction…Surveys show that more and more Americans are so angered by chatbots that they shout “human!” into their phones, swear, and try to game the system to reach a human agent faster.”
The horror stories are indeed aplenty. Even if these are so-called first-world problems, most of us have felt extremely frustrated when an automated customer service chatbot is unable to find a solution.
Maybe the voice system can’t understand us, or maybe that awful hold music plays for 30 minutes, and the call still drops. Or maybe you just want to have a quick, flexible chat with a human agent and solve the issue in a minute – but you can’t.
And if you think you might be a rare unhappy bird who should just get on with it, you’re wrong.
It seems that companies these days do not want us to reach a human.
It costs them more when we interact with a human, so they’re making it harder and harder to do so, and, so far, they don’t seem to be bothered by the level of frustration it causes their customers.
Just lately, I’ve noticed that, at least with the AI customer service chatbots I deal with, reaching a human or even getting basic information has gotten even harder.
For instance, a few days ago I called my bank to get some simple info, which a month ago was easy to do.
I got no info.
Instead, it asked for my address, phone number, and voice (none of which I provided), and refused to get me to a human, even though I asked for one about ten times.
Saying “agent” or “human” multiple times in a row, or pressing “0” often doesn’t work anymore.
Also, it never understands what I’m saying anyway (even though I speak clearly!).
Yesterday, when I called a big box store to find out why my order never got delivered, I was unable to reach a human, even after saying “agent” 15 times in a row.
I hung up, called back, and finally got a human after asking for one just five times in a row. Why it worked on this call but not the last is a mystery.
If you’ve found any AI bypasses that work, please share!
Update:
This is the first time I’ve tried a survey on the new DK, so wasn’t sure of its capability. Apparently, it will only let you answer one of these, but would love to hear any other answers in the comment section!
Customer Service At Its Finest, #24, Bored Panda
Majority of Americans shout and swear at AI-powered customer service agents
AI Customer Service Fail: Real Call Reveals Why Businesses Should Keep Humans on the Line
‘I hate customer-service chatbots’: The consumer-AI refund relationship is off to a rocky start
We’ll get straight to the point: The financial hardships that Daily Kos is facing this year are tough.
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