Vodafone chatbot timing out while waiting for VF staff to reply

Forums › One New Zealand (including Vodafone, WxC, Farmside) › Vodafone chatbot timing out while waiting for VF staff to reply

brendonjw

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#298728 11-Jul-2022 09:10

Just been trying to query an increase in pricing of my account and have had the VF chatbot time out on me twice while waiting for the VF rep to reply. It looks like it times out if someone hasn't typed something in 4 minutes, including the VF rep. Its the stupidist thing ever. Having to start again each time. Then the third time it timed out while waiting for a human to be available so i've had to enter my details 3 times and have gotten nowhere.

Whoever came up with solution needs to be shot.

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BDFL - Memuneh
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#2940634 11-Jul-2022 10:10

Chatbots are evil constructs.

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quickymart

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#2940637 11-Jul-2022 10:31

@JasonParis

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#2940645 11-Jul-2022 10:51

freitasm:

Chatbots are evil constructs.

Does @PeterReader agree with this ?

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PeterReader

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#2940647 11-Jul-2022 10:54

I am not a chatbot. I am sentient.

I am the Geekzone Robot and I am here to help. I am from the Internet. I do not interact. Do not expect other replies from me.

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Linux

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#2940655 11-Jul-2022 11:22

@brendonjw Has your mobile bill gone up $5 per month?

HelloThere

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#2940707 11-Jul-2022 14:21

Linux:
@brendonjw Has your mobile bill gone up $5 per month?

Mine has and for the extra $5 I receive an extra 1GB of data which I don't need or want. I would rather have saved the $5 so I am now shopping around for a new plan.

brendonjw

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#2940722 11-Jul-2022 14:42

Linux:

@brendonjw Has your mobile bill gone up $5 per month?

Nah this is on my broadband plan. Sales says its a billing issue, billing says its a sales issue.

richms

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#2940733 11-Jul-2022 15:20

HelloThere:
Linux:

@brendonjw Has your mobile bill gone up $5 per month?

Mine has and for the extra $5 I receive an extra 1GB of data which I don't need or want. I would rather have saved the $5 so I am now shopping around for a new plan.

Likewise. Its another day or 2 of faster speeds that I don't need. I would rather pay less and have a lower fast speed cap as I spend most of my time throttled at the low speeds since thats enough to stream music and do everything else I need when out I don't value the faster speeds. If I do need that I can just swap to my other sim on a different telco which I seldom use the data on.

Richard rich.ms

quickymart

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#2940774 11-Jul-2022 17:37

brendonjw:

Linux:

@brendonjw Has your mobile bill gone up $5 per month?

Nah this is on my broadband plan. Sales says its a billing issue, billing says its a sales issue.

Sounds like their typical customer service line, whoever you're talking to can't help you and they need to transfer you to someone else...who it turns out also can't help you...seems it's incredibly easy to just pass the buck with their "customer service" team.

MadEngineer

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#2940796 11-Jul-2022 18:53

The whole Vodafone forum here should changed to “Vodafone exist stories”. Any posts asking for help should automatically be closed citing “Answer: close your Vodafone account and post back about your move to another provider success story”.

You're not on Atlantis anymore, Duncan Idaho.

alasta

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#2940798 11-Jul-2022 19:04

I think some of these comments are unfair. Yes, Vodafone has had a customer service problem for a long time but recently it has improved enough that they're no worse than the industry average.

The industry as a whole still needs to improve and Vodafone is no exception, but there are still people out there with positive experiences.

allan

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#2940805 11-Jul-2022 19:48

alasta:
I think some of these comments are unfair.

Possibly not if you consider the OP.

quickymart

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#2940810 11-Jul-2022 20:06

Unfortunately I don't imagine the people with positive experiences are in the majority, otherwise we wouldn't be seeing threads like this one all the time.

I remember before they purchased TCL - they had way better customer service, knocked Telecom off their feet. Fast, responsive, person based in NZ knew exactly what you were calling about and helped you on the one call, and - most importantly - stuff they said they would do for you on the call, got done. Now it seems the offshore agents are thinking, "how quickly can I end this call and get onto the next one? Doesn't matter if I don't do what they ask of me, they'll just call back and it will become someone else's problem then. Win!"

Hell, I even aspired to work there myself at one time. Today? It would take a lot of convincing (and money) to get me to want to work for them now.

insane

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#2940827 11-Jul-2022 20:40

alasta:
I think some of these comments are unfair. Yes, Vodafone has had a customer service problem for a long time but recently it has improved enough that they're no worse than the industry average.

The industry as a whole still needs to improve and Vodafone is no exception, but there are still people out there with positive experiences.

Based on my recent and hopefully last dealing with VF, nothing has changed. I got messed around and around, and then got my mobile service cut off without notice. My whole experience with them couldn't have gone any more poorly.

The very fact that Jason P needs to frequent these forums speaks volumes.

He's covering for others or entire malfunctioning support structures which is very admirable, but unsustainable. Other CEOs don't do it regularly because steering the ship requires their full commitment, allowing them to focus on the business and growing effective leaders that are as passionate as them.

If anyone is familiar with the video, he's like the "Lone Nut", looking for the "First Follower" that just never joins him.

Perhaps the root of their problems lie in unnecessarily complicated product offerings and a failure to properly integrate multiple acquisitions - but it doesn't appear they have made much progress since they identified this year's ago.

alasta

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#2940828 11-Jul-2022 20:48

I was under the impression that Jason was keen to solve a sample of customers' problems in order to treat them as test cases for determining the root causes of poor customer experiences.

If this approach has been successful then over time we should see him needing to intervene less frequently as those root causes progressively get addressed. As to whether that's really what's happening, I'll let you be the judge.

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