I do not agree with the idea that humans are being trained to act like robots. Any company with a customer service department is likely tracking the root causes of their customers’ issues. With enough data, they can identify the most common problems and their solutions. If the goal is to resolve a customer’s issue as quickly as possible (which seems like a reasonable assumption), it makes sense to guide the customer through the most common solutions first, as that will likely solve the problem.
If someone works in customer service and repeats the same script daily, it’s understandable that they may come across as robotic due to sheer boredom. A skilled customer service representative can recognize when to use the script and when to deviate. However, if a company fails to hire the right people and does not offer a fair salary, those best suited for the role are unlikely to take the job.
My wife is a customer service manager/trainer. Hiring actually competent people who know how to just listen to the customer and understand their needs is apparently really fucking hard. I’ve heard some stories of such dumbfuckery…
And once they are in, HR/lawyers make it so fucking hard to fire anyone. If you get a decent customer service person, either as an employer or customer, appreciate them.
I work in support; not only is it hard to find someone competent but it’s an incredibly draining job/career because of both management and customers. People are attracted to it because barrier to entry is low, and half the time the actual technical part isn’t necessarily hard, it’s the emotional baggage you’re expected to carry essentially at all times. There’s been multiple instances where I’ve been so burned out, I’m almost certain it’s permanently altered my brain chemistry. On top of that you have low wages, long hours, some places are B2B calls, expected to handle multiple chats at once, and some managers really like to snoop to see what you’re doing all day(I see your icon went idle for 3 seconds, you’re not taking a bathroom break are you? We need all hands on deck at all times).
This will never go away as long as it’s seen as a job any idiot can do. Companies need to change how they truly value support and only then will it get better for the customer. I agree with you; if you find someone good try to be appreciative because the bad ones are a dime a dozen and we are all paid shit.
My wife is only allowed to ask a very specific set of questions to candidates. She can’t deviate. It’s fucking ridiculous. This is a multi-million dollar company, but they aren’t so big to have all this process. They have maybe less than 100 total employees, certainly less than 200. I’m frustrated by proxy for her.
it makes sense to guide the customer through the most common solutions first, as that will likely solve the problem.
And this why you have to suffer through those lengthy recordings that tell you about a bunch of shit that generally doesn’t apply to your situation before you can even use the menu, much less talk to a person. I am disabled, I have had to be on the phone with the Social Security Administration, Medicare, my insurance company, and various state benefits agencies probably 15-20 times a year for the past ~14 years, and I can count on one hand the number of times those ‘common solutions’ were even remotely applicable. I don’t even need fingers to count the number of times they have actually contained the solution to my issue, because it has literally never happened.
Once you get to a person who can make an assessment about what’s going on it makes sense for them to cover a few basics (I used to do tech support, I know how much time a simple, ‘Are you sure it’s plugged in?’ can save), but replacing customer service with AI means you’re pretty much stuck in those recordings for your entire call. Now to be fair this can be done better than most places do it. I shop on amazon a fair bit (can’t drive so I order most things online) and when I have issues I honestly prefer dealing with the livechat AI than calling because it’s a much faster and smoother experience and they can quickly bump you over to an actual agent when there’s a weird thing going on that’s outside of its scope. But most companies don’t have Amazon’s customer service budget to do shit like that well, so usually what I get is ‘If you’re calling about XYZ, hang up and dial this number. Did you know that if your birthday is on an odd-numbered day blahblah-ad-blahblah? If the crescent moon is waning and the distant hills are draining and the watchful eye is straining…’ etc.
I do not agree with the idea that humans are being trained to act like robots. Any company with a customer service department is likely tracking the root causes of their customers’ issues. With enough data, they can identify the most common problems and their solutions. If the goal is to resolve a customer’s issue as quickly as possible (which seems like a reasonable assumption), it makes sense to guide the customer through the most common solutions first, as that will likely solve the problem.
If someone works in customer service and repeats the same script daily, it’s understandable that they may come across as robotic due to sheer boredom. A skilled customer service representative can recognize when to use the script and when to deviate. However, if a company fails to hire the right people and does not offer a fair salary, those best suited for the role are unlikely to take the job.
My wife is a customer service manager/trainer. Hiring actually competent people who know how to just listen to the customer and understand their needs is apparently really fucking hard. I’ve heard some stories of such dumbfuckery…
And once they are in, HR/lawyers make it so fucking hard to fire anyone. If you get a decent customer service person, either as an employer or customer, appreciate them.
I work in support; not only is it hard to find someone competent but it’s an incredibly draining job/career because of both management and customers. People are attracted to it because barrier to entry is low, and half the time the actual technical part isn’t necessarily hard, it’s the emotional baggage you’re expected to carry essentially at all times. There’s been multiple instances where I’ve been so burned out, I’m almost certain it’s permanently altered my brain chemistry. On top of that you have low wages, long hours, some places are B2B calls, expected to handle multiple chats at once, and some managers really like to snoop to see what you’re doing all day(I see your icon went idle for 3 seconds, you’re not taking a bathroom break are you? We need all hands on deck at all times).
This will never go away as long as it’s seen as a job any idiot can do. Companies need to change how they truly value support and only then will it get better for the customer. I agree with you; if you find someone good try to be appreciative because the bad ones are a dime a dozen and we are all paid shit.
In my experience, they always hire anyone with a pulse and pay them peanuts. Finding a competent and motivated person is a lot harder then.
The only one where they had some sort of screening was because it was support for the government
My wife is only allowed to ask a very specific set of questions to candidates. She can’t deviate. It’s fucking ridiculous. This is a multi-million dollar company, but they aren’t so big to have all this process. They have maybe less than 100 total employees, certainly less than 200. I’m frustrated by proxy for her.
And this why you have to suffer through those lengthy recordings that tell you about a bunch of shit that generally doesn’t apply to your situation before you can even use the menu, much less talk to a person. I am disabled, I have had to be on the phone with the Social Security Administration, Medicare, my insurance company, and various state benefits agencies probably 15-20 times a year for the past ~14 years, and I can count on one hand the number of times those ‘common solutions’ were even remotely applicable. I don’t even need fingers to count the number of times they have actually contained the solution to my issue, because it has literally never happened.
Once you get to a person who can make an assessment about what’s going on it makes sense for them to cover a few basics (I used to do tech support, I know how much time a simple, ‘Are you sure it’s plugged in?’ can save), but replacing customer service with AI means you’re pretty much stuck in those recordings for your entire call. Now to be fair this can be done better than most places do it. I shop on amazon a fair bit (can’t drive so I order most things online) and when I have issues I honestly prefer dealing with the livechat AI than calling because it’s a much faster and smoother experience and they can quickly bump you over to an actual agent when there’s a weird thing going on that’s outside of its scope. But most companies don’t have Amazon’s customer service budget to do shit like that well, so usually what I get is ‘If you’re calling about XYZ, hang up and dial this number. Did you know that if your birthday is on an odd-numbered day blahblah-ad-blahblah? If the crescent moon is waning and the distant hills are draining and the watchful eye is straining…’ etc.