chat customer service

Barnes & Noble Explains Why Its Chat Reps Sound Like Robots

Barnes & Noble Explains Why Its Chat Reps Sound Like Robots

Many people who’ve worked in the customer service field — where it’s not uncommon to be screamed at by irate callers — say it can be a dehumanizing experience, to the point where you sometimes feel like a robot. Then there are the non-humans who desperately want to be flesh-and-blood but can’t cross that uncanny valley. And finally there are those CSRs who might indeed be human, but aren’t doing a very good job of convincing the world of it. [More]

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Straight Talk Cuts Off My Data, Will Only Explain Why In Confusing Doublespeak

Mike’s phone spent two weeks in the repair depot at Samsung. When it came back, shortly afterward his data stopped working. Oh, no! Would it have to go back for more repairs already? Well… no, that wasn’t the problem. The problem is that his mobile carrier, Straight Talk, has throttled his data access down to nothing. [More]

Look who's back!

Best Buy Gives Up On “No Customer Service E-Mail” Experiment After Only 6 Weeks

Perhaps Best Buy was just in a frustrated, overworked mood because of all the holiday shoppers (who were buying stuff on Amazon) when it decided in December to remove the option of contacting customer service by e-mail. Because that contact info has magically re-appeared on BestBuy.com. [More]

My Quest For A Defect-Free Microsoft Surface Goes Surprisingly Poorly

My Quest For A Defect-Free Microsoft Surface Goes Surprisingly Poorly

Being an early adopter can be difficult. Overall, Grady likes his new Microsoft Surface tablet, but noticed some hardware issues, like light distortion and a power button that doesn’t feel right. Those are relatively minor issues when the entire device is working well, but not what Grady expected when he laid out $600 for a new tablet. That’s when he began his quest to return his Surface to Microsoft and obtain one with no defects, cosmetic or otherwise. This quest turned out to be more difficult than he had predicted. [More]