How often have you gone to a website and seen the little popup window inviting you to chat with an agent? They promise you will get help immediately. You figure you will, because you don’t have to wait for a real person to be available. You can chat with the AI agent right away. If you have a simple request, this can be great. But what if you have slightly more complex issue. Maybe you’ve wondered whether the bot can help? Had you ever questioned whether they WILL help? One guy found out the hard way that a customer service chatbot may not always ready and willing to help. Let’s discuss
What kind of help did this guy need?
Daniel Fisk Bennet was needing to change the name of his Facebook page. As a content creator, he needed to use his legal name to ensure he could get paid. So he used Llama, Facebook’s AI customer service agent chatbot, in hopes it could help him make the change.
So the customer service chatbot wasn’t willing to help?
Well, not really. Bennet chatted with the bot over several days. He was being promised that a human would contact him soon. He eventually asked the bot pointedly if he was being lied to. And the bot admitted, that yes it had lied. The bot initially told Bennet that it created a support ticket for him, but later admitted it hadn’t really done that. The ticket number given to Bennet was fake!
Why would that bot do that?
These bots have to be carefully trained with clear goals. This bot may have had the goal to just be polite and appease the customer. If the bot can keep the customer calm without actually doing any real work, then it might do just that.
How can I avoid problems and get more help?
Some words or phrases can help you get human help faster when interacting with an customer service chatbot. Try using “agent”, “escalate this issue”, “file a complaint”, or “legal rights”. Also making contact during business hours will increase your chances for connecting with a human representative.
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