>This is the kind of stuff that makes robot/computer customer service bad.
On the article's anecdote, I'm pretty sure the robot didn't just literally "freeze" but show a message explaining that number is unknown and ask to retry with the right one. The customer couldn't understand the international prefix was missing, and kept reinputing the same thing again and again.
That kind of stuff will regularly happen with human being typing into the form for you, and telling you the system can't find your number. It's after the first or second try that they'll start debugging with you, checking if you changed you number or put your spouse's one, if it's foreign etc. That "traditional" flow doesn't seem too far from the experience the author had, except they perhaps tried 5 or 6 times instead of 2, because in their mind the robot must be dumb in that specific way and can totally react differently the 6th time.
I'd argue the robot setting is kind of the best of both worlds: customers in the happy path will fly through the system, and customers hitting the wall will have staff that are specially ready to work it out with the customer.
PS: even with a half-baked input system, customers who get used to it after the second or third time will still be faster than dealing with staff inputing their info for them. It's a clear advantage for repeaters.
Fast food restaurants employees are not faster at explaining the menu, or showing the payment options, scanning the membership card etc. IME you can't just dump a magic incantation at the cashier and have them remember it all while hitting the right buttons. Some might be capable of that, most are just part time students keeping their mental energy for the next day's lectures.
On the article's anecdote, I'm pretty sure the robot didn't just literally "freeze" but show a message explaining that number is unknown and ask to retry with the right one. The customer couldn't understand the international prefix was missing, and kept reinputing the same thing again and again.
That kind of stuff will regularly happen with human being typing into the form for you, and telling you the system can't find your number. It's after the first or second try that they'll start debugging with you, checking if you changed you number or put your spouse's one, if it's foreign etc. That "traditional" flow doesn't seem too far from the experience the author had, except they perhaps tried 5 or 6 times instead of 2, because in their mind the robot must be dumb in that specific way and can totally react differently the 6th time.
I'd argue the robot setting is kind of the best of both worlds: customers in the happy path will fly through the system, and customers hitting the wall will have staff that are specially ready to work it out with the customer.
PS: even with a half-baked input system, customers who get used to it after the second or third time will still be faster than dealing with staff inputing their info for them. It's a clear advantage for repeaters.
Fast food restaurants employees are not faster at explaining the menu, or showing the payment options, scanning the membership card etc. IME you can't just dump a magic incantation at the cashier and have them remember it all while hitting the right buttons. Some might be capable of that, most are just part time students keeping their mental energy for the next day's lectures.