The problem with the call center A.I. is that almost every time I need to call somewhere that uses them, I have some kind of edge case.

They always give examples of how the automated agent can handle simple queries like “what’s my balance” or “what hours are you open”, but I never need to call with something straightforward like that.

As such I also wouldn’t want to trust my own edge case to an AI that might mishandle it.

Maybe the most value to me would be a tool that figures out the shortest route through the phone touch tone labyrinth to get to a live human I can talk to.

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Esophagus4 6 days ago | parent | next [-]

Having written software used by call centers, you’d be surprised at how much call volume is the simple “happy path” like scheduling an appointment, paying a bill, or checking your balance.

We’re not trying to automate the edge cases… we’re automating the easy stuff so agents can spend time on the hard stuff that can’t be easily automated.

(I view customer service as a value add offering, but there are some companies that view it entirely as a cost center and will do everything possible to prevent you from speaking to someone who can help… looking at you, Uber / Airbnb...)

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chairmansteve 6 days ago | parent [-]

I try and make it a rule to not use companies that don't have humans in the loop.

Hotels over AirBnb. Banks over Bitcoin. etc

Thinking about it... I need to move away from GMail....

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Esophagus4 6 days ago | parent [-]

That's part of why I use the investment brokerage I do: their customer service is absolutely fantastic. I get a highly capable human agent with no hold time who is able to resolve my issue.

The ones who really drive me nuts are the call-to-cancel services where they try to retain you. I'm not sure why that triggers my moral outrage so much, but WSJ and NYT are definitely on my naughty list.

	▲	keeganpoppen 5 days ago \| parent \| next [-]
		NYT is definitely very naighty in this regard. if you want to do a study of consumer-hostile anti-patterns, just try to cancel an NYT sub…
	▲	RhysU 5 days ago \| parent \| prev [-]
		Fidelity?

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djoldman 6 days ago | parent | prev | next [-]

This this this.

I NEVER call for the 8 things that the automated voice menu offers: press 1 for account balance, 2 to make a payment...

I call for the weird thing that none of that can handle.

	▲	1970-01-01 5 days ago \| parent [-]
		This! I have an edge-case. A level 3 problem. I need to talk to the SME. Getting to the critical person with my information is an order of magnitude more time-consuming than actually fixing the problem.

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jonathanlb 6 days ago | parent | prev [-]

I remember GetHuman being helpful in the past. Not sure how it performs now: https://gethuman.com/