I use probably about 15 cloud SASS products for my company. Over the past year many of them have switched from offering either live chat or email support to chat bots. Often they will send out a marketing email pitching it as a huge improvement in support. My experience with chat bot support ranges from frustrating to infuriating, especially when I need help with something business critical.
I'm not sure what the right adjective is to describe how it makes me feel when I encounter one, especially if it's with a company that we're doing serious business with. Disrespectful? Condescending? I think belittling works, because it definitely gives you the impression that you're concern is trivial. Now that they have your money they just need to placate you with as little effort as possible.
I mean, the same is true for phone bots, and companies have been using them as tech support for decades. At least with phone bots, however, there is usually an incantation (often involving pressing zero repeatedly) that can get you to a live human.
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