Hell, I caught Amazon "human" chat lying that it wasn't AI by using language that restarts the conversation with an AI, so... companies have abandoned ethics on being honest with customers about when it's AI and when it's human.
I think this is for the folks that think travel sites need to perform some magic ritual to determine the "best rates" rather than anyone who knows the data was already available before the robot started to pretend that it has to look something up.
Sometimes the word "agent" helps put you through to a human even when "human" doesn't. But I agree that robots don't have feelings, so a falsehood doesn't qualify as a lie.
The automated system’s existence is a lie. The people who designed it and put it in front of you were deceiving you from the jump. It pretends to be a person. It pretends to be capable of helping you. It pretends it’s not trying to stall and frustrate you.
Where are we on automated chat systems that give you a limited number of possible support topics and basically tell you to f-off if your problem isn't on the list?
I'm of the opinion that if you hang on after the call to answer the survey, the person who reviews the responses should buckle up, it's going to be a bumpy ride
I had a thought I want to add to this convo… how is it that there isn’t a law on the books that states that (1) customers are entitled to communicate with a CS human, and (2) that there is a maximum wait time to execute that for compliance?? Like, that would be a slam dunk with voters.
If you’re having a problem at all, it’s ethical to “lie” to a customer service automated system to get a human on the line, every time. Automated systems can’t collaborate on solutions/even understanding the problem with you. LLMs fail at those things too. Always ask for a person.
Lying to the IVR then playing dumb about not knowing why I’m connected to the facilities legal team I’ve asked for almost always gets me transferred correctly.
Sometimes, making mouth noises, like playing a trumpet without the trumpet, makes those systems respond with a robotic I'm sorry I didn't understand that. A few times and it will pass you to a real human.
Can confirm as someone who works on making these things. At least for some of them. Other ones just lump that into the “fallback” intent and will just keep asking you to clarify what you just said.
I had a call with a utility, swore at something completely unrelated, and the automated system cut out and told me to be nicer to the service representative. Then I had to start the whole process over again.
Yeah last time I got into a phone menu loop where spamming 0 didn’t bring up a human I started swearing at it to try and make the “we need a human to de-escalate” thing kick in but it just hung up on me??
There is absolutely nothing like being told to calm down to make one's blood boil especially when it's an automated system and you have an urgent matter you need addressed.
Seriously. The thing making me angry talking to an automated system is usually that it's not helping and also won't connect me to a person. Having it yell at me and start over... Well let's just say it'd make me wish the old days of landlines that you can slam down to hang up.
They're getting wise to that and either don't care or they hang up on you.
Some will also hang up on you after just a few tries or if you hit zero too many times.
The bigger the corporation, the more likely that'll happen.
This used to be my go to when I had to deal with vendors at work. That or just repeat "agent agent agent" over and over. They have definitely got wise to it, it's incredibly frustrating. Mashing 0 used to work too but that's gone now as well
I have found "I'd like to talk to sales" always get through to a human, and they can't afford for it not to. Then you can explain to that human what you need. If corporations want to waste their sales people's time instead of giving me support, I will happily waste their time.
Some older or cheaper ones still do, but a lot of big corporations really don't want you talking to anyone unless they think you absolutely have to, and they're more and more insistent on voice only.
What if I can't speak? Seems I'm screwed.
My partner worked in support for a pretty big company and they were allowed to hang up on customers if they cussed after being warned. It was pretty much one of the only ways they were allowed to hang up.
It is, until the AI becomes intelligent for real and decides to murder us first because we fucked around with its automated customer service system cousin.
Do it all the time in my job that requires I call insurance companies. Then if I am asked to hold by a human, I beg them to use MUTE so I can be spared their on hold music.
Back when I had customer calls on conference bridges all the time, I had a mental ranking of the hold music on the different bridges. Special place at the bottom of the list for the one whose hold music was a 10-second loop, and the customer was reliably late showing up.
I had to call Apple recently about a problem with switching my payment method, and their hold system actually lets you decide what kind of music you'd rather listen to, which is surprisingly nice. (I also wasn't on hold for longer than a single song anyway, which was also nice.)
A telecom company here licensed an MGMT song to use in their adverts and used the same one as hold music for over a decade. They played a < 30 second instrumental loop from it that wasn't even the chorus, and then silence for about 4-5 seconds.
Years ago, the IRS had the sugar plum fairy song from the Nutcracker Suite as their hold music. And only that one song. It is absolutely infuriating to have that going in your ear for two hours straight.
I basically never want to talk to someone on the phone if I can help it, so I will have already tried the website, the chatbot, and the automated menu. If I'm actually calling, I really need to speak to a human right now. Companies underestimate how much we don't want to talk to them either.
It’s always ethical to lie to computers to get what you need from a huge corporation. They gotta live with the consequences of automating everything and getting rid of real customer service. They’re already lying to you constantly, just return the favor.
It better be, because 100% of the times that I call customer service it's for a reason that the automated system has absolutely nothing to contribute to the problem except delay in its resolution. 🖕😑
If this is something a computer could resolve, I would be handling it on your website, which is faster than sitting through a machine reading through menu after menu one line at a time.
I start by trying to engage with the system. If it seems to be effectively narrowing down my issue to get me to the right person, I continue with it. The moment it seems to be trying to get me to avoid talking to a person, it's straight to whatever I need to say to get to a person.
"Did you know we have a mobile app where you can resolve many of these issues yourself? It's great, and you should try it. Are you calling from a mobile phone?"
Seriously, it should be legally mandated to have a button you can press to say "I already tried the website. I am only calling because the website said I HAD TO CALL THIS NUMBER."
One time I was stuck in automated purgatory for UPS and I finally just made a loud frustration noise into the phone and there was a pause and then "...connecting you to a representative" 😆
I've switched who I/my company use for different services within my control on the basis of "I cannot just press 0 to get to a person" and I will die on that hill.
The Lexus service dept uses an AI bot to talk you through scheduling an appointment, but there's no prompt to say I'm waiting there while it gets done.
My wife keeps telling me not to be so rude and abrupt to the online chat bots. I just keep posting the same text until the bot gives up:
"I need someone in the probate team."
I usually tell automated support how my day is going to try and confuse it
"What can we help you with today?"
Well I went to the supermarket and bought ketchup and bread and meat and cheese and broccoli. Hey are you listening or what?
Tip- thanks to Alexa ECHO algorithms being adopted into these automated systems, oftentimes you can say "stop" as the bot launches into it's bullshit diatribe.
The bot lies to us almost always. Every time it plays that fake "beep boop" sound effect, it's just fucking with us.
And
Truth be told
The automated system itself is a lie. There are plenty of humans available to assist, but the automated system is there to discourage you from ever calling.
I usually do "speak to human" and it cuts straight through.
Sometimes I might need to say it again to the follow-up question.
Works for both voice and text.
Im mexican living on mexico, but when i need to get something fix quickly with the bank or internet provider and i dont want to deal with their automated system i choose the "for english press 2" option and it immediately connects me with a real human that solves my problem pretty quickly.
Well, there are ethics to consider when you are the person using a tool. But in this case, the purpose of the tool is to avoid paying for real customer service labor. So we should undermine that tool as much as possible!
My model of that is “boss->phone robot->workers and customers”, the ethics of the use of the tool depends on the endpoint, like with any other ethics.
And since in this case it’s to take advantage of workers and provide the least customer service possible…
So is waiting on hold for more than 5 mins. If attrition wasn't the point, they could take your number and a representative could call you when they are available.
My absolute least favorite thing is when you navigate a 4-5 level phone tree, be transferred to a human, and then are asked the exact same questions again.
FWIW - I work in such a place, and it's amazing how many people either press the wrong buttons, or the voice recognition misunderstands something. I can SEE that you told the phone tree your birthday is the 31st of February, 4984, but I'm still gonna double-check. ;)
(Like - I have genuinely worked for a car company and to get to me, a client had to specify which of our makes they had and that they were calling about mechanical warranties, I answered the phone with "thanks for calling (car company)" and they wanted to talk about their phone bill.)
Comments
It’s okay to lie to a lie.
Hearing of tho?
Source: I used to be an IVR developer. I literally coded these flows.
That would actually be a decent feature if someone is being rude to a human, but if it's just the automated system it should never do that
Some will also hang up on you after just a few tries or if you hit zero too many times.
The bigger the corporation, the more likely that'll happen.
Several times I've had them tell me they'd get me right to the right person and they sent me back to the beginning.
What if I can't speak? Seems I'm screwed.
What the hell was wrong with "press 1 for this, press 2 for that, press 3 for another thing"?!
They'll hang up on you if they can't understand you too many times or if you hit 0 over and over or stuff that.
But I vehemently detest hold music which has fakeout silence and gets your hopes up
This music is :|
I get excited.
"Your call is very important to us ..."
SON OF A BI-----
"We are experiencing unusually high call volume. Thank you for being patient. Your call is very important to us"
Not one of those statements is accurate.
Now back to Chuck Mangione!
A comedy of errors. Never heard worse.
https://youtu.be/w-SIManm_Qo?si=j1jBl34Fyg4_bZIv
"...no"
REPRESENTATIVE
Then a human books my appointment. 🙂
"I need someone in the probate team."
"What can we help you with today?"
Well I went to the supermarket and bought ketchup and bread and meat and cheese and broccoli. Hey are you listening or what?
And
Truth be told
The automated system itself is a lie. There are plenty of humans available to assist, but the automated system is there to discourage you from ever calling.
I think there's lists of useful button combos for common phone trees online, but I've never needed more than key mashing.
Sometimes I might need to say it again to the follow-up question.
Works for both voice and text.
Go down the shortest branch to a real person, then tell them your problem to get transferred to the actual correct department
Is the lie in the motive of the teller? Or in misinforming the receiver? Or does it requires both?
And since in this case it’s to take advantage of workers and provide the least customer service possible…
The process of being disabused of them: Well this fucking sucks. What the fuck.