It’s time we talked candidly about customer service in a digital age.
As a physician who practiced in the “real life”, in all 4 dimensions, I have experiences in human interaction that range across the spectrum, where it comes to form; from a visit to a phone call to an email. Regardless of the communication pathway, I’ve always ensured there was a real human being who got back to my patients. Because whether they’re a patient or a client, customer service matters.
In the business world, this seems to have somewhat ceased to exist. Our human interactions are increasingly being replaced by AI.
But does AI care? Will AI make sure that we aren’t feeling stranded when we need someone to understand? When we need to lay out the details, or to recount the specifics at hand that warrant a business to perk up its ears?
I’m genuinely curious (and I offered this up to the Twitterverse just a few moments ago): How does one get customer service if none exists? Is human relations a lost cause in this digital age in which we’re all now game pieces?
Case in point, to really solidify my line of questioning: flight gets cancelled through no fault of yours, & now you’re out 3 flight tickets. How does one get refund, if no one ‘alive’ is answering the phone?
Do you turn to social media every time? do you need to stoop to a public shaming each and every time?
How much time should be dedicated to something as simple as a refund?
I’ll take it one step further: are big businesses – especially monopolies – purposely making the process difficult, in order to discourage us from going through the process?
Lastly, to the professionals in this space: what do we do when our time is valuable and we just can’t give away those precious hours it seems to take for us to (sometimes successfully and sometimes not) deal with this? Do you hire “life managers” for a simple return??
