In the digital age, where robots are taking over everything from our vacuums to our playlists, it’s no surprise that customer service has also fallen victim to the charming coldness of AI. Enter: the chatbot. It lives in the corner of your screen, cheerfully blinking, “Hi! How can I help you today?” And thus begins your descent into a circle of automated hell.
Let’s be honest: chatbots are like enthusiastic toddlers with access to Google. They try—bless their synthetic hearts—but they just don’t quite get it. They’re the equivalent of asking your dog for relationship advice. Of course they’ll listen. But they’re also going to tilt their head, give you the same three answers in a loop, and eventually lick your screen.
1. Humans Get Sarcasm. Chatbots Think It’s a Type of Cheese.
Imagine you type:
“Oh great, my internet’s down again. Just what I needed today!”
A human would respond with empathy:
“I feel your pain! Let me see what I can do to fix it right away.”
A chatbot?
“I’m glad to hear your internet is working well. Can I help with anything else?”
Nothing quite like being digitally gaslit by a robot in a cheerful font.
2. Real People Know When You’re About to Lose It
There’s a magical moment in any customer service interaction when you hit peak frustration—somewhere between “I’ve been on hold for 37 minutes” and “I’m considering moving into the forest.” A human will hear the quiver in your voice, the panic in your punctuation, and act accordingly.
A chatbot? It’s blissfully unaware. You could be typing in all caps, screaming into the void, and it will still reply:
“I’m sorry, I didn’t understand that. Would you like to speak with an agent?”
3. Humans Can Go Off-Script
Chatbots live and die by the script. Ask them anything outside their programmed FAQ universe, and you might as well be talking to your toaster. Humans, however, are beautifully unpredictable. You might call in about a billing issue and end up getting relationship advice from Lauren in customer care. Sure, it’s off-topic—but at least someone asked how your day was going.
4. Humans Understand the Power of a Sincere Apology
There’s something comforting about hearing another human say, “I’m sorry about that, let’s see what I can do.” You feel the empathy, the solidarity, the shared hatred of corporate policies. A chatbot’s version?
“We apologize for the inconvenience. Is there anything else I can assist you with?”
NO, BRENDA-BOT. I WANT YOU TO FEEL BAD.
5. People Can Actually Solve Your Problem
At the end of the day, the biggest advantage of humans? They can escalate, troubleshoot, bend the rules, and—miracle of miracles—fix things. Chatbots are like overly enthusiastic middle managers with zero authority. They’ll promise the world, but all they can really do is send you a link to an article titled "Have You Tried Turning It Off and On Again?"
Businesses are nothing without customers, which is why WWC has always placed Customer Service at its heart. And not just any old customer service…. good old fashioned customer service! Where you get to interact with me! It’s fair to say that 90% of interactions are via e-mail, but I simply love receiving e-mails, or calls, and being able to communicate directly with my welly wearers! I have learnt so much from listening to customers, which in turn has fed my development program.
It's not that I’m not able to appreciate that AI has great potential and is already proving to valuable in the medical world. I personally find in a customer service context, Artificial appears to be second best, and I personally, will always prefer to speak to a human! Or is just me?