The Use Of AI Chat Bots By Media Companies May Drive You Insane

During the height of the cable bundle years, one ongoing complaint from customers was that customer service was a terrible experience. Next to complaints about the DMV, complaining about your cable company was almost an American pastime. And as industry experts explained at the time, there were valid reasons for customer discontent:

Initially, customers were much more satisfied with new internet and digital television competitors. In part, because those new companies were trying harder. And because they had fewer opportunities to annoy customers:

But that happiness with newer options has begun to evaporate. In part because of customer service budget cutbacks across the industry. But also because new AI-driven customer service chat bots have a reliability track record that can best be described as “spotty.”

As an example, I want to share a discussion I just had with the Chat Bot option for Verizon. I resorted to the chat option because the earliest time I was offered for a phone callback was five days from now.

As a bit of background, I was interested in subscribing to YouTube TV through Verizon. I have been a subscriber to their wireless broadband service for a couple of years, and they were offering a deal where I could subscribe to YouTube TV and receive a $20 discount for six months. The only disclaimer was that the deal was only available to new TV subscribers. And given that I had never subscribed to YouTube TV, I didn’t think it would be a problem.

And I couldn’t been more wrong.

When I signed up to YouTube TV through Verizon, I was offered the standard $82.99 per month rate. So I attempted to get some clarification from Verizon’s customer support chatbot. And it did not go well. Here are the screenshots of my discussion, which left me even more confused and annoyed:

At this point, I just silently screamed and contemplated whether I wanted to repeat the experience or just return to the days of over-the-air television.

To be clear, I am not picking specifically on Verizon’s customer service experience. I have found that nearly every digital media company has an equally inept approach to customer service. Don’t even get me started describing what it was like to deal with Hulu Live TV.

But unlike the days of the cable TV bundle, customers of modern TV platforms have options. Which makes their reluctance to provide effective customer service more than a bit perplexing.