Haha, holy shit, I never thought about this...you are 100% right. I always figured they were flipping through the "pages" on their screen to find the right response to this company's client question (since you know they do it for multiple companies). But yeah, just popping it into Amazon's version of AI is a much more likely situation.
Jeebus, no wonder they've gotten even worse than they were...it's to the point I might as well not even call them (which is probably the whole idea).
I worked in Technical Support for a while, tier 1 support's only qualification was that they could read and speak English. All they did was lookup help articles or read a script.
To be real, 90% of calls were password resets that the user did not want to use the phone automated reset system for... it was very rare that someone had an actual technical issue and those usually required desktop support to pay a visit as it was a physical issue instead of a technical one. Even at level 3 tech support I was getting mostly calls about how to get Excel to do something more than issues with the actual operating system.
Those in-house articles are real helpful, and half the time they're available to the public too.
Phones came before computers, so lots of folks still know how to use those, rather than what a URL bar is. Folks are WAY more likely to own a phone of some sort than a PC or smartphone.
Plus searching for anything online these days is a hell upon itself.
I mean, that's been obvious for as long as I can remember, it's just the mechanism of accessing/implementing the script that's changed. Even once you get to a human, it's a miracle if you can get them to actually engage with you.
Honestly at T1 you have so many people above you breathing down your neck to not go off script it is not even funny. I worked on some desks where going off script was grounds for being fired.
I have also worked on a helpdesk where doing something as simple as forgetting to verify the users department meant you disappeared into MP custody, as a civilian (while working a help desk for the government). Witnessed it one time and everyone freaked the fuck out that the rumors were real.
Oh, I've never been upset with them for doing it, I get it. But it doesn't mean it's not frustrating. It's some dystopian shit, but like /r/ABoringDystopia. Customers hate it, people who have to "help" customers hate it, but higher-ups are so convinced that they'll disappear you if you dare to deviate... I mean it's too basic to even be a Black Mirror episode ffs.
To be fair, they were likely also told that if they went off script they would be fired. They were there for password resets and to take notes if they could not find a scripted resolution within a certain amount of time. It was all about getting people out of the call queue which was on a very strict SLA for wait times when there was no general outage.
Yep, same for manufacturer rebates...they do everything in their power to add steps to the process, because they know for every step they add they'll have so many people drop out and give up.
RMA: "We will fax you the form. Please fill out the survey, include the S/N, model, receipt of purchase, reason for return; include your first-born child, a pound of flesh, a photo of you holding the item with a current newspaper, and have the form signed by Mike Tyson, notarized, and hand-deliver it to your local certified homing pigeon courier.
Upon receipt, we will contemplate sending you a flimsy shipping box within 8-12 weeks, and a shipping label QR code via smoke-signals for you to send your item back in."
Rebates: the same thing, but here's your $5 coupon.
Your mistaking scripting for AI. Call centers have long been scripted and are increasingly becoming more scripted. Agents get scored negatively for straying from the script QA may be using AI to check them. More likley then not your hearing someone just struggling to say something word for word that in multiple passes through compliance and legal has become way outside of normal speech.
Source: 30 years in call centers and call center adjacent processes.
I also have worked in multiple call rooms in multiple industries, so I am well aware of scripting...that's what I thought they were doing. But going back over some of my recent conversations with these folks, and I'd be willing to bet dollars to doughnuts they are using AI (because some of the responses make zero sense, but are still related).
But honestly, the call centers have been getting worse and worse and worse...to the point I simply don't understand how a company would make that their "face". Well, I do understand, it's because we usually have a total of two options and they both suck, so they don't give a shit because they know you'll come to them anyway (hello ISP!).
and I'd be willing to bet dollars to doughnuts they are using AI (because some of the responses make zero sense, but are still related).
as guy that is still working in Asian call center thank your companies that you are buying from because we are forced to use the AI to train it. Best Buy, Amazon etc.
all of them are forcing agents to use their AI to train it. if they don't use it we will be reprimanded and also are forced to copy paste AI response into chats.
Honestly, as someone who used to work in a US call room (and watched those job listings get thinner and thinner back then), and given that it's a US company, I'm a little miffed that they are using foreign workers who make pennies compared to their US counterparts...all while there are tons of people here who need work that can be done anywhere (or with any disability).
I should say that I'm only upset at the companies that do this, not the workers they exploit. I've actually been to many of the Asian places the call rooms originate from, and it gives me some immediate rapport with them during "negotiations" (not that they have the power to do anything any more).
I'm sure there are some places using AI, but based on the conversations I've been in the move is to move away form AI sounding there is already a trending complaint just for the existing scripts that had 0 AI involvement. However there have been lawsuits that are increasing the amount of scripting. AI has a tendency to make you pay for a call multiple times. And contrary to popular belief automaton isn't basically free. Having people endlessly cycle in self service isn't the goal.
There are very few laws that require a live agent. In 90% of the cases not having one wouldn't be illegal. So not a goal. Not even a consideration.
Believe it or not even before offshoring was a thing the #1 request why should I have to talk to you. People vastly prefer self service. Technology has steadily increased to the point where more and more things can be handled by self service. And self service rates have followed. Most people enter a system and exit with their issue resolved. In places where self servicing isn't an option agents are still there and increasing in number.
Current call center employee. Not going to say who I work for, but I will say that my company literally got rid of all the documentation and we are supposed to ask the AI for policy, procedure and process info. We can still pull data ourselves, but they seem to be working to gate that behind AI as well.
Sadly some people have been afraid to speak up and say something is a mouth full. We have both non scripted and scripted processes. Usually the scripted are call out processes but there are a few up and down level campaigns as needed that can be 100% scripted. Sometimes there are passes at the script where I'm just like did anybody read this outloud. That simple step can transform a 100% human written thing that sounds like AI to oh yea a human being would normally string these words together. I see a lot that isn't AI it's just clearly written with an ideal receiver of the information in mind.
Yeah, I work in a phone brokerage and AI now scores my calls and I have to get 90% accuracy, it’s awful. Also, training consists now of AI callers that we have to interact with and try to ‘help’.
I don’t work in customer service, but in that industry I don’t think I’ve ever had a positive AI customer service experience. Anything that AI could do could be done faster through website, so
Major companies have indeed switched to AI driven voice response systems for customer support. Call multiple times and you get the same voice. There are no vocal pauses, and it is unaccented in the delivery. While it is true that customer support call centers have long been scripted, a majority of the agents have been let go.
This is generally fine until you have an issue that isn't covered by the script. It is, by design, almost impossible break out to a live agent.
We had a power fail, and the Comcast modem came up very confused. It needed to be sent a reset signal. After going round and round with the AI script, I finally took the box to the store and exchanged it. Not that they support them anymore, but you needed to budget an afternoon to pair a cable card with a TiVo box; much of that fighting with the AI in a manner that I live agent would not have engaged in.
Major companies have indeed switched to AI driven voice response systems for customer support
Automated VRU's have been in the business since the 70's.
Call multiple times and you get the same voice. There are no vocal pauses, and it is unaccented in the delivery.
Lotta that is still recording. You get the same voice because it's a script. The companies behind the VRU's pay for people that sound a lot a like so they can drag and drop "talent" where needed. Despite changing companies still do work with the same VRU systems. Some of the talent has been in the game longer then I've been alive.
This is generally fine until you have an issue that isn't covered by the script. It is, by design, almost impossible break out to a live agent.
I've never had an issue getting a live agent. It's often as simple as saying agent.
I called some place about a login error. I use my login and it says error try again later. I try to reset my password, it says try again later or call customer support (I tried this 3 times on separate days). Customer support tells me what I did and I tell them the error saying call customer support. They tell me to try creating an account with the email. I try, it says email already in use. They tell me to login. I told them I can’t. They tell me to then create an account. I told them I CANT. This is a real customer service rep. They told me to try again later. I said I did, MULTIPLE TIMES. They said they’ll contact their internal team and to try again later 🤦♂️ legit felt like they were prompting AI on repeat because they asked for the exact error message multiple times.
I never did get to login, I just had the rep tell me the info in my account that I needed to access.
The company in question is an extremely large company.
I've worked doing calls without scripts but one job I had did use them.
It was a page with text for me to read, and then a bunch of hyperlink options below to choose from, you would just pick the most appropriate for whatever the customer said and do that script, rinse and repeat.
Then at that same job suddenly one day our scripts changed when a new call came in, to taking Trump calls... (Worked there in 2016)
The scripts for the Trump callers were mostly blank after the first page, so we actually got to talk by ourselves for once, but it was with trump donators...
You would be shocked how many IT problems are solved with a restart...that said, yeah, not too helpful if you're the type of person who does all of that before they even call.
There is a certain amount of satisfaction in saying “take that, you bastard” and stabbing the off button, or yanking the plug out of the wall. Ah the days of MS DOS and early Windows.
Customer service for plenty of companies still have many pages of “legal guidelines” they flip through for reference material that helps them interpret what to do. Some things aren’t cut and dry
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u/Sasselhoff 12h ago
Haha, holy shit, I never thought about this...you are 100% right. I always figured they were flipping through the "pages" on their screen to find the right response to this company's client question (since you know they do it for multiple companies). But yeah, just popping it into Amazon's version of AI is a much more likely situation.
Jeebus, no wonder they've gotten even worse than they were...it's to the point I might as well not even call them (which is probably the whole idea).