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by scorpioxy 53 days ago
This is what I am seeing as well. This is coinciding with a noticeable increase in consumer dissatisfaction though that may or may not be related as it is just my observation. A big increase in cost of living and generally bad market and the dreaded "R word"(recession) might also do that.
2 comments
jusonchan81 53 days ago
I really dread the chatbot or AI customer service. They make incredibly difficult to reach a human and have templated solutions to problems which are typically not helpful. Most customer service issues that can be solved with a bot can also be solved with a tool. Like canceling subscription or processing a return.

The other day I had a unique problem at Amazon and took me a while to get to a chat with human. They solved it in an instant. But the bot or AI previously was just asking questions that was irrelevant and making it difficult to get to the solution.

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scorpioxy 53 days ago
That sounds like some experiences I had even before chatbots were a thing. You're on hold for 15-30 mins and being passed around between customer service reps that are reading from the same scripts and asking the same questions without understanding or considering my answers. Then suddenly the line is disconnected and you have to call back and do the same dance. Makes you wonder if this is being done on purpose to make you just give up(it is, the KPIs just look better that way).

On the other hand, I've had some interactions with customer service reps that made me wish a chatbot was available. Like asking for a medical appointment.

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xp84 53 days ago
The great[1] thing about the customer dissatisfaction is that since the corporations are all marching in complete unison towards zero customer service and everything getting worse, the customers have no recourse. Sure, they can churn to a competitor, but it’ll be the same story there, and others churning from the competitors will show up to replace them. So, I predict true and lasting bottom-line improvement from this kind of stuff!

[1] It’s great for the corporations and the enshittifiers, I mean. Terrible for humans of course.

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scorpioxy 53 days ago
Yeah I share your opinion to an extent and I hope you're wrong.

In a small market with a handful of competitors or non at all in some cases, what are you going to do exactly? It will be the same elsewhere. The large corporations know this and will obviously take advantage of the situation unless forced via regulation(in AU).

I do notice a small movement where people had to stop paying for a service and after a while realized that their life didn't change for the worse and so started re-prioritizing their needs and wants and thinking before spending. Like the typical daily $8 cup of coffee. That doesn't work for essential services like healthcare of course.

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