Dear All Companies and Corporations,
There are many things we would like from you. Good service. Quality products. A pleasant overall "brand experience". But on the flip side, there are many things we would NOT like from you— long wait times, shoddy products, difficult sales transactions, and most recently, A.I. helpers.
"Hey, they're tiny and cute! And they're here to help!" is what you probably think how we customers react to these little digital critters in the corner of our browsers or phone screens. But that's not how we react at all.
Our reactions actually vary from "Oh, what's this annoying thing?" to "Goddammit, now I can never talk to Customer Service ever again!"
Because when it comes down to it, none of us are looking to chitchat with a computer during these times. We want our thing and we want to get out of there.
If anything, throwing an AI chatbot in our face is the opposite of customer service. It's telling us you don't care about customers and that a mindless automated robot can answer any of our mundane questions. That we as customers don't deserve an actual human.
Sincerely, EADJ
