I appear to be waging a one-woman ’See Something, Say Something’ campaign where I write to companies to register my displeasure when they use AI to enshittify customer service.
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I appear to be waging a one-woman ’See Something, Say Something’ campaign where I write to companies to register my displeasure when they use AI to enshittify customer service. And when their app is only available to Google & Apple customers. Their AI wastes my time with useless ’customer service’. I take time to word constructive customer feedback. Their AI reads it. I spend time reading a useless AI reply. AI increases productivity my bollix. What a waste of human time.
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I appear to be waging a one-woman ’See Something, Say Something’ campaign where I write to companies to register my displeasure when they use AI to enshittify customer service. And when their app is only available to Google & Apple customers. Their AI wastes my time with useless ’customer service’. I take time to word constructive customer feedback. Their AI reads it. I spend time reading a useless AI reply. AI increases productivity my bollix. What a waste of human time.
This grumpy thought is brought to you by the fact that I have 3 mails to write after abysmal AI customer experiences this week. On the plus side though, I had a quick & good experience with hands-on human help at my insurance company. I didn’t even have to battle through a phone tree or ’we have a website!' messages to speak to the human in the first place. I want to say something when I see something good, too. To compliment their corporate choices. So I will write a mail of praise to them too.
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I appear to be waging a one-woman ’See Something, Say Something’ campaign where I write to companies to register my displeasure when they use AI to enshittify customer service. And when their app is only available to Google & Apple customers. Their AI wastes my time with useless ’customer service’. I take time to word constructive customer feedback. Their AI reads it. I spend time reading a useless AI reply. AI increases productivity my bollix. What a waste of human time.
@CiaraNi I have started using AI more for some things, at home and at work, but I never use it for quickly generating something for another person to spend their precious moments on this earth reading. I find it so insulting to have my time automated away by someone else.
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This grumpy thought is brought to you by the fact that I have 3 mails to write after abysmal AI customer experiences this week. On the plus side though, I had a quick & good experience with hands-on human help at my insurance company. I didn’t even have to battle through a phone tree or ’we have a website!' messages to speak to the human in the first place. I want to say something when I see something good, too. To compliment their corporate choices. So I will write a mail of praise to them too.
@CiaraNi I think maybe we need to reward the good behaviour a lot more!
I'm joining the campaign!
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@CiaraNi I have started using AI more for some things, at home and at work, but I never use it for quickly generating something for another person to spend their precious moments on this earth reading. I find it so insulting to have my time automated away by someone else.
@ben 'Insulting' is the right word for it - these companies are insulting their customers, wasting our time with automated replies that just aggregate general text from their website and documentation that in no way answers the specific query the customer carefully worded.
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@CiaraNi I think maybe we need to reward the good behaviour a lot more!
I'm joining the campaign!
@virtuosew Reward the good behaviour - yes. The enshittification has become so bad and so all-encompassing that I really notice the good behaviour these days. Even though it's really just what used to be considered normal behaviour. Like a human member of staff answering the phone and dealing with a specific customer question in a quick and friendly way. I want to let them know that this is great, that this is what customers (well, this customer, at least) want. That it's a sales parameter.
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@virtuosew Reward the good behaviour - yes. The enshittification has become so bad and so all-encompassing that I really notice the good behaviour these days. Even though it's really just what used to be considered normal behaviour. Like a human member of staff answering the phone and dealing with a specific customer question in a quick and friendly way. I want to let them know that this is great, that this is what customers (well, this customer, at least) want. That it's a sales parameter.
@CiaraNi I get so frustrated with all this bull that if the company in question is within 100 km of my home I visit them, thus guaranteeing a real person. Sometimes it doesn't work but sometimes it is great. Also it helps to be retired.
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@CiaraNi I get so frustrated with all this bull that if the company in question is within 100 km of my home I visit them, thus guaranteeing a real person. Sometimes it doesn't work but sometimes it is great. Also it helps to be retired.
@CiaraNi Also from way back in the olden days when I was working and everything was on paper, and the heaviest tech was an electric typewriter, I also wrote thank you letters . I still have some of the fulsome replies. I think workers were much less stressed in those days.
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I appear to be waging a one-woman ’See Something, Say Something’ campaign where I write to companies to register my displeasure when they use AI to enshittify customer service. And when their app is only available to Google & Apple customers. Their AI wastes my time with useless ’customer service’. I take time to word constructive customer feedback. Their AI reads it. I spend time reading a useless AI reply. AI increases productivity my bollix. What a waste of human time.
@CiaraNi
The enshittification is it's own defense.
This brings images of lone crusader or don quichotte to mind.
Don't give up but find support in organisations. -
I appear to be waging a one-woman ’See Something, Say Something’ campaign where I write to companies to register my displeasure when they use AI to enshittify customer service. And when their app is only available to Google & Apple customers. Their AI wastes my time with useless ’customer service’. I take time to word constructive customer feedback. Their AI reads it. I spend time reading a useless AI reply. AI increases productivity my bollix. What a waste of human time.
@CiaraNi just more out-sourcing of admin onto customers basically, one of my main bugbears these days!
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@CiaraNi I get so frustrated with all this bull that if the company in question is within 100 km of my home I visit them, thus guaranteeing a real person. Sometimes it doesn't work but sometimes it is great. Also it helps to be retired.
@Jillybee That's a great strategy, if the company has a public office within visiting distance. In-person assistance is often quicker in the long run, compared to all the time wasted on bad AI 'assistance' and waiting times for mail responses etc.
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@CiaraNi Also from way back in the olden days when I was working and everything was on paper, and the heaviest tech was an electric typewriter, I also wrote thank you letters . I still have some of the fulsome replies. I think workers were much less stressed in those days.
@Jillybee I've always tried to remember to let companies know when they did something well, not to only write when it's a complaint. I am even more aware these days, given how bad even the most basic customer service has become at most companies - I make sure to take the time to send written praise after good experiences.
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@CiaraNi just more out-sourcing of admin onto customers basically, one of my main bugbears these days!
@annaf Mine too. It is infuriating.
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@FaithfullJohn Thanks for the encouragement. I feel daft doing it. Like the Skibereen Eagle warning the Czar of Russia that someone in Kerry was keeping an eye on him. But I find all the AI and enshittification to be so degrading, such an insulting use of the human customer's time, and also so unethical and useless. So I will continue to write my little mails, that probably get laughed at at the other end.
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I appear to be waging a one-woman ’See Something, Say Something’ campaign where I write to companies to register my displeasure when they use AI to enshittify customer service. And when their app is only available to Google & Apple customers. Their AI wastes my time with useless ’customer service’. I take time to word constructive customer feedback. Their AI reads it. I spend time reading a useless AI reply. AI increases productivity my bollix. What a waste of human time.
@CiaraNi I feel you! I don't have the energy to write mails. I stop using such companies, if possible, and give them a public review (yes, on Google, visible for all).
I use my energy for compliments to the good people. -
@FaithfullJohn Thanks for the encouragement. I feel daft doing it. Like the Skibereen Eagle warning the Czar of Russia that someone in Kerry was keeping an eye on him. But I find all the AI and enshittification to be so degrading, such an insulting use of the human customer's time, and also so unethical and useless. So I will continue to write my little mails, that probably get laughed at at the other end.
@CiaraNi And if they were just read by AI bots?
Imagine AI trained on such emails ... @FaithfullJohn -
@CiaraNi And if they were just read by AI bots?
Imagine AI trained on such emails ... @FaithfullJohn@NatureMC @FaithfullJohn Yes indeed - that was one of my points in the main toot. That I spend my time trying to word fair and constructive customer feedback, only for it to be 'read' by a bot. Most frustrating.
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@CiaraNi I feel you! I don't have the energy to write mails. I stop using such companies, if possible, and give them a public review (yes, on Google, visible for all).
I use my energy for compliments to the good people.@NatureMC It's so tiring and tiresome. I resent the time and energy I spend on the mails I write after they've already wasted my time and energy with bad AI-based customer service. (That's on top of the ethical and environmental problems with their use of AI in this way in the first place.)
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@FaithfullJohn Me too, both in having done it, but probably not enough. Much support for your Shouting At Cloud campaign @CiaraNi
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@FaithfullJohn I enjoy writing the ones that praise good, non-AI, human service, at least. They are fewer, alas, but I feel they make up for the time I spend on the negative ones.
