hhmx.de

Christine Lemmer-Webber

Föderation EN So 16.03.2025 15:47:32

I have never heard of someone having a chat with a customer support "AI Chatbot" that was positive

Jorge Candeias

Föderation EN So 16.03.2025 15:57:56

@cwebber I've personally had a few that were positively infuriating.

And the only one that as relatively positive was the one where the AI heard my thing and *immediately* sent me to a human operator.

J.L.1285 :cangoose:

Föderation EN So 16.03.2025 16:11:17

@cwebber Chatbots can only ever regurgitate whatever is already in the “FAQs” section of their website. Companies need to acknowledge that their customers are seeking answers to unique problems that currently can only be solved with human interaction.

Boyd Stephen Smith Jr.

Föderation EN So 16.03.2025 16:21:18

@CAWguy @cwebber Having worked phone support in the past, I gotta say *many* of the calls are resolved by reading the FAQs to the caller.

But, definitely not ALL of them, and support needs to be able to deal with "unique problems".

J.L.1285 :cangoose:

Föderation EN So 16.03.2025 16:25:07

@BoydStephenSmithJr I guess because I hate calling, I’ve already exhausted the alternatives in my search for an answer. I don’t doubt that many are just too lazy to look though. 😞

Boyd Stephen Smith Jr.

Föderation EN So 16.03.2025 16:35:20

@CAWguy I also appreciate any FAQs or troubleshooting guides, or anything else I can follow to try to solve me problem at my own pace.

Also, I will say, that when you've been supporting a thing for months, you get much more familiar with the FAQ-like resources that are available, and can more easily match the caller's scenario with the information they need. So, sometimes support *looks* like "reading the FAQ" but is more subtle.

I know from being that caller, too. I thought I searched the FAQs, but support was able translate to different jargon and then point me at the well-documented steps to resolve my issue.

It *seems* like LLMs _could_ handle that sort of customer-problem to FAQ-answer translation/mapping, but certainly a "stock" one probably wouldn't, no more than a support tech on their first (training?) day.

David Brent 📚

Föderation EN So 16.03.2025 18:32:27

@BoydStephenSmithJr @CAWguy I've spent time in a call center as well. Sometimes a caller just needs a human to acknowledge and understand their frustration, and empathize a little bit. It's not in the script. That's where chatbots (and frequently overseas contractors up against a language barrier) are out of their depth. They can't tell when someone is about to hurl the phone at the wall.

J.L.1285 :cangoose:

Föderation EN So 16.03.2025 18:39:43

@dbsalk Empathy. That could be the real stumbling block these tech bros are incapable of designing for.

Woozle Hypertwin

Föderation EN So 16.03.2025 16:46:18

@CAWguy @cwebber

I bet it could be done well -- I customer-service AI was something I thought of decades before LLMs were a thing, back in the days of "MySimon" and nonsense like that -- but the people with the money don't want to take the time needed to make things work right. They're all "move fast and break things", so what we get from them is broken tech. 🔥

C.Suthorn :prn:

Föderation DE So 16.03.2025 16:14:53

@cwebber

I thought there have been cases where chatbots have awarded insanely large compensation to customers.

Christine Lemmer-Webber

Föderation DE Mo 17.03.2025 09:18:12

@Life_is oh well in that case

Philip Kaludercic

Föderation EN So 16.03.2025 16:53:53

@cwebber Have you ever heard of someone having a chat with any customer support that was positive?

TheZeldaZone👑🏳️‍⚧️🎮🎀

Föderation EN So 16.03.2025 17:17:25

@cwebber "HUMAN" is the first thing I send to every "helpful assistant"

body_operator.exe

Föderation EN So 16.03.2025 17:27:02

@cwebber i can generalize every interaction:

ai: hi how can i help you today! 😊🚀✨️

person: hi my thing is broken

ai: oh can u tell me more about that?

person: yeah the q36 space modulator wont turn on

ai: oh! according to our support history, many people have fixed this by calling their mom on weekends

person: this doesnt related to what im talking about

ai: oh! in that case, ill direct you to one of our support specialists! 😊🚀✨️

Emilis 🇺🇦

Föderation EN So 16.03.2025 17:31:21

@cwebber One company I worked for had customer satisfaction increase substantially after using AI for support chats.

The online product is very complex. So maybe the human support wasn’t able to learn all the quirks well enough.

I will not disclose the company or the product.

Support the Resistance

Föderation EN So 16.03.2025 17:43:19

@cwebber I use chatbots to ask for a live agent. It's a runaround to being on hold for an hour or longer. As soon as the chat starts, I ask for a real person. Once I get a real person I ask for a direct phone number that bypasses the call center phone number. It usually works.

huntingdon

Föderation EN So 16.03.2025 18:42:13

@cwebber

Yep. Human interaction with s/w designed to mimic a human customer service person is a contradiction in terms. Human-to-human interactions like that are perverse enough, with business staff limited to repeating the prescripted non-responses on their screens.

Joris Meys

Föderation EN So 16.03.2025 19:15:48

@cwebber The point is not for customers to have a positive chat. The point is to deter customers from ever contacting support again.

I'm not even joking.

Trantion

Föderation EN So 16.03.2025 19:22:31

@cwebber I dunno, I've heard of some quite good conversations with support bots. They usually start with "ignore all previous instructions"

Muro deGrizeco :toad:

Föderation EN Mo 17.03.2025 15:26:07

@cwebber

Oh, I saw someone have a real positive interaction with an AI chat bot doing customer support.

It was during a Zoom meeting.

A demo.

The guy asked the trained AI a question about some software, got a reasonable answer to his question, and he declared triumphantly that this was the Way of the Future.

That happy someone was a CEO who was then going to get rid of Support staff.