I got an EV just over a year ago, so I decided to try Duke Energy's fixed price (pay the same amount every month) plan.

It turned out that even with charging the vehicle couple times a week, I was not getting my money's worth on the fixed price plan.

Contacted Duke Energy via the "Chat" button on their website, to tell them to put us back on conventional the pay-for-what-you-actually-use plan.

Chat agent INSISTED that the ONLY way to do this is to call the fixed payment plan department. I explained that I am hearing impaired, telephone is NOT a good option, but she insisted that there is no other way to do this. I asked her to escalate, but was told that it is not possible to get a supervisor via chat.

I had the feeling that she was wrong, so I opened their website in another window, poked around a lot, and finally found a "Manage Payments" page, where with two mouse clicks, I was able to unenroll from fixed payment plan and go back to standard billing.

What are the odds that I was chatting with a poorly trained, work-from-home, contract employee, DEI hire?

Perhaps a person in a "call center" in Islamabad.

quote:

Originally posted by Johnny 3eagles:
Perhaps a person in a "call center" in Islamabad.

Could be, but the structure of her English sentences seemed to be American.

The big problem is that she kept insisting that I needed to call Duke Energy, no other way to accomplish my goal, but if you looked for it, there was a clear way to do it via the website. She either had absolutely no idea that the "Manage Payment Method" existed on the website, or else she had been instructed (trained?) to insist on a call to give them an opportunity to keep the customer on a plan that was clearly profitable for Duke Energy.

I think that it was a poorly trained agent, my wife thinks that they are instructed not to mention the website option, but to tell the customer to call.

What are the odds you were chatting with software instead of a human?

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Originally posted by apprentice:
What are the odds you were chatting with software instead of a human?

My experience has been that the majority of these chats are “bots” and with machine learning and AI implementation they are becoming even more prevalent. It is becoming the “new” India call center because just like your experience, I rarely leave satisfied or with the answer I was searching to find. Companies pinching pennies and dulling the customer experience while my rates keep soaring to new heights.

Nobody loves you but your mother... and she could be jivin' too.

(paraphrasing BB King)

quote:

Originally posted by V-Tail:
What are the odds that I was chatting with a poorly trained, work-from-home, contract employee, DEI hire?

Odds are better that your were chatting with an AI program. They are given a pretty specific response list and the programmer who wrote the routine didn't think that anyone would ever want to change their payment options. This is extremely typical today, because today's programmers are people who have been indoctrinated since Kindergarten to never ever "think out side the box".

I will also note that I will never call a programmer an Engineer. Engineers are folks trained to SOLVE Problems and it's pretty obvious that the programmers involved in writing Window's 11 have not one single clue as to how to SOLVE Problems.

quote:

Originally posted by apprentice:
What are the odds you were chatting with software instead of a human?

Close to zero. That degree of dumb would be tough to program.

quote:

Originally posted by Scooter123:

quote:

Originally posted by V-Tail:

What are the odds that I was chatting with a poorly trained, work-from-home, contract employee, DEI hire?

Odds are better that your were chatting with an AI program..

Doubtful. Many clues that it was a live person, in the U.S.A.

AI would be available 24 / 7 -- Duke Energy's chat agents are available weekdays during normal working hours.

quote:

Originally posted by V-Tail:

quote:

Originally posted by apprentice:
What are the odds you were chatting with software instead of a human?

Close to zero. That degree of dumb would be tough to program.

Thanks for the laugh.

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I asked her to escalate, but was told that it is not possible to get a supervisor via chat.

At that point I’d ask, “What is your name, please?”

They often get more helpful when they think that they’re going to be reported as unhelpful.

quote:

Originally posted by Pipe Smoker:

quote:

I asked her to escalate, but was told that it is not possible to get a supervisor via chat.

At that point I’d ask, “What is your name, please?”

They often get more helpful when they think that they’re going to be reported as unhelpful.

She introduced herself by name when she joined the chat. As things progressed (or not), I asked whether there would be an evaluation / feedback for the chat session. That should have been a pretty strong hint.

quote:

Odds are better that your were chatting with an AI program. They are given a pretty specific response list and the programmer who wrote the routine didn't think that anyone would ever want to change their payment options

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
They will eventually change from AI with enough complaints. Even a stupid individual is an improvement.AI does not do very well with the I want to speak with the manager type. AKA Karen,

quote:

Originally posted by V-Tail:

quote:

Originally posted by apprentice:
What are the odds you were chatting with software instead of a human?

Close to zero. That degree of dumb would be tough to program.

Comcast/Xfinity has demonstrated the ability to program seriously worthless chatbots. Not only are they frustrating but it is impossible to talk with one of their slightly more intelligent "coworkers".