Definition: Live people that serve customers. Do you remember when you could pick up the phone and call Amazon? Your Doctor’s assistant? Lowes, Home Depot, Walmart, almost all the stores? Those were the good old days, but they ain’t comin’ back anytime soon!
Have you tried reaching any company by phone lately? Yeah, me too! There is no good excuse for not being able to speak to real live people. The corporations got a massive government tax cut, which they used to line their pockets, and did not pay workers one extra dime. In fact: they “furloughed” many workers and replaced them with “no one.” Go ahead and try to get a product replaced because you did not like it or work as advertised. I have been successful several times but have sustained substantial hair loss! On Amazon, in the first 30 days, you can usually have the returned item picked up. Of course, after you have, it un-assembled and packed up again. You will get credit for it as soon as it is picked up usually. Small items you may have to drop off at one of their sites. BTW, make sure you wrap it in the same size box it came in because it might not fit in the slot designated for it.
I am an author and format and upload my books to Amazon. I used to call Amazon and get referred to customer service at KDP to resolve a problem. Not anymore! Now I either figure it out myself, read through millions of help pages or Google, and watch YouTube videos! If you don’t mind waiting for millennia or two, there is a number, and be told first that the answer is in the help pages.
There is no guarantee that after the Pandemic, life will resume, and corporations will hire many of those people back. The corporate bottom line is bigger because it is easier to let us flail in the wind, attempting to converse with Artificial Intelligence or bots. By the way, they don’t care if you yell at them, and you can swear, and they won’t get offended and hang up on you yet!
The Pandemic caused many “essential” workers to lose their jobs. Many continued to work because they had to, and many got sick. It was great that some workers eligible for unemployment got that extra $300 a week added. I am so proud that the GOP voted to take it away from them to “make” them get back to work because they were getting so rich and lazy! I certainly hope many people remember this at election time.
Many at-risk people did not leave home unless it was absolutely necessary. And some people had a hard time navigating the internet system to get an appointment. Now there are lotteries, and people can win $1million for getting the shot. Does anyone else think, “Where were the lotteries when I waited in my car for hours?”
Many were lucky and were allowed to “work from home.” They noticed a big reduction in gas usage. Then the Oil companies were crying because they weren’t making enough money. I felt so bad.
During the pandemic, we masked up, wore gloves, wiped down everything, and would let no one into our home. I used to do sewing and repairs for my neighbors, and during the last year, I would not allow even my neighbors to bring items for repair. Since both my husband and I have had both shots now, I am resuming the sewing work.
My daughter lost her job due to COVID and was unemployed for 10 months. She was qualified for unemployment and the extended benefits but they stopped after two months. It has been a nightmare for her because in California only 5% of the unemployment calls are answered. When she finally got ahold of a live person after several months of calling, they said they were temporary help and didn’t have access to the system! There are more than one million like her in CA stuck in the nowhere zone.
It infuriates me to know that the reason that the corporations are pocketing the money they should be paying customer service humans to help their customers. I hate to try to work with AI and Bots to get something fixed.
I agree with you. But my daughter’s issue was with the state of California not being able to give out the funds or have the staff to answer the phones. They don’t even have AI or bots.
I Guess the corporations aren’t the only ones that are pocketing the $$$ and not hiring enough people to take care of their customers. Because we the people are the customers of the different branches of government that are hired to oversee our needs. I think they lose sight of what they are supposed to be accomplishing.
I think we are very fortunate in Australia. Yes, some missed out of govern assistance but most businesses and their employees qualified. Of course there is always those who try and claim more and/or cheat the system but they get caught out. Even aged and disability pensioners received assistance through the hard times. 🙂 We actually created our garden with the govern assistance support scheme… given automatically to everyone on government benefits. We used the first payment to create the vegetable garden.
As for companies answering telephones, email and messages, I think it’s a global thing.
You do know the oil companies are always crying out for more money.
Well, as someone who worked in retail in her late teens and early twenties, I actually think that the retail policies many companies used of not accepting returns because of covid we’re actually only designed to increase profits. Even with early studies indicating that it was possible surfaces could be contagious for 3 days, a company could hold an item for four or five days and then re-shelve it and know it wasn’t going to be contagious. Most retail stores have sufficient warehouse space to handle that kind of rotation. I think it was not about the people, it was about the profit. Just my opinion… And yeah, waiting on the phone for customer service for anything is dreadful these days💀
Of course, we aren’t supposed to be smart enough to realize that the absence of people to man/woman the phones is because of covid! Everything is because of covid! The corporate giants got the stimulus and put it in their pocket or bough stock to take over small companies and said “The hell with you Trogdites, we will do what we damn want to, we own you! And they do!
It makes me so sad thinking of how many people lost their jobs during the pandemic- a friend of mine who worked at Amazon lost her job and hasn’t found a new job for months now.
Customer service on the phone is like a game of russian roulette these days. Most of the time it feels like you’re not talking to a human, but someone reading off a script, with no real care for your problem – very frustrating.
Yes, Yes! I want to ask, and have, “Am I talking to a real person. ” They make you so mad at their attitude, that you swear at them and then they say, “If you are going to swear, I am going to hang up!” There are a few phrases that I want to throw at them that would curl their hair.
Tell me about it!