TELECOM Digest OnLine - Sorted: Re: Customer Service: The Hunt for a Human

Re: Customer Service: The Hunt for a Human

Thomas A. Horsley (tom.horsley@att.net)
Mon, 03 Jan 2005 23:03:08 GMT

> TRY to reach customer service at Amazon.com to fix a problem with an
> order and you will encounter one of the most prominent and frustrating
> aspects of the Internet era: a world devoid of humans. Not only is
> there no telephone number on Amazon's Web site, but the company makes
> a point of not including one. Instead, customers are asked to fill out
> an online form and wait for a response.

To which I say Thank God! (or at least Jeff Bezos). No hanging on hold
forever -- none of my time wasted. I send my email, and forget about
it. Later I get a response (and usually a pretty prompt and useful one
clearly written by a human who knows whats up) -- I can deal with it
when I get around to reading the mail.

I'd turn this article on its head -- what I want to complain about is
what seems to be the vast majority of companies that have policies of
never talking to customers via email. You are forced to call them,
wade through voicemail, and sit on hold and speak to "humans" who have
no idea what you are talking about.

Give me good email customer service any day over stupid human customer
service (of course there are the companies which use an email robot
responder for customer service -- so far, I've never encountered an
email robot that wasn't dumber than even the dumbest human -- it is
possible to screw up email customer service too :-).

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