Nandu reporters have encountered quality problems in online shopping goods, and every time they click on the merchant's customer service to explain the situation, AI customer service immediately jumps out and answers "actively", but always answers 1, 2, 3, 4...... reason, let choose what to consult. When the reporter from Nandu chose to consult 1, the other party replied to another group of 1, 2, 3, and 4...... option to select further items from them. Repeatedly, the question never resolved. Seeing that the AI customer service could not solve the problem, the reporter from Nandu typed: "manual customer service", and when it was sent out about 10 times, a human customer service finally appeared to answer. Sometimes, the merchant's automatic reply is not within the manual service time or the line is busy, if there is a problem, it will be solved by the AI customer service reception.
In fact, around the reporter of Nandu, there are many friends who have encountered similar phenomena in consumer complaints on e-commerce platforms. Why does the AI customer service that serves consumers feel that they are tired of explaining all the time, and they are exhausted but unable to solve the problem. So how should e-commerce platforms use and improve AI customer service to make it truly serve consumers?
If the AI customer service cannot effectively solve the problem, resulting in the damage to the rights and interests of consumers, such as the inability to deal with returns, refunds and other issues in a timely manner, it may involve infringement of consumer rights and interests. Industry insiders believe that the relevant departments should strengthen the supervision of AI customer service by formulating relevant management norms and standards in response to the phenomenon of AI customer service in enterprises, so as to avoid enterprises using AI customer service to evade responsibilities and obligations.
The electric water heater is broken, and the manufacturer's applet is repaired, and there is only AI customer service, and there is no human customer service
Recently, the electric water heater at the Nandu reporter's home was broken, and the manufacturer was contacted through the applet, and the AI customer service still replied, and the AI customer service also listed several items, and asked the reporter to fill in the number options, and then answer. Since the warranty period has passed, it is repaired at your own expense, and there is no return or exchange, so the communication is relatively smooth. However, there is no manual customer service option set on the manufacturer's applet.
Nandu reporter operated the return matter on the App of a supermarket, and found that there was no manual service on the Internet, only AI customer service, and the complaint about the quality problem could not be replied to, and finally from an inconspicuous corner, the manual service phone was found to solve the problem.
However, some manual phones are also difficult to access. Once, when a reporter from Nandu called the manual customer service of an e-commerce platform to inquire about the issue of invoicing, after dialing the manual customer service number, he heard an electronic voice saying that there were more people in line, and he gave up after waiting for three minutes, and chose to call twice, or waited for 5-6 minutes.
According to reports, behind the use of AI customer service in all walks of life, there is a large lack of human customer service. On the complaint platform of an e-commerce company, there are nearly 20,000 complaints about the problem of "no human customer service can be found". Many netizens complained that whether it is entering manual customer service, manual service or transferring to manual, there is always only one sentence: dear, please describe your problem in detail.
AI customer service has become a "roadblock" for consumers to solve problems
"I want to make another delivery on my friend's birthday, can I help contact the courier?"
"Sorry, not sure what you mean. ”
"Can you help me make a note of 'delivery in two days'?"
"Dear, this question stumped me. ”
"I need a human agent. "The human customer service is busy, and the intelligent customer service is at your service, how can I help you?"
The above conversation took place between Ms. Zou, a citizen of Beijing, and the AI customer service of a store on an e-commerce platform. After repeated conversations with the AI customer service to no avail, Ms. Zou tried to contact the courier through the official phone number and ask him to deliver the goods at the desired time. But what she didn't expect was that the courier call was also replied by AI customer service, and it took a lot of effort to communicate and failed to solve her problem.
"AI customer service is driving people crazy, I can't communicate, I can't understand anything. Ms. Zou said helplessly.
From express delivery companies to online shopping platforms, from banking and finance to tourism, at present, more and more businesses have begun to adopt AI customer service, using intelligent voice and other technologies to serve users, which has achieved service standards and convenience to a certain extent, saving labor costs. At the same time, many users have found that some intelligent customer service is not intelligent and cannot identify problems, especially personalized problems, and some businesses have no manual customer service when they use AI customer service, and AI customer service has become a "roadblock" to solve the problem.
Automatic reply "The bull's head is not the horse's mouth" Intelligent customer service is a bit stupid
During this year's "Double Eleven", Guangdong citizen Zhao Shuang (pseudonym) bought a coat in a women's clothing store on an e-commerce platform, and after receiving the goods, he found that the coat was not satisfactory and wanted to return it, but the relevant page could not find the service of returning the shipping package, so he clicked on the store customer service dialog box for help.
Unexpectedly, the reply of the store's AI customer service was completely unanswered: "Dear, I understand your anxious mood, please dissipate your anger and wait patiently", "We will do our best to solve the problem for our relatives", "You are our high-quality customer, we will definitely protect your rights and interests"......
"I just want to ask where is the return package shipping service, why can't I find it?" Zhao Shuang said, the AI customer service's reply logic is chaotic, there is no useful word, and there is no human customer service, "I really want to be angry with them."
With the development of artificial intelligence technology, many enterprises have begun to use robots to replace manual customer service in order to save costs and improve efficiency, and AI customer service has come into being. According to the "2023 China Intelligent Customer Service Market Report", the scale of China's intelligent customer service market has reached 6.68 billion yuan in 2022, and it is expected that the market size is expected to grow to 18.13 billion yuan by 2027.
Some AI customer service seems too mechanical, and many of the answers are wrong, making consumers feel dissatisfied and helpless.
Li Yan (pseudonym), a citizen of Beijing, told reporters that she bought a washing machine at a high price on the e-commerce platform some time ago, and asked the customer service "where to pour laundry detergent" after the arrival of the goods? Li Yan asked the model she bought, "Is there a smart delivery function", and the AI customer service replied, "Smart delivery matches the detergent that needs to be added according to the weight of the clothes".
A simple question, the content of the answer is inexplicable. Li Yan complained.
The reporter entered 15 brand flagship stores on multiple e-commerce platforms, and when consulting customer service on product problems, it was found that 13 stores were directly answered by AI customer service. If you ask about some general questions, such as product quality, delivery time, product inventory, etc., AI customer service can mostly give an accurate answer immediately, but if you ask some more personalized questions, AI customer service often answers the wrong questions, and only a few stores will automatically switch to manual service.
For example, when communicating with the flagship store of a down jacket brand, when the reporter asked about details such as "the difference between down filling and down content" and "what kind of national standard does the fabric belong to", the answer of the AI customer service was incorrect.
AI customer service makes "harassing calls" that are not smart enough to communicate
However, the "initiative" of many AI customer service is even more unbearable.
The phone rang, an unfamiliar number. Worried that it was a courier or other important information, Ms. Sun, a citizen of Beijing, hurriedly connected, and a subdued voice immediately came from the opposite side: "Hello, this is the ×× flagship store, this call is to tell you......" Ms. Sun hung up the phone angrily: "The harassing call of AI customer service is here again!"
"Sometimes I'm busy, and suddenly I get a call, and when I pick it up, I find that it's an AI" "It sounds like a real person's voice, but it can't communicate normally on the phone, it's a harassing call...... On social platforms, netizens with similar feelings have "complained".
When it comes to the problem of unintelligent customer service, Mr. Ma, who works as an AI engineer in Beijing, believes that the computing power of large language models used by enterprises is different, and the choices for AI to feed documents are also different, which is what leads to the uneven recognition ability of AI. Problems such as insufficient AI technology, scattered data, and low completeness of knowledge graph are the fundamental crux of the "insufficient intelligence" of intelligent customer service.
It took 5-6 minutes for a human agent to answer the phone
Liu Shuai (pseudonym), a citizen of Beijing, said that he had a question on a social platform and wanted to consult customer service, first talked to online customer service, and after sending questions, AI customer service replied with 14 pieces of content, "There are various related content answers about members, account abnormalities, lottery and so on, but none of them can solve my problem, and the manual customer service cannot be contacted at all."
Liu Shuai had no choice but to call the customer service again, but the AI customer service answered, and the same 14 content voice broadcasts back and forth "nesting dolls". He proposed to "transfer to manual customer service", but was told that "the current agent is busy, and you can make an appointment for a return visit time for manual customer service online". "As soon as I saw that the manual appointment for the return visit was scheduled until the afternoon of the next day, I had to give up the consultation. Liu Shuai said that wasting half an hour back and forth failed to solve the problem.
Not long ago, Mr. Zhang, a citizen of Tianjin, was not satisfied with the reply of the AI customer service because of the banking business, and he proposed to transfer to manual service, and the reply he got was: "The current customer service is busy, and it has entered the consultation queue, and it is currently ranked 70th......"
On the complaint platform of an e-commerce company, there are nearly 20,000 complaints about the problem of "no human customer service can be found". Many netizens complained that whether it is entering manual customer service, manual service or transferring to manual, there is always only one sentence: dear, please describe your problem in detail.
Some netizens said that they called 45 customer service numbers on the market, including communication service providers, e-commerce platforms, logistics companies, etc., and the statistical time showed that it took an average of 94 seconds to transfer to manual customer service, and the longest wait was as long as 380 seconds.
Recently, the reporter called the customer service number of 21 e-commerce platforms, communication service providers, and logistics companies on the market, and 8 of them could not be transferred to manual customer service, and the rest took an average of 69 seconds to transfer to manual customer service, and the longest waiting time was as long as 316 seconds.
Businesses reduce operating costs Sometimes it increases the cost of communication for consumers
Chen Yinjiang, deputy secretary-general of the Consumer Rights Protection Law Research Association of the China Law Society, believes that companies cannot only consider their own costs and efficiency, but ignore consumers' time. When consumers look for customer service, they generally encounter a problem and want to solve it. However, some enterprises do not set up manual customer service at all, and use intelligent customer service as a "shield", which is completely useless and cannot play a role in solving problems. "Although it is difficult to define how much damage will be caused to consumers, at least it will bring a bad consumer experience. For operators, reducing their own operating costs sometimes increases the cost of communication with consumers. ”
According to the "Customer Service Convenience Consumption Survey Report in the Context of Digitalization" released by the Jiangsu Provincial Consumer Protection Commission, 71.2% of consumers said that intelligent robots "answer questions that are not asked" and "answer questions intelligently", and 23.6% of consumers said that they could not find human customer service, or that manual customer service "kicked the ball".
According to public data, in the 2022 survey of mainland users who believe that the existing shortcomings of intelligent customer service are located, 51.4% of consumers said that they could not solve personalized problems except for fixed words, 47.9% of consumers said that they could not accurately understand the questions raised and answered the questions that were not asked, and 34.2% of consumers said that the problem solving efficiency was low.
According to an IT technician at an information technology company in Shanghai, many companies choose to use AI customer service based on current management needs or want to optimize services. Compared with human customer service, AI customer service is less expensive, can be online 24 hours a day, and has a faster response speed, which can basically answer most of consumers' questions.
When talking about the reasons for such a large-scale use of AI customer service, many e-commerce companies said that they were also forced by the situation. Wang Ping, who runs a daily necessities store on an e-commerce platform, told reporters that the original intention of using AI customer service was "simply to save labor costs", and the initial ratio of AI customer service and manual customer service was basically 1:1, "but with the increase in the frequency of consumer purchases and the frequency of platform promotions, the number of orders has increased significantly, and there are customer inquiries and orders on average every minute on the day of 'Double Eleven', and it is not realistic to replace it with manual customer service."
An industry insider who works as a customer service on an e-commerce platform told reporters: "Everyone actually knows that AI services are not easy to use, but e-commerce platforms have a requirement of a 3-minute response rate, and they will be included in the assessment criteria." In desperation, e-commerce uses a large number of AI customer service, and human customer service collaborates. When the AI customer service answers incorrectly, the human customer service will intervene and withdraw the reply. However, some companies have set up a 'quality inspection team', and if there are many withdrawals, it may be misjudged that there are inappropriate remarks in the customer service. ”
Does the massive use of AI customer service make it difficult to find human customer service, does it infringe on the legitimate rights and interests of consumers?
He Zi'an, a lawyer at Shanghai Central Law (Hangzhou) Law Firm, said that the heavy use of AI customer service may indeed prevent consumers from directly contacting human customer service, but this in itself does not directly constitute an infringement of consumer rights. If the AI customer service cannot effectively solve the problem, resulting in the damage to the rights and interests of consumers, such as the inability to deal with returns, refunds and other issues in a timely manner, it may involve infringement of consumer rights and interests. In such cases, the consumer may lodge a complaint with the Consumer Association or, as the case may be, with the relevant supervisory authority.
"Merchants use AI customer service to call consumers to promote product promotions and other information, which is suspected of infringing on citizens' personal information. If the received phone call contains sensitive personal information or the call is made without the user's explicit consent, it may be in violation of data protection and privacy protection laws. He Zi'an said.
Enterprises should reasonably allocate the ratio of AI customer service to human customer service
Li Daqiao, a lawyer at Hunan Jiangrong Law Firm, mentioned that AI as a program does not have the ability to bear relevant legal responsibilities, "it can only be said that the subject behind AI may infringe." Enterprises embracing AI technology cannot be done once and for all, and they cannot only consider cost and efficiency while ignoring the actual needs and feelings of consumers.
"AI customer service will not and cannot completely replace human customer service. In Li Daqiao's view, AI customer service is still an immature business sector, and enterprises should reasonably allocate the proportion of AI customer service and human customer service on the basis of considering business reputation and service quality. For some routine consultation questions, intelligent replies can be made, while for some consumer complaints and other issues that need to be solved urgently, especially those involving the personal and property safety of consumers, they should be resolved through manual customer service channels first.
At the same time, some people in the industry believe that the relevant departments should strengthen the supervision of AI customer service by formulating relevant management norms and standards in response to the phenomenon of AI customer service in enterprises, so as to prevent enterprises from using AI customer service to evade responsibilities and obligations.
"Customer service" answering questions will reduce the favorability of enterprises in the minds of consumers
Many netizens put forward their own views on this phenomenon. Some netizens commented that professional and responsible customer service can create a good brand of the enterprise. And the "customer service" that will only be simple and repeated, and the answer is not the question, will inevitably quickly reduce the favorability of the enterprise in the hearts of consumers. AI customer service is a product of artificial intelligence, but AI customer service that "drives people crazy" is not intelligent and lacks service, which can only cause consumer dissatisfaction. If AI customer service really drives customers "crazy", then the market is afraid that the company will "drive crazy".
Some netizens commented that it is foreseeable that with the rapid development of generative AI technology represented by large language models, one day, AI customer service will be able to achieve almost the same experience as human customer service. At that time, how should we get along with AI, and how should humans deal with themselves? Such questions may not be too long before we are more urgent.
Integration/Writing: Nandu reporter Chen Xin